Huddles and Meetings

It goes without saying that communication is important.  In addition to our use of the application Slack, which has cut our internal email down dramatically, we like traditional face-to-face meetings in order to connect.  Our Academic Leadership Team has three types of meetings: (1) A Daily Huddle; (2) A Weekly Meeting; and (3) A President's Council Meeting.  

The Daily Huddle is comprised of myself, our Principal, and our Director of Wholeness.  This is a meeting of no more than 10 - 15 minutes in length where we check in and talk through any special events of the day.  We try our best to stand during these morning meetings to keep the blood flowing.  This huddle is operational in nature. 

Our Weekly Meeting is where we look at the week and review events.  We allot about 60 minutes for this meeting which ensures that we have plenty of opportunity to dialogue and reconnect.  These weekly meetings are more tactical in nature.

Finally, our Academic Leadership Team combines with other heads-of-departments to form our President's Council.  This is where we talk about larger school issues and where we test out ideas.  Most importantly, we have an opportunity to support and align with one another once collective decisions are made.  These meetings are also an hour long and are strategic in nature.  

We take a copious amount of notes and keep a running agenda.  This ensures that the meetings do not become cumbersome.  An agenda-less meeting is a recipe for unnecessarily lengthy meetings!  

Huddle Break

At the end of every huddle or meeting, we "break" in the same way that sports teams do.  The last member of the team to place their hand in the middle has to give "the word" that everyone will repeat with enthusiasm after the count off.  Also, each team member has to hold their weight.  This fun little ritual ensures some levity and positivity is always a part of our gatherings.

Words and Phrases: A Lexicon of Sayings at School

Here's an ongoing lexicon of words and phrases we use at Cristo Rey De La Salle High School that we use with intentionality.

Glows: Appropriated from the Summit Learning Network to identify positive attributes that we wish to highlight and reinforce.

Grows: Also appropriated from the Summit Learning Network to identify the challenges that we need to overcome in order to get to the next level.

Little by little / paso a paso: A phrase used by our Enrollment Manager to remind ourselves that we'll achieve our goals, little by little.  

We'll Make It Happen: Another catchphrase by our Enrollment Manager.

Huddle:  A quick 5 - 10 minute meeting to go over essential details of an event, to discuss items of concern, or to talk about recurring issues which need special attention.

Run of Show: A cue-to-cue sequence or detail of an event. 

Feedback is Gold: We are working on becoming a community that can analyze and synthesize data through surveys about our processes and programs.

We Hear You: Words often spoken in a circle, a communal, or a prayerful context by those present to affirm the speaker.

Assume Positive Intent: Consider that a person's actions or words are well-meaning.  That said, there are times in which unintentional actions or words, or bias needs to be addressed.

Correct: Interestingly, my coworkers remarked that I tend to use this term quite frequently in place of a simple yes.

I Appreciate You: Most people seem to say "I appreciate it" where "it" refers to the action that somebody may have undertaken for another.  Replacing "it" with "you" wonderfully acknowledges who is undertaking the action.  Our former Director of School Culture introduced this to us.

EOD / EOB: Stands for "End-of-day" and "End-of-business" to cue folks to respond to an ask before same.  

RBO: A locally developed term which stands for "Relationship Building Opportunities" a way of reframing supervision to make it a positive opportunity for adults to build relationships and community with the students entrusted to their care.

New Language

Part of our new "way of doing school" involves retiring old language.  Old language handcuffs us to old ways of doing things.  This is not to say that traditional approaches to education aren't without merit.  We are simply committing to approaching schooling in a new way.  New language allows us to unlock new possibilities.  

For instance, we've reframed "proctoring" and "prefecting" assignments.  Rather than thinking of them as mere supervision of certain spaces, we've rechristened them "RBO" or "Relationship Building Opportunities."  Truly, they are opportunities for our faculty, administration, and staff to bond with our students during those time periods between classes.

New language also permeates our curriculum and instruction practices.  For instance, we've retired our "Religion" and "Theology" classes and we now call them "Catholic Studies" as a way of attending to our unique Lasallian Catholic identity within the Cristo Rey Network.  

Our classroom spaces are reflective of the instructional modality that happens most frequently.  So, traditional direct instruction is called "Guided Learning," while group work is called "Collaborative Learning."  Finally, "Leveled Learning" is where students can work independently with our personalized learning platforms to "level up" in the same way that video game players "level up" their characters in their games.  

In Praise of Dance

In Praise of Dancing by Saint Augustine

I praise the dance, for it frees people
From the heaviness of matter
And binds the isolated to community.

I praise the dance, which demands everything:
Health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.

Dance is the transformation of space, of time, of people,
Who are in constant danger of becoming all brain, will or feeling.

Dancing demands the whole person,
One who is firmly anchored in the center of his life,
Who is not obsessed by lust for people and things
And the demon of isolation in his own ego.

Dancing demands a freed person,
One who vibrates
With the balance of all his powers.

I praise the dance.

O People, learn to dance,
or else the angels in heaven
Will not know what to do with you.

Academic Explorations: Media Literacy: Toxic Masculinity

Original Gillette Short Film

Today Show Response

Jesse Dollemore Response

Fox Business Response

Academic Explorations: Media Literacy: Social Media

Marshall Davis Jones - Touchscreen

Pressures of Social Media on Teen Girls