The last few blogs may seem like whiplash (to the reader) in trying to tell the story of an educational journey, yet the tie between creating a philosophy of education without some biographical content is foolish. It's all about process rather than coming out of the head of Zeus fully formed like Athena.
Being raised within and being weened on the milk of a fairly traditional educational system means that there's a lot of baggage that comes with the territory of being educated while deeply scrutinizing the current educational system. Like anyone else, I am a product of the schools that I went to. I can say with some pride that I went to Headstart (1968), Lincoln Elelmentary School (1st - 3rd Grades--1968-1971), and Berneice Childs Elementary (4th Grade--1972) all in Robbins, Illinois. I also attended Carl Sandburg Elementary and Junior High School (5th - 8th Grade--1972-1976) and Thorton Township High School (1976-1980) both in Harvey, Illinois. Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut (1980-1984) and Portland State University (2001-2003) for graduate school in Education. Those places and experiences formed who I am in some sense, but not totally. At this point in my life I have spent more time outside of formal educational settings as a student, but like the experienced teacher the other day said, "The students I have taught," the loves that I have known, and the children and their families I have been in contact with have given me just as much, if not more in forming the kind of learner and educator I am today.
I miss teaching these days. I miss teaching every day with a kind of dull ache that I don't often get outside of what I encountered when I was acting or at least being an actor who was working on his craft. There is a kind of withdrawal that happens, which is where I am now.
As a principal (or Head of School), I get to be the lead educator at my school, which means that I teach teachers, but I also get to be the chief learner. The best Heads of School, which I do not consider myself to be one at this point, are constantly learning. They are open to new ideas and new ventures and adventures. They know their limitations. Believe me, these past few weeks have shown me my own limits in creating organization and process. I am always open to new ideas, but I need to live those experiences (and ideas) so they are authentic. Creating a real and genuine self should be the nature of educaion. Sadly, it is not.
That gets me to my original point: What's the connection between memoir and trying to reinvent education as it is today? Perhaps it starts with the self and works outward. Do I have enough time in this lifetime to do that? Probably not, so I have to do what I can or say like the Existentialists, "Why bother, brother?" We'll come to some of these questions over time.
Again, that's one of the purposes of this blog. It comes down to forgetting and using all of the things that I have been taught to believe, partnering with Spirit and Intentionality, and Creating a process by which these elements can come together.
