Tag Archives: reflection

On the career trapeze – a leap of faith

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September 19, 2011

Dear Westminster Junior High Faculty and Parents:

Last week, I submitted to Bill Clarkson my letter of resignation from the post of Junior High Principal, effective at the conclusion of the 2011-12 academic year.

While my choice has been difficult, it has been fully mine, and I now feel great peace about the decision. In all honesty, my life and career path have been well illuminated by serving in the principal role, particularly in the most recent two years. I simply know in my head and in my heart that I need a change – my journey is taking another path. I am grateful to Bill Clarkson for the encouragement and understanding he has given me both professionally and personally, and which go with me on this journey.

In my eight years as Junior High principal, I have learned that I cherish the time and involvement with faculty colleagues, students, and parents. The work surrounding educational innovation and enhancement – the people-work that finds me as a team member in the Junior High School professional learning community, as a co-facilitator of Synergy 8, and as a co-leader with the Junior High Guidance Committee – fills my soul and ignites my deepest enthusiasms as an educator and learner. Also, my connections with the Center for Teaching and the Glenn Institute stand out for me professionally. Nevertheless, I believe I can continue – even improve – my leadership in such work by focusing more specifically on these areas of education, while reducing the other administrative responsibilities that specifically come with the demands of serving as a principal at Westminster.

During my spring sabbatical, I began to explore the possibilities of such a path change, even though I did not start my sabbatical with that particular intent in mind. Additionally, my participation in the blogosphere reveals to me daily the myriad possibilities in schools.

In the coming months I will continue to explore my own learning and career path to serve education in that magical place that exists in the crossroads of what ignites one’s passions and where one can make a positive difference in the world. Like the trapeze artist we discussed at a recent faculty meeting, I must let go of my current bar to reach for the next. The timing of my leap-of-faith decision allows me to look for my next job with full integrity, and it allows for the school to maximize its potential for finding the next principal of the Junior High. I can continue for the academic year to participate in much exciting work we have before us. On every level, Westminster is thoughtfully preparing to meet the challenges of the future, growing in its commitment to honoring Jesus Christ and providing the BEST possible education for our young people.

It has been a great privilege to be a part of the Westminster Community.

Sincerely,

Bo Adams
Principal, Junior High School

Valuable Time – Invaluable, Shared Insights

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When I first began my role as principal (this current year is my ninth year in this role), I was not systemically connected to the work and learning of the faculty in my care. Ironic maybe, but true. In the ensuing years, I have developed systemic ways to plug into the work and learning of my colleagues. The efforts have resulted in valuable time and invaluable, shared insights.

1. Weekly, I attend at least 25% (1 of 4) of each of the PLC/PLT (professional learning community/team) meetings. Over the course of a year, this provides me with at least 144 hours of time with the teacher teams who explore ways to enhance learning for students and adults alike. I am able to learn side-by-side with those purposefully and collaboratively exploring curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.

2. I load into my reader the RSS feeds of the blogs from any Junior High faculty member who maintains a blog. What insight into the thinking, questioning, and practicing of my colleagues this provides!

3. I follow my Junior High colleagues on Twitter…if they have an account.

4. Maybe most importantly, I am given the great excuse (“professional responsibility”) to read the goals and self-assessments of the faculty. I do so to prepare for one-on-one or team conferences with each of the 80 Junior High faculty. These conferences provide opportunity for incredible dialogue about that which we are focusing on in our classrooms and learning spaces. These conversations are among my favorite of the year.

Reading goals and preparing for today’s two conferences is what inspired this quick post; reading a few faculty blogs and tweets also contributed to my compelling need to share.

From just these four, integrated, systems approaches to connecting with my faculty team, I am a part of an intricate web of deep thinking, rich inquiry, and innovative practices. I can see connections in people’s work…I can learn of what they are trying and researching to help students…I can be challenged in my own thinking and teaching practices. I can discern how they are using student/course feedback, peer visits, and administrative observations to reflect on their practice and improve their growing professionalism as educators.

‘Tis I who is blessed to be in this web of thinkers, doers, and learners.

JH 2.11

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At the opening Junior High School faculty meeting, I shared that I would be referring to us (internally) as “JH 2.11.” Like version software, such as OS 10.6 or Windows 7, the Junior High School is adopting an internal nomenclature that will help us remember that we are striving to improve and grow. The “former version” was a strong product, but we can make it better. We can learn from our experience, we can enhance features and programs, we can grow and get better.

I first played with this “JH 2.11” idea during my spring 2011 sabbatical. While I served my sabbatical, I interned at Unboundary, a strategic design studio here in Atlanta, GA. At the company, they were deliberately working to move from Unboundary 6.0 to Unboundary 6.5. They talked about the business in this manner. Consequently, the culture was dynamic, not static. There was a fundamental understanding that the company would grow and improve to the next version of itself. Unboundary would learn from experience and get better. Simply being “Unboundary” was not good enough, and simply being the “Junior High School” is not good enough. A static name can unintentionally imply that the work of the company is static. A dynamic name generates a creative tension that can motivate a team to strive for closing a gap by walking a path of kaizen – continuous improvement.

What are the keys to embarking on such a walk of kaizen? In brief, the critical key is living in the growth mindset. More specifically, though, I recently read two blog posts from colleagues spread across the country – linked with me primarily through open social media. In these two posts, I think @L_Hilt and @jonathanemartin have hit upon some superb specifics about growing in our versions in an Education 2.0 world.

Out with Professional Development, In with Professional Learning (@L_Hilt)

Become an “Eeel:” The 17 E’s of Electronic Education Leadership Excellence: Leadership Day 2011 (Hat tip to Tom Peters)

In our Westminster school motto, from Luke 2:52, we read, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” May we strive to grow similarly.

#day1wms – An iMovie of a Few Moments on the JHS Opening Days

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Well, in a phrase, I thought Opening Day in the Junior High School was fantastic. In fact, I thought both “opening days” — the new student orientation and the half-day ease-in — were fabulous. To see the excitement and to feel the energy from 561 students and 82 faculty…there is practically no feeling like that in the world. The students are so excited to see each other, and the year is full of potential and opportunity. I was having so much fun that, on too many occasions, I forgot to crank up the Flip camera or iPhone to record the action and activity. But…I did capture enough to provide people with a taste (see video below). Also, remember that you can check the Twitter hashtag “#day1wms” for a compilation of slices-of-time moments and reflections.

Let’s Know Our Campus & Getting the Wind Back in @clarkbeast

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First, I hope you will read these two posts from @clarkbeast (they are brief in length and powerful in message):

“like a punch in the solar plexus”

“a simple vision”

I truly don’t have time to draft and publish a post this morning. By prioritizing this writing, something else important to the start-of-school is not getting done right now. However, a faculty member has inspired me to respond and support. As a true believer in formative assessment and community collaboration, I would be acting irresponsibly if I were slow to respond this morning. Additionally, what middle-school learning could be more important than a place-based education for our children? They should know their world, and that can begin with the very world around them…a world that we are fortunate and blessed to occupy with nearly 200 acres in the heart of Buckhead, Atlanta, Georgia.

This morning, I was following my routine of reading a few blog posts. I was concentrating on my folder of “Blogs-Colleagues.” In the past few days, it appears that @clarkbeast has been reflecting even more than usual on the delicate balance between our charge with technology and our critical need to attend to our natural world. Moreover, @clarkbeast has posted a response (same as second link above) to a call for #PBL ideas (link to Keynote on PBL…sent before 8-11-11 JH fac mtg). The intentions for our 8-11-11 JH faculty meeting took a different turn, and we discussed some questions that were not on the agenda. Therefore, we were not able to act with the #PBL ideas that people were asked to bring to the meeting. I am so thankful that @clarkbeast used his blog to ensure that the conversation did not end with a change-of-course-faculty-meeting.

On a related note, as I was playing around campus – in Nancy Creek – with my two boys, I snapped a few pictures and posted to my Posterous blog (such is now a habit with us). To the three Adams boys’ great pleasure, @clarkbeast responded to a post and got us excited about a potential stream exploration (click link to read that quick exchange)!

How can we better know our campus – our 200 acres of Atlanta, GA? What can we do to understand the natural world which is our very own school backyard? In what ways can we use our campus to study the essential learnings present across the departmentalized curricula?

I hope the JH will undertake this challenge this year. We have some superb feet in the door already – past bright spots to build on and improve. What’s best for the children? We need to get outside!