Bricks and Mortar

My heart literally skipped a beat at the statement "What matters is the mortar, not just the bricks."  I watched that section over and over as I evaluated how this concept is manifested in my building.  Teachers have a common planning period, often used for meetings and parent phone calls, rarely used for common planning.  They have a common lunchtime, when they scarf down their meal in 15 minutes so they can get another assignment graded.  A lot of lip service is given to self-care, especially during the pandemic. But how do we put it into practice? And better yet, how to we turn that concept into team-care, or staff-care?  Even when opportunities are offered, like after school yoga or a 'happy hour' on Friday night, very few people participate.  

Now I'm thinking about student teams.  Margaret Heffernan refers to time being an essential component to building trust and social bonds between team members, but how often do teachers let the same team work together throughout the year? I never did. 

This video gave me goosebumps thinking about the possible ways to use this new information to enhance the lives of both teachers and students! 

TED. (2015, June 16). Margaret Heffernan: Why it's time to forget the pecking order at work [Video].