The booming world of educational literature

For fun, I am currently reading "Albion's Seed," by David Hackett Fisher.  I learned about this book via Wikipedia, when I was researching material for a cultural diversity assembly at my elementary school.  (Look up Wikipedia's entry for "European American," for the enticing description of Fisher's book that drew me in.) 

On the other hand, the list of education-related books that my district mentors have assigned me over the past six months keeps piling up: 

• "Teach Like a Champion" (332 pages)
• "Unmistakable Impact" (313 pages)
• "Courageous Conversations about Race" (281 pages)
• "Change Leadership" (263 pages)
• "The Art and Science of Teaching" (219 pages)
• "RTI in the Classroom" (183 pages)
• "RTI for Diverse Learners" (275 pages)

Truthfully, I am looking forward to reading a couple of these books, especially the ones that address the gaps in my knowledge that I became aware of through my recent interview process.  This will be my first summer vacation ever where I will be focused on plowing through books. 

Sitting in a corner

Even though I'm not quite yet an administrator (one more year of waiting), I was invited by my supervisors to attend an "All Admin" meeting this morning.  That means that every principal and assistant principal in our district was there.  By my count, the conference room was filled with about 85 people.

In terms of this blog, the purpose of the meeting wasn't as important as where I chose to sit--as far into a back corner as possible.  And I made sure to wait until the last possible moment to enter the meeting room. I really don't know "this crowd" yet, and I am just awful--god awful--at chit chatting.  And as far as moving up the ranks, I would even describe my inability to engage in useless banter as an Achilles heel.  Whenever I go to these meetings, it just seems like everyone knows how to stir a coffee cup in one hand, while cackling it up with any nearby companion.

The interesting thing though is that once a meeting starts, I am quite fearless in sharing my thoughts or questions.  It's even become a part of my reputation, for better or for worse (mostly for the better, I would hope).  But for today's meeting, not a peep out of me.  There's also such thing as a time and place, and an "All Admin" gathering is not the place for a teacher to raise his hand.

300 Teen-Agers

My vision of becoming a principal has always included a "chief motivator"-type of component.  I visualize myself addressing a large auditorium, cafeteria, of gymnasium full of underachieving teenagers and inspiring them to achieve great things.  And why would this be an unreasonable vision?  I've done it with a classroom full of students time and again (even with classrooms of kids I didn't know).

"Nuh-uh."  Not so fast.  There's a huge difference between 30 kids and 300 kids, as I found out yesterday.  I have been charged with organizing my school's end-of-year celebration for 8th graders.  It's going to be a ton of fun, and to get the kids charged up, I created a quick little powerpoint preview to present during the 8th graders' lunch period.  Well wouldn't you know it, it was just downright impossible to get them all to be quiet.  There were moments where I was able to speak to them enough to convey information, but they were punctuated by multiple occasions where I had to simply turn off the projector and wait to re-gain their collective attention.

And darn it, there weren't any strings attached to my message either!  No orders for them to behave better, or respect their peers, or keep the cafeteria clean!  It was simply a message of pure fun.  And yet, they couldn't sit respectfully for a simple 5 minutes.  You'd think I'd understand teen-agers better than this!

My first American Indian Pow Wow

I attended an American Indian Pow Wow tonight for the first time.  The event is the largest annual gathering of American Indians in my town, and is organized by one of the very few American Indian teachers in my school district, on the campus of the high school where he teaches.

I don't want to somehow diminish the meaning of this community event by trying to describe it.  There was very little of it which I understood, as a matter of fact.  I will only say that I was moved, and plan on attending the event annually in the future.

As a result of the cultural assemblies that I have been managing for my elementary school, I have been thinking a lot lately about the collision of European explorers with the native Indian populations of North America.  This particular visual that I found was a real jolt to me:

 

This is a map that represents the dispersal of Indian tribes all across North America before European explorers arrived.  I had never seen any such map in my entire years of schooling, including college.  In any textbook I have ever seen, all maps of the early United States (e.g. the thirteen colonies, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark's journey) portrayed vast American land as empty and unoccupied.  In fact, there was an unbelievably amazing tapestry of Indian civilization that existed.  What a different perspective we would all have as Americans if our textbooks had properly layered our colonies, our land grants, our trails, and our westward expansion on top of this tapestry. 

Not this time

A kind person from HR called me yesterday to tell me that I wasn't selected for the open administrative position.  I certainly do feel a range of emotions that take me up and down, but it's more like a gentle sled ride than a rickety roller coaster.  Mostly, I am fortunate to know that I am still landing in a wonderful place for next year, a position of pure learning as an administrative intern being mentored by some amazing leaders in our district.

Other random personal reactions from the experience...

• It's an awkward feeling to not be selected by a panel that consists of many people you know personally.  Do they think less of me?  Have I been tainted by losing in front of them?  Have I somehow been exposed?  Such questions run through my mind (though I know the answer in each case is "no").  
• I am actively trying to resist the tendency to place inordinate weight for the end result on my interview performance.  I consciously tell myself that even had I answered each question perfectly, it wouldn't have been enough to overcome the experience advantage that others had over me.  
• I am heading into administration from the starting point of being a capable teacher.  But to be selected as an administrator (and then do an adequate job), I need to fill in the sizable gaps in my knowledge of the systems, tools, procedures, and structures that make our district operate smoothly.  
• It's important for me to accept all of this in a positive manner.  Children learn from their parents, and I want to be an example to my daughters about how to handle setbacks in life.