Owen Overview

Preparing for 2007

As a ritual I have adopted from one of my favorite professors, priests and friends, Ed Ingebretsen, I try to focus my new year reading on a specific goal. That goal has always been reading something that can help me be a better person, father, son, educator or friend. Fr. Ingebretsen reread Dante's Inferno as a way to refocus on human frailty and humility as new year celebrations focused on other parts of the human condition. I have altered his ritual slightly for myself, but I still retain the focus on human frailty and humility. The two texts I am reading this year have come to me via different routes, but I appreciate them nonetheless. The first, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, came to me by recommendation from one of my favorite people in the world. I have enjoyed the philosophical underpinings of this text and its goal of helping reach personal freedom. The ideas in this book fit very nicely into my experiences as principal and will continue to help me develop in this role over time.

Tom Robbins' Wild Ducks Flying Backward needed no recommendation. His work has left its indelible mark on me since I first read Still Life with Woodpecker as part of a Georgetown University class on John Milton and Paradise Lost. Though seemingly incongruous, I would be happy to explain how Robbins' 1975 novel fits into a 17th Century poem, if anyone is interested. Since that time, his work has been a key part of my educational philosophy as well as both Baccalaureate addresses I gave in 2002 and 2006. Though I have only begun reading this collection of his shorter works, I still find his emphasis on the role individuals can play in improving our world, the inherent humor of the human experience and the parody of our foibles make his work entertaining at the same time it challenges me to re-evaluate my role in the world.

With each of my posts, I try to have a point for all readers to gain. This post is not meant to advertise for these specific texts nor am I recommending anyone feel compelled to read these books. I read because I enjoy the serenity and solitude a book provides in balance to the hustle and bustle of daily life. I enjoy the mental challenges of interacting with a text to create meaning and application to my life. I seek to experience texts both as windows to parts of life I have not experienced and mirrors to parts of life I have. Our school goals for reading are not tied solely to the required assessments. We share our love of reading to help students become lifelong learners and readers. This conversation need not only take place within our building. I would be interested in having people post what they are reading. I am sure there will be many exciting opportunities and difficult challenges in 2007. I like to get started from a position of serenity and reflection.

End of 2006

I find it difficult to believe that 2006 is nearly over. It has been quite an eventful year for me, to say the least. I can hardly believe how much I learned and experienced this year. There are far too many individuals to thank for their contributions to my knowledge and life experience. Certainly, I owe the Owen staff a huge thank you for the kind welcome they gave me when I arrived on July 3rd. The PTA has been great as I learned so much about Owen's history and traditions. This is a great group of committed parents with whom I truly enjoy collaborating to make Owen a great experience for their children. The parent community as a whole has given me much insight into their hopes for our children and visions of what Owen could be. Most of all, I have enjoyed meeting every single student who walks through the doors of Owen. They are far different from the teenagers who inhabited the first nine years of my educational career. I would hate to guess how many high fives I have given students this year, though it might be a fun math exercise to estimate.

My hopes for this winter break are to spend time with my children and to continue the reflective introspection that is one of my most valued traits. I am already beginning to think about next year and initiate the ideas I have about how to continue to make Owen better. Some of the planning for next year must begin shortly, but I am also reviewing how things have gone so far this year. As many of you already contribute to my contemplative reflection, I will ask that your insights continue to be shared. I value every conversation I have with staff, students and parents and hope to engage our entire community throughout the rest of the year. I hope that I will hear from new people as part of the new experiences I have in 2007.

I hope everyone has happy holidays and a joyful new year. See you in January!

Talent Show

An issue has been brought to my attention and I hope to clarify it for everyone. As you see on the calendar that was sent home with registration materials this summer, there is no talent show scheduled for the 2006-2007 school year. Our staff had been discussing this for a couple of years before this decision was finalized. Last spring it was decided that we would take this year off and begin a biennial cycle of talent show performances. This decision was made for two main reasons:

• We know that our students are involved in many different activities, which all take significant time.
• The staff members who work this show have personal reasons for taking this year off.

Since the talent show has never been on a 2006-2007 school calendar, I hope this was not a significant issue for many people.

Connections

As I was reflecting on the events of this morning, two seemingly unrelated thoughts suddenly coalesced into a single idea. I spent a few minutes thinking about the district staff member who passed away and the impact he has had on my professional life. In my current position, I have had no contact with this person, but we were closely linked in one of my former positions. Several years ago, he stopped me at an Institute Day to tell me that he thought my decision to teach A Prayer for Owen Meany was great. We talked for several minutes and he especially focused on the depth of feeling that defines the main characters' friendship and the sacrifices made to protect that friend. I ended up teaching this novel for six years to nearly 800 students. I hope that this novel gave us the opportunity to discuss the importance of giving of ourselves to our friends and creating bonds that link us to our community.

This led me to thoughts of our school community and hopes that I can help facilitate that bonding and willingness to sacrifice that define friendship for our students. This sentiment has already been seen in the many efforts to support local families who face unforeseen and mighty obstacles. The generosity of our community also will be on public display as the Giving Tree collection is delivered to the residents of Lepertown tomorrow. I'd like to also encourage continued development in fostering friendships and good choices.

All of this was swirling around my head this morning as I was simultaneously reading the email request for Snowflurry volunteers. Bobbi Laffin, health teacher at Waubonsie, was asking for teachers to help with the Snowflurry dates at Granger and Crone Middle Schools for 4th and 5th Grade students. These events are designed to give information to students, allow for large and small group discussion about choices and fostering positive relationships between students. As a high school teacher, the students who went on Snowball trips always highlighted the close ties created by these events. I think this is another way to help our students develop those supportive and nurturing friendships that will make a difference in their lives. I will make another comment about this topic when the information to sign up is available.