Educational Discourse

This is a fairly lengthy post dealing with reflection and how it can alter how you see things and the changes that may result. Buckle up and stay tuned.

After my last post, I’ve had a few inquiries about the place of blogging. Dave Sherman asked

I noticed that you do not mention blogging in your list above. Will you continue to keep blogging at the same rate?

I’ve really been doing some serious thinking about how my time is being used. As a father, husband, principal, coach and community member,I have many roles to juggle which are no different from everyone else.
One of the things that I try to do in my blog is give people a real-life reflection of how being an administrator impacts your life and the various things that I go through as they happen. I’ve discussed how I’ve had deal with my own depression and the affects it had on me, my family and my professional life. I have always tried to write how learning has happened with me, discussing the classes I take and the books I am reading or the ideas I get from others from what they are trying or what they are reading. I continue to try to explore my passions and how they impact my leadership and my own learning.

Will I continue to blog? You bet I will. This is one area that I believe has made me a better administrator and a better leader. I look to other’s like Dave Sherman, Jan, Kimberly, mscofino, Dean, Scott, Chris, Miguel, Missprofe, Dave Truss and host of other bloggers who are dealing with a variety of things and relating their stories, thoughts and insights in a way that touches the reader. I look for different perspectives and have found people like Catherine, Brian and Patrick who have a wealth of insight and knowledge and are willing to share. And that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? The idea that together, we provide each other with so much which, a few short months ago, wasn’t available. There is a sense of togetherness, different from our buildings and our admin groups, but something that grows over time as people come together with under a common purpose. We all want our interactions with
students to be positive and see that learning is changing and, therefore, there needs to be some changes in other areas.
When I began ….

My first ventures into this blogosphere world were on the site of Will Richardson and I was a skeptic. I knew that the tools were there but couldn’t see how we were going to make the jump from where we were to where Will was wanting us to go. Today, for some reason, I rarely read Will. It’s not that I don’t find his work interesting but I’ve found that with the likes of Scott, Miguel, Bud and a host of others who are working in the trenches, there is more there to which I can relate. I see these bloggers and the others that I add to my RSS as providing me with more than enough ideas and food for thought. Sometimes I still drop by Weblogged and 2centsworth but not as often as I did. I could be that I’ve outgrown the need for what they provide. I’ve become part of a more personal group, a part of the blogosphere that isn’t just “out there” but that has real people with real problems with real students. Jan’s story about her girl just about broke my heart thinking of my own girls suffering and Miguel’s adventure with his Macbook was interesting to follow as I had just purchased one myself. Scott’s many adventures and incredible drive have been an inspiration as I try to get administrators in my area involved in these types of ventures. Dave Sherman’s adventures with his “March Madness” and Chris’s choice to get back to students came just when I needed them. Why? Because we are all part of a similar world where there are different faces and names but similar waves and ebbs.

And where will I go …..

As I ponder Dave’s question, I realize that my professional growth has been fueled by many of the things that people suggest. I am waiting for our new division to finish with negotiations so that I can find out what is available for PD so I might be able to attend a national conference focusing on IT. Who knows, I just may end up presenting on something!

By no way have I come up with the definitive answer for where my life is going. However, I have seen that I really must heed the voices that are calling to me. I haven’t always done that, stubbornness being a character trait that has done me well and has allowed me to achieve many things that have been positive in my life. Now, however, I realize that this might not be the best trait to build
at the school level. You see, it was through the comments of the staff and my superintendent’s request to reflect on what I have done and want to do that I realized that I have begun to self-sabotage myself. When I realized that things began to come clearer. The more I reflected (why is it that we say it is such a good thing but don’t do it until we are forced?) on what was happening, the more I was able to see a pattern to what was happening.
I realized that my main purpose when I have been hired was to stir things up, create some discomfort for people, move people out of their comfort zones and then move on. Thus, my family has been in 5 communities in 10 years. Well, this time, my family doesn’t want to move. They want to stay and put down roots and I was somewhat sick of moving. What I didn’t do was change my pattern as an administrator so as the year progressed, I continued to follow the path that I had before. This past weekend, I realize that this will not bring about the changes that are needed. So, a mild discomfort has been created. Now, my role is to help provide the necessary support so that people can explore and incorporate changes. Instead of getting people to just see that there needs to be some changes, I now must provide the culture for those
changes to take place. Not what I use to doing, I’m afraid but something that I must learn to do if I want to remain where I am for any length of time.

I Hate the Mirror

The mirror has never been my favourite thing. Lately it shows more lines than I’d like and, for some reason, there seems to be hints of grey in my hair that it didn’t show before. The professional reflection mirror sometimes is the same, showing us things we really don’t want to see. We often want to ignore these things or we buy something to cover them up. However, if we really want to change and really want to be better, we have accept that we can’t alter some parts but we can bring about real change that won’t fade over time or won’t wash away under a heavy downpour. As administrators, we need to be honest about who we are, where our passions lay and what we want. Sometimes that may mean that, after doing some deep reflection, we recognize that our present situation can only change if we, as leaders, identify our own weaknesses and set out on a new path.

My new path

Today is Monday. I’ve decided that today I will start out anew. This doesn’t mean that my weekend of reflection has totally changed my life. It has, however, allowed me to realize that if I keep doing the same old things, I’ll get the same results. Therefore
one thing I have begun to do is change my work habits. My old tendency was to stay at school late at night. Now, I’m getting up early in order to get to school to do my work then. (The weekend was great as I was up early and was able to accomplish quite a lot. However, I’m not sure where I’ll fit the
hour nap I had with my 4 year old during each school day!) I have decided to change a few other things, like my approach to f2f interactions and the whole listening concept. I’ve also decided to start keeping a reflective journal
that I will write in every day – it’s called a blog!!! No, but it could be!
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Can we fix it? Yes we can!