Skip to main content

Embracing the Spirit, Embracing Each Other

Being a member of any team is always an interesting experience. Lots of different experiences. Lots of different philosophies. Different talents. Different approaches. I was very fortunate at my previous school to be a part of a team that was so naturally cohesive and part of the reason for that, I think, is that many of the different aspects that I began listing were so similar. We were on the same page all the time about everything everyday. It was weird, but awesome. This year I find myself on a different kind of team and I think that the Almighty figured I could stand to learn a thing or two. Each of us couldn't be more different. Everyday I have learned something new. Sometimes the lessons are harder to learn and accept but it's learning just the same.

Today's Halloween experiment was proof that when we put our mind to it, we can be quite the unit. I think we have come to be very supportive of the collective. It's been an absolutely MENTAL two months, bogged down by ministry initiatives and many projects. In spite of it all, it was important to all of us to come together on this novel occasion and join our students in the spirit of the day. Today was good.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catholic Education Week 2020

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Catholic Education Week. It is truly a gift to be able to work in a publicly-funded Catholic school, where we can be free to express our faith so freely and unapologetically. It's a bit sad that we are presently in quarantine and cannot gather in community to celebrate this wonderful gift but my staff and I decided to capitalize on the marvel that is social media to stay connected to our students. We wanted to inspire hope and encourage them from our homes, to theirs. I challenged my staff to select a favourite Scripture passage that they felt evokes a great sense of hope and each day on our school's Twitter feed, I feature a staff member with their quote. I also posted these photos into all of the Google Classrooms that the staff were running for  distance learning. In our special community, where relationships are so key to student success, we thought it was important for the kids to see our faces. We called our little project #motivatedbyfaith...
4 comments
Read more

The Need to Be Liked

My grade 8 teacher was the late (and truly great) Classford Johnson. I remember his class like it was yesterday, including something he used to say on a daily basis: "I don't want to be loved, I want to be understood." As a kid, I knew what he was getting at. He wanted us to respect him, his rules and expectations. If we got along, great. If we didn't, it didn't matter to him as long as we respected him, his rules and his expectations. Most of us loved him. He was tough but fair. He appreciated a good joke and laughed with the rest of us when we something was funny. My memory of Mr. Johnson and his infamous phrase came into my head quite a lot in the days after I had bid farewell to the staff and students of the school I have just left. Admittedly, I was confused. As a kid and as a classroom teacher, I never really paid much mind to what people thought of me. I have always abided by the Golden Rule when it came to my relationships at school and hoped for the best....
3 comments
Read more

Leading During a Pandemic

 Never thought I'd EVER type a title like that.  Pandemics were only events I had taught about during my History classes. The experience thus far can only be described as surreal. It's been a part of our reality for nearly 10 months now and the fear and uncertainty is still not lost on me with the reporting of daily infection and death rates. It has been my single greatest challenge as a leader to date to show up to work everyday imbuing optimism that we're going to be ok, that school is a safe place to be. I have to say that on 98% of those days, I have believed just that. We have be so very fortunate not to have experienced any positive diagnoses of COVID-19 so far. Implementing the new health and safety protocols, while tedious and laborious, has not been all that  difficult. Sure, the work up front was a lot - signage, taping arrows and cues on the walls and floors, rearranging classroom furniture to establish social distancing in the classrooms ... as the Principal, ...
2 comments
Read more