Talking about my strengths is not something I'm comfortable doing. But in my job, it is vital that myself and co-workers leverage our strengths for the benefit of others. We've been charged with reflecting on our strengths and the things we have done well in the past few months. Before I get to that... Here's a few things I believe about Humility.
Context - Competition - Achiever - Deliberative - BeliefThese are my strengths according to Buckingham and Clifton's Now, Discover My Strengths. Context - People who are especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history. Competition - People who are especially talented in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests. Achiever - People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive. Deliberative - People who are especially talented in the Deliberative theme are best described by the serious care they take in making decisions or choices. They anticipate the obstacles. Belief - People who are especially talented in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life. When I reflect on these strengths and the things that have been going well for me the past few months, it makes sense. I have a purpose behind every small choice I make. I'm very deliberate in my planning and anticipate the what if scenarios. I work hard because I believe it is the right thing to do. I understand and value past mistakes because it directs my plans for the future. And anyone who knows me knows I like to win. I try not to be a sore loser (or winner), bur I genuinely want to win the contest. These strengths make me a planner. With plenty of direction and input from others, I've planned a lot of things that I would deem successful.
I'll leave you with this. For those of you that know and work with me, don't take my silence to mean the following things:
I knew I was going to have my second child on August 26th, the first day of the 2013 school year. I planned every day and every lesson to the T. I took care of every. single. thing. that could possibly happen....and then God hold up. Everything was perfect until the moment of delivery, and then God laughed. He said, you're having a boy. The one thing we could not control in our situation...we didn't have a girl...we had a boy. And you know what? Everything turned out ok. Better than ok. It always does.
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I left off saying I was going to blow Twitter up. I wanted teachers to see that Twitter isn't another thing you have to do. I wanted them to want to do it. I wanted them to connect with each other in a different way than they do in their PLCs. I wanted Twitter to become their PLN - personal learning network because it offers a diverse network of fellow educators and resources who are designed to make us better teachers. Not only have I gained Twitter followers, I've gained some first followers on my campuses. For those of you who don't know about what a first follower is, please watch this. I've learned that change and embracing new things will never happen at the speed I intend, but gaining momentum, or in this case, some first followers is key. At some point, maybe even when I'm long gone, lots of people will join the party. I have also learned, that no matter what, there will always be people who (according to the video) will stay on the sideways, sitting on their butts, and do nothing but talk negatively about the people doing the "dancing." In relationship to my job and role in education, I'm feeling more and more licensed to ignore those people. As a result of a principal's vision and #bragonateacher, a campus has embraced using social media to tell the story of the great things going on in public schools. Here's what they've been talking about. Gentry Elementary's Twitter JourneyGentry Elementary's First Twitter ChatIn fact, I think so many educators have embraced getting out the message that our state legislators are listening. Below is an excerpt from a local news story. The Texas House on Thursday dealt a serious, perhaps lethal blow to state-funded 'private school choice' programs this session. #loveyourschooldayOur next mission comes Tuesday, April 11th, where we will join educators from all over the state and tell the world why Gentry Elementary rocks. I met with teachers from each grade level to plan unique projects where their kids' voices will be heard. They went above and beyond what I envisioned, and I'm so excited to share those things with Twitterdom. Follow @gentryelementar to see the great things they are doing.
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