Wk3 Reading Activities Blog Post 3 - Response to Michael George

My response to Michael George's Blog Post. His post will be below my reply.


I applaud you Michael for viewing everyone on campus as an educator. Just a few years ago I held a different belief that the actual 'teachers' on campus were more important to the learning then everyone else. It took me moving from the classroom to a support role to realize how wrong I was in this thinking. It takes everyone on campus doing all their little parts to make every learning experience count for students.

Wk3 Reading: Art of Possibilities Chapters 5 – 8

Chapter 5. Leading from Any Chair: We’re all leaders. How can we make a difference in the people will influence each day? How do we listen to those who help us make our dreams become reality?

I have only been an educator for a handful of years and when I started I didn’t clue into to the social pecking order.  Some teachers outright abused support staff and aides and didn’t treat them as valuable team players.  Just like chapter 5 illustrates, anyone can lead and have an influence.  

At my school, I refer to everyone as fellow educator, from the lunch lady to the principal. Each of us influences students each and every day and has an impact.  We all (hopefully) help students with their hopes, dreams, and achievements.

Chapter 6. Rule Number 6: Don’t take yourself so seriously. Life is a journey–enjoy and learn along the way. Live, laugh, and love!!

Publish Post

There is an old Yiddish proverb, מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט and since most of you don’t speak Yiddish, myself included, it translates into: “Man plans, God laughs.”

Control is an illusion.  

Each and every one of us has limited control over our life and we should treat it as a serendipitous journey then learn to “be present” and “be loving.”   So many try to will things in life, everything from relationships to having children to job promotions.  Seemingly unattainable goals make us unhappy in life and ruin the gifts that are present all around us.

Chapter 7. The Way Things Are: Sometimes settling for the way things are is a lowering of expectations, sometimes it’s finding a starting point so that one can make things better. Where are you in this continuum?

Often times when we are presented with overly complex stimuli, we shutdown and accept things as they are.   Acceptance can be a good thing since it reduces stress and anxiety in our lives.  However, there are some situations in life where complexities need to get sorted out.  The only way to change these situations is by taking baby steps. 
If you had to clean up 10 square miles of garbage, would you try to do it all in one day?  Certainly not, you would set smaller goals and maybe work on 100 square yards per day.  This is a baby step.  An attainable goal, and this is how I tend to work to make things better.  

Chapter 8. Giving Way to Passion: Control says that the only way to avoid disappointment and frustration is to not care at all. No hits, no runs, but most importantly, no errors. What are you doing in your daily life that expresses your passion or the things you are passionate about?

What does it mean to care?  Is caring an outward act?  Is it an emotion? Is it both? In my daily life I express my passion by showing that I care through outward acts.  Spending time with a person, or idea, or project and focusing on it to help change it for the better are how I show that I care.