If you have been a reader of this blog, you might remember that, years ago, my good friend and educational leader Sean Gaillard (author of The Pepper Effect – great reading for any and all Beatles fans and educators!) introduced me to the idea of #OneSong to define a year which developed into the idea of a mixtape to define a year which morphed into the concept of a playlist to define a year
Annually now, I put together a playlist to lead me with energy, optimism and enthusiasm into the upcoming school year.
If you want to listen as you read, HERE is my playlist!
- A Head Full of Dreams – Coldplay
As we begin this new year with – one hopes – fewer pressures than we had last year, my hope is that we all have aspirations and heads full of dreams… that’s the way to begin any new venture, especially a new school year!
- Found/Tonight – Ben Platt & Lin-Manuel Miranda
Our students are looking for many things, no matter their age, no matter who they are, no matter what came before this year. They are looking for their narrative, for their identity and they are looking for it right now. It is part of our job as educators – and a very important one at that – to help them find it. Right now. Tonight.
- Dirty Work – Steely Dan
Some of what we do this year will feel like dirty work. And we won’t want to do it. But we will… because that’s who we are. That’s what we do.
- Find Your Way Back– Beyonce
During the course of the year, we all get lost. Our students find themselves in shadow. We discover we had a plan that went off the rails. We are down roads we never thought we would go. It’s in those times we need to remember that we can (and WILL!) find our way back.
- Hundreds of Stories – Lin-Manuel Miranda
Hundreds of stories? THOUSANDS. We will encounter thousands. Let’s hear as many as we can.
- Lovely Day – Bill Withers
Having a mindset that each day is gift and each day is lovely can only help in the work we do.
- September – Earth, Wind and Fire
In minutes, it will be September… and I love the fall and the joyful expression of it in this song!
- Shake It Off– Taylor Swift
The defeats will come. The days that are longer than we feel they should be. The situations that we never could anticipate and don’t want to handle. The slights – perceived and real – will challenge us. There are many reactions when these things happen. One of them will be to shake them off.
- Show Me What I’m Looking For – Carolina Liar
All of us who are educators are looking for meaning in this work. One of the reasons last year was so hard for me (and, I think, for many teachers) was some of the meaning was subsumed in dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. I think many of us will be looking for more from the work this year. I certainly will.
- This Is It – Kenny Loggins
Here comes the school year. We get ONE 2021-2022 shot at it. This. Is. It.
- We Take Care of Our Own – Bruce Springsteen
If there is one thing I believe we are called to do as educators, it’s to take care of our students. If there is one thing I am called to do as a principal, it’s to take care of this faculty I serve.