Students at Nashville Big Picture High School didn't have much trouble waking up and getting moving when school started virtually Tuesday after a long summer.
They were ready to roll.
More than 140 participants logged into Big Picture's 8:05 a.m. assembly on Microsoft Teams Live, and the number was even bigger Wednesday. Prompts and presentations about self-care and Student Council by Executive Principal Brenda Diaz and her team kept the chat box pinging with questions and comments from many of the school's 161 students.
“They're coming in hot right now,” Assistant Principal Gary Hook said as he hustled to moderate the lively discussion.
Diaz said the high level of engagement was a happy but not unexpected result of keeping up strong connections between staff and students over the summer. Just as important are Big Picture's advisories, which are diverse groups of 10 to 15 students who stay together throughout the four years of high school with the same teacher or advisor.
Big Picture, which was the first school of its kind in the Southeast when it opened in 2007, works hard to bring academics and the world beyond high school together for students through workshops, projects, internships, field trips, and community service. The advisories are essential to that work, meeting for at least an hour each day.
“The advisor/teacher gets to know the students and their families on a personal level,” Diaz said. “Also, the advisory is where students do the work around pursuing and engaging with an internship or pursuing an interest connected to their post-secondary plans.”
Wednesday's assembly started with Diaz, who was celebrating her birthday, talking about the importance of staying connected when in-person gathering isn't possible. She displayed a “pick me up” graphic of hands reaching out and asked for students' interpretations.
“We're so blessed and fortunate, even during this pandemic, that we're able to connect with each other,” she said.
Lynn Lavender, a Spanish teacher who also leads Big Picture's social-emotional learning efforts, then led the students through a one-minute mindfulness meditation and a discussion of self-care and self-compassion. When she asked how students had taken care of themselves over the summer, the chat box lit up again:
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“hanging out with my cats”
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“drinking more water and riding my bike”
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“going to sleep @10:00 and waking up @6:00”
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“journaling”
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“washing my hands and wearing my mask”
Diaz said she wasn't surprised by the strong start to the unusual new year at Big Picture.
“I truly know the work that we do around relationships 24 hours/7 days a week always pays off,” she said.