In the end, if I had to sum up the weekend, I'd use the word humility and empathy.
First humility because there's much to know on this teaching/learning journey, and when you hear the many stories of others on the journey, it's humbling as there are so many great teachers and leaders, tremendous knowledge, skillful travel, and limitless potential. The best I can do in light of that is to move forward with empathy, keen observation and attention, and best effort.
I chose the word empathy too because we can't do anything well if we don't make the time to step into the experiences, stories, and thoughts of those we work with. It's never going to be one or the other, but instead it will be in our solidarity and collaboration that we do good work.
Further learning shines the light on good process and procedure. How do we achieve the good work possible. The care and attention we gave to strategic process matters. How do we employ these steps:
- Listening to the story, problem, experience.
- Assessing the situation by talking to one another, asking questions, and finding the facts
- Transparent and inclusive documentation
- Working together to brainstorm and identify solutions, charting
- Together testing the solutions, reflecting, revising, and developing, listing
- Strategy and Action, keeping the mission and goals at the center.
- More reflection and revision
- Embedding and employing the good results
It's a busy week with lots of testing, play practice, math study, and biography work. My main focus of the week is good coaching which means careful attention to individuals and the learning/presentation goals at hand. It's going to be a rainy week too which means it will be a good week to dig in and make some great strides on the projects and efforts students and I are working on. Onward.
