UCLA SMP EdNews, August 2005

by Jeanie Riddell, UCLA SMP Faculty

To paraphrase Sun Tzu, in The Art of War:

When the going gets tough, the tough do NOT go shopping.
They disappear, only to reappear renewed and re-imagined.

As many of you have the opportunity this summer to "disappear" for a while, you might want to take some time to explore the bigger canvas of your life as an educator.  In last month's EdNews, Linda Smith encouraged us to revisit and reflect on some of our successes, as a way of re-energizing us for the coming year.  In this issue, we invite you to explore and reconnect with that which brings you energy, and to push your thinking deeper into areas which might help you "reappear renewed and re-imagined" (although there's certainly nothing wrong with shopping!).

First, take a few minutes to think about some of your sources of energy as an educator.  Begin to make a list, or draw some pictures, or create a mind map—whatever form of expression works best for you.  Push deeper to "mine" the first ideas you have; experiment with new words or phrases to express your thoughts.  When you think you're done, see if you can relate to some of the sources Donald Graves uncovered in his research for The Energy to Teach:

"Seeing what works... Innovation... Discovery...
Colleagues... Not accepting the status quo... Working at the edge...
Laughing... Letting student work speak... A breath of spontaneity..."

How do these concepts challenge your thinking? Keep thinking; keep searching; keep writing.

Next, choose two or three of your "sources of energy" and spend some time bringing them to life. What would it take to develop them?  Which might you want to study? Explore? Share?  How might you do this?  Is there a book you haven't had time to read yet, an idea you've been thinking about turning into a lesson or a staff development session, a colleague you need to check in with?  Enjoy the time reconnecting with what brought you to education in the first place, with what keeps you going when you hit a dryness in your soul.

"We do feel, when we have work that is challenging and enlarging, and that seems to be doing something for others, as if we could move mountains..." writes David Whyte in Crossing the Unknown Sea.  Remember the feeling?  What will give you energy to recapture it?

You may find that you don't have answers to these questions, or that your answers require new learning. Great! Learning something new is a guaranteed source of vitality and life-giving energy! Whyte encourages us to seek out this learning seriously, observing that "Absent the edge, we drown in numbness."  The urgency of our ongoing learning cannot be overstated:

"Probably nothing within a school has more impact on students in terms of skill development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth of their teachers. Just as potters cannot teach others to craft in clay without setting their own hands to work at the wheel, so teachers cannot fully teach others the excitement, the difficulty, the patience, and the satisfaction that accompany learning without themselves engaging in the messy, frustrating, and rewarding 'clay' of learning." (Barth, 1990)

We invite you to spend a few of your precious August hours on a quest—to find your growing edge, your sources of energy, and maybe even that pair of shoes you just can't live without.  Then, you will reappear in September, "renewed and re-imagined" (and perhaps re-shod!).

Over the summer, as you seek sources of energy and renewal, here are a few resources which you might find useful:

For this month’s topic:

"What sources of renewal and inspiration have you used
to cultivate energy for the coming year?"

If you have identified some things that energize you as an educator, we invite you to share them with your colleagues.  Please click here to add your responses to this month's Combined Brainpower.  We look forward to sharing your thoughts in future issues of EdNews.

We are pleased to welcome some new members of the UCLA SMP family:

Nadine Barreto has served as the assistant superintendent of educational services in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, where she directed the total educational program. She also served as the executive director of the California School Leadership Academy at the Orange County Department of Education, where her focus was on the development of administrative and teacher leadership, with an emphasis on organizational change, communication, cultural proficiency, and continuous school improvement. Nadine has extensive administrative experience, including service as a principal at the elementary, intermediate, and high school levels, and as a director of elementary education. She has taught at the elementary level as well as adult school and community college courses. Nadine has a master's degree in urban education policy and planning from UCLA, and a B.A. in liberal studies, English-Spanish, from Mt. St. Mary's College.

Janet Lee is a Graduate Student Researcher (GSR). She is a doctoral student at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS), in the Social Research Methods division with a focus on evaluation.   Before joining UCLA SMP, Janet worked as a GSR at the UCLA Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).  Janet also taught second grade in public school for two years and has a B.A. in psychology from Pomona College and an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Ayele Nii-Aryee holds a doctorate in educational leadership from UCLA and a master's degree in education from Teacher's College, Columbia University. She has extensive experience in coaching and mentoring teachers, and has taught and supervised teacher credential candidates for programs out of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA. Ayele has served as a BTSA coordinator and coach, a mentor teacher, a PAR teacher, and Master Teacher. For the last three years, she has worked as an Instructional Coach as part of a school district / university partnership. Her work includes designing and implementing a district model for new teacher support, coaching administrators (both at the school site and district level), and assisting in district-wide reform efforts.

"The organization capable of continuous renewal must not focus on what it has been;
rather, what it is going to become."
—John Gardner

• Renewing the Energy to Teach, Part 2

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A nonprofit school reform initiative of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and The Anderson School, the UCLA School Management Program (UCLA SMP) is devoted to the sustainable transformation of public schools into learner-centered organizations where all students can achieve at high levels.

UCLA SMP works with educators, administrators, and community members to create well-managed schools, to enhance teacher effectiveness, and to improve student achievement through professional development leading to personal transformation and community building.

Since the program was launched in 1992, UCLA SMP has worked with over 700 schools in districts throughout California.