The Writing Principal

Here's a link to the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington where Guernsey-Sunrise principal Ken Griffith writes about writing. Of course, if you read this later, the site may be updated, so here is another link directly to the article. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

As I watched a History Channel show last night about Martin Luther King, Jr., I was impressed by his tireless persistence to make the world a better place. Not only was he the "moral leader" of the civil rights movement, but he reached out across races to dig down to the greater issue of poverty. Much has been accomplished in the 40+ years since his death; however, there is still a great deal of work to do. Racism (and other ugly siblings like sexism, religious and ethnic bigotry or other intolerances) may not be as blatantly obvious as it was 40 and 50 years ago, but it still certainly exists in the hearts of too many people. King preached non-violence in a time of violent reactions to peaceful protests, yet violence today is still a way of life around the world. Poverty continues to plague not only the world, but the cities and rural areas of our country. If we are to continue to grow and prosper, we all must continue to work toward acceptance of differences and finding peaceable solutions to our problems. 

Underwater Hockey?

I tend to receive quite a lot of material in the mail from a variety of sources which sometimes makes for interesting reading. Such was an article in the National Federation of State High School Association's magazine High School Today about the sport of underwater hockey. 

Underwater hockey? 

Yes there actually is a sport that is growing and after doing a little search I found the website for USA Underwater Hockey and read a little more. Interesting how creative individuals come up with such a wide variety of new things to do. 

What's the Benefit?

As I was looking through some notes from the NNER (National Network for Educational Renewal) conference this past summer, I came across a small note on which was written, "Ask the Q: How does/did it benefit me/us?"  I began to think about that a little and it brought me back to many of the professional development activities in which I have participated over the years. I recall many times hearing other participants say they got nothing out of a certain presentation or activity. Maybe it is being overly optimistic, but I have always felt that I could get something worthwhile, however small it may be, out of such activities. 

The note I uncovered reminded me to look at all situations and ask myself how it can benefit me or my organization through gaining new knowledge or skills. To rephrase that question a bit, we might continually ask ourselves, "what positive information, learning or knowledge can I take from this?" whenever we are in a workshop, training, presentation, or any situation for that matter.

Building success

The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual - Vince Lombardi.

I came across this quote and thought since we have a Vince quote on the webpage (as of this writing) I would post another to the blog. Organizations are built of individual entities,such as divisions, departments, etc. Eventually every part of the organization comes down to the personal level. All organizations are made up of individuals and therefore rely on the effort of the individuals to succeed. The greater the contribution of each individual, the greater the achievement of the organization. As individual persons, we should all strive to contribute our greatest talents and effort to achieving success together.