Dear SEMIS Coalition,
Many years ago, I attended a training that opened with an invitation onto ‘the balcony’. This balcony wasn’t a physical place, but a metaphorical higher vantage point on which to rest, reflect, and see the bigger picture. The trainer told us that most of us spend so much time in ‘the dance’ – responding to day-to-day needs, solving problems, pulling together resources – that we don’t often get up on the balcony and see what the whole production looks like, and what it really says about us.
The SEMIS Coalition planning team (myself, Lisa, Willie, Laura, Nigora, Paula, and Sarah) took some time this past week to hold a team retreat and make space to get up on our own metaphorical balcony and see what the ‘SEMIS dance’ looks like in this moment. We spent our first day on EMU’s campus thinking about how we, as individuals and as a Coalition, prepare for and respond to change, and how we can better understand the impact of our work. Our second day was spent at the Brightmoor Artisans Collective in northwest Detroit exploring processes for resolving conflict, clarifying some of our own systems and roles, and imagining ways to strengthen youth voice and leadership within our community.
Reflection and ‘balcony time’ aren’t just for retreats, though. Rather, they are essential parts of a place-based approach to education. After launching, building, and taking action on a place-based project, the final step is reflection and celebration – and it’s often where the most meaning is made. This type of reflection and meaning-making, can also be used throughout an experience to build community, get clarity, and even help navigate moments of change.
We’ve been heartened many times over the past month with opportunities for reflection. We reflected on opportunities for deeper connections and collaborations through place-based education with nearly 20 community organizations during our Community Partner Luncheon on November 4th. We spent time reflecting on the impact of our Outdoor Learning Program – which now includes six schools – in a biannual report to the funders that support this work. We spent time remembering and celebrating the successes of past youth-led climate resilience projects when we kicked off our newest cohort of ‘Climate Resilience from the Youth Up’ educators on a virtual call in late October. And we were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to reflect and celebrate our work with an international audience when Nigora, Laura, and Jim Barnes (a SEMIS Coalition member and teacher at Wylie Elementary) presented their work at the North American Association for Environmental Education Conference in Pittsburgh last week.
These many moments up ‘on the balcony’ have provided us rest, joy, and hope. But most importantly, the consistency of our ‘dance’ across all different parts of our work reminds us that even (and especially) in this moment of transition and uncertainty as a community and as a nation, we know who we are. And we know that, even in the face of adversity, our collective work to develop and support young people as stewards of the healthy ecological and social systems our communities call for will persist.
In Partnership,
Anna
Director, SEMIS Coalition | abalzer1@emich.edu
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