Reflections

A collaborative post by Tony Sinanis and Lisa Meade When you look back on the order of events, it may not make much sense to those in our worlds. We were both successful principals leading amazing teams in our incredible schools. We worked with kids who were excited to come to school, with families who were proud  to share their children with us and educators who put kids at the center of every decision. We felt highly capable in our positions. The principalship allowed us to impact a myriad of decisions, shape the trajectory of a community and nurture a culture of learning for adults and students. We were inspired by the work of other principals in our PLN and kept raising the bar with new ideas and approaches in our buildings because we knew we had to model what we hoped for our in our communities… being learners first and teachers second! As we begin thinking about what 2017 has in store for us, we paused to think about where we both were a year ago when we were thinki...

I am always struck by how much a story sticks with me. Sure, I remember parts of the research and reasons why certain strategies are better to use than others. But, words from personal experience always stick with me. At a recent PD session with an incredible facilitator, the power of a story was there. He told the group about his own schooling story (I won't give it away here as it is not mine to tell) and it just didn't seem plausible. How could the boy in his story be the same man that stood before us? But, he was. He is. His story is what he brings to his work and gives it color and heart. I've written about parts of my own story before and the bias it can cause me to bring to my practice. But, it's not really a bias. It can become the context. As educators, we each bring different experiences to our practice. What we've been through impacts decisions we make in the future. What we've seen with our own eyes gives us hope for new similar situations. W...