After a seemingly brief hiatus from blogging and limited involvement even on Twitter the past two summer months, I have had a lot of time to think about beginning a new chapter in my professional and personal life. My wife and I are welcoming our third child in a matter of weeks, and I have begun my new role as HS principal at Charles City HS. Summers are often times when educators take a much-needed break from the daily grind to re-charge and begin planning and preparing for the next school year. Over the years I, especially as I have entered educational leadership, have found that summer learning is as influential as any learning in our profession.
Although some of our most important work in educational leadership is done in the summer, I make a concentrated effort to not bring work home with me in the summer, hence the break from blogging and Twitter during that time. Early summer afternoon and evenings are the best family time of the year for a principal and I certainly want to take advantage of that by spending time with my wife and boys.
However, this break does not mean I stop learning, in fact these past few months have opened me up to some of the best learning I have seen all year. So much so, it inspired a change of name for my blog, as I have seen the ongoing pursuit for learning evident around me as both a father and principal.
I have fought the continuous fight to get 3 1/2 year old, Ajay, to use "please" and "thank you." Soon to be 2-year old, Dax, can't figure out that he is not quite big enough to be climbing and jumping off things. He may have to learn the hard way. It is a battle for learning everyday for Ajay and Dax, a battle they fight without really knowing, and a battle their future depends upon.
I have learned how to deal with the roller-coaster of emotions of living in limbo, when you go from having your house sold and moving, to not having your house sold and not moving. Through that I have learned another lesson on how being surrounded by strong and caring people can help us through anything.
I have spent the better part of the last two months becoming acclimated with my new school, staff, community and responsibilities. I have begun learning with some of our staff on MTSS, competency-based education, standards-based grading, branding our school, and much more. I have been introduced to the world of designing and financing a 21st Century school and the intricacies that come with it.
I have been involved in conversation after conversation about what I have learned with comments likes, "We had success with this at Wapsie Valley!" "We started this at Starmont!" "We had something similar to this at Union!" Bringing in aspects of education that I have learned along the way has positioned me for a confident start at Charles City.
I have been fortunate in these short two months to work with a growing team of Charles City educators on our vision to change assessment and grading in our district. A team that is motivated to push our district forward to do what is right for our students. I have learned a lot from this group and look forward to learn with them for years to come.
I have heard many times learning is messy, and when we take on second order changes such as SBG, CBE & MTSS, we are going to find that learning is in fact a messy-ongoing-frustrating battle for improvement. Our initial work at Charles City has reminded me that I have a lot to learn, and this summer has reminded me how much learning is a part of life.
I could argue, this summer, all I have been doing is learning. Yet, I have a lot more to learn, and I will always have a lot more to learn. Learning that's being done now and the work that goes with it, is what separates us from the "haves" and the "have nots." It is work that puts us on the winning side in the battle for learning, a battle we must be prepared to fight on a daily basis.
