With regard to excellence, it is not enough to know, but we must try to have and use it.  ~Aristotle

Week 26 in Review

You are not alone.

All you think is how hard it is during this time of year… in our data teams work, with our immense daily workload, with benchmarks, state testing and ACT prep pending, and our district walkthrough ahead of us.    But as crazy as it sounds, these issues are not bigger than you – not to the professional that you are.  Not to us, the trained educational experts.  The difficult tasks and times are not your equal. Take those claims out of your mind and out of your mouth.  You just need to change your point of view.  Put the situations into perspective.  Remind yourself, the work just isn’t bigger than we are.  We should not be looking up at any of it like it is bigger than us – we should be looking down at the issue as one that we can and always do manage — and manage well.   Think about David and Goliath – the giant [problem] may have been bigger than David, but the situation wasn’t.  He had faith. We need to have faith.

And we need to be in this together.  Remember, a stick alone is easily broken.  But many sticks bundled together are impossible to break.  Do not stand alone in your efforts in our journey toward excellence.  Our challenges are not meant to be faced solo.  We need to stand strongly, arm in arm, from the inside to the edges.  And as we change our perspective, remember our challenges do not have to be stumbling blocks; we should see them as stepping stones raising us to a new level in our journey.  We just have to have the courage to make the climb. And understand that as we look for areas to improve, one new realization of an area for us to improve is just that – one realization.  It is not a set back in our journey nor is the improvement insurmountable. Joined together, no matter the uniqueness in our stances, no one can break our excellence.

Week 27 – A Look Ahead

Monday is the STUCO Blood Drive.  Tuesday is the SR Class Officer Meeting during CAMP.  Wednesday we have a SIP meeting at 3:00 in Room 106.  Thursday is JEPD in the library.  Friday we will have our intruder drill practice.  A few items to prepare for:  don’t’ forget to bring your laptops and formative assessments to JEPD on Thursday; we will have CAMP Congress also Thursday in the auditorium.  I will send out a worksheet for your representatives to collect information from your CAMPs for the meeting. As we work on writing our SIP for 2012-2013, we will be collecting information from many sources.  Make sure your voice is heard by sending your information to your department chair or just drop by and let us know ideas you have for our action steps.  It’s always nice to have good directions while you are on a journey.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

All photos are CC from Flikr:  “Bamboo Stick by Juber Al-haddad; Rope on Bamboo by dklimke