Nocking the Arrow

In 1964 while ruling on an obscenity case, United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously asserted that he would not attempt to define hard-core pornography, but stated simply, "I know it when I see it."   Leadership can be a nebulous term for us to define, be we certainly know it when we see it. My personal experiences with leadership are a mixed bag. Some endeavors have gone well, while others could have gone much better. Growth has been appropriately represented by a squiggly line. Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset appeals to me because it helps frame setbacks as learning experiences and opportunities to improve. I do not have to look far to observe stellar examples of leadership, I'm surrounded by them. My wife, Natalie, a second-grade teacher of twenty-plus years, spends a couple hours each evening providing feedback on her students' classwork. She also spends several hours each Saturday at her school preparing lessons, updating ...

CC image Chris Harrison Earlier this week, I witnessed a graphic illustration of a significant learning gap. In this case, the connected versus the unconnected educator. My district hosts a leadership summit for the all of our administrators to kick off the new school year. Since we are moving from pilot to program phase with 1:1 iPads, the theme of this meeting was our new "brand"; extraordinary opportunities, innovative teaching, exceptional learning. I genuinely appreciate the simplicity and values expressed in this motto. Unlike previous mission statements and overarching goals that we have produced - this one actually used the word "learning". Innovative teachers and administrators were selected to present their experiences of teaching and leading in a 1:1 learning environment. Nearly all of these dozen or so presenters, including myself, share thoughts and resources with each other as part of a growing, enriching, and engaging personal learning network...