Change

Irony: Mr. McNamar giving the Steppingstone Faculty Talk this morning on the topic of "Fear Not: Change." I like routine. For instance, this morning I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm clock went off, showered, dressed, made my lunch, left the house at 6:30, stopped at Starbucks and ordered a Grande, non-fat, extra-hot latte and a cinammon scone. That has been my summer routine. Should an unexpected event disrupt that routine, I will suffer a great deal of mental anxiety and stress.
My Rising 9th graders will experience great change in a month's time. They will all enter high school, which is certainly much different from middle school. For some of those scholars, the experience will change dramatically as they will be leaving Hartford Public Schools to attend some of Connecticut's top independent prep schools where they will be reminded at every moment that they aren't in Hartford anymore. But even for those students remaining in HPS, I suppose their 14 months with our program should have created such a drastic change in their approach to school that they should stand out academically from their peers.
I intend to use a dollar bill as an analogy. You see, a dollar bill has value, but it isn't always useful in that form. Consequently, there are times when one must change a dollar bill for coins. The value remains the same, but the outward appearance changes. For our scholars, I want them to understand that change doesn't mean losing their identity or their value, it can simply meen adapting their new surroundings in a useful way.