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Sunday, July 24, 2011

What I Have Learned & Forgotten

I know I have probably forgotten much of what I have learned but does that stop me from wanting to learn more. No. As I thought about writing this post I came across 2 posts by @reeducate  'What Does It Mean to Love A Child' & 'Not Learning' that seemed appropriate to my writing.
What drives me to want to learn more? Is it intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? It is my desire to be as knowledgeable as a can at what I am currently doing. Can I know everything? No, but I can continuously learn more. Is this self motivation and/or motivation due to expectations?
Currently in education there is much discussion about schooling: teaching methods, curriculum, testing, learning and expectations.
A starting point, school structure & function. Stuck In The Groove. A Critique of Compulsory Schooling
Lets start with 'Are Your Local Schoolchildren Students or Learners' .
I cannot remember when I was attending school what drove me to learn. Was it a natural instinct, was it a competition to learn more (be smarter) than the kid beside me or was it because I was being taught?
A question arises these days "What is more important having the knowledge or knowing what to do with the knowledge?" Where & how does testing & its form play in the answer to that question? I guess that depends on your answer. Is what we need is thinking? '10 Ways to Create a Culture of Thinking'
If a person has an interest in something they are more apt to be willing to learn. The connection to relevance between the subject and the student is important. 'Seven Sins of Our System of Forced Education' What subjects need to be part of the curriculum? Many types of jobs in the future don't currently exist so how can we teach/learn for them? Does the old cliche 'Well Rounded Education" apply? Is that STEM or includes arts, history etc? How personalize should schooling be?
'The Object of Education is Learning Not Teaching' What is your perspective?
Once again I maybe ask more questions then give answers. Is learning giving the answers or asking the questions? 'Great Questions Have Legs'

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Trustee Trusteeship


AMDSB's Character Attribute for June was Integrity. When I was writing the following presentation I began to question myself and my performance as a Trustee.

Integrity ‘doing what is right and honourable.’
When you look up integrity in Wikipedia you will find ‘Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy,[1] in that it regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.
The word "integrity" stems from the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete).[2] In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold.’
What do you stand for?  What do you say? How do you act? What is your rationale?
‘Wisdom is knowing the right path to take, Integrity is taking it’. Can you have integrity without wisdom? Is wisdom knowledge?

As trustees we have and will make decisions that are controversy. At times we may struggle with making a decision and question our decision but we take the knowledge we have and the information given us and we make the best decision we can. Is that all that is asked of us? If we are consistent and confident in the decision making, yes. We may be questioned and even attacked over the decision. We are responsible to the whole board not just to the constituents and communities that elected us. Do we see the whole picture? Yes, but what affects all affects one.

A building’s integrity is its structural strength. If this structure is weakened it could collapse. Is a person’s integrity their inner strength and wholeness of character? What happens when a person’s integrity is weakened?
Tanveer Naseer ‘If we expect to be a strong leaders and confident team players, we need the rare ability to listen to things that are tough to hear, and say things we don’t think will be popular.’ This could also be as simple as knowing what to say and when to say it or what not to say.

"Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face." - St. Francis of Assisi 

I am not going to say where I think I failed or give reasons why. Improvement is all I can ask of myself. Here are my first steps:

Do I need more focus & direction? Determining Leadership Focus & Direction 
Where should advocacy lay? Trustee Advocacy 
Asking questions benefits all.  Question Everything
Learn from all. Lessons in Principalship 
Who do you please? How To Overcome People Pleasing
What is needed to be a leader? 10 Things I Learned About Leading


I hope I did not turn you off with all these links to wonderful & informative sites. My Path of Learning continues as does it for all. School Trustees Don't Know Who Does What.