Books as your Belay Loop

The belay loop is a strong, rigid loop of webbing that attaches the leg loops to the waist belt. The belay loop is also one of the most important parts of the climbing harness since a locking carabiner is attached to the loop when you are belaying or rappelling. The belay loop is extremely strong so it can withstand all the energetic forces of climbing, including severe falls.

(Click here for more via Climbing.About.Com)

Kyle Harbour Belaying

Kyle Harbour
Belaying

 

Continue your #Climb this summer

You’ve come so far this year.  Forget about grades and report cards.  Focus on the writer, risk-taker, and inspiration you have been for one another this year.  Think of the feedback you have provided for your peers, the ideas you have seen come to fruition.  You’ve authored work and shared it with your community all year.  That’s huge.  The ideas you’ve produced on your blog, and the contributions you’ve given to your peer group are more important than you will ever know.

Never underestimate the power of a compliment. 

You’ve given dozens of them this year, and I promise you, many of them will be remembered for years and years to come.  Each and every one of you is a better listener today than you were in August.  That matters.  Each one of you has made someone else feel heard this year. When a community feels heard, when the majority of your tribe feels valued, your potential explodes.  As your cohort moves closer to graduation, check in on the culture of your class.  Taking care of the heart of your grade level starts with your ears.  Listen, and invite one another to share.

empathetic leaders are great readers.

If we want to be curators of our school culture’s stories, we have to practice empathy.  I cannot think of another activity that will help you train your mind to strive for empathy more than reading will.  Private reading is a social act.  I blogged about this in an earlier post here.

Invest in your community this summer by reading.

We’ve looked at a number of great books to watch out for this summer. Click here or here to revisit them. Seek out books that you will use to practice empathy with.  Seek out books to spark a conversation with.  Pull yourself up this mountain of learning one chapter at a time.

Seek out the librarians and recruit their help

Ms. Kandelaars and Ms. Glausen know their stuff.  They are the queens of the library, and they will help you.  They’ve ordered every single book I’ve asked them to order.  They think about learning through your eyes, and they try to equip the school accordingly.  They will help you find new passions, and they will allow you to do better research.  The library is a place for you to go to when you need the quiet inspiration that is book hunting.  Thank you to our school librarians for creating that environment. It matters.

Ask other people to share their ‘must read’ books with you

Diversify your book shelf by asking people which books have mattered to them. I’ve given you a head start on this by asking a few of our #EagleEd teacher team on Twitter to share a text with you:

Mr. Paron:

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

 

Dr. badcock:

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

Ms. Jarvis:

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

Mr. Dalesio:

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Ms. Koch:

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Mr. Bond:

 

 

Which books will enable you to #climb this summer?

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Thank you Flickr for providing these Creative Commons images

Kyle Harbour

Belaying