Highlighting the work of others!

images (1) I have experienced first hand the power in having others comment on my blog posts. Their  words add another rich dimension to the power of the writing and sharing process.  So, for the  month of June, I’ve decided that my posts will be focusing on the blogs of others.  My plan is to  highlight the work of other bloggers and share my comments, both within their blogs and within  my own.  I would like to challenge others to do the same ~ find a post that resonates with you  (either because you agree or disagree with it) and share  your comments.  You will certainly  brighten the day of the blogger, as you push yourself to articulate your thinking in a public forum.

I’ll do my best to share the work of a different blogger each day.  For those of you who have recently entered the world of blogging as a result of some recent inspiration, I’ll be checking in on you regularly in my quest to highlight your work.

My first comment is on Ron Baker’s site.  I’ve never met him in person, but I had the pleasure of being in the audience for many of his sermons when he was the Associate Pastor at Forest City Community Church.

Here is the link to his latest post ~ Regrets, I’ve had a Few…

http://www.ronbaker129.com/regrets-i-have-a-few/

Here is my comment!

I can’t imagine that there’s a person out there who cannot relate to the notion of regret; whether it is promises broken, harsh words spoken in anger, rage or jealousy or lost opportunities.

In packing a suitcase, we get to purposely choose what we put in it, though. I wonder if we need to be more intentional about the stories and feelings and the emotional baggage that we select. What if we selected good memories and reminders of the all the times we helped, inspired or motivated others? Sometimes, populating our life with the positive helps ease the pain of the negative.

As for forgiveness, I can remember the exact day when it finally hit me that regardless of all of all of my past and probably future transgressions, the One who really mattered had already and will forevermore forgive me. It was the 2014 Easter service at FCC. One never knows when or how it will happen, but you sure as heck know when it does happen because there’s no turning back.

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I love how you connected your thinking to a song ~ something that I often do. So, I went to the lyrics from “My Way” and decided that when my life is over and someone opens my suitcase I hope that they’ll see evidence that,
I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing!
Thanks for sharing such a thought-provoking post!

“Still” Leading Innovation Cultures

images Today on Facebook, Michelle Cordy shared a link to a    recent video featuring Simon Breakspear, a speaker at  the Ontario Leadership Congress Spring Symposium  2015.  As I have a tendency to do, I veered from the  initial video to the various related links on the side tabs.    There I found this 2010 video from Simon Breakspear, where he focused on the topic of Innovation and how we, in education, need to ensure that we are preparing our students for their future.  If you have 45 minutes, I would highly recommend that you watch it as he is an effective presenter who incorporates humour and data to make his point.

He is passionate about innovation for learning and how other sectors are embracing innovation for change. Keeping in mind that this was recorded in 2010, his information about the number of Twitter users and other social media platforms is outdated and I’m sure that today if he asked about iPhone use, the response from the audience would be greater.

Breakspear challenges his audience of educational leaders to embrace innovative classroom environments where inquiry and grassroots ideas are encouraged and supported ~ where teachers model lessons after TedTalk styles (18 minutes or less) of presentations and where protocols are in place to support rich cognitive dissonance.

I loved everything that he was saying and yet at the same time, I became frustrated and somewhat saddened at the fact that we’ve been sharing this same message for at least 5 years and yet many of our learning environments have not evolved at all.  I wonder what it will take for more educators to embrace innovative practice.  I wonder how we can support our educational leaders to be more innovative.  When will we truly appreciate “positive defiance and amplify what is going well” in places of innovative practice?

I wonder when we will reach our Innovation tipping point in individual schools, in a community of schools, and finally in our school board.

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The need for change is obvious ~ our students are arriving at the doorsteps of our schools with a different toolkit and we have a moral imperative to prepare them for a future that is very different from our current world.

 

I’m hopeful that five years from now we will be celebrating more innovative practices throughout the world of education (classrooms, leadership, etc.).

I can’t help but wonder if we’ve just become more innovative in sharing the message about how we need to be more innovative….