cc flickr photo by HatHome
An honest admission…
As a school leader, I am concerned about the number of times I pay “lip service” to being focused on students, but then allow any number of outside factors to exert undue influence in my decision making process. We see it happen frequently at all levels (i.e. school, district, state, national), but I wonder how often we really examine the extent to which we, via individual actions, are focused on students. Increasingly, I am finding that being a student focused leader (and I suspect, a student focused teacher) requires extremely deliberate practice and, to a certain degree, “tunnel vision.”
There are so many distractions…testing, budgets, inboxes, meetings, curriculum requirements, and paper work ad nauseam. Without mindful consideration, it is so easy to get caught up in our adult world, with adult problems, and forget our purpose – to serve the children who have been entrusted to our care.
I know that in the heat of the moment, when I feel overwhelmed – or stressed by the number of things that are coming at me – I have to be deliberate about slowing down, narrowing my vision and asking:
What is in the best interest of the students whom I serve?
I recently used this quote in another blog post, but for this topic, I think it bears repeating:
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. ~ Goethe
The best interest of kids must be at the root of every decision we make. In the case of education – students matter most!
This post summarizes my focus: putting students center stage in the work we do. It is challenging since children are usually not the focus of much of what our world values. I hope you’ll continue to post on this important matter. Thanks.
Posted by Maureen Devlin | July 13, 2012, 5:21 pmAbsolutely Jason. This must be at the foreffront and conscience of our everyday practice and routines at work. Amen brother!
Posted by Bill (@vikoles1) | July 15, 2012, 6:11 am