LeaderTalk

Using Creative Tension to Move Forward

Cross posted on Creative Tension. A new blog for school leaders.

The gap between vision and current reality is also a source of energy. If there were no gap, there would be no need for any action to move towards the vision. We call this gap creative tension.

Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

I have had this quote hanging on my office wall for years but during the past year it has become much more meaningful to me. More meaningful because the gap between the vision that I have for schools and the current reality seems enormous. This large gap has created a sense of urgency for me that continues to build.  It's extremely exciting and I'm now on a  personal and professional mission to provide the type of  leadership that is necessary to move schools into the future. Fortunately or unfortunately, according to John Legend in If You're Out There, "the future started yesterday and we're already late".

Myvision for schools is one in which:

• teachers and students seamlessly use technology in the teaching and learning process. 
• students are engaged in meaningful and relevent learning experiences using technology just as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, artists, social scientists, etc.
• teachers and students have access to resources from all over the world. 
• individuals  are not constrained by the curriculum and have the opportunity to explore areas of study about which they are passionate.
• students are authors, publishers, creators of knowledge, collaborators, researchers and contributors.

This creative tension has me hungry to seek out ways  to close the gap and this blog provides me with a venue to reflect, share ideas and promote discussions with colleagues and peers who share a common interest. I believe that this will help me grow professionally so that I can provide the type of leadership that our students deserve. Let's use this energy to start closing the gap. The mission begins!

How are you keeping your teachers excited about teaching and learning?

Like all of you, North Carolinians are faced with significant budget shortfalls.  Our state and local leaders are doing their absolute best to balance the budget while not significantly impacting the classroom. Part of the budget cuts being discussed across the state focuses upon eliminating costs that do not directly impact the classroom. Professional  development is one of those that is a fairly common cut.  Professional development is used in many ways; among them including to sharpen and upgrade skills, provide crucial training for new initiatives,  develop and deepen the talent, renew licensure/credentialing, and to revitalize and renew the passion of teachers and school leaders. Yet, if the stark choice is eliminating professional development for a year to save teaching positions, it is an easy call.  Save the teaching position.

I don't think there is any way around it-we have to find ways other than simply conferences and face to face workshops and seminars to keep teachers excited about the  teaching and learning process in these chaotic times.  It is also critical that we find ways for school executives and leaders to renew themselves as well.  This is even more crucial now.  A colleague, Ben Rosen, was quoted in the local paper that an important tool is to find more ways to tell workers about changes inside and outside the organization.  As Ben notes, "Insecurity is such a killer of morale.  It's important ...to give employees timely and complete information.  The more uncertain times are, the more rumors pop up." 

I'm posing my question for this post as a way for us collectively to find ways to keep teachers (and school leaders) excited about what we do and how we help make a difference to the young people to whom parents have entrusted their children.  How are you keeping your teachers and yourselves excited and focused upon teaching and learning OR supporting those whose focus is teaching, learning, and student success?

Best regards,
Chris