HIS Advisory Blog: Where Discovery Happens

Summer Fun ...or Summer Blah's?

2008-07-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...what is Summer like for you? How are you taking advantage of the Summer time away from school pressures. Are you doing something new and exciting? Are you learning something you always wanted to make time for. Making progress at your college planning? Finding favorite new places to eat, shop, travel and vacation? Or, are you counting the days until you are back at school with your friends. Tell us what you are up to. Be safe and most of all, stay cool...yeah that's right, you are very cool :-)

Hey students, how did it go?

2008-06-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

HIS students: you recently completed five weeks of community service learning around Hsinchu. So tell us what you thought of your experience...What did you do? What did you learn about yourself or others? Was it what you expected it to be? Would you recommend it to others? Share your thoughts; we really want to know! And thanks for your great efforts to get out there and make a difference.

Community Service

2008-05-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Life is fast-paced. There is so much going on around us. Information is flowing from our school, the Internet, our TV and radio, our family, our friends, our workplaces, and so on. As we try to keep up with everything we are expected to know, and we focus our energy on activities that ensure that we meet our pressing responsibilities for good grades, sufficient income, etc., etc. how is it possible that we find time for anything more.

And yet, just a momentary pause from the hectic mania that is common for much of human existence today, one would hope that we might actually be able to glimpse so much more that in fact demands our attention. Stresses and anxieties of our daily rituals can make us numb to the true joys of life and to the absolute shortcomings of the lifestyles we are creating.

The joys of course are those things we have been blessed with to enjoy and to learn from, to be nurtured by and to maintain in their glory and wonder i.e. beautiful lands, diverse species, other peoples and cultures, and the relationship we share with each of them.

Absolute shortcomings of our chosen lifestyle, it seems, entail the neglect and disinterest in those blessings that are made to take a backseat to a competitive "rat-race" that keeps us yearning for newer, bigger, better, faster things.

We serve ourselves...we serve the many special blessings of life by making time to think about, care for and invest of ourselves in the lands, the diverse species, the different people and cultures, and our important relations to one another.

The question is, what does that look like and how do we at HIS make the precious time for serving our community and serving others? Please share your ideas...let us know what you think about community service and our potential to make a difference around us!

Safety: Habits and Attitudes

2008-04-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

It is true, our small school atmosphere will present us with challenges to our personal privacy at times AND offer us a wealth of opportunity for meaningful personal contact and relationship that should lead to stronger feelings of safety.

Strong schools and communities, if you ask me, ought to be a place that we feel safe and secure first of all. When we feel safe and secure we can then become curious to learn more about ourselves and other people around us. I think its fair to say, we each really want to discover our potential and become wildly successful people - whatever that may mean to us. I believe that its also true that often others around us can see our best and unique potential far more clearly than we may see it for ourselves.

So, while we do need and in fact deserve some space for our personal privacy, at some level, I imagine that we each also long to have our own life experience valued and to be understood and respected for the person that we are...and the person that we are becoming? Genuine understanding and recognition from others is a powerful and comforting thing to experience. When others acknowledge us and take the time to recognize our feelings and potential contributions we begin to feel like we matter...that we have some meaning or purpose in our life. When others don't recognize this or dismiss our value, it can hurt...it can hurt alot!

So if we want our community to be great and we do not want people to be hurting, what can we do? Does this kind of community just happen? Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit." Perhaps, together, we can identify the healthy habits and attitudes that will help us be great for one another. As we develop positive habits and attitudes about what makes us feel safe and secure enough to take risks, we might ask ourselves what we should do when we are made to feel unsafe and not valued by others. How can we hold each other accountable to the very best behavior that is necessary in any safe, successful, and healthy community? What do you think...

Community

2008-04-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

Community - a group of people having common interests.

At HIS we hear talk of a caring community, a professional learning community, and a family-like community. Seems that the word community is used rather frequently these days, and not just at HIS. On CNN and elsewhere we are reminded that we are truly a global community. There is much talk about the loss of community all around us as ours lives continue to fill with added pressures, stresses, deadlines and commitments. Seems if we are not careful we can easily begin to lose touch with what we regard as important.

All this brings me to wonder, what is it that we each want from our HIS community? Educators arrive here eager and passionate to make a difference and contribute to something special. Students and parents come to HIS, I imagine, looking for some unique pathway to a successful future.

So then, what are some of the "common interests" that we share as a school community? What is it that you believe in and are looking for in your life right now? How can we as educators, students or parents influence your ability to stay close to what it is you regard as important to you? Possibly, if we start to share our ideas and answer such questions, we will begin to see from our different and similar voices a unique and untapped potential that exists in our shared experience together. Please share some of your thoughts. I'd like to hear what others think about the potential within our HIS community...

Invitation to Community

2008-04-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

How exciting it feels to offer a first post to this space where we can meet to share thoughts and ideas...learn from... and react to one anothers' experiences. At HIS, student and family support happens extensively through our Advisory interaction and relations.

HIS Advisory is meant to be a cornerstone of a school program and culture dedicated to discovering and nurturing the very best in each of us. Educators and administrators alike serve as counselor-advisors to small groups of students and parents. Through our commitment to partnership and relationship, efforts are made to learn from one another and about one another as we strengthen important skills and knowledge. By coming to know and understand ourselves and the important people around us, we can continually promote and develop the unique potential that exists, in each individual and within this very special learning community.

I invite you to use this site for the rich resources available here regarding colleges, careers, parenting, and self-discovery OR post a question and share your thoughts or observations about Advisory...and about your related life experiences. Let's support one another as we aim to be highly successful and productive in our schools, in our workplaces and in our humanity.