Week 4: Response to Blogs

Week Four: Vision by Cynthia Madanski

Creating Frameworks for Possibility

While the last chapters of this month’s reading were all valuable, the one that resonated with me was the eleventh practice.  The school that I teach at was completely overhauled with an entirely new staff, students, and grade levels this past school year.  This whole year has been a work in progress, as the staff was hired only 2 weeks before school started (and in fact is not entirely complete now, and I came at the end of October), the administration was only assigned then as well, and our contract language is changed entirely for this building in the district alone.   Teachers had never worked together before, and none had worked in this neighborhood or had any connections to the families in our school.

I say this because while we have been hired as “the best lead teachers in the city”, we have been operating without a clear vision.  We have been thrown together with the task of “turning this failing school around”.  A gargantuan task with no support from central administration to do so.  At our last staff meeting, we discussed the need for a vision statement.  I was a bit dismayed when we all contributed ideas and ended up with a vision the length of an essay with points encompassing all things we want to accomplish:  lifelong learners, safe environment, parental education, engaged students, fostering curiosity, attending to health needs, community support, giving opportunities, 21^st century technology, ending the cycle of poverty… the list went on and on.  I felt that we were missing the mark on our vision statement. Of course we want all of these things for our students, but our vision could encompass all of these ideals without being an essay.   It was simply a list of all the things that overwhelm us everyday and frankly, it was depressing to me to read it all and see all we have to accomplish.

According to The Art of Possibility, a vision articulates a possibility.  It fulfills a desire fundamental to humankind.  It is free-standing ~ it points to neither a rosier future, nor to a past in need of improvement.  It is a long line of possibility radiating outward.   I think that our vision for my school started during that staff meeting by looking at all that is wrong with our students’ lives, and what we want to do to fix it.  That may be the worst way we can look at our vision.  Why not the same vision as HP – “Robinson Elementary School For the World”?  Not “Robinson Elementary School where we hope to erase poverty, drugs, gangs, parents who don’t know how to help their kids, kids who have no love of learning, atrocious behavior problems, pathetic attendance, government dependent citizens, violence....” Instead of looking at what we want to get rid of, we should be looking at where we strive to be.

photo from geekphilosopher.com

Do we approach our vision by looking in the rear view mirror and addressing things that need to be changed?  Or do we look forward at where we want to be as a school community?  I will be sharing this chapter at our next staff meeting when we meet again to hammer out our vision statement.  

Response:

Teachers work so hard and diligently for so little money and so much criticism.  I find the most stressful part is the end of the year shuffle when the teachers discover their fate. 

Discovering your compelling vision can be a messy process.  Forming your ideas will take work to become concise.  This does remind me of a story, one that I have forgotten the details to.

Low-end retail stores have an enormous amount of rules.  The rule list is as long as an essay.  High-end retail stores, one in particular has one rule, “we will do our best and expect others to do the same.  When asked why they didn’t have dress codes, behavior codes, and so on; the owner said, “I hire the correct people.  Those people know what doing our best is, and therefore they do it.”

I have this thought that the short mission statement will be put into your memory banks, and become something you remember and use daily.  Pithy ideas seem to stick.  Rambling ideas end up in the circular file in your brain. 

I suggest that the next time you meet, you say that what you really need is a slogan for your school.  “Make right!” or “Always the best.” or “This is my success.” Much like the marine “hoorah.”  Something pithy and hits at the core of what you want, and avoid what you don’t want.  Good luck!  Thanks for sharing.

Golda's Post:

Telling the WE story has me reflecting on my marriage. We have been together for 15+ years. Part of our success is the ability to communicate. We talk about everything including small talk. Topics will vary and sometimes we will argue. Even though we may argue about things, we tend to in the end come up with the possibility of agreeing to disagree. It is because of this philosophy, we find that we cannot stay angry at one another. Agreeing to disagree allows for mutual respect. It is this mutual respect that gives us our inner strength within our relationship. Another thing that made us stronger is that we were friends first and later to become best friends. Best friends do everything together and support one another in their endeavors. I truly believe that I would not have reached my goal of obtaining a second Masters degree if we did not go through it together. It was the support network that we had that enabled me to achieve this goal. Now we will go through the process of working toward me gaining employment once my goal of this degree is obtained.

Response:

Dear Golda,

Thank you for sharing your touching story about your marriage.  I was fortunate to find someone with which I often agree.  We do not argue if we disagree, we adopt a policy of, “well that is interesting, why do you feel that way?”  I am not saying that we live a life full of lilacs, but we do well enough.  We do respectfully argue more on vacations, something I have been unable to understand.

The process of remaining your own person while sharing the common goals of another is an interesting challenge.  I was not prepared for this process to be so interesting.  I am not sure how to prepare students and my own children for such a process of marriage.  There are no handbooks in life, but more information is handy!   Best of luck to you and your family.  ~Faith.