Gratitude for Being Part of the Global Learning Community
With the school year having ended and the summer vacation now in full flow, this is a great time to reflect, appreciate and plan for the future.
I am most aware that the educators (both those with whom I work directly and/or whose work I follow) whom I most admire embody the notion expressed in Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s quote, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions”. Their practice (whether in an IB school or not) embody the learning attributes of the IB Learner Profile. They do not simply teach the same year in year out, but rather adjust their practice accordingly. They not only challenge the students, but themselves too and, most often, engender change within the school environment through implementing new practice.
Throughout the school year I appreciate reading broadly and especially the thoughts of, inter alia, Dan Kerr, William D. Parker, and George Coros. I am appreciative of the Connected Principals site, set up by George to provide a platform for educators of different backgrounds to share practice. I fully concur with the following statement on the site, “It is imperative that as educators, we are learners first.” For me, these weekly posts strike the balance in terms of being succinct, yet meaningful whether they crystalize an understanding or introduce a new concept.
I have certainly appreciated the sentiments expressed by Dan Kerr in his March 2016 post entitled An Educational Responsibility whereby he stated:
“It is now an expectation…no, a responsibility that we all have to write, to blog, to post, to tweet, and to share our thoughts, our expertise, our successes and failures, and our collective knowledge about what is working for students and for schools…
We have an educational responsibility to learn from each other and to share…it’s that simple. I’m challenging you all this week to look critically at this, and to see where there might be ways for you to share more of yourselves and your effective practices. We all have something to share, and together we can move our profession forward…the best part about sharing however, which cannot be overstated, is the fact that you end up getting more back than you put out. Put yourself out there to the world and watch how the world will respond…there’s no better way to grow as an educator in my opinion”
This is the first summer since 2013 that I have not had a summer course. I spent the last four summers attending Principals' Training Center [PTC] in London and loved the experience both for the professional development as well as the wonderful personal relationships that came as a result of the intense learning experiences. It certainly seemed unusual to not spend part of May collecting information and reading assigned articles in preparation for a PTC course. So while I am not sharing face to face with colleagues this summer, these blog entries along with articles in TIE [Social Thinking Comes to M'KIS and M'KIS hosts Asperger's Expert Tony Attwood] are a very modest attempt at that which Dan Kerr described above. I wholeheartedly agree with his statement that “We are now learning from each other in a very global sense, and I feel privileged to be a part of this incredibly exciting time in education.”
I encourage you to take the time over the summer to not just relax and have downtime, but to take time to reflect and consider personal and professional experiences that will allow you to continue to develop so as to best serve our school communities. Should you feel inspired to share your thoughts with colleagues around the world through social media, there will be many ready to read and respond.