On October 17th I will present the opening day keynote at the annual conference of Georgia School Superintendents. The theme of the conference is: The Challenges of Leadership. (more info) The title of my presentation is “Stewarding Healthy Learning” and it will address what I consider to be the two most important leadership challenges we face in education:
#1 – revisioning: the mission of education in 21st century America.
#2 – redefining: learning and its role in human life and in our nation’s social and economic health.
The bottom line of my presentation is that the most cost-optimal, high ROI, way to improve our schools is to direct our efforts towards upgrading the mental models through which educators understand and experience learning and through which educators understand their mission and purpose as educators. After all, how educators think about ‘learning’ and the ‘mission of education’ affects everything about how they understand and experience the children they serve (as well as what they are trying to ‘put into’ and ‘bring forth’ from them).
If you are a Georgia superintendent, come up and introduce yourself. You have a lot to contribute and you might just have a lot to gain by participating in the dialogue that’s forming. It’s up to each and all of us to learn our way to the kind of education our children deserve and our nation needs.
“After all, how educators think about ‘learning’ and the ‘mission of education’ affects everything about how they understand and experience the children they serve (as well as what they are trying to ‘put into’ and ‘bring forth’ from them).”
Amen