A week ago I was driving through America's Heartland after a gloriously relaxing and invigorating honeymoon in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, so to say that I was thrilled with the very quickly approaching school year and the challenges of facilitating two new classes (one of them brand new to our school!) would be less than 100% truthful. Somewhere between unpacking and repacking for the New Tech Network Annual Conference (NTAC) myfiance WIFE (that's kind of cool!) asked me if I was excited for the conference. My brain was battling with the memories of Leigh Lake and the notion that I should be excited for a conference that has helped me develop my abilities as an educator and leader. The response my wife heard was some form of barely audible grunt. I continued packing and got on the plane without elaborating. Seventy-two hours later nearing the conclusion of our work I was confronted with this question again.
Wow! Holy brain activity Batman! Immediately I returned to my pre-conference response and thought really all I could do is grunt?!? Our school Columbus Signature Academy has an incredible staff that is dedicated to protecting the integrity of our vision to be a revolutionary pathway for education. The collective excitement and buy-in that was apparent as we embraced a challenge that truly will revolutionize our practice was inspiring. Not only was everyone highly engaged and positive, but the level of thinking in the room of 15 elite schools in our network gave me chills on several occasions.
My personal revolutionary pathway with our College Readiness Assessment work began last year and the work reignited my passion for changing education. Admittedly there were several moments where I questioned the reality of 18 teachers changing education for thousands of students; I was reassured with every meeting and retreat that we were an elite group of teachers with a common goal of student success. Even as our school successfully applied to be a part of the cohort piloting the work for the Network, I remained unaware of the impact we would have, after all we are 15 schools in a nation of thousands.
So as I attempted to answer the question "What are you really excited about?" I was able to sift through all of the emotions of a rigorous and challenging week and come up with this:
As an educator my philosophy has always centered around utilizing my practices to influence the shape of education to provide better and more meaningful learning opportunities for all students. This week I was able to share a common purpose and for the first time in my career confidently express that I am truly excited about the direction of education nationwide. We are the revolution and we will be successful.
