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Welcome, May! April was certainly a busy month for Compass and things are not slowing down anytime soon. We have a lot to celebrate throughout the month of May!
This month we continue to celebrate The Energy Bus Principles by recognizing Principle 4: Fuel Your Ride with Positive Energy and Principle 5: Transform Negativity. All month long we invite our scholars to think about how they can fuel their ride with positive energy. We encourage them to think about the types of positive energy that can fuel their bus, and how they can turn negativity into positive energy to fuel their bus ride both inside and outside of the classroom. Principle 4 is also great to recognize this month, as we celebrate our staff through a number of special events and encourage our scholars and learning coaches to fuel the rides of our team with positive energy! First, please join us next week to celebrate National Charter Schools Week. We’ll be sharing important facts about charter schools and the positive impact they have on so many families across the country, and right here in California through Compass Charter Schools. According to a 2017 nationally representative survey from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, enrollment at charter schools is on the rise across the country. In fact, during the 2017-18 school year, over 7,000 charter schools enrolled nearly 3.2 million scholars. That’s an increase in enrollment of more than 150,000 scholars from the previous school year – a five percent increase! The report also showed that more than 300 new charter schools opened across the country. I invite you to join our National Charter Schools Week celebration by posting, tweeting, tagging and sharing pictures and videos with us, using #CharterSchoolsWeek. Please share why you enjoy being part of our Compass family! Next week we will also celebrate our wonderful teachers, during National Teacher Appreciation Week. Our teachers dedicate countless hours to support our scholars and their families, and it’s time to celebrate them. We will also be celebrating California Day of the Teacher on Wednesday, May 9. One way our scholars and learning coaches can celebrate is by nominating their teachers for the Compass Employee of Year Award. Our scholars are also invited to send thank-you letters to their teachers, to express thanks, perhaps, for an “aha” moment from a Learning Lab or from a one-on-one meeting they had with their teacher, counselor, or another member of our amazing team. We also invite everyone to join us on social media throughout the week, using the hashtags #ThankATeacher and #DayOfTheTeacher, to share their favorite memories about their teachers. Our final major celebration will be to celebrate our amazing staff during Classified School Employees Week, which is May 20-26. The theme this year is “The Heartbeat of our Schools” and I couldn’t agree more … our staff, including our teachers, counselors, administrators and more, are our heroes. We invite scholars and learning coaches to join us on social media throughout the week, using #CSEW2018, to share their favorite memories of the staff at Compass who have been their hero. As we celebrate National Charter Schools Week, National Teacher Appreciation Week, California Day of the Teacher, and Classified School Employees Week, I also invite you to join me in giving back to Compass. Our Annual Fund is used to increase and enhance our engagement opportunities for our scholars and I would like to personally ask our community to join me in giving back as we celebrate throughout this month of May. Join me with either a one-time or monthly gift to help Compass enhance the Compass Experience for our scholars! This year Compass has made some incredible changes to improve our programs and continues to move forward to better support our scholars and their families. I would love to hear from you and encourage all of our stakeholders (scholars, learning coaches, staff, and community) to complete our 2018 Planning Survey. I also invite you to share feedback with us through the suggestion boxes on our homepage, or directly with me. I am truly thankful to all of our teachers, staff, scholars, and families who dedicate their time and resources to make Compass Charter Schools the premier virtual learning community throughout central and southern California. This month is a time to recognize all of our hard work, so let’s celebrate and fuel everyone’s ride with positive energy!
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Welcome, April! Warmer weather is finally on its way. The current school year continues to be a great success for our scholars and we are continuing to plan for both Summer School and the upcoming 2018-19 school year, for both current and prospective scholars.
Last month, CCS recognized the first principle of the Energy Bus for Schools Leadership Journey (EBSLJ): You’re the Driver. Throughout March, our scholars, learning coaches, staff, and community shared what it means to be the driver of their own bus. This month, we are focusing on both the second principle: Create a Positive Vision, and third principle: Drive With Purpose. Throughout April we invite our Compass community to think about why it’s important to have a positive vision for the future, and to create a positive vision for their future both inside and outside of the classroom. Compass encourages scholars to create a positive vision for the future by offering innovative courses, programs, and resources that inspire, motivate and help them find their passions and plan for the future. We proudly offer scholars a wide range of unique elective courses such as fashion retail and engaging clubs like photography, chess, and coding, to give scholars the opportunity to explore their personal areas of interest. They can choose to pursue their passions both inside and outside the “classroom” and use those passions to create a vision of success for their future. Our staff is also dedicated to setting a good example for our scholars as they help them find their passions and then turn those passions into bright futures. We believe that modeling a positive outlook, by being good listeners, kind, open-minded, dedicated and decisive are some of the best ways to help scholars, and each other, learn how to create a successful future. Our Counseling Services team provides a variety of resources and workshops to help middle school and high school scholars find their passions and pursue them after graduation. Our Special Education team helps scholars of all ages develop their talents and abilities so that can also pursue their passions and create a positive vision for the future. Teachers at Compass encourage scholars to serve as positive influences in their classes by participating in discussions, by practicing their presentation skills and by sharing kind words with their peers. Our staff is fully invested in CCS and our scholars, and we will all continue to inspire our scholars to create a positive vision for their future. I would like to invite everyone to think about what it means to drive with a purpose. Are you currently driving with a purpose? If not, how can you start to drive with a purpose in life? I believe that strong decision-making skills are a critical part of creating a vision for the future and driving with a purpose. Decision-making is the ability to identify personal wants and needs, and then make choices that fulfill those needs. It is about exploring the world around you … it is about being open and trying new things … it is about choosing the people and activities in life that will have a positive impact on you and your future. And continuing to push forward! To further this conversation, I encourage everyone to share stories and pictures about creating a vision for the future and driving with a purpose on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our community to learn why they believe decision-making skills are important and celebrate both of these key principles. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and our community prides itself on meaningful choices and thoughtful decisions! As the Dalai Lama once said, “In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” We are sharing the importance of having a vision and making decisions for the future with our Compass Community in hopes of helping everyone make our world a better place. I strongly encourage all of our scholars, learning coaches, staff, and friends to share their vision for the future and how they will achieve it all month long! Welcome, March! This year is certainly moving along quickly. Last week Compass Charter Schools (CCS) celebrated its one-year anniversary and also opened enrollment for the 2018-19 school year. We are working diligently to ensure that the current school year continues to be a great success for our current scholars, while planning for the 2018-19 school year and summer school for both our current and prospective scholars.
Earlier this year, CCS proudly joined the Energy Bus for Schools Leadership Journey (EBSLJ)! Based on the principles of the bestseller The Energy Busby Jon Gordon, the EBSLJ is on a mission to inspire scholars and educators to help them become successful leaders and have a positive impact on their school community and the world. EBSLJ is founded upon seven key principles and a unique set of best practices. It provides a transformational, multi-year approach to help schools create and sustain a positive school culture and develop positive school leaders. Each month, starting in March, we will recognize one of the EBSLJ’s seven core principles. This month, we focus on Principle 1: You’re the Driver. All month long we’re inviting our scholars, learning coaches, staff and community to think about what it means to be the driver of their own bus. We encourage our scholars to be the driver of their own bus by allowing them to take the lead on their educational journey. Our flexible academic programs allow scholars to create their own daily learning schedule. We proudly offer scholars a wide range of unique elective courses such as fashion retail and engaging school clubs like photography, chess, coding, and leadership, to give scholars the opportunity to explore their personal areas of interest. They can choose to pursue their passions both inside and outside the “classroom” and ultimately drive the bus when it comes to their educational journey. Being the driver of the bus also means developing and implementing strong leadership skills. When you’re the driver, you have to decide where the bus is going, how it’s going to get there and who is riding on that bus, which are all decisions that a leader has to make. Our scholars have the opportunity to develop those skills and serve as leaders of their school community by joining our Scholar Leadership Council and serving as leaders of our school clubs. These are some of the examples of how we encourage our scholars to become leaders, demonstrate kindness, and be the driver of the bus throughout their educational experience. Our staff is also dedicated to setting a good example for our scholars as they help them develop strong, healthy leadership skills. We believe that modeling good leadership by being good listeners, kind, open-minded, dedicated and decisive are some of the best ways to help scholars, and each other, learn how to become leaders. Our teachers encourage scholars to serve as leaders in their classes by participating in discussions, by practicing their presentation skills and by sharing kind words with their peers. Our staff is fully invested in CCS and our scholars, and we will all continue to model healthy leadership skills in all that we do. As mentioned earlier, throughout March, our Compass Community is invited to think about what it means to be a good leader and how they can be the driver of their own bus. I shared with our staff my definition of leadership: Leadership is … offering to be part of the conversation, regardless of title or position, and taking personal initiative to bring about positive change. Leadership is bringing those conversations to the table and facilitating the various voices to ensure each one is heard, and helping to find compromise, when and where needed, to ensure forward momentum continues. It is listening … it is being open … it is owning the final product; good, bad, and/or ugly. And continuing to push forward. To further this conversation, everyone is encouraged to share stories and pictures about modeling good leadership in our brief survey, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our community to learn why they believe leadership skills are important and celebrate this key principle. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and our community prides itself on healthy leadership! As Bill Bradley once said, “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” We are sharing the importance of leadership skills with our Compass Community in hopes of helping everyone become strong leaders who will make our world a better place. I strongly encourage all of our scholars, learning coaches, staff, and friends to share what good leadership means to them this month! Welcome, February! Blink, and you may miss something. Luckily this month the blog has a focus on our core value of communication and the many examples of that communication in action (such as our weekly blog posts and news releases)!
This year we have focused on our core values of achievement, respect, teamwork, and integrity. Our scholars shared their accomplishments with us and discussed the importance of respect, teamwork, and integrity. This month, we focus on our fifth and final core value, communication. We’re encouraging scholars, learning coaches and staff to share why they believe that good communication is an important life skill. Communicating with others is an, and perhaps the most, essential part of life. It’s how we express what we need and want, what we believe and how we feel. Communication is also how we listen and learn from others. In general, communication is the process by which information is exchanged between people using a common set of verbal cues, symbols, signs, and behaviors. It’s important that we all understand the basic meaning of communication because it is arguably of the most significant tools that we use to progress in life. Parents and school staff play a very important role in helping children develop healthy communication skills. From a young age, many children learn the basics of communication by learning a simple set of words and sounds, but they also learn other helpful aspects of communication like tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. It’s important to remember that we all learn and refine our understanding of the basic aspects of communication from the role models in our lives. Communication is an essential part of our Compass community. Our teachers and staff are dedicated to modeling good communication skills to help scholars develop their own set of exceptional communication skills. The entire Compass community, including our teachers, scholars, learning coaches and school staff, are dedicated to communicating with each other in a healthy way. This means that we speak to each other kindly, honestly, respectfully and professionally. I strive to model healthy communication skills by being transparent with our staff and families and by listening and acting on the constructive feedback I receive from all of our stakeholders. I am a firm believer in open and honest communication, which is why we have a weekly blog, survey our scholars and learning coaches (thank you scholars for completing our survey in December, and learning coaches for completing our current survey), have a Virtual Suggestion Box for scholars and learning coaches on our website’s homepage, and have a Scholar Leadership Council and Parent Advisory Council. We also have a Staff Advisory Committee, and I host monthly CEO Town Halls with our staff and quarterly Parent Town Halls with the CEO with our learning coaches (thank you to our learning coaches who have joined these town halls this week). These are some of the examples of how I am communicating and receiving communication, and welcome feedback on what is working well, and areas for improvement, to ensure we are transparent in what we do, and always putting the scholar first in the decisions we make. Our team is also dedicated to setting a good example for our scholars as they help them learn about the importance of good communication. Meaningful communication cannot be accomplished without the confidence to express ourselves and the ability to listen to others. Our staff is fully invested in CCS and our scholars, and we will all continue to model healthy communication skills in all that we do, with every stakeholder we engage and interact with. Throughout February, scholars are invited to wear the color green every Friday and on field trips to represent our core value, communication. To further this celebration, scholars are also encouraged to share stories and pictures about modeling good communication in our brief survey, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our scholars to learn why they believe healthy communication skills are important and celebrate this special core value. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and our community prides itself on using meaningful communication! As Benjamin E. Mays once said, “honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of one for the other.” We are sharing the importance of communications skills with our scholars in hopes of helping them express themselves and achieve their goals. I strongly encourage all of our scholars to share what healthy communication means to them this month! Happy New Year and welcome to 2018! I hope all of our scholars and their families enjoyed their Winter Break and are excited about the year ahead.
It’s time for a fresh start and new beginnings. Our staff is ready to help all of our scholars set new goals, create action plans and succeed in their academics and other aspirations. I know that all of our Compass Charter Schools (CCS) staff are truly proud of our scholars’ hard work thus far and look forward to guiding them toward continued success. Earlier this year we focused on our core values of achievement, respect, and teamwork. Our scholars shared their accomplishments with us and discussed the importance of respect and teamwork. This month, we focus on our core value of integrity. We’re encouraging scholars, learning coaches and staff to share what integrity means to them and why it’s important. Having integrity is an essential part of a healthy life. It sets the foundation for our decisions, behavior, opportunities and overall success. In general, integrity means to be honest and demonstrate strong moral principles, which we demonstrate through our words, deeds, and actions. It’s important that we all understand the basic meaning of integrity so that we can behave honestly and ethically. Parents and school staff play a very important role in helping our youth learn about integrity. From a young age, many children learn the basics of integrity by telling the truth, giving to others and returning a lost item to its rightful owner. It’s important to remember that we all learn and refine our understanding of these basic aspects of integrity from the role models in our lives. Integrity is a key part of our Compass community. Our teachers and staff are dedicated to demonstrating integrity toward each other, our scholars and learning coaches. This means that we are kind, honest, respectful and professional toward each other. Personally, I strive to model integrity by being transparent with our staff and families and by listening and acting on constructive feedback. I have created a few ways for stakeholders to receive important, honest, and direct information from me, including our quarterly Parent Town Hall meetings and our monthly Scholar Leadership Counciland Staff Advisory Committee meetings, in addition to our bi-monthly Parent Advisory Council meetings. We have also established a number of board committees, which meet either monthly or bi-monthly, and are open to the public. My motto has always been, if I know, you should know. These are just a few of the ways I am trying to live and model integrity for our Compass family. Our team is also dedicated to setting a good example for our scholars as they help them learn about the importance of integrity. Integrity cannot be accomplished without investment in ourselves and those around us. Our staff is fully invested in CCS and our scholars, and we will all continue to model integrity in all that we do, with every stakeholder we engage and interact with. Throughout January, scholars are invited to wear the color blue every Friday and on field trips to represent our core value, integrity. To further this celebration, scholars are also encouraged to share stories and pictures about modeling integrity in our brief survey, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our scholars to learn about what integrity means to them and celebrate this all-important core value. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and our community prides itself on its integrity! As R. Buckminster Fuller once said, “integrity is the essence of everything successful.” We are sharing the importance of integrity with our scholars in hopes of serving as their compass to guide them in the right direction. I strongly encourage all of our scholars to share what integrity means to them this month! Hello, December! It’s hard to believe that this is the first week of December and the last month of the year. Time flies when you are having fun!
Our Winter Break will be here soon and the first semester of the school year will end shortly after. Our scholars have been participating in their Learning Labs, attending one-on-one sessions with their teachers, and working incredibly hard to succeed in their classes. Our learning coaches have been supporting their scholars by attending Coaches’ Corner sessions and meeting with our teachers during Parent-Teacher Conferences. Earlier this year we focused on our core values of achievement and respect. Our scholars shared their accomplishments with us and explained what respect means to them. This month, it’s all about our core value of teamwork! We’re encouraging scholars, learning coaches and staff to share what teamwork means to them and why it’s important. Teamwork occurs when two or more people work cooperatively to accomplish a common goal. It’s an integral part of life that helps us successfully achieve our goals or responsibilities in a timely manner. Working in teams encourages everyone to combine their knowledge and use their skills to complete tasks and create finished projects. For example, parents are sometimes required to work in teams at their jobs to accomplish business goals. The legal advisor has to work on a team with the financial advisor and the IT advisor. We’re also required to work in teams in our personal lives. Without teamwork, it would be challenging to accomplish anything. It’s essential that scholars understand the importance of teamwork and learn to work with others from an early age. Understanding teamwork will help them achieve their goals throughout their adulthood. This month we are encouraging our learning coaches to talk about teamwork with their scholars and help them successfully work in teams. Later this month, we will share a few different ways that parents can inspire their children to value teamwork. Teamwork is an integral part of the Compass community. Our teachers and staff are passionate about working with each other, our scholars and learning coaches to improve the overall experience at Compass. This means that we join together by listening to each other and taking unified action to enhance our scholars’ experiences. At Compass, we have a few different ways to work in teams. We have our Scholar Leadership Council for scholars, Parent Advisory Council for learning coaches (as well as our Coaches’ Corner sessions), Staff Advisory Committee for staff, and a number of collaborative teams for our staff as well. These are just a few of the ways I am trying to encourage our Compass family to work together in teams to grow our school, especially as Compass is not one individual’s school, but all of ours and these teams allow us to hear from everyone to continue to enhance, expand, and improve the overall Compass experience. Our team is also dedicated to setting a good example for our scholars as they help them learn about the importance of teamwork and how to successfully work with others. Teamwork cannot be accomplished without investment in ourselves and those around us. Our staff is fully invested in CCS and our scholars, and we will all continue to model teamwork in all that we do, with every stakeholder we engage with. Throughout December, scholars are invited to wear the color yellow every Friday and on field trips to represent our core value, teamwork. To further this celebration, scholars are also encouraged to share stories and pictures about teamwork in our brief survey, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our scholars to learn about what teamwork means to them and why it’s an important skill. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and one of the things our community does is work together to achieve success! As Mattie Stephanek once said, “unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” We are sharing the importance of teamwork with our scholars in hopes of guiding them in the right direction. I strongly encourage all of our scholars to share what teamwork means to them this month and to continue working together! Welcome, November! We have reached the halfway point in our first semester!
It has been a busy school year so far and we are not slowing down anytime soon! Our scholars have been working hard in their classes, engaging in scholar clubs and attending our enrichment events, field trips and virtual workshops. Our learning coaches have been doing an amazing job supporting their scholars, meeting with our teachers and participating in our Coaches’ Corner sessions. I know that all of our Compass Charter Schools (CCS) staff is truly enjoying working with, and supporting, our scholars and their families. As I shared last month, this year CCS is focusing on our core values. Throughout October we recognized our core value of achievement by celebrating and sharing our scholars’ accomplishments. We produced two YouTube videos highlighting some of the achievements they shared: A Focus on Achievement and Focused on Achievement. This month, we are recognizing our core value of respect. All month long our scholars are encouraged to share what respect means to them and how they give respect to others. Showing respect for others is an important part of life and there are several different ways that we can show respect. In general, respect means to have “high regard” for something or someone, which we demonstrate through kind words, deeds and actions. It’s important that we all understand the basic meaning of respect so that we can learn how to act and react respectfully. Parents and school staff play a very important role in helping our youth learn about respect. From a young age, many children learn the basics of showing respect by playing nicely and sharing with others, by saying please, thank you and you’re welcome to those around them. It’s important to remember that we all learn and refine our understanding of these basic aspects of respectful behavior from the role models in our lives. Respect is an integral part of our Compass community. Our teachers and staff are passionate about showing respect toward each other, our scholars and learning coaches. This means that we listen to each other, learn more about each other and where our perspectives are coming from, and take action based on what has been shared. Personally, I have an open-door policy for all of our stakeholders, staff, scholars and learning coaches alike. I strive to listen to the feedback being shared, ask clarifying questions to understand where the idea or suggestion is coming from, and see how we can put the idea into action. I have created some other ways for stakeholders to share this input, too, including our Virtual Suggestion Boxes (check out our website and scroll to the bottom of the page), advise our Scholar Leadership Council, and facilitate our Parent Advisory Council. I formed a Staff Advisory Committee at Compass and host a monthly CEO Town Hall with our staff and quarterly Parent Town Halls with the CEO for our parents. These are just a few of the ways I am trying to live and model mutual respect with our Compass family. Our team is also dedicated to setting a good example for our scholars as they help them learn about the importance of respect and how to show respect for others. Respect cannot be accomplished without investment in ourselves and those around us. Our staff is fully invested in CCS and our scholars, and we will all continue to model respect in all that we do, with every stakeholder we engage with. Throughout November, scholars are invited to wear the color red every Friday and on field trips to represent our core value, Respect. To further this celebration, scholars are also encouraged to share stories and pictures about being respectful in our brief survey, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our scholars to learn about what respect means to them and celebrate their kind words, deeds and actions. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and one of the things our community does is respect each other! As Laurence Sterne once said, “respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.” We are sharing the importance of respect with our scholars in hopes of serving as their compass to guide them in the right direction. I strongly encourage all of our scholars to share what respect means to them this month and to continue respecting each other! Hello Scholars and Families!
October is here! I’m excited for cooler temperatures and I’m sure many of you are as well. Our scholars have officially completed the first month of the 2017-18 school year and are off to an amazing start. I know that all of our Compass Charter Schools (CCS) staff are proud of the great work that scholars have done so far and will be doing over the course of this school year. At CCS we have five core values: Achievement, Respect, Teamwork, Integrity and Communication (ARTIC). These serve as our guiding principles for our scholars, learning coaches and staff. Each month this year we are recognizing one of our core values, starting with Achievement. Throughout the month of October scholars are invited to share their special achievements with us and receive recognition. We are excited to celebrate our scholars’ special accomplishments and all of their hard work with the entire Compass community, and beyond. It’s important to consider the process that is often required to achieve our goals. As I’m sure many learning coaches will agree, accomplishing our goals usually doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, our greatest achievements often come after a series of steps including creating a plan, overcoming potential challenges or roadblocks, and learning important life lessons. The journey to achieve our goals often starts with a great idea and a lot of excitement, however we may eventually face doubt and frustration. It’s important for all of us, scholars, learning coaches, and staff, to set goals for our future, create a plan and stay dedicated to achieve that plan. Know that it is OK to veer from the plan, so long as you remember the anticipated end result and work toward achieving those goals. At CCS, every scholar is empowered to accomplish their dreams and we truly believe that their achievements deserve to be celebrated. Throughout October, scholars are invited to wear the color orange every Friday and on field trips to represent our core value, Achievement. To further this celebration, scholars are also encouraged to share stories and pictures of their accomplishments in our brief survey, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We want to hear from all of our scholars to learn about their achievements, share their amazing stories and celebrate their hard work. Being part of CCS is to be part of our Compass community, and one of the things our community does is celebrate each other’s’ successes. We want to celebrate our scholars, this month and every month! As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” We are celebrating scholars’ achievements in hopes of sparking their creativity, and to honor all of their hard work. I strongly encourage all of our scholars to share their achievements this month and celebrate one another! Welcome Back Compass Charter Schools!
I am so excited that the new school year has officially started. Over the summer our staff worked tirelessly to prepare for a fantastic new school year and they are ready to serve all of our scholars in the best way possible. The new school year offers everyone the opportunity to set new goals, learn new things, create more friendships, and have plenty of fun! One of our many goals at CCS is to offer scholars an enriching learning experience both inside and outside the classroom. Scholars at CCS have access to a variety of resources to extend their academic experience including scholar clubs, the Scholar Leadership Council, field trips, and much more. The CCS blog is another great resource that offers tips and advice for both our homeschooling families and online learners. We also have some exciting contests planned, including our current Spirit Song Contest, so I encourage all of our scholars and families to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube to stay engaged and participate. In addition, our website is the best place to view all of our upcoming events and activities. I invite all of our scholars and their families to take full advantage of the amazing resources that CCS has available to enhance their educational journey. Last month CCS hosted Welcome Back Nights for our Online Elementary School, Middle School, High School and Options Program to share important information, including details about our upcoming Back-to-School Picnics, with our scholars and learning coaches. I encourage all of our scholars and their families to review these sessions so that everyone is aware of the important changes and exciting plans that we are launching this year. Here at CCS we are truly dedicated to helping every scholar achieve success. We are proud to offer scholars and their families flexible academic programs that best fit their personal preferences. I have seen first-hand how passionate our staff is about guiding scholars and working with learning coaches to create an enriching learning experience. We are proud to offer scholars a committed Special Education Team that supports scholars’ day-to-day learning and guides learning coaches throughout their child’s academic journey. We are also proud to offer scholars a devoted Counseling Team that helps them plan their educational path, succeed in their classes, and prepare for life after graduation through a college and career readiness program. As American astrophysicist, Neil Degrasse Tyson once said, “there is no greater education than one that is self-driven.” We believe this to be true at CCS and that’s why we’re on a mission to inspire and develop innovative, creative, self-directed learners, one scholar at a time. I encourage all of our scholars and their families to take advantage of all the resources and unique learning opportunities that CCS has to offer. The first week of the new school year is here, so again, Welcome Back, Scholars! I want our scholars and learning coaches to rest assured that every CCS staff member is dedicated to supporting you. We are excited and ready for this school year and we know you are too! My week back on campus is quickly coming to an end. It is hard to believe that I have only been in Mt. Pleasant since this past Sunday, and in a few days head back out to California. And perhaps even harder to believe that I have officially started this journey towards a new way of thinking.
Speaking of a new way of thinking, today was an enlightening day. In my group I served as the moderator for an interesting exercise - talking about the role of governance and emergency management, through the eyes of philosophers of old. Our group shared insight through the lens of Ben Franklin, Francis Bacon, Immanual Kant, Zeno, Confucius, and Descartes. We talked about the type of governance these individuals would endorse, what role the state should play in education, whether public education is too big to fail, and a curve ball, their reaction to the current state of education in Michigan. What you see through this exercise is the difficulty it is to see the world around you in a restrictive lens. They could only base their responses based on what they knew at that time. It shows what it really means to bring the world into perspective. A question I posed on twitter was, who are the philosophers of our time? Feel free to answer here or on twitter. We also spent some time reflecting on tribal leadership, power and influence, and the five (5) components of social change. These are all based on perception, really, and how you interact and react to those perceptions. Where one individual may see a certain type of power, another may view it completely differently. What is important here in understanding the many types of power and influence, and the ways they impact social change. This week has stretched some of my beliefs, and opened up my eyes to other beliefs. I know this new journey is going to challenge the way I think and the way I see the world around me. I am thrilled to be on this journey, to learn and grow with my cohort of scholars, and see how we are able to shape the world around us. |
AuthorJ.J. Lewis - a blog sharing the journey throughout SDSU's MA.EL. program. Archives
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