This is normally the post where we provide a peek behind the curtain of what happens at school the week before students arrive; the week that teachers return, engage in meaningful professional growth opportunities, plan together for the start of school, organize their rooms and spaces, etc. This year, of course, with a renovation racing at breakneck speed towards the first day of school, we shifted the balance of Pre-Planning Week towards that last task – giving all the time needed to open these brand-new classrooms on the first day of school.
One advantage to a nearly 100% returning faculty and staff is that we can seamlessly move forward on work we have been doing these last few years to help OJCS reach ever-closer towards our North Stars. And with enrollment still coming in (classic Ottawa), we are on track for a seventh consecutive year of growth. As we prepare to (literally) open our doors next week to house students in classrooms which are now as excellent as the quality of teaching and learning contained therein, and as you prepare to enjoy the last holiday weekend marking the end of summer, let me paint a little picture of how we are preparing to make 2024-2025 the best year yet.
Here’s a curated selection from our activities…
The “Learned Helplessness” Cafe
Each year (17 years, 8 at OJCS and counting!), I begin “Pre-Planning Week” with an updated version of the “World Café”. It is a collaborative brainstorming activity centered on a key question. Each year’s question is designed to encapsulate that year’s “big idea”. This year’s big idea? Disconnect to Reconnect!
As a segue to this one big idea, we started the World Café by exploring the notion of “learned helplessness” and whether or not our use of technology in school contributes to it.
Here’s what connected collaboration looks like…
The Anxious Generation
Beginning with last year’s prototype of a “Middle School Cell Phone Detox,” we are building upon this key idea:
It is always the right time to do what is necessary to ensure the wellbeing of our students. A number of us on our Educational Leadership Team (beginning with Vice Principal Melissa Thompson) have been reading The Anxious Generation and following the discussion on one of its big ideas, “Wait Until 8th“. Both deal with the negative impacts of constant and chronic use of smartphones, in particular, on young and developing minds.
Did we take a Shehekhiyanu Moment when we (finally!) were able to show our teachers their new classrooms?
Did I do one of my spiritual check-ins on the topic of the “Discomforting Comfort”? Sure did!
Did Moreh David inject some ruach (North Star Alert!) into Pre-Planning Week with some all-staff shirah? Yup!
Did Ms. Gordon go over all the guidelines and protocols and procedures and rules and mandates to keep us all in the know? No doubt!
Did Josh Max train all our teachers on how to use our amazing new interactive whiteboards installed in all our classrooms and prepare our Lower School Teachers to use our 60 new iPads? Yessiree!
Did our teachers have lots of time to meet and prepare and collaborate and organize and do all the things needed to open up school on Tuesday? And then some!
All that and much more took place during this week of planning. We are prepared to provide a rigorous, creative, innovative, personalised, and ruach-filled learning experience for each and every one of our precious students who we cannot wait to greet in person on the first day of school!
Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday weekend and a successful launch to the 2024-2025 school year…
