Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family and loved ones, but too often those we love are far from us. For some it is miles that separate us, for some it is circumstances, and sadly for others Thanksgiving is a time where we remember those we've lost.
This Thanksgiving I spent with many of my family and yet those I love most were far away. While miles may have separated us this year, they do not break the bonds and the love I feel for them transcends the distance.
However, this Thanksgiving some of my family and my extended Propel family have experienced some sadness. There are those that spent this holiday time together with family grieving those they have lost. For them, this holiday was filled with sadness. My heart is heavy for them as they mourn for those that past.
And yet... just as each new day gives way to a promise of a better tomorrow, so too does life renew itself. This holiday also brings the latest member of our Propel family. Little M, a wonderful bundle of joy, whose smile reassures us that life continues.
So as we give thanks this year, remember all we are thankful for, those people that bring meaning, joy, and love into our lives. Remember those whose presence makes our life easier and filled with purpose. Count your blessings for the time you have with your loved ones, and for the memories they have helped you create.
May your holiday season be filled with joy and blessings.
While many of you are buying turkeys and cranberries and planning your Thanksgiving menus... My fellow Cohort Members and I are delving deep into data, searching archives for strategies, and developing instructional plans to raise student achievement for students considered at-risk.
"What are worthy endeavor" you say...
I would agree except for one small detail, it is a paper plan. And when I say paper... I mean 12 pages, A.P.A., research and write it in a week and a half, shoot me now because I'm hating my life, paper! AND... if working full time trying to do two jobs (my curriculum specialist job and teaching 3 blocks of 6th grade science) isn't enough, lets add... mentoring two teachers, serving on several committees, organizing our CC Implementation Plan... AND...
Oh Yeah... FULL TIME GRAD SCHOOL... and by full I mean... are you ready... 14 GRADUATE Credits in 1 semester!!! Remember 9 Grad credits is considered full time, and I am currently taking 14!!!
Yup... It is great training for the craziness that awaits me as a turn around leader, if I survive the training process that is!
Uhh Huh... We're nuts! But a very talented group of nuts, in case you are in need of an Assistant Principal in August... If we are alive, we will be ready!!!
It has been a long time since my last blog. During that time I have completed my course on Governance, and I am getting ready to wrap up two more courses by the end of November. There has been a hurricane... not in my state of Florida but in an area of the country that had no idea of what to expect AND we have had an election during which BILLIONS of dollars was spent by various parties and organizations trying to buy influence in Washington.
Ordinarily I would consider myself to be "ANTI-Political." In fact, I was brought up in a house that believed that politics, religion, and a woman's age and weight were things better left as conversations in the privacy of your own home. However, after reflecting on the last comment that my Governance teacher gave me on my final reflection... she told me, "I am not sure how politically involved you are, but when you get your own school, and I know you will soon, I hope yours will be a voice for change" and the fact that the media kept touting the obscene amounts of money being spent on the various campaigns across the country... I could not help but speak up!
Now I have no intention of bashing either candidate. You see, I believe that both candidates truly believe that the vision they were sharing with the American people COULD work, that their policies would benefit THE people, and that CHANGE was needed. My major objection with this presidential campaign, and all the races for the various senate, house, governor positions as well as all those local offices being sought throughout our nation is this... WHY would companies/ people pay MILLIONS even BILLIONS of dollars to get a candidate elected, unless they thought they were going to get something in return?
Worse... WHY would the American people continue to allow this to happen when those millions and billions of dollars could have better been spent on educating our young people and helping our seniors? It is time to quit arguing across party lines, it is time to quit putting personal agendas before public interest. I spent the last 5 weeks in a class examining the issues related to social justice and what I have seen in the last several weeks of this campaign are sickening. Our country is destined to fail if Americans can not find some common ground. It is time to move forward America and if the leaders in Washington can not move past the petty bickering and come to a consensus that is good for America, then it is time we get rid of them. We have work to do, let's get to it!
I was listening to an interesting interview by Harvard Business professor Gautam Mukunda which was posted on the Harvard Business Review. In the interview, Mukunda introduces the idea of an "Extreme Leader" as being one that can accomplish something that noone else could have accomplished. These leaders come from outside the norm or system and are selected to do a task that others deem impossible. While listening to his discussion, I couldn't help but think about the training we are getting in the PROPEL program, about how we will be expected to go into schools and do things that noone else has been able to do, I couldn't help but wonder if the creators of this program are not training us to be Extreme Leaders. Based on the talent of the people I am working with in this program... If they are training us to be extreme leaders, I think the PROPEL leaders will be great ones!!
This blog was inspired by a lively debate in my Governance class, taught by a spirited professor that encourages the sharing of ideas both from herself and from her students.
Like many Americans my age, those balancing between the end of the Baby Boom Generation and the beginning of Generation X, I am both vocal about social issues and insecure about my financial future... especially in light of the current political climate. While I could spur much debate launching into a discussion over political candidates, issues, and ideas- or perhaps the lack of ideas, I am instead going to engage in a conversation about things that we can begin to change.
First, let's consider who the Baby Boomers & Generation X'ers are:
The BABY BOOMERS, those born between 1946-1964 were born in an era of financial prosperity, they are vocal on social issues and liberal in outlook.
Those considered to be GENERATION X were born between 1965-1979 this generation tends to be cynical about authority and open to new forms of spirituality, but insecure about their financial future. (Click here for more info.)
For my BOOMER/ GENERATION (I made up this phrase because I believe those of us that fall within the last few years of one generation and the first few of the next share characteristics of both generations) have reached a point in our lives when we realize what we thought we wanted and what we worked for most of our lives actually lacks value or true meaning. And yet because we have that fear of financial instability, we are afraid to make the changes that may very well bring us the meaning and purpose that we seek. While I have conducted no scientific studies to support my assumptions (my 6th grade Science students would give me a hard time for this), I do hypothesize, based on my limited experience, that my generational peers may very well consider ourselves the "Questioning Our Choices Generation." Although I suspect that my mom might tell me that all 50 year-olds go through this, she may even tell me it is my mid-life crisis, however, since I doubt I will live to 100, this is not my mid-life!
If you have read some of my previous blogs, especially my last one "Looking Past Our Limits," you may realize that making changes to pursue a life of meaning and purpose is something I have been doing over the past few years. Change is never easy though, I won't even begin to say that it is. In fact fear of change can be crippling. Yet, for many of the "Questioning Our Choices Generation" we eventually get to the point that we realize that in order to us to survive, to prevent our very soul from being sucked out of us, we simply have to do something different.
Umair Hague, author of "The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business" and contributing writer to the Harvard Business Review posed the following question in his most recent blog titled "Making the Choice Between Money and Meaning," he asked his readers "Is there a trade-off between meaning and money?" His article seems to challenge the "Questioning Our Choices Generation" by saying:
"You and I face the difficult choice of trading meaning for money; we
weigh the searing moments of real human accomplishment against the
soul-sucking "work" of earning the next car payment by polishing up
another meaningless PowerPoint deck packed with tactics to win games
whose net result is the creation of little of real value for much of
anyone who's not a sociopath. This is the deepest kind of theft; not
merely prosperity having been looted from societies, but significance
having been stolen from human lives."
Hague does not simply pose this thought without also offering up his solution to the problem:
"So what can you do about it? There's only one good answer, and it's
simple. Stop trading meaning for money. It's the worst trade you'll ever
make. Step out of your shadow, the carefully constructed almost-self you've been instructed, encouraged, cajoled to settle for. Let me put that even more simply. You're going to need to apply not just
the following professional skills — entrepreneurship; "networking,"
pluck and drive, strategic thinking, leadership, branding and marketing —
but also the following human capacities: a stubborn refusal to obey the dictates of the status quo,
an unwavering empathy, a healthy disrespect for the naysayers, the
humility of the servant and the pride of the master artisan, a
persevering sense of grace, a heaping spoonful of that most dangerously
unpredictable of substances, love,
and, finally, the unflinching belief in a better tomorrow that those
have always had who dust their saddles off, dig their spurs in, and
forge ahead into the great unknown."
During the next few weeks we will be bombarded with advertisements, calls, and conversations in which people will try to persuade us to make a choice for the man that will lead our country for the next four years. I am not here to try to sway your decision either way, I am merely encouraging you to learn about the person you will chose to run our country. I am encouraging to exercise your right to vote. I am encouraging you to consider what you value- Money or Meaning? And to select the candidate and party that supports what you value.
It is never too late to do something that matters... It's never too late to chose a better life. It is never too late to pursue a life of meaning, purpose, and passion. But it is up to you to act.
How often do we tell ourselves "I can't because..." How often do we avoid doing something out of fear of failure? Human beings have an innate need to be accepted, and this overwhelming fear that if we fail we will be rejected prevents many of us from even attempting things.
I can remember telling my children to just try it, knowing full well that each of them had within them the ability to do anything that they put their minds to... I was their cheer leader- they may have called me a nudge, whatever you want to called it, I have always believed in them.
But me? Hummm. Many times in my life I have fallen victim to self doubt, and to self limiting thoughts. I have been afraid that people might learn my real secret that I am not _______ enough. Fill in the blank- brave enough, strong enough, smart enough, good enough, etc. I have let those fears limit me, hold me back, and prevent me from pursuing a life of passion, purpose, and meaning.
So what changed? There are several answers to that question...
First, I think if we can get over the notion that we have to be perfect, that the timing needs to be perfect, the job needs to be perfect, and we just try it and see what happens... we give ourselves permission to succeed. In that moment of openness and vulnerability, we allow the possibilities that exist in the universe to unfold before us so that we can act upon them.
Second, surround yourself with positive people. Negative energy attracts more negative energy- have you ever heard the sayings "misery loves company" and "Misery breeds misery"? They are true! If your surround yourself with people that are constantly telling you what you can't do, how terrible you are, and are always complaining about their lives, it can be paralyzing. You come to believe that nothing can ever or will ever change. That your life is destined to be limited to your current existence. You need to follow the advice a very special friend gave me, "You just need to tell them to sell their crazy somewhere else, you aren't buying it."
Finally, I started to trust other people. When I doubted myself, I closed myself off to others. I was too fragile to risk being hurt by others so I was unwilling to trust people. I kept to myself and no one knew what I was thinking on the inside. Learning to trust again is not easy, because we know that if you trust the wrong people you will do yourself more harm than good. So who to trust- if people are criticizing you, telling you what you can't do, trying to control you or devalue you- run like the wind. Instead surround yourself with people that treat you with respect, dignity, care and concern... and if you are lucky love and affection.
Don't get me wrong, there are times when those self limiting fears creep back, but most of the time I see before me the world of opportunity... And I have to tell you, it is a wonderful view! You should consider joining me.
For those times when we feel those self imposed limits creeping back, I turn to others for inspiration. So for you I am sharing one that helps me not lose sight of all my blessing and helps me remember never to limit myself or others.
I never needed eyes to see — never. I simply needed vision and belief. Caroline Case
This post is dedicated to the man that calls me brave. I hope he knows that he helped me find my strength!
My new education leadership course called Governance began today. The instructor explained that this course is being specially design for our program and has never been taught like this before, not at FAU nor at any of the other universities in the area.
Ok that is great- We are getting used to being program
guinea pigs- And so the class began by having our teacher ask us what we thought Governance meant? Hummmm... I was really kind of hoping that my professor was going to answer that because I really didn't have a clue. Mind you, I am smart enough to know it had something to do with the government, more likely that it also has something to do with constitutional law. But other than that... no clue.
We did some reading prior to class that focused on great leaders in educational policy- even studied Socrates- I recognized this Socratic method of questioning she was using but it did not bring me to the point of self discovery on this question!
So in an effort to help us understand the societal, economic, and political influences on Governance we did a little carousal activity (Something educators like to do to get you up and moving while you work). More information to put into our definition, but we were still guessing.
After several more discussions and activities, we shared out all the definitions we had come up with and then we highlighted the key words that were common in all our definitions. This is what we came up with: Guidelines and procedures, political, societal, and economic factors, framework, expectations, common beliefs, norms, established rules, in response, and values.
From these we are supposed to come up with a definition that we can all agree upon. The thing I find interesting though, is the fact that when it comes to issues related to government, people rarely agree upon much of anything! Just look at the current political discussions, look at educational policy, look at the controversy related to school choice/ vouchers/ charters/ and public school funding, look at class size, the adoption of Common Core- is there ANY agreement on any of this?
Discussions in class touched on globalization, outsourcing of jobs, generational expectations, and political influences... the conversation was interesting and spirited- but there was little agreement. So how are we going to agree on a common understanding of something that relates to such issues? I am not quite sure, but I am really looking forward to the next 4 weeks as we try to figure it out!
Until then, I couldn't help but wonder what the term did mean... so according to Webster's it is described as "the way that a city, company, etc., is controlled by the people who run it."
As for the PROPEL Cohort 2 Definition, I will keep you posted!
