Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Welcome stem stories, Mr Ewing.
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A magical unicorn year.
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That's what we're headed into.
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That's actually what we headed out of in the spring,
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but it's definitely where we're headed in the fall.
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I want to read something to you.
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A really good friend of mine.
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Rachel sent me a letter.
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Um, I'm not sure who originally wrote this and and
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where it originated from, but it resonated with me because
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we really need to think about this 20 21 school
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year as a magical unicorn year.
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As we ponder our schools choices and move through the
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faces of grieving for the future year, I have decided
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that next year will be a magical unicorn year.
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What is a magical unicorn year, you ask?
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A magical year.
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Unicorn year is a year like no other.
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Like unicorn.
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These years are unexpected, rarely occur and bring un proceed
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adventures. Naming the 2021 academic year in this way is
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allowing me to accept the world in which we have
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been thrown into and also prepare for the UN anticipated
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as an educator, I recognized this year can not in
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any way resemble the traditional year of instruction.
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Our schools and universities.
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Air rightly focused on logistics that will keep us safe
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and healthy as possible, providing meals to those who need
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them. Considering the number of students on buses determining the
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frequency of cleaning, ensuring access to technology Until these needs
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are met, effective learning cannot be experienced.
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If I come to the table thinking anything else, my
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year will be filled with constant disappointment and frustration.
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And I agree with this most of it.
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I actually believe that as thinking of you as unicorns,
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we actually have an opportunity to provide effective learning in
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this environment.
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And in the next 10 videos I'm gonna walk you
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through the components of making a magical unicorn here.
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But let's talk about what it means to be a
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magical unicorn year.
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I know when this all hit us in the spring,
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it reminded me of Dante's warning in, uh, the divine
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comedy abandoned all hope ye who enter here.
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And that was the sign over the basically the gates
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of hell.
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And a lot of us did feel that way.
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And unfortunately I think some of us felt that way
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through the whole spring.
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Some of us didn't and some of us really started
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to think about how we can transform education in this
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environment of virtual learning, and I really want to warn
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us to not use the word remote.
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Look up the definition of low.
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And although it does think about distance, it also denotes
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loneliness. And we shouldn't have a year of remote learning.
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I want us to really think about virtual learning, and
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I'm going to talk about what that actually defines us
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in a couple of other than videos.
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But I want to also say I'm going to probably
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say some things that is going to spark emotion.
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You. Hopefully it expects Excite sparks excitement, so expect excited.
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I can't speak.
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But for some of you it's gonna actually sparks of
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anger or some frustration.
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And I had a really good friend of mine, explained
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to me that people and things do not cause our
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emotions. We choose our emotions.
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So if something I say or do sparks this emotion
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in you, I want you to stop and really reflect
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what is being brought up within you.
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And that's really important to, you know, reflect as a
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educator and a professional and a guide, a coach a
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leader that we reflect on what is inside us, not
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what's being said around us.
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Um, I really hope that that helps turn some of
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your frustrations into inspiration.
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Another thing I want you to a completely throw away.
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All your perceptions of best practice were in an environment
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that magical unicorn year, where all these preconceived ideas of
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what's best for our students or our scholars it's kind
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of getting thrown out because I think for the first
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time in education, were actually understanding that our scholars are
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incredibly, incredibly flexible.
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They are learners from a completely different generation than we've
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ever seen, and they are resilient.
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They're actually guiding through this process better than we are,
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I think, and we need to know where they're at
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and scaffold them where they're at, not where we think
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there at not were we be at.
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I think if we as educators at of a certain
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age, if we had to do this, we would crumble.
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And I think that's why a lot of us is.
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Educators have had had such a hard time with this
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because we're putting our perception in on what it must
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feel like for the students.
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Let's get the students involved, some of them that a
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lot of students I've talked to outside of the class
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actually really like enjoyed it.
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And a lot of kids that I've seen struggle in
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the classroom have blossomed in this environment, So let's figure
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out how we can do it better for them.
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So the magical Unicorn Year.
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I want to read another piece of this letter this
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letter like, resonated so much with me.
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Um, naming the upcoming year.
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A magical unicorn year has also provide.
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Provide me with the freedom to think differently about my
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health, my family employment in my daughter's school.
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What will I prioritize?
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What boundaries voice.
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How will I be involved for me?
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I hope that many of these questions will allow me
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to live.
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A more balanced life in which I am able to
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be a piece was by sometimes competing roles as mom
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and academic.
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We're gonna talk about later, and some of the later
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videos on how that balances Sochi and collaboration, and our
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profession is paramount to having that balance.
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2020 1920 20 or 2019 2020 school year.
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I think we all did a good job.
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But I think all of us could have done a
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great job if we had had the right tools.
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And hopefully I'm gonna be providing you with some of
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these tools to help you do an amazing job taking
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that light bulb out from outside 2020 and putting it
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in putting that light bulb of innovation, that light bulb
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of inspiration and that light bulb of doing amazing work
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so that we can have amazing scholars.
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Because you know what?
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I firmly believe this.
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I've seen it on T shirts and means and everything
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that my superpower, I'm a teacher.
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Your teacher, your and I.
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I really like the word educator bear than teacher.
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Actually, I like the word coach or guide better than
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teacher. I feel like teacher denotes that person standing in
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front of the classroom where educator, coach or guide, is
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someone who leads the learning or inspires the learning or
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puts the learning out there and then just gets out
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of the way.
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So magical Unicorn Year.
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Want to read a little bit more of this letter
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because it's so good.
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I know that the next year will not be easy
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and simply naming it differently will not change the choices
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I have or minimize the loss.
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I feel I know that I need to continually come
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to grips of the reality of many things.
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Unrealized dreams, changes in social socialization, minimal travel in the
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likelihood that this fallen winter may bring us back to
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the world we experienced in spring 2020 and we know
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that's happening.
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But here is where the magical Unicorn Year comes in.
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Perhaps I can frame this year in a way that
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celebrates the unexpected and unforeseen.
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I have an opportunity to experience and appreciate the moments
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that would not have otherwise been afforded me.
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And I believe that statement wholeheartedly has exemplified where I'm
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at and where you could be at two.
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And hopefully you're getting there.
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And if not, you're already there because you're that magic
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unicorn for your scholars.
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And just because they may not be there in your
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room or may not be there in the classroom there,
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they're there, there with you and by doing some very
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simple things.
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You can actually make it a magical unicorn unicorn year
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for your scholars as well.
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You need to embrace that superhuman that you are being
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an educator is one of the world's greatest gifts, and
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we need to embrace it.
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And one of those gifts that we get is to
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be pliable and to be flexible and to look at
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changes, not something horrible on bad, but as a way
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that we get to be better as educators.
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Isn't that our job that every day we be better
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and that we are able to change work asking our
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students to do this all the time?
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We're asking our students to take risks, to collaborate, to
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communicate, do all these things that now we're being asked
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to do it and were kind of afraid.
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But our students are afraid when we asked him to
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do it.
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So we need to step up.
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We need to actually do and model what we're asking
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our scholars to do, and that's being that superhuman teacher.
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So that magical unicorn your we got this.
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You got this, and by taking on the responsibility, you
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can actually be a leader and lead what's going on
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in your building.
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So here's what we're gonna cover in these videos.
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1st 1 the magical unicorn here redefining the plaster, redefining
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the learner finding your voice, understanding what environmental learning spaces
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look like.
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Collaborative dialogue really important.
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A quick understanding on how our brains and our scholars
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brings work, the importance of break time and play time,
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how we pull it all together.
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And then that last piece.
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And this is how we find balance in our world
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is collaborating as a team as a school or clamouring
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outside that year, that part so very last part of
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this letter, as my girls shared with me Mom.
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Each unicorn is special in its own way, as we
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all are, everyone's magical unicorn year will be different For
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some unicorns.
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Some things may be easier and some things maybe harder,
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but in the end we will all pull through it.
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These words expressed by my eight and 11 year old
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daughters will guide this year for me and keep me
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grounded in whatever matters to this academic mama.
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I would really love to know who wrote this letter.
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If you do reach out to May, because I want
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to make sure that Mom and that educator is celebrated
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for inspiring me to be better and hopefully inspire you
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to be your best, a magical unicorn here