Highlights from an extended philosophical discussion with a Chrysalis teacher six days before school started. She asked me what feelings I had about Chrysalis changing over the years. Was I disappointed that where we are now is very different from where we were at the beginning? After reflection I replied that I didn’t really have a strong sense of what Chrysalis would look like when we started the school. I had a sense of what I wanted the school to feel like but not what it would look like. We set up the school to have the least pre-ordained structure and the maximum flexibility possible. What appealed to me was setting up something malleable that could be shaped by the accumulating experience of learning and teaching, and by the world’s response to what we were doing. What would emerge? What would the organization learn from this continual shaping?
As Laura and I explored this topic, we came to realize that a great example of this institutional learning is our mission statement. Initially there was no mission statement and our first one was mine having to do with cultivating upward spirals – a statement which most of the people involved with the school didn’t really understand; so it wasn’t really a mission statement. But what has emerged in the last few years is a statement that includes “encouraging the light within each student to shine brighter.” That is simple, accurate, and powerful. Laura talked about all the schools she has taught at that had mission statements but she can’t remember them and they didn’t really have any influence within the school. But she joked that our mission statement is “encouraging the light within each student to shine brighter – and we really mean it.” She commented that every staff member understands that statement and that it guides them in their interactions every day. She thought it was why the teachers so willingly work far beyond what is expected of teachers.
This led me to reflect on the difference between a school oriented by test scores and by the light within. If you are oriented by test scores, then most of the year you are guided by concern/fear of something that lies in the future. There is no assurance that what happens today will translate into that future goal. There is always a sense of “not enough.” You don’t know what the questions will be on the test so you must keep trying, keep trying to cover everything. The only “success” is receiving test scores a few months after your students have left. But if you orient by encouraging the light within, you experience accomplishment many times a day. The first path can wear you down with stress while the second path renews you constantly.
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