Nice article. I've read a lot about trees helping each other out and that being a metaphor but I'm curious on whether you have real-life examples of this whether you're able to observe resilience in communities grow. Would love your thoughts!
Hi Ian. Thanks for the comment! In education, we often separate content areas, ensuring each stands alone. It becomes my class vs your class. My kids vs. your kids. In reality, it should be our kids and our classes. I see education as a community endeavor. So my goal is to get these different departments talking, sharing, and ultimately collaborating. This is where the growth happens. Connections take shape, the support structure grows deeper, and people begin to see that just because they are a math teacher, it doesn't mean that they can't learn/support an English teacher. When this happens, your community becomes healthier, it becomes more about "we" and less about "me."
Beautiful response. One follow up question, how have you been able to take this mindset into your own personal life? I feel like this mindset lends itself well to building community and having a stronger "we" mentality but I assume that there are challenges since friends/neighbors/community don't have the same structures and/or require the same obligations that students have to their schools. What do you think?
That’s a great question and I really wish I had a strong answer for you but I don’t. It’s one thing to attempt to build the “we” mindset in a school setting, but it’s a whole other animal talking about the larger community. Frankly, I think most people are lonely in the outside world. We are more “connected” than ever via technology but more disconnected from meaningful connections. I find that I gravitate towards people with similar values for lack of a better term, in regards to the type of life I want to live and the deeper connections I want to have. It’s almost impossible when everyone is so busy and it seems like most people are content with surface-level and “me” driven decisions.
Nice article. I've read a lot about trees helping each other out and that being a metaphor but I'm curious on whether you have real-life examples of this whether you're able to observe resilience in communities grow. Would love your thoughts!
Hi Ian. Thanks for the comment! In education, we often separate content areas, ensuring each stands alone. It becomes my class vs your class. My kids vs. your kids. In reality, it should be our kids and our classes. I see education as a community endeavor. So my goal is to get these different departments talking, sharing, and ultimately collaborating. This is where the growth happens. Connections take shape, the support structure grows deeper, and people begin to see that just because they are a math teacher, it doesn't mean that they can't learn/support an English teacher. When this happens, your community becomes healthier, it becomes more about "we" and less about "me."
Beautiful response. One follow up question, how have you been able to take this mindset into your own personal life? I feel like this mindset lends itself well to building community and having a stronger "we" mentality but I assume that there are challenges since friends/neighbors/community don't have the same structures and/or require the same obligations that students have to their schools. What do you think?
That’s a great question and I really wish I had a strong answer for you but I don’t. It’s one thing to attempt to build the “we” mindset in a school setting, but it’s a whole other animal talking about the larger community. Frankly, I think most people are lonely in the outside world. We are more “connected” than ever via technology but more disconnected from meaningful connections. I find that I gravitate towards people with similar values for lack of a better term, in regards to the type of life I want to live and the deeper connections I want to have. It’s almost impossible when everyone is so busy and it seems like most people are content with surface-level and “me” driven decisions.
If I ever figure how to do it with my community, I'll make sure to get back to you. It's a fun challenge.
Thank you for your thoughtful response, you make the internet small and better.
Hi Nate,
Thank you for this post. We'd like to use your graphic in a newsletter. Please email me at admin@soulcultivators.org
Thank you