Taking the Initiative in Our Initiative It is a brilliantly sunny but crisp autumn day in Denver, the kind of day that I treasure most. The windows can be open, but there is a chill in the air, though not a cloud in the sky. The leaves are just beginning to turn. Is it possible that our time together at the Cornerstone Summer Institute was only two months ago? During those muggy days in Philadelphia, individuals who might not see each other again until the regional meetings exchanged so many important ideas. I remember wondering if people in Cleveland would continue to interact with those in Greenwood or if the Trenton contingent would keep in touch with their colleagues in Jackson. I wondered then if the urgency of the commitment discussed in quick conversations at the Ace Center would be sustained well into the year when the routines of daily life with children drew our attention. These ponderings led me to wonder about each of you. It isn't that we wish for several months to fly by without checking in; but it seems we often end up speaking or emailing those with whom we most habitually communicate. I see Bruce and Debbie because they are in Denver; Edna and Lu are in regular touch because Edna uses Lu's video conference equipment which is in Lu's home. Steve and Suzanne have the luxury of being around the rest of the Philadelphia-based crew. They get to laugh and work, solve problems and throw erasers at each other every day of the week! Recently, Steve and I talked about how much professional communication is done on the spur of the moment, walking by someone's office, grabbing lunch together, walking in from the parking lot with a colleague. And, we talked about how difficult it is to keep everyone up to date when the Cornerstone network is spread around nine states and two countries. Our conversation reminds me that I need to take the initiative in our initiative. I need to be aware of the "usual subjects", those that hear me rant and rave at least weekly about Cornerstone matters and then I need to consider those with whom I don't habitually communicate. For example, I am beginning to think about the topics for the regional meetings in February. If, in addition to talking to the colleagues with whom I most frequently communicate - my usual suspects - how might those meetings be different if I called Heidi Jensen, a fine coach in Greenwood Mississippi or Frankie Beard, one of our newest principals, from Dalton Georgia? If I took the initiative to check in with Judy Kennedy, Springfield's Critical Friend, whom I don't yet know well or Michelle King, a principal in Jackson who has been with us from the beginning but with whom I have not yet had a lengthy conversation, would my thinking be changed enough to actually improve the experiences the rest of you have at the Regional Meetings? My guess is that it would because I would incorporate the opinions and needs of Heidi, Frankie, Judy and Michelle into my planning. I know that the tendency to communicate with the same few isn't just a Cornerstone phenomenon. It may be that in your school or district, teachers and principals turn to a few trusted colleagues for advice or to work through problems or to share an important new idea. I would never agree to forego those conversations with my trusted few, but I see the benefit of branching out, of entertaining new perspectives, of purposely calling or emailing a colleague to whom I rarely turn. I am intrigued by the possibilities for new dimensions in this work if I took the time to ask some of the "not-so-usual suspects" their thoughts about an idea or dilemma. I suspect that our contributions to the project might just be more innovative if we all took the time to build new associations. In that spirit, I'll use this month's Ellin's Corner to reflect on the summer institute and to consider three ideas I found most salient from this year's time together. Whether in sessions about the Cornerstone Literacy Framework or in role-alike groups, we challenged the notion that there is one right way to do something as complex as helping children learn to be literate. We rejected the notion that teachers need prescriptions to teach effectively and that any "program" will work well in all schools or for all teachers. We agreed that "reinventing the wheel" may be exactly what's needed, as long as we reinvent together. Cornerstone staff admitted that, though there is much we wish to bring to each school, the most effective professional learning strategies are based on your needs and goals you set. We agreed that Cornerstone can assist in the development of the tools you need to get the work done, but that no outside agency can supply formulas to replace good teaching. I wonder if you noticed that we, staff and everyone from the schools, referred frequently to research. There was a scholarly nature to this summer institute. Teachers and principals shared professional books they had read and discussed important ideas from them. When professional books were distributed, I could sense the excitement about returning home to dig into them. When coaches and principals presented, they talked about successful strategies and about the research upon which they built their work. Participants grappled with sometimes contradictory ideas about which they had read and with which they were experimenting in the classroom. There was energy around us - the kind of energy that comes from a good wrestle with ideas followed by a good game of volleyball. (My thumb still hurts!) Perhaps this idea builds on the last - it's pretty tough to work as a scholar, teach scholars when someone is handing you a prescriptive program. . . . Finally, I have to reiterate what I heard many others say - this was a summer institute in which we embraced rather than avoided the tough problems. With our second and third year colleagues, we confronted the issues of race and gender bias in our schools and discussed the devastating impact these problems have on our children's learning and the communities in which they live. We learned to use learning strategies such as Socratic Seminars, Active Listening and Critical Inquiry to introduce those conversations in each Cornerstone community so that each site can continue these conversations. We discovered that issues that divide us are manageable if we discuss them honestly. I wonder, now that I've done some thinking aloud about my recollections from the summer institute if others saw it differently or perhaps share my perceptions. Either way, I wonder what you all will do to act on your insights. What will you do differently in your classroom, in the classrooms of colleagues, in your school and community? And, when you act to make your learning come to life, with whom will you reflect on those actions? Will you think it through with those you've come to trust the most? I hope so, but, as we begin another year as Cornerstone colleagues, I so hope you'll enlighten the "not-so-usual" suspects as well. Go ahead, write or call someone from another city or state who you don't yet know well. Take the initiative. It's your initiative.
The great writer H.L. Mencken said, "For every complex problem, there is a simple solution that is most certainly wrong." |
