It seemed like a slower day today and it is only about 9:00 and we are finished. Actually, the learning ended around seven and the barbecue lasted until now. If I stayed here another week and continued eating like this I would look like a bowling ball. There have been no complaints about the food with the people in Burlington putting on lunches with local food, snacks between meals, and the ability to eat until you decide you've had enough. Unfortunately for me, that has at times been too much as it is becoming more difficult to walk by without sampling.
I made a connection today with the Superintendent of the Hewlett-Woodmere district on Long Island. He has worked directly with Peter Senge for 18 years and has a deeper understanding and experience base than I will ever acquire. I plan to continue our conversation after the conference as I believe there is much I can learn from him.
I also continue to enjoy working with the people from Washington state who have set an ambitious and necessary goal for bringing the issue of sustainability to our young people. We understand and have embraced this need, but have much yet to do before we can begin patting ourselves on the back, as if we ever do this. As we work as a site I want to sometimes cry time out and share SPACE because we really butcher silence, rarely use a paraphrase or ask a clarifying question, and spend far too much time in advocacy. But, they are dedicated people with much work to be accomplished in a short period of time and I am not in any position to impose our learning on their process.
This conference has given me an additional context to better appreciate the quality people I work with daily in our system. I'm hearing a lot about what others are doing and are trying to do and it confirms the expertise, commitment, and experience you bring to our efforts. Though our journey continues we have much to be proud of. I also want some of my colleagues to know that I have actually been participating in "ALL" activities so I may come to our retreat with higher expectations for participation. I can't believe what these people have me doing. Oh well, home tomorrow at about midnight so I won't be blogging until Sunday.
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Hi Mike - I'm hoping this means that you will share some interesting new active processing strategies with us for the admin retreat!
I'm looking forward to hearing more about your new learning. It will be interesting to hear how partnerships and curriculum/experiences for students have developed around the issues of systems sustainability and what you see as possible next steps for us based on the experiences of those you have been learning from.
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