We crossed this bridge in Connecticut on Sunday night, landing once again at the Trinity Conference Center for our annual retreat. This is where my year ends and begins.
What will your legacy be?
This was the question that greeted me upon arrival my very first year, and it’s the one I return to now.
I’m wrestling with some questions right now. They’ve kept me quiet here and everywhere online this summer, and this is a good thing. Sometimes, it’s hard to reflect on the stuff that matters when new information, ideas, and conversations continue to unfold all around you. It’s important for me to stop doing sometimes and take the time that is needed to simply be.
Blogging matters to me, but how I do it in this space hasn’t felt like a good fit for some time now. Connecting with other professionals matters to me too, but how I do that will probably evolve a bit as well. There are plenty of phenomenal bloggers out there who are sharing their work, their own resources, and hundreds of thousands of interesting web tools and links. I don’t think I can make much more of a contribution there. There are plenty of consultants like me who use their blog to share what they are up to out in the world, who they are meeting and learning from in their travels, and how they might be of service to those who may be compelled to hire them. That hasn’t been my greatest purpose here, either. That isn’t the sort of work that I do now or anticipate doing in the future, either. How I use this space should be aligned to my vision and my goals inasmuch as it is meaningful to an audience, right? I know how to increase subscribers, entice followers, and create killer content–I’d be doing that if I wanted to. I’ve taught others to do the same. Those guidelines work, I know. But to what end? I know I’m a bit of a “rule breaker” here, and that’s okay. My goals and purposes are a bit different than others, perhaps. I’m not sure I’m interested in extending my reach or sphere of influence via this blog, really. I’ve been fairly successful with that in other ways.
What will my legacy be? How can I use this space in ways that are better aligned to what that might be?
Here’s what I know: several years ago, I developed some hunches around what it would take to truly begin shifting school cultures. I took some substantial risks and began acting on those hunches in some pretty big ways, and a lot of good has happened. There are some compelling findings to share and respond to. I have some decisions to make and some pretty big bridges to cross. Those choices will influence outcomes and lead me and others to very different destinations with very different kinds of rewards and realities.
It’s overwhelming, considering where you hope to arrive, isn’t it?
Engaging in different learning environments online has been an education in so many ways, and I don’t want to abandon the network I’ve established here or miss out on the conversations that take place. My work has evolved substantially over the last three years though, and I haven’t had the time to capture that here. It’s compelling me to connect in different ways now, though.
I’m not interested in sharing tools or promoting programs or events here. If I’m going to be of value, I’d like it to be for different reasons.
I’m wondering:
What could I be sharing here that might matter now? What’s really worth saying? What do I want to say? What are you interested in hearing?
2 Comments
How do you get your colleauges to jump on board with technology when some are resistant? I am thinking of starting a blog for teachers to comment and post things that they are doing in their classrooms. Do you have any suggestions for this?
Where are the good sites for coaching?
Thanks!
Hi Cristy–I’ve blogged like this with different groups of teachers and kids. I’m wondering what your intentions are for that sort of project? What would the purpose be?
I tend to think that good technology integration is a bit like good make-up application–if it’s being done well, you don’t really notice it. Many teachers are resistant to integration efforts that place the tools at the front of the process. Our purposes are always much more meaningful than this, and whenever I feel resistance, I have to ask myself what it’s revealing to me about my approach. People are usually resistant for a reason. If I can listen to those reasons, I learn important things about how I might meet their needs a bit better. I’m going to blog around some of this a bit more in the next few days–great topics. Thank you so much for providing me some direction here! As far as coaching sites are concerned, you can find some of my favorites here. I’m a big fan of Choice Literacy and have learned a lot from Jim Knight’s work as well. You can find my previous posts on coaching here.