Practical Theory

I am enjoying this year... it's sort of the hardest sabbatical one could imagine in some ways. It's a year to plan and dream and implement and think about the future. And it's a lot of meetings and thinking and writing and adults.

And every now and again, I get to do what I did this morning.

I went out to Conwell Middle Magnet School because we had a bunch of kids apply from there, and I didn't know them, they didn't know SLA, and before I accepted or rejected any of them, I wanted them to have a sense of what they were signing up for. With any luck, some will decide we're not for them, others will decide this is where they really want to go, others will still be willing to just figure it out as they go along.

That's not the point.

The point is that I got to spend an hour with kids.

I gave my presentation -- and I must say that it's a lot more fun to give this presentation now than it was in September. We've got such a better vision of what we'll be and who we are that talking about it seems richer, fuller... more real. But then we just started talking... and I love talking with folks about what we're going to be. And I love talking to kids about what we're going to be. I love feeding off of their energy when they hear that we want to build a school where they have a voice and a say... where knowledge doesn't always come from textbooks... and I love listening to their questions and hearing concerns them.

I've never understood people who became principals because they didn't want to be teachers anymore. I wanted to run a school because I am a teacher -- and always will be one.

I can't wait for September.