We are at the bottom of the 9th in this school year and for the next five weeks, let’s consider how to finish well.

As teachers and parents, when we round the last bend, we need a tough tenderness to squeeze the last bits of hope and growth from each day. 

My world is filled with teams right now! Everywhere I look, I can see teamwork spilling out onto the pages of my life. I can see it in family, classrooms, professional relationships, humanitarian work, athletics, and academics.

My big kids and their cousins are all competing and performing. The little one’s dance class performed in ensemble for the first time last weekend. My students are competing and performing in everything from Battle of the Books to the spring “Leo the Lion” creative arts performance. I’m working on preparing for Niteo Team 2015 and our humanitarian trip to Uganda. The Builder and I have professional teams that are navigating the rapid pace of change in our 21st Century culture.

What I know for sure:

Teamwork is choosing to belong with others.
Choosing our teams wisely is how we intentionally shape our lives.
Children are practicing teamwork in many facets.
Teamwork is the most powerful force for creativity and changemaking in the world.

1. Family is a child’s first team.

Children identify with their first team: their family. The hearts in our family are knit together as we do life in concert. As a mom, I know no one can love my children as much as I do. We are a team. So, we use teamwork language for our “Family Team.” We talk about cheering, working together, and team norms. We schedule team meetings to talk about the practices and big games of life. We are creating team in our homes.

2. Even our broken families can bring life!

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to get to know some new friends. As we related, one successful and gorgeous woman told me about her difficult experiences as a child in a fatherless existence with an older sister who courageously took on the hands-on parenting role while her mom worked three jobs. At the end of her story, I struggled to connect how a woman from such a broken background could lead such a successful life. She told me, “Hope. Karine, all we need is hope.”

Cultivating hope is always the greatest contribution we can make to our team.

3. Teamwork between parents and educators supports the transformation of children.

No one can do it alone. It takes a village. My soul experiences a drink of great love when parents and educators come together to share hearts for the sake of the children. I know it takes time. No one has much time. But, that’s why Learn Forward is so revolutionary, because we focus on what matters most. This week, in my office, as Chief Learning Officer of Willowstone Academy, I sat with a family with some big questions. We held a space of hopefulness and shared mission to see the transformation of a child. We shared our experiences and exchanged ideas. It was the table of learning and it was life-giving.

I know I will have this opportunity several more times before the end of the year, as we work towards all that remains. Let’s reach towards team with tough tenderness.

4. Teamwork is how we cultivate belonging and changemaking.

We can only change the world together! We can only be together if we choose togetherness! We can choose togetherness by bravely accepting each other as we are.

Then, we will change the world.

Hope

Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope-

the piece of ground from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it might be, as it will be; the place from which you glimpse not only struggle, but joy in the struggle- and we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see.
-Victoria Stafford

Look ahead at your schedule this week. Look for the places you can see opportunities to choose teamwork! What powerful intention can you set for how you want to show up? How can you most nobly honour your team? What teamwork experiences are percolating for your child right now? How can you use teamwork language to support your child to learn and reflect on those experiences?

For the sake of the children,
Karine