Navigating Holidays using Contextual Intelligence
Issue #2 of a new weekly series
Navigating Holidays...
My high school didn’t celebrate MLK Day.
Even though President Ronald Reagan signed the federal holiday into law in 1983 and it was first observed in 1986, in the early 1990s, it was not a day off at my school in Wisconsin.
However, I took the day off every year. I let teachers and friends know, and spend every MLK Day out of school. I don’t remember attending any parades or celebrations, but my small form of protest was important to me and hopefully provided some recognition to my school community.
Several decades later, I recorded a video for my job about Black History Month. I told the viewer that trying to celebrate, learn, and recognize everything about Black folks in 28 days was a difficult ask, so we shouldn’t do it. Instead, I recommended that Black history be woven into the curriculum so that it can be taught and celebrated every day of the year.
Today, my feelings about Black History Month remain the same, but for different reasons. Currently, we are seeing holidays and months being critiqued and questioned. It is a contextually intelligent move for education leaders to integrate these learnings into the daily curriculum to ensure students learn about their own and others’ histories, versus having a separate set of celebrations and lessons that may generate negative attention, distracting students from integral learning.
On Friday, we celebrate Juneteenth. Although most schools across the country are out for the summer, it’s still a holiday that our young people need to learn about and understand, and this further emphasizes my point about not waiting for the calendar to tell us when to learn about Black history.
Even though holidays like MLK Day and Juneteenth are federally recognized holidays, a contextually intelligent leader cannot assume that the celebrations of them will be fully embraced by their community.
They need to understand which holidays are celebrated in their community, what is the culturally appropriate way to communicate about them, how best to recognize them, and how to ensure that the full community also learns and appreciates cultures and religions different than their own.
What are your Juneteenth plans for yourself and your school community?
Navigating Power, Harnessing Possibility is HERE:
Navigating Power, Harnessing Possibility: A Guide for Leading Schools Through Uncertain Times is out! If you got a copy of the book, I would appreciate an Amazon book review. It helps others find out about it.
I’m working on a digital train-the-trainer workbook for facilitators who want to integrate the book into their professional learning and course syllabi. That will be available soon!
Other Ways to Partner With Leading-Within:
Grounded in Navigating Power, Harnessing Possibility: A Guide for Leading Schools Through Uncertain Times, these individual and small group coaching sessions equip system- and school-level leaders to effectively navigate the formal and informal political landscapes that shape their work. Leaders build the awareness, strategy, and confidence needed to exercise influence, make principled decisions, and lead through uncertainty with intention.
Our keynote speaking services engage school leaders in critical conversations that shape their work and influence. Focus areas include supporting leaders of color, navigating today’s political landscape, and leading systems-level transformation, offering participants practical tools and perspectives to lead with clarity and purpose.
Research and writing services support schools and organizations in assessing and documenting their learning across programs and initiatives. This work includes partnering to evaluate impact to produce clear, compelling reports, as well as writing and editing journal articles that highlight best practices across the diaspora.
Reach out to mary@mriceboothe.com to discuss more.
If this is your first time reading, please go back and read my Introduction post.
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