In the 12 Guiding Principles to Guide Professional Conversations, the main standouts for me is: Authenticity and Bravery.

Being “Authentic” in a classroom brings an honesty and trust between the teacher and students, as well as student and student. This helps with building a community of different identities and experiences. It helps with learning from each other and sharing about ourselves in a safe space.

This also goes hand-in-hand with being “Brave”. Sometimes, it is not easy to share our true selves. In my experience, my Middle School students are embarrassed or not confident with a spotlight upon them.

I try to model being authentic/brave in the classroom. I hope to instill a sympathetic and caring family atmosphere-to support and understand each other and to build strong relationships. I have the privilege of being with/teaching the same students for three years. Accompanying them and watching the growth of each one is a true gift. I find that we all learn from each other.

A few takeaways from this study is to reflect as a school about things we do regarding the complex identities of our students/community. We have an obligation to uplift all students’ sense of self. In education, we need to prepare students for the complex world and empower them to be successful. We hope they make meaningful contributions through self-awareness. I plan to share the information from this book club study with my colleagues. I also plan to use the information in the classroom to help prepare my students for a future where the can learn to live together and help others belong.

The 2 guiding principles that stand out to me are dignity and forgiveness. If each person in the community honors each other and treats them with respect, that is the base to develop real relationships. Forgiveness is so important because everybody screws up and we need to be able to repair the relationships.

The takeaways from this study I want to implement are giving students more opportunities to use choice in assignments that encourage them use their unique gifts and celebrate their identities and to include narrative writing in their studies to express and support their identities.

The 2 principles that have the most meaning for me are dignity and forgiveness. While all of the principles are crucial for conversations, it has been my experience that when I am treated with dignity and treat others with dignity, conversations have far more meaning. I am able to listen and learn most effectively when I am fully aware of the dignity of the other(s). It is not always easy for me to take in information from others who I have little in common with. What I have learned on both the personal and professional level is that in recognizing the inherent dignity in others, I am allowing myself to grow, learn and to be closer in community with others.

I also believe that forgiveness is critical! It is difficult and challenging to build relationships/community with others, while harboring and/or holding on to conversations/events, etc. that have been personally and/or professionally hurtful. I have to remind myself at times, that I fully expect God to forgive me for my shortcomings so I should not withhold forgiveness from others. This can be difficult, but necessary to move forward.

I do have to include authenticity in my top 3. I believe that being one’s true self is critical when it comes to relationships and the individual’s sense and value of their self. I believe that people, especially students, know when one is not being authentic which can result in a lack of trust for the other.

The course (including the text, reflections, readings, and recordings) has been helpful as school communities have, and continue to struggle with identity. While engaged in the course content I often found myself wondering about the identity of faculty, staff, parents? I believe that the struggle with student identity, is as times, a reflection of the fact, that adults often aren’t aware of their authentic identity. Identity is not static, and I believe an issue with are challenged with throughout our lives. As a result of the book club, I am more focused on what to be more attentive to when it comes to my students and my community as we journey together to become the people God is calling us to be.

My thanks to all!

1. I think that the two principles that are most important for our school community this coming year are bravery and generosity. Our school has begun the work of naming our own individual identities, but I think a certain level of bravery is needed for us to then face the challenges of “what comes next?” This is work that I also need to be prepared to do, and I am hopeful that by modeling it in conversations with colleagues and also with students that it can further our conversation. I think our school community needs to embrace generosity because there are many different roles on campus, and most certainly we don’t all understand the intricacies of what someone else is trying to accomplish or manage in their role. Approaching each other with a sense of generosity and assuming the best intentions would be a helpful place for us to start.

2. My first key takeaway is that identities are always evolving. I am realizing that in the past I have said “I am x, y, z” and held that as though it would always be true. I think continuing the conversation with students but also with other adults about how there are pieces of our identity that continue to shift has been an important point of learning for me.

Our school community undertook a big change with the implementation of our House system two years ago. I appreciated the checklist about why change might fail (p. 137-138) and it is causing me to think about how I might frame conversations more skillfully for the adult advisors who are members of my House. I want to be a committed participant in the change and to emphasize the collaborative nature of that change rather than the individual.