We know we need more joy in schools! I'm such a fan of Encanto - including the amazing music by Lin-Manuel Miranda! Although many people's favorite song is "We don't talk about Bruno," mine is "Surface Pressure," so I designed a circle based on the themes of this song. Since so many of us are feeling so many pressures right now, there are three circles: one for secondary students, one for elementary students, and one for educators (teachers, SST members, leaders, etc.)! Huge thank you to Hernandez Teachers - Marjorie Pita, Elizabeth Estepe, and Darlene Prado - for co-writing the elementary version and to English High Teacher - Jenny Jacobs - for correcting the Spanish translation! Some friends have asked, "Can I share these circles with my child's teacher?" The answer is always - of course! Did you know that Isabela Madrigal is played by a graduate of the Boston Public Schools - Diane Guerrero? 

I have always felt some dissonance between what I wish school would look like for us and our students and what school actually is like. Jal Mehta's article "Possible futures: Toward a new grammar of schooling" captures both the essence of what is wrong with our current approaches to school and describes a beautiful vision of a new way of being and thinking about and approaching school that just might save us all and our world.