When Might We Take a Moment to Exhale?
In Charles and Ray Eames’ Power of Ten, a couple rests on a picnic blanket in a park, enjoying a meal on an ordinary afternoon. The camera pulls back–ten meters, one hundred meters, one thousand meters–each expansion lasting just one breath. We see the world expand beyond the couple, revealing the broader city, the continent, and eventually the Earth and its cosmos. Then, the film zooms in–a single breath each step–reversing its path back to the couple, and then closing in even further–to a hand on a blanket, a cell on the hand, and finally a molecule of the cell.
Election Day is over. And yet, our experience of Election Day–the heightened awareness, the tension, the general uncertainty of the season, how we might have held our breath–may last much longer, months, and even years. These moments are particularly compressed–our hopes and concerns, where we feel agency and where we don’t–pervade so many levels of perspective: the dinner table, our schools, our city, our region, the planet, all the way back down to the body itself.
At Leadership+Design, we’ve encouraged schools across the country to approach the election with intentionality–to help communities converse across differences, to surface varying perspectives on difficult or dangerous ideas, and to find opportunities to learn about ourselves, our communities, and the issues and perspectives in our political landscape. In a larger culture that can feel entrenched in charged, defensive stances, what supports might we establish for communities to convene with curiosity, understanding, and grace in order to focus on the most critical verbs in schools: learning?
In the coming weeks, we might continue to hold our breath–some in our communities with disappointment and worry and some in our communities with hope. And we, as school leaders, take an opportunity and invite our communities to exhale. This exhalation isn’t simply a relief or pause. It’s a chance to shift perspective, to zoom in on what our immediate communities need and zoom out to see the broader patterns shaping us. It’s a moment to reflect on how we showed up, to ask where our agency lies, and to understand what learning we can find, even among the intensity of this season.
Reflection and Curiosity, in Powers of Ten
Just as Powers of Ten moves us through varied scales of perspective, we might guide our communities to reflect at varying scales. Each layer can offer insight into where our collective and individual energies, focus, and curiosity might go next.
Zooming Out: Observing Community Health
At the highest level, what did this election season reveal about the overall health of our school community? How did our community’s values guide us in navigating diverse perspectives and open conversations, and how might they continue to guide us if our national perspective remains charged? At this scale, we can ask where we found common ground, where tensions emerged, and whether our collective culture helped hold us steady throughout this political season.
How were we able to support open, respectful dialogue across perspectives?
How did our community’s core values act as a guiding force in moments of challenge?
How did this season reflect the larger culture we aim to create in our schools, and even in our wider communities?
Zooming In: Group Dynamics and Shared Spaces
Here we find our smaller groups–the teams, classrooms, and committees we lead, and how these particular groups navigated charged atmospheres. How did we support open and inclusive spaces, and how did we process through moments of strain? What tools worked for us, and where might we adjust?
How comfortable are our teams or classrooms handling tension and differing perspectives?
Were these spaces for all voices, notably quieter or more marginalized ones?
Zooming In Further: Individual Reflections
This personal reflection can be an essential part of our curiosity. Each individual in our community—educators and students—will continue to help shape the collective experience. How has each person felt, what have they needed, and what supports might be necessary to continue to engage meaningfully?
What emotions have surfaced during the season, and what supports did individuals find useful?
How have each of us shown up in challenging conversations, and where did we find difficulty?
Where might individuals lean into curiosity over certainty, both in themselves and their relationships with others?
From Reflection to Action
This reflection–this exhalation–can create a foundation for that next breath we’ll take as we journey into the school year. By reflecting at these levels, we might find avenues to grow more resilient as school communities, even while we move through moments of continued charge. The learning and curiosity we facilitate in schools is about individual subjects, but also about ourselves, our relationships and our values. As we navigate the experiences we’ll continue to have related to our election–related to our engagement as citizens–we can take that breath to continually check the health of our communities, to find patterns in how we convene together, and to engage in the courageous act that is citizenship, that commitment to connect across difference to shape futures together, at any scale.
