The #PDposse welcomes guest blogger, Jon Harper. Jon is the Vice-Principal at Choptank Elementary School in Maryland. In this post, he delves into issues that have a profound impact on organizational health; communication, keeping kids safe, and creating a culture of learning are at the heart of what we do.
You can follow Jon on Twitter; @JonHarper70bd
Circling the Wagons: The Good, Bad & Ugly
Circling the wagons began as a phrase used to describe
what pioneers would do on the frontier prairie when they felt as if they were
going to be attacked. It was a strategy used to protect themselves from outside
forces such as Native Americans and outlaw gangs.
Over the
years the phrase has begun to take on another meaning as well. Nowadays, the
phrase circling the wagons can refer
to when a group of people stop communicating with others not in their group in
order to avoid their ideas and beliefs.
The Good
There are
often times when students and staffs feel pressure from outside sources, and
during those times it is important to come together for the sake of unity and
protection. Students and educators nowadays are under more pressure than ever
and it is our job to do all that we can to not only keep them safe, but to also
help them feel safe.
This can be
accomplished by “circling the wagons” as a community, a school, a classroom or
even a small group of friends. As
leaders of districts, schools and children we must recognize when this is
needed. It can take the form of circle time, a staff meeting or simply a chat
with a small group.
Either way,
when we realize that our students and staff members do not feel safe, it is our
job to “circle the wagons”. As Simon
Sinek so eloquently reminds us in Leaders
Eat Last, “The power of the Spartan army did not come from the sharpness of
their spears, however; it came from the strength of their shields.”
The Bad
As
previously mentioned, nowadays “circling the wagons” can refer to when groups
block out any ideas that differ from their own. This is not good. In fact, it
is quite bad! Too often we (teachers, schools, districts) operate in our own
little silos. When ideas are not transferred back and forth, change is
virtually impossible.
Take a
moment to watch the powerpoint “Shift Happens” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdTOFkhaplo to see just how fast our world is
changing. In today’s world the
opportunities to communicate, learn and grow from one another have increased exponentially.
“Circling the wagons” may help us feel safer, but it will not help us to grow
and learn from one another.
One hour
spent outside your “comfort circle” is all you need to start to grow. Read Peter DeWitt’s post, “Twitter Chats: An
Hour Well Worth Your Time” to find out one way how. Then again, if you are
reading this I am sure you already venture outside your “comfort circle”. But, maybe you have a staff member that could
benefit from reading Peter’s article.
The Ugly
Probably the
worst result of wagon circling is that prejudices begin to form and mud begins
to be slung. When groups do not communicate with each other, they begin to form
their own, often uninformed opinions of each other.
“If people are informed they will do
the right thing. It’s when they are not informed that they become hostages to prejudices.”
~Charlayne
Hunter-Gault
We cannot
open a newspaper, or click on an online journal, without reading about one
group attacking another. Whether it is over the Common Core Curriculum, Parent
Involvement or Teacher Evaluations, mud is slung from many sides. And, yet all
sides claim to have the childrens’ best interests in mind.
When we “circle
the wagons”, and prevent communication from coming and going out, it is our
students that suffer the most. As adults, we are often able to, for better or
for worse, live with our prejudices and opinions. But, when we limit what our
students have access to, simply because an idea comes from an outside source,
they suffer. And that just can’t happen. Not in today’s world! Not when communicating
and sharing with one another can take place with just the click of the button.
Resources
DeWitt,
Peter. “Twitter Chats: An Hour Well Worth Your Time”. Finding Common Ground. Education Week. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/. Retrieved on January 19, 2014.
Hunter-Gault,
Charlayne. Prejudice. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/charlayneh403966.html. Retrieved on January 19, 2014.
Sinek, Simon.
(2014). Leaders eat last: Why some teams pull together and others don’t. New
York,NY: Penguin Group.
No comments:
Post a Comment