Brian's Blog

Today has been one of those really unusual days. I know that it is a school day but being unwell meant that I needed to sit back and listen to the world pass by. Covid will do this! Outside of the ready known symptoms it forces us to put life into pause. One of the things I love to do when life is on pause for example on a holiday or on the weekend is to gain inspiration by reading, listening to podcasts or joining in a virtual conversation. Today, was not anything like a holiday but I was blessed to tune into a session presented by Kimberly Mitchell at the ToddleTIES virtual conference. She is an author and lecturer at the University of Washington College of Education and founder of Inquiry Partners. Her presentation was on leading inquiry learning school-wide.  It was refreshing to hear some things that I have forgotten and some new ideas from an educator on the other side of the planet based in Seattle but desiring to see student learning impacted as much as me. Ideas such as: W...

Over the past term, there have been some questions that I have been pondering related to leadership and teaching in education. They are questions of purpose and motivation. While I have not got clear answers of all, some have helped me develop more clarity and direction with those I am working with as they speak to my philosophy of teaching and reasons for being a teacher. My challenge is to prompt others to revisit what drives them to work with students and lead within educational settings. What are we really trying to accomplish? What are the things we need to be doing in this season? What are the things we need to let go of which are holding us back? Why are we trying to accomplish this alone? Who else are we bringing along on the journey and empowering with the vision? Are we creating a collaborative culture? Is what we are trying to achieve simple or are we making it too complicated? If we are constantly exhausted, are we doing more than what is expected or are we pushing too hard...

It has been a while since I took some time out to write down my reflections about my current practice in education; however, recently I have found myself encouraged by the passion, willingness to serve and desire to raise up others within our profession. Over the last 12 months, I have been on an educational leadership journey.  At the start of 2021, I began a new role after 11 years at my previous school. There were immediate differences, though, I saw a willingness to adapt and grow. More than 12 months on, with a considerable amount of time navigating the pandemic through virtual learning, my team has continued to use the challenge to improve.  One of the key learnings I have made was, when we work together in a similar fashion it allows us to create a flow in which our students can improve. When we are at odds with each other and walking in different direction, it creates obstacles to student learning. As professionals, our goal is to improve the opportunities for students...