If you're just joining in on this series, here's what's going on:
I'm using the quotes as a basis for reflection on a shift in my professional journey. You see, for 12 years I was an elementary music teacher and now I've found myself to be an assistant principal. In a time that I anticipate to be filled with much personal and professional growth, I'd like to be sure and carve out some purposeful reflection time. As an educator, I've personally benefited from purposeful reflection through blogging and I can only imagine that I'll still benefit from reflective blogging as a leader in education.
My goal is to spend some time in each post writing about the quote, about the author of the quote (when possible), and about how I see the quote and/or the background image of the quote applying to my day-to-day world.
As a gal who always credits a source, I'd like to give a shout out to a dear friend, Kara Lowery, for coming up with the name of the series. Kara is a fabulous special education teacher who specializes in working with children who have autism. Not only is is a gifted teacher; she's also terrifically punny.
Read on; enjoy!
The Wikipedia tells me that Oliver Holmes had two pretty cool parents. His mama was an ABOLITIONIST (say what!?!?!) and a transcendentalist. That's right. She hung out with Emerson (WHO ACTUALLY DID THAT?!?!). His father was a Harvard-man-turned-physician. Oliver went to Harvard and served in the same two societies as his father did. And get this: he signed up to be part of the militia but returned to Harvard for commencement. I mean, how many of us actually WANT to sit through the commencement ceremonies (I actually like them, but I've come to understand that I'm in a minority group of people when it comes to graduations)?!?!
And now for the relation/reflection to school life:
I was talking with a colleague just yesterday about the difference between an undergraduate degree, a masters degree, and a doctorate degree. These differences are my own opinion and are not based on anything other than personal experience (read: I have no sources to cite...and let's praise the LORD for that after years of citing sources):
Undergraduate: you work on pedagogy, especially with an education degree. You learn the HOW of what you're studying, and you gain connections to learn more about HOW to do your desired job.
Masters: you work on becoming a clear communicator of your opinions. You synthesize information and refine your philosophies, especially with a degree in education.
Doctorate: you work on having absolutely no opinion. You get your own opinion academically beaten out of you because every idea you have has to be backed up by three to five sources that are relevant to the research in the field.
I bring up these three degree differences because this quote made my mind automatically leap to the difference between a masters degree and a doctorate degree. Getting a masters degree gave me confidence that I could synthesize my ideas on pedagogy. Getting a doctorate degree taught me the vast amount of stuff I can't even begin to understand or know. And I loved every bit of both degrees, because I'm a big fan of learning.
I'd like to also take a moment to reflect on my day-to-day by using this quote:
Just today, I was able to work with a parent and their child to discuss a discipline situation. I was able to meet with them in person, and I gotta tell you...I did a whole lot more listening than talking. Listening with my ears to what the child and parent were talking about, and listening with my EYES to absorb non-verbal communication (and it was POURING out of both of them). Here's what it came down to: Mama loves child. Child was sad about choices. Mama loves child so much that she was happy to hear that it was a minor mistake that was made. Child loves mama so much that she was sad she had disappointed.
Assistant Principal loved listening to this particular family so much that I almost made the conversation last longer than it needed to, but thankfully I kept and eye toward the time and saw that the child needed to be back in the learning environment (not to say that she wasn't learning anything with her Mama in my office--because she was learning plenty!). I think the kiddo was happy to return to the learning environment, but I didn't let her go until she got a hug from Mama, and a promise that they'd talk more about what happened later at home.
There's a reason why I frame my work as an assistant principal with these three words in this particular order: listen, collaborate, refine. It's no mistake that "listen" is the first word. It's served me well so far, and I hope it continues to serve me well throughout the rest of the spring semester.