after ringing the bell (photo by Ben Garver)
Each year, I am reminded that the first month of the school year can be the most influential and critical time for students, setting the tone for the year ahead while forecasting (most importantly in their eyes) how the rest of the year will go. The promise of a new school year always excites me, and the resilient and inspiring energy of the children and the teachers during this time is moving as they return to begin new classes and (re)discover new teachers and friends.
We all want to connect with others, feel capable, and know that we count. The prospects for success and growth are especially accessible and significant for everyone in our school community in September.
All of us – educators and parents – can be mindful of this and do all that we can to envision and intentionally begin each year anew and invest in the relationships that will define the quality of the home-school partnership. It is our shared mission to help every student succeed and feel successful in tangible, substantial, and meaningful ways. All students (and learners of all ages) desire and deserve to feel good about themselves as individuals, learners, and community members.
The beginning of the year is truly an exciting and fertile time filled with the promise of success and positive achievement: academically, socially, physically, creatively, emotionally, musically, etc. BCD’s vibrant community of dedicated and talented teachers and parents can all work together to ensure that our appraisal of each child during the first few weeks is sincere and meaningful, based upon authentic examples of their efforts and abilities as learners, individuals, and community members. We can work together to help them frame and/or re-frame their sense of themselves while bolstering their confidence and excitement about the learning process and the year ahead.
It has been a terrific week working with our amazing teachers (returning and new) as they bring enthusiasm and commitment to our students, each other, and our school. We all enjoyed welcoming our new students and families earlier today, and I’m so eager to greet everyone on Tuesday. Please join me and embrace a shared vision for the start of a new school year at BCD while supporting our value of community, “…where we all invest in the success and well-being of each other.”
