I was listening to a cool audiobook called Rework by Jason Fried this week. He speaks to how true creativity is doing something useful with whatever you happen to have. Fried points out that therefore the most creative people are often those who have very little … like prisoners. It might be a…
I spoke with a handful of School Leaders on the restorative journey last week who had a similar tale to tell. They said they’ve been delighted with the progress their school has made this year but that “There’s still a lot to do before they can call theirs a restorative school”. I disagree. …
I like weddings for the food options – that being that there are usually only two. Restaurants are far more stressful for me. I can spend hours scouring the choices trying to avoid the dreaded “plate of regret”. In some ways, this odd personality quirk has impeded my ability to work restoratively at school. …
While driving, I’ve been listening to a powerful audiobook called “The Dreaming Path” by Paul Callaghan and Uncle Paul Gordon. I highly recommend. The book warns about what they call “when then” thinking. It calls out a misguided western thinking pattern about happiness and its dependence on certain events occurring first. Examples include: “When I…
I chatted with a School Leader this week whose current focus is that the school’s teachers deploy circle architecture more regularly in the classroom. The teachers had agreed that this was an experiment worth running and that there were multiple opportunities for circles to be of benefit – checking in, checking out, preparing for changes,…
I read a fabulous blog by Seth Godin last week that explored two seemingly disconnected concepts – Artificial Intelligence (AI) and caring. I reckon Seth is a particularly insightful guy, and I recommend his daily blog to you. But this blog, in particular, got my attention because I think it has implications for both teachers…
CS Lewis wrote “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” Teaching and School Leadership is hard these days. That doesn’t make it without reward or unworthy. But I’ve noticed a universal truth in the challenges getting tougher. And yep, a…
There’s a lot of talk in education circles about student behaviour, and I’ve noticed a lot of that talk tends to be serving the talker more than the listener. What I mean is that we tend to lapse into absolutes and hyperbole when it becomes more to us that we’re right … than helpful. One…
My sport of choice to play has always been cricket. I played it for about 35 years. I remember emerging from junior cricket ranks into playing against men and how confronting that was … especially when I had to bat against Rogo. Rogo wasn’t even an opposition player. He was on my team. I was…
My Dad is typical of many Dads – like me – in that he’s got a proverb, metaphor or story to back up almost every point he makes. His favourite has always been, “Adam, you’re just going to have to take your medicine on this one.” What Dad was speaking to me about was that…