Doin' the Leadership Thing.....

Well, it's been a bit of a wild ride these last ten days or so......As I've said to Brian, the work for my courses is interesting, but there's so much of it!!! I'm amazed at the number of hours needed for reading and writing--Whew! My study group buddies are really helpful, and we've been sharing our first drafts of papers due----A great assist for those of us who are woefully lacking in confidence! The books I'm reading, especially about leadership, are really just great---Last weekend I had the opportunity to use Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, and why people demand it in my teaching, and I loved every minute!

Speaking of last weekend, I started with my friends Nancy and Joyce to teach a year-long course for a group of 14 principals from across the state. It's called "Leadership Matters", and is based on five themes: Intentionality, Courage and Integrity, Collaboration, Coaching, and Reflection. We'll meet eight times over the next year, and I'm thinking this is going to be really wonderful work. I feel so lucky that I get to do things I'm so interested in and feel strongly about!

Oh, also---Because I've been reading so much, I need to report that I've decided on a title for my dissertation. Are you ready? Okay: Leadership: All the Jerks I Ever Worked For Were Wrong! Okay, so maybe I'll need to edit just a bit............

Till next time,

Debbie

The Brain, the Stomach and the Heart

Well....as the little girl said in "ET"....I'm back........

This has been our first fall weekend, the beginning of eight months of weekend courses meeting once each month here in Milwaukee. It was so interesting----once I pulled up at the Residence Inn and got settled in, it felt totally like being back at a familiar spot. My study group buddies pulled in soon after me, and since we've been talking every week on tinychat.com it felt really natural to be with them again too. So......let the games begin!

I was feeling really anxious about beginning the academic work again----especially when the syllabus for the Research course was only posted one day before the course began! I quickly looked through and saw there are four more huge assignments for the Research course this semester to add to the five assignments already for the Leadership course. Are we having fun yet?

So here's what happened: The first Research assignment due is to find five educational journal articles on a topic you're interested in, and write an annotated bibliography page on each one. This created three problems for me:

1. What educational journals?
2. What topic?
3. What the heck is an annotated bibliography?

Check blood pressure: 276 over 400. Breathe deep. Realize we're all in the same boat.

And then, guess what? Friday morning, I dropped Brian at O'Hare Airport and went on up to MKE for school.......and happened to arrive two hours before class began. So, I was able to go to the library on campus, put on my MOST pathetic face, and ask for help. I'd had time to think about a topic ( Engaged Learning Instructional Strategies) in the car on the trip, so the sweet, blessedly intelligent media center person helped me quickly go online, find the journals and print them off. Voila!....and Praise the Lord! :-) First three problems solved before the weekend class even began, and now I can spend the next two weeks doing the actual assignment. Someone up there is truly taking care of me!

Our Leadership professor asked us to share what we'd each gained from the Summer Institute as we begin the fall together. I said I felt so lucky that what I'd learned about brain research and about leadership were immediately useful in my Professional Development work. To be honest, the best ideas are always stolen from great people! Anyway, it made me think again about how much I'm gaining, and how this program is a great fit for me.

To top the weekend off, the food in MKE is great! Saturday night we had absolutely the best cheeseburger I've had in my life, at a spot called Elsa's downtown. Good to know that comfort food is available when needed! And that in my heart, I know I'm on the right path right now, and that feels great. So yay! As long as those media center people are there, I'm ready to rock and roll........at least until I see the next assignment!