Transformation 2

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Yesterday when our grandson, Dylan, ran in first from his nearly month of the Athenian Wilderness Experience (AWE), I didn’t recognize him.  He was taller, more gaunt, with a slight fuzz on his face.  His auburn hair was dark from sweat, rain and weeks of little water to wash, let alone drink.  Up close, his eyes flashed of the thrill of the physical, spiritual experience.  And something else that I experienced as wisdom and love.  He is different.

Such transformation, that we often struggle to understand, is profound.  We’re not yet sure of the role that Dylan played in bringing the team together, but it happened. As I walked through the crowd, I overheard a voice say: “Dylan insisted that we come together for….”  The cheers and tears drowned out the rest.

Transformation comes from experiences that stretch our sensibilities, challenge us to work together in different ways, provide dissonant ideas and notions about the world, and often occur in settings that are unfamiliar.  In the case of AWE, physical trials were sometimes pushed to the edge of endurance.

This brings me back to Transformation, rather than the Draconian, approaches to school reform.  Why has it been so difficult?  When school districts maintain traditional modes of  bureaucratic control and authority, wedge teachers into routine schedules and spaces and tell them to reform—well, it’s little surprise that year after year nothing changes, especially in more difficult urban schools. Senses are dulled, self-interest thrives.

So what would an Athenian Wilderness Experience for the teaching profession look like?  I’ll provide some answers to that next week….

Meanwhile, enjoy the remaining fullness of the moon and welcome in April.

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Reform—Education and Health Care!!

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Last week I said that I’d follow up with my thoughts on the Transformational option of the education reform initiatives, most specifically my fervent, passionate belief that when teachers are empowered that they take the right actions and make the right decisions for kids.  This belief and set of practices is often labeled fantasy by those who believe that when teachers play a larger role in decision making they act out of self-interest.

There is some truth to this!  Did I hear myself saying that?? There’s what I mean.  When teachers exist in bondage (autocratically-run schools over a prolonged period of time) they are often wounded, fearful and immature.  Moving toward mature, value-based lives requires a transition through the passage of democratized workplaces, discovery and imagination, conversations, and actual experience with respectful treatment. How long does this take?  I’m seem it make great strides forward in 18 months…

I want to share a note I received from Chris Vogelsang, Deputy Superintendent in Syracuse City Schools last week—where real reform is happening:

Congratulations on the release of your books!  We are knee deep in the reform movement here in Syracuse and New York as a whole.  Our school leadership teams are an integral part of the reforms.  If you have the time and what to see what is going on with our Say Yes to Education Project that was just being planned when you are here go to www.sayyessyracuse.com.  We sent more than 600 graduates off to college, tuition free, in September.  We still have a long way to go, but we are on track. NYS named 3 of my schools in the race to the top group of 57.  Each school has a redesign team of teacher leaders and administrators to move them to the transformation model as outlined by the state.  We did not consider the turnaround model as you had to remove 50% or more of the staff.  Anyway, just wanted you to know we are doing fine and still using your work.  We just had the school leadership teams take your survey so we can evaluate the difference between what the staff think and what the School Leadership Teams think of the shared decision making process as it is in place now.

Now for the thrill of the century!! After a lifetime of waiting…when the House adopted the Senate health bill today we can realize a future in which pre-existing conditions will be eliminated, health care can no longer be cancelled when people become sick. Millions of the uninsured now will be insured. Small businesses will be helped with insurance.  Children can be covered through age 25. Young mothers and children will be protected. Poverty and race will no longer be a sure sign that larger numbers of children will die in infancy and life expectation will be less. Lifetime health limits will be lifted.  The sought-after legacies of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, John Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, King and especially Ted Kennedy are finally being realized.  We join the 21^st century with other civilized countries.

“Talk” with you again next week….

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The Sea Ranch

Monday, March 8th, 2010

My muses have been at work this morning as I walk with Justine, my anthropologist protagonist of my fictional trilogy, through the centre of Florence. We have just sought out the Caravaggio painting of the Sacrifice of Isaac and now emerge into the sunlight of Piazza della Signoria, remembering the witnessing of Lucy Honeychurch (A Room With a View) of a grisly murder in that very place.

My husband and I are in a small hotel in Chico, California, visiting two grandchildren and are soon leaving to visit friends Annie and Seym in Medford–and another granddaughter at the University of Oregon.

Yet imagination and the internet create a fascinating playground wherever I am. All at my fingertips–and the tip of my mind. Cyberspace extends the mind into whatever realm I choose…from the Uffizi to Dante’s house to the tombs of the Etruscans in Cerveteri. This morning I wanted to visit Caravaggio’s room 43 at the Uffizi. And did.

It is this reality that makes our home on The Sea Ranch, California (see photos below), the perfect haven in which to think and write. When we moved into our redwood forest near the coast five years ago, it was with the promise to indulge our senses in the environment, the vibrant and progressive community, and the written word.

On the next posts I’ll send a couple of new compositions on shifting perspectives and Women’s Ways of Leading and an update on grandson Dylan alone in Death Valley.

Click on any of the images below to see larger versions.

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First Blog Post

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Hello…

This is my first blog post, so I would like to tell you about what I am thinking–and also, about two new books. This is a very exciting venture for me as I’m entering a new cyber world and talking to each of you. I plan to write once a week, probably on Monday evenings, and will welcome your questions in order to make this venture interactive.

So, what do I have in mind? For most of my life, I’ve been writing non-fiction–seven books on leadership in all–but have yearned to write fiction. When we moved to the north coast of California, The Sea Ranch, I gave myself this gift: the time to learn to write fiction and instill what I had learned into novels.

My first novel is Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable, which will be out this month, March, 2010. I’m delighted with this first effort, part of a trilogy to be followed by Etruscan Evenings and Tao Sunrise. My husband and I lived in Cairo from 1989-1991 and returned six times to work with Egyptian schools, so Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable reflects those times, delicious adventures, and wondrous relationships.

Women’s Ways of Leading, a non-fiction book of international scope, has been simmering in a pot for many years, starting with multiple studies on women’s leadership. These scrumptious years have been spent working with my colleague and friend, Mary Gardner, as we negotiated new horizons for women. This book was released in October, 2009, and is receiving rave reviews. Check it out at www.womenswaysofleading.com.

The themes of this website now, and my blog, are to re-imagine and connect new ideas on leadership and literature, my adventures in writing and education and much more. How will I do that? Read my second blog.

Wishing you wonderful learning today, Linda

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