Showing posts with label connect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label connect. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2020

A Real Emergency in Education- Crisis As Opportunity...

Let's face it, to some people everything is an emergency.

A Chinese symbol for crisis is made up of two parts:
danger and opportunity…
                                    _
Crisis as Opportunity (wéi ji) 

Danger – originally pictured as a man on the edge of a precipice
Opportunity – a reminder of the seemingly small but important opportunity that can come out of danger

There is controversy surrounding the symbol above and its interpreted meaning, but that's for other people to worry about. For the sake of the point I'm making, I believe as interpreted, the idea behind the meaning of the symbol above is very important. How it's further interpreted in practice is exponentially more important.

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."
Emergencies are often what we make of them. 

I can't tell you how many times I've had to address the emergent situation that someone dared to park in someone else's regular parking spot in our staff parking lot. 
e·mer·gen·cy
/əˈmərjənsē/
noun
  1. a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

If this was the only reason to blog...

flickr image via tibchris
I'd still do it. Let me explain the reason.

I noticed a recent trackback on Connected Principals, another blog I contribute to occasionally. The post it pointed to was called "Norm!" The blog's author is Anthony Purcell, a first year teacher who evidently uses reflection as a tool to inform his practice and help him become a better teacher.

At his blog, Educationally Minded, Anthony made reference to a piece I wrote called We need schools where everybody knows your name. I read his post and was humbled that my thoughts had impacted him enough that he decided to share his reflective response. I have never met Anthony, and he has never met me, but we had a virtual meeting of the minds; a philosophical rendezvous in cyber space. We shared thoughts as teacher colleagues that transcended our professional perspective and entered into our personal feelings about things. We need to do more of this as professionals; get to know each other on personal levels... learn more about what we represent as human beings who care for others.

Blogging has provided me an opportunity to connect with those I perhaps never would have known at all. I've shared with them; they've shared with me. We have encouraged each other to think and question. We have created circles around our thoughts and invited each other inside.

If this was the only reason to blog, I'd still do it.
Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

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