United or Divided? (A Re-post)

26 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by The Book Chamber in Agenda, Attitude, Change, Character, Conversations, Courage, Crisis, Culture, Expectations, Freedom, Future, Honest, Humility, Inspiration, Integrity, Intentions, Leader, Leadership, Listening, Love, Purpose, Reflection, Relationships, Sincerity, Trust, Understanding, Unity, Value

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For what it is worth, I am not a fan of “reposting” my blogs. However, I am reposting the blog “United or Divided” today. This blog was originally written on January 26, 2018. I believe that leadership stands and transcends time and many other things and ideas as well.

When I wrote the blog the first time, it was written with the idea that we are in a crossroads of education. Now, as a Nation, we are as well.

Only one sentence I will add for the blog is this… “We, as people, must find our likeness in Christ for healing to begin and to sustain.”

I hope you enjoy the re-post.

Below you will find the lyrics to the new song by Christian artist, Mandisa, “Bleed The Same.” The other day I heard it for the first time on KLOVE riding down the road. Like many things, it made me start thinking…

We say this, and we say that, only to get and keep the same results. We say we want more or better, but we do not put the effort in to change. Many times we might even be influenced by others who do not want to change. I/we want to…. I/we wish… I/we… The “want list” just goes on and on.

When it comes to the lives we live, they are the sum collections of thoughts created from experience or instilled as a way of life. However, the funny thing is, we are all in this together. At some point, we must acknowledge that everything in one way or another, affects everything else. The ripple effect might have diminished very small by the time it got to us but rippled it did.

Our world of humanity has its foundations based on morality. Sooner, rather than later, we should all know the difference between right and wrong. Yet we continue to make the same choices that enable our lives to stay the same, while at the same time always wanting more or better. The system can only be blamed so much. The issue becomes that we want the spotlight on others and their faults. We never want to turn the spotlight on ourselves. The last thing we want is for our inadequacies to be shown in the light.

I figure the best way to handle all of this, is to start with me. What am I doing to make it better? The “it” is anything that divides. It is united we stand. Can we (you, I, whoever) choose to work for a greater good? How many times does each of us have that one opportunity to do just that? Actually we have many opportunities. We just wait on someone else.

As you read the lyrics below, I would dare say that each of us would agree with everything it says. So many solid truths. Whatever change you want, let it start with you. Most of all, let others see it. Go out and prove it. Your essence of leadership does one of the two… it unites or divides.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

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If you want to listen to the song, click here:

We all bleed the same
We’re more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided

Woke up today
Another headline
Another innocent life is taken
In the name of hatred
So hard to take (hey!)
And if we think that it’s all good
Then we’re mistaken
‘Cause my heart is breaking

Are you left?
Are you right?
Pointing fingers, taking sides
When are we gonna realize?

We all bleed the same
We’re more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided
If we’re gonna fight
Let’s fight for each other
If we’re gonna shout
Let love be the cry
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided

Tell me, who are we
To judge someone
By the kind of clothes they’re wearing
Or the color of their skin?

Are you black? (black)
Are you white? (white)
Aren’t we all the same inside? (the same inside)
Father, open our eyes to see!

We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
We’re more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided
If we’re gonna fight
Let’s fight for each other (fight for each other!)
If we’re gonna shout
Let love be the cry (be the cry!)
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided

Only love can drive out all the darkness
What are we fighting for?
We were made to carry one another
We were made for more, said
Only love can drive out all the darkness
What are we fighting for? yeah
We were made to carry one another
We were made for more!

We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
We’re more beautiful when we come together (let’s stand united!)
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided
If we’re gonna fight
Let’s fight for each other (fight for each other!)
If we’re gonna shout
Let love be the cry (be the cry!)
We all bleed the same(we all bleed the same) (bleed the same)
Let’s stand united (let’s stand united)
Let’s stand united!

So Father God, I pray
That our families will come together right now
And seek Your face
You will forgive our sins
And You will heal our incredible land
In the name of the only Savior, Jesus Christ
Amen

An Educational Pandemic…?

15 Friday May 2020

Posted by The Book Chamber in coronavirus, covid19, Culture, Education, Educational Leadership, Intentions, Leader, Leadership, Purpose, Teachers, Whole

≈ 6 Comments

A little long today, but it is the last one for the year…

Well, here we are again at the end of another school year. And yes, it has gone by very fast considering what education has been through this spring semester with the Covid19 and the effects of the pandemic.

As always, many people have many opinions about many things they know nothing about… Just stand in line and take a number to be heard… However, one thing teachers know is education, and I believe that this is an excellent thought to end the 2019-2020 school year.

The Covid19 pandemic has caused a significant shift in many areas of our lives; education being one of them. As a person who is passionate about educational leadership, I feel that we have this one chance to help change education, as a whole, for the better. If we do not, then our future generations will continue on the same path education is now.

Not too long ago, I was having a conversation with my daughter. Now, understand we are a family of educators. My wife is also in education as a school counselor. We were discussing the idea of our “distance learning” and how it is either helping or hurting students. As we talked, I stated that I believe if done correctly on both ends, teacher and student, it would be beneficial. I also told her, that in all practical matters, “education” has this one chance, as I said above, to get “how we educate” right for the future. I gave her the following example, which I saw in a YouTube video…

A long time ago a phone looked like this…

Now, it looks like this..

A long time ago, an automobile looked like this…

Now, it looks like this… (I hope you see where this is going)

A long time ago, a school classroom looked like this…

And now…?
What has changed?

The above picture can probably be the standard of most classrooms across America. Desks are lined up neatly, 25 to 30 in a classroom, teacher desk up front, etc. If this continues to be our model, then we might as just well label a school as a factory setting. I am sure many teachers would want to change the look of their classroom, but either they are told they cannot due to “classroom management” concerns or the school does not have the financial resources to change. Which leads me to this…

Educators are the experts in their field of study, yet we are told how and what we are to teach. Now, I am not saying we do not need direction and structure… However, I am saying that if we are going to educate the whole child and help them to become productive citizens of society, we must stop viewing them as a “test score” sitting in a desk… Like then, Like now…

I like reading articles that pertain to schools that are changing the paradigm shift to how they instruct. With that being said, I recently read an article where it stated that when school does start back (whenever that may be) that teachers should focus on students’ social and emotional learning due to the Covid19.

My mental response to that is this: If we were educating the whole child, to begin with, then we would not have to worry about their social and emotional learning because it should be an innate teaching characteristic, to start with. It seems that we would be trying to do what was undone, to begin with, somewhere down the road in the past when the education system sold its soul to the idea that we need a “score” to be labeled a success.

School should be a place that edifies a student. Where teachers lead by example and can provide positive emulation. I like to call that the “3 E’s of teaching, which provides “ease.” (I hope you got that)… When we do that, we are actually building the social and emotional aspects of students. Too many times, just as in life, we look to see what makes us look good (test scores) instead of focusing on the whole so we can all look good.

We have a chance to revamp, reconstruct, reorganize, re… “whatever” education, and now is the time. It will take a group of people who are willing to listen to teachers first and set aside predetermined thoughts as to what they think is best for a school. Every school is different, but if we continue to gauge every school’s success the same way, we will create another pandemic, one that there might not be a cure for…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

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Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

The Intrinsic Value of Teaching…

08 Friday May 2020

Posted by The Book Chamber in Appreciation, confidence, Education, Leader, Leadership, Purpose, Teacher Appreciation, Teachers, Value, Whole

≈ 1 Comment

Fictional conversation…
“It’s Teacher Appreciation Week.
Are you serious?
Yes!
I thought we just had Teacher Appreciation Week.
No, that was this same time last year.
Oh… Well, I guess we need to do or say something for them?
Are you saying or asking?
Both, I guess.
We could put something on Social Media.
Probably, but do you think that is enough?
Well, even though we don’t tell them often enough, they know we do.
Yea, they know we appreciate them.
But, do they?”

It amazes me how often groups have to have a “week” named for them to see or hear words of appreciation…

First of all, let me say Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. As I have stated before, “Educators might be the last great hope to help change society for the better.”

I like the word “intrinsic.” A quick lookup would give you this as a definition: “belonging to a thing by its very nature.”

Here are a few thoughts I have…

The fulness of a teacher’s purpose is to totally give of themselves to the absorption of others, where they are seen through eyes that want learning and understand the value it brings. This can only be done with intrinsic value. This is my perspective of what an appreciated teacher is and should look like.

If there was never an “Appreciation Week” or if teachers were never given praise, teachers would still have value, by virtue of who they are. Take a teacher out of the school building and let them “be normal,” you would never know the difference between them and other people. That is one of the beauties of being an educator, we are just like everyone else, while at the same time, totally different. You see, the only agenda a teacher has is to want what is best for students now and for the future. Society is fueled by competition to reward the individual, education is fueled by collaborative work to reward the whole.

The value of an educator can never be taken away. It may be attacked (usually by jealously or ignorance), but it cannot be diminished. A teacher’s value is it’s being. We are nothing more than the sum of what we do; that is to teach. We are one of a few professions that give of ourselves, and the really good teachers do not seek any glory. The glory they find is often seen in the transformation of students, and there you will find that the glory resides within the hearts and minds of those students.

Here is the deal with teachers… We have good days, we have bad days. Each day we try to make it better than the last one. We want to be the best at our jobs. The more our goal is to get everyone on the same page, the more perfect our job becomes. The success of a teacher is found when we can duplicate that day after day.

Intrinsic… “belonging to a thing by its very nature.” A teacher’s value will never be adequately measured. However, educators know their true value, and maybe that is why they do what many choose not to.

The role of what a teacher does is extraordinary. Make an effort today to say thank you to one. Teaching, an appreciation? YES… All-day, every day – THANK YOU, TEACHERS!

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

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Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

Maslow Was Right…

03 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by The Book Chamber in Appreciation, Consistency, coronavirus, covid19, Decisions, Education, Educational Leadership, Encouragement, Foundation, Leader, Leadership, Love, Purpose, Relationships, Teachers, Understanding, Value

≈ 3 Comments

Wow, what a few days and weeks can do to change the way education is…

As I sit here, at our kitchen table, writing this blog, I consider how education is exponentially changing, and for the better, I might add, (I hope). As educators, we have been given and give direction as to how education needs to work the past few weeks, and it appears how it needs to work in the months forthcoming.

One conversation that I have had with myself lately (I have a lot of those by the way) is, “How are teachers and students adjusting?” I somewhat have an idea of the teacher’s side of it, but what are our students thinking at this moment? For what apparent reason, I do not know, but Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs came to mind. If you are an educator, you should know what this is.

Your quick “Reader’s Digest” compressed write-up is this…
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was introduced by Abraham Maslow in 1943. The pyramid reflects the universal needs of society, in stages of human development. The most critical layer of the pyramid is the first layer, and upward a person moves. However, for a person to move upward, each layer below must be complete. The layers are, starting from the bottom as the foundation are: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Well, now the question you might be asking yourself is, “What does this have to with education?” I am glad you asked… Education is dealing with people (I know, duh moment for everyone). What I notice is that in Maslow’s Hierarchy, there is not a single layer that refers to an IQ of a person, but every layer can be associated with EQ.

The first layer is the Physiological layer, and while that is the foundation, the other layers are important as well. However, if our students and teachers, for that matter, do not have the foundational layer of their physiological needs met, then the chance to move upward is not going to happen, or if they do move up, it will be with limited motivation, and there is an increase in displeasure within an individual. What does all this mean? If a student is struggling to have their physiological needs met, then they are unlikely to pursue safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. And let’s throw in doing classwork for that matter.

With all the above being said, hopefully, you can see now why what we do as teachers during this “displaced” time is so essential for our students. The other day I was strolling through Twitter and saw this quote by Dr. Brad Johnson, who is an advocate for education… “Relationships before rigor, Grace before grades, Patience before programs, Love before lessons.” As I saw that, the first question that came to my mind was this… “How many educators are conducting their distance learning as if they were teaching the exact same way as if they were in the classroom?” “Newness of lessons be gone, I’ll just teach as if I were there,” they might say. If this is true, then we are failing measurably at meeting the EQ of our students.

The other day I tweeted out, “As educators, we have a powerful opportunity to be a constant example in our student’s lives during this time.” If we encourage them with relationships, patience, and love, then the rigor, programs, and lessons will fall in place. If we can help students help themselves, then they will be closer to moving up the layers of the pyramid and possibly gaining the self-actualization that we all want them to have. Motivation to succeed is not always innate with our students. The more we can do for them, the more I believe they will do for us. The time for us as educators to truly teach is here. Be the teacher our students need during this time.

Thank you to all the first responders and teachers doing what they do best. If you see one, say thank you.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on…

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

The Book Chamber

~ J Clay Norton, Ed.D.

Category Archives: Purpose

United or Divided? (A Re-post)

An Educational Pandemic…?

The Intrinsic Value of Teaching…

Maslow Was Right…

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