Michigan Regional Teacher Development Manager, Misha Stredrick discusses making sustainable change with a positive shift in leadership mindset this month in an insightful article with @ NGLC! Read her tips for guiding teams through organizational change here: https://bit.ly/NGLC_SustainableChange
Valentine's Day was full of love at our campuses! Check out these teachers and students celebrating earlier this week!
This week’s featured text: I Am Every Good Thing, by Derrick Barnes. This inspiring text encourages students to live out their joy and their dreams.
“I am
a nonstop ball of energy.
Powerful and full of light.
I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader.”
The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is – a wonderful celebration of Black culture and joy.
All of our campuses recently celebrated the 100th day of school! Students dressed up as 100-year-olds, practiced probability by flipping a penny 100 times and noting how many heads appeared, and used teamwork to stack 100 cups as high as possible! How fun!
Happy Valentine's Day from Distinctive Schools! We hope you have a lovely day!
This week is Random Acts of Kindness Week! We encourage our students to practice kindness all year round, but this week is a great time to reflect on all the ways we can care for each other. What are some ways you will show kindness this week?
Distinctive Schools is excited to announce that Elizabeth Winke has been named our Chief Financial Officer! Elizabeth's experience and passion for non-profit & education finance will bring invaluable insights to drive our mission forward. Thank you for your exceptional service as Interim CFO, Elizabeth We & Congratulations! #educationfinance #DistinctiveSchools #ALLIN
We are committed to celebrating Black History far beyond the month of February. This month we will continue to uplift Black stories and make sure Black students see themselves represented in their learning through literature.
This week’s featured text is Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed. This is a beautiful picture book for sharing and marking special occasions, inspired by the life of the first African American woman to travel in space, Mae Jemison.
This week is National School Counseling Week! Thank you so much to our amazing Distinctive Counselors- Annette Ramos , Kiera Adams, Latoya Lorick, Reginald Georgia, Lahaji Thomas and Vanessa Villafuerte for going above and beyond to support our students. We appreciate you!
This week is National School Counseling Week! Thank you so much to our amazing AIM Counselors Reginald Georgia, Lahaji Thomas and Vanessa Villafuerte for going above and beyond to support our students. We appreciate you!
This month, we observe Black History Month, a time for celebration as well as commemoration. Black history is American history, and this month as well as year round, we deliberately celebrate and center Black joy, Black liberation and Black communities. During this month, we ask that you take the time to amplify Black voices and encourage you to visit and learn more about Black communities through Black-led organizations and creators.
This CEO Staff Shout out celebrates a Distinctive leader who has been part of Distinctive Schools and CICS Bucktown from their very beginnings, Jermaine Weems! This year he celebrates 25 years at CICS Bucktown, now leading as our Dean of Students. Jermaine's commitment to this important work is incredibly inspiring and I am so grateful for the service and legacy he has built for himself with our CICS Bucktown community and our entire DS network. He has been a friend and a trusted partner in this work for many years. It has been an honor to work with Jermaine along his career journey and I am excited about his continued growth and impact into the future. Jermaine – thank you for all of your years of service and for everything you have done and continue to do for our students and our DS network. This month, Jermaine, the spotlight is on YOU! Congratulations!
DCP Harper Woods celebrated kindness with a fun spirit week! Here are students from Mrs. Dixon & Mrs. Cassel’s Kindergarten classes showing off their outfits for "Tied to Kindness" Day and "Kindness Rocks" Day! Great job everyone!
On this day in 2011, January 26, Distinctive Schools was officially founded! In celebration of the past twelve years, we are excited to launch The Distinctive Fund! The Distinctive Fund celebrates 12 reasons to believe in Distinctive Schools and empowers our students to achieve their dreams. Will you help us launch The Distinctive Fund with a monthly gift of $20.11?
https://bit.ly/TheDistinctiveFund
Art in Motion - Creative Arts School student, Khali Spraggins, has been nominated for the 54th NAACP Image Awards for her performance in Netflix's The Upshaws!
Vote for Khali at
https://vote.naacpimageawards.net/#logo_position
by February 10th
Congratulations, Khali!
Happy Lunar New Year! Whether or not you celebrate the holiday, we invite you to take action to learn more about the ways you can support your local Asian communities. Read, listen, watch and learn more about Asian cultures, history and communities through Asian art, books, film, literature, and other content created by Asian creators around the world. Support organizations working to disrupt the anti-Asian American violence, bias and discrimination, and uplift communities that think, believe, resist and exist in ways that diverge from Western ways of thinking. In addition, we send our love and support to all those affected by the shootings in California yesterday during the Lunar New Year Celebration. At DS, in solidarity, we will continue to be allies and advocates for ending systemic racism, bias and discrimination.
This insightful article from @nextgenlearning explores the power of the word "with." Andy Calkins explains "'With' enables growth. 'With' catalyzes excellence. 'With' builds a shared purpose." Every day we are co-constructing excellent schools WITH our communities. https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/the-most-important-word
@cicsirvingpark hosted an amazing event last week! Two members of our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse team, Mr. Baez and Ms. Fey, hosted the Newcomer Family Celebration! Some students, staff, and families were able to listen to students share their unique stories and present posters about their home country. What a great way to build community!
Monday, January 16th, we will be closed in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In reflecting on Dr. King’s life, work, and advocacy, we are reminded of the importance of reimagining a new world - a world that is possible when we organize and elevate the voices, stories, and experiences of those in our communities deeply impacted by racial injustice and inequity.
We invite you to take time to engage with the letter Dr. King wrote while being detained in a Birmingham Jail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di05SvJ8utI, and to take a moment to learn about current movements, organizers, and advocacy groups.
Welcome back, Distinctive Schools staff! Distinctive students, we can’t wait to see you all tomorrow – we have missed you!
