The middle eight
Yorks100 cohort 2 are now over halfway through the programme. What have we been learning in term 2?
The middle term of a year-long programme is fascinating. By this point in the year, we no longer have a collection of individuals. Instead, we have a cohort who like, trust and challenge each other. Therefore the learning that happens now is neither inhibited by unfamiliarity nor tinged with the slight sadness of it coming to an end. You could say it’s a peak learning moment.
As such, there’s been too many insights for just one post. I’ve been thinking hard about what the key themes are emerging from this group, at this time, how they link to the wider aim of the programme to close the educational disadvantage gap in Yorkshire and how to share this information with you, dear reader.
Enter: Stevie Nicks.
The purpose of a middle eight (according to this helpful BBC guide on how to write a song) is to break up the repetition of the verse/chorus structure by introducing new elements. Sometimes it serves as a ‘turning point’.
‘Edge of Seventeen’, amongst its numerous other qualities, serves as a wonderful example of this musical technique.
A change in the rhythmical patterns of the lyrics and the overall melody transport the listener to a more dramatic mood before getting back to the initial haunting guitar riff.
See for yourself, and listen from minute 2:27 here.
Any form of extended course or development programme has a similar purpose. Yorks100 is no different.
The rhythm of a school year can be both comforting and frustrating in its repetitiveness. It is not uncommon for us to hear that leaders feel ‘stuck’.
Our dual hope is to offer an experience that is at once both confronting and validating. We hope to create ‘a dramatic moment’.
One that disrupts and agitates the participants to question and critique what they’ve always done. But one that also offers an opportunity to notice, share and celebrate the existing assets in each community.
Bridging the gap between these contrasting aims requires us to think carefully about how to provide adequate opportunities to slow the tempo, explore new chord sequences or even change the key.
And the middle term, I shall argue, is as pivotal to this programme as the middle eight is to songs as varied as Dusty Springfield’s ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ and The Beatles ‘A Day in the Life’.
So, here’s the metaphor I’m leaning on (too?) heavily to tie together some of the wisdom this group of eighteen individuals have been sharing in this ‘middle eight’ of the programme.
Over the next eight days, I’ll release eight short chunks of learning. I’ll also throw in some tenuous links to eight songs with a great middle eight, because it’s the holidays and #havefun.
Here’s what you have to look forward to…
# 1 Creating a video about ‘a day in the life’ at your school to support recruitment
# 2 Design great CPD so it doesn’t feel like running up that hill
# 3 There ain’t no mountain high enough to stop us from being nationally connected…
# 4 …but when you’re ready to come back to being locally rooted, I’ll be waiting
# 5 Is the power of love enough to shift our fixed mindset on inclusion?
# 6 If I could change your mind about early years, it would be on the North Yorkshire coast.
# 7 How might a New York state of mind help shift our perspective?
# 8 Every breath you take is actually a great example of polarity management