Mr. Blystone’s Classroom
Truth. Love. Hope.
Know Thyself… then Love Thyself.
In class, we tackle some of life’s toughest questions. We engage in this type of work because we believe that emotional and behavioral disabilities (i.e. deficiencies) can be overcome when we anchor values into our identities that allow us to accept, forgive, trust, and love ourselves again. But in order to do this work, we MUST first know ourselves… what makes us tick, what triggers us, where we come from, and why we’re here. Once we start down this path of healing and restoration, we rediscover the desire to live accordingly. From “Orthodoxy” (i.e. correct/right belief aka truth) to “Orthopraxy” (i.e. correct/right practice aka love) to Orthopathy (i.e. correct/right experience, aka hope). This is the work we are engaged in… and we are all better for it.
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THE MEANING OF LIFE is to DISCOVER Your Gifts (strengths, talents, passions, values, etc.)
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THE WORK OF LIFE is to DEVELOP Your Gifts (study, practice, invest, experiment, etc.)
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THE PURPOSE OF LIFE is to DISTRIBUTE Your Gifts (legacy, family, career, service, etc.)
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THE SECRET OF LIFE is to know thyself, then love thyself. This allows us to love what we do, who we do it with, and who we do it for.
A Personal Note…
This is my fifth year as a full-time teacher in an EBD Special Education classroom (9-12) at Marinette High School, and we primarily focus on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Character and Leadership Development (CLD).
To prepare our students, we utilize curricula such as Habitudes and Seven (7) Mindsets, along with a range of carefully selected talks, lessons, and projects that address College, Career, & Community Readiness (CCCR) and Entrepreneurship & Employability Skills Training (EEST). Having said that, we integrate teaching, practicing/demonstrating, and assessing (including self-assessments) our students on three (3) competency axes: 1) Knowledge (Learn), 2) Skills (Do), and 3) Aptitude (Be).
Put another way, I teach vocabulary, then concepts, then demonstrate and model behaviors, and then students practice and demonstrate those skills. In an effort to track, measure, and assess our students in their ability to meet these expectations (i.e., standards, competencies, etc.), our students complete lesson reflections, Daily Journals, and track their own growth using our Nine (9) Super Statements Self-Assessment tool, and I assess using a Daily Employability Scorecard rubric. These are all tied to SEL, CLD, EEST, and CCCR standards, competencies, and principles. For more information about how these are mapped and how they relate to one another, please visit https://theleadercharter.com/.
