Leadership/Teaching/Technology Part 2

Scott S. Floyd left me some thought provoking (and welcome, being a newbie...) comments on my recent posts, and thanks to Darren's posts that illustrates blogging actually makes us think better, and not wanting 'my brain is too small' syndrome, I'm letting these prompts goad me into creative bursts of reflection and writing.

When I 'stepped down' from coaching (30+ years...) six years ago, my Principal/Boss at school told me he was not about to let me 'rest on my laurels' and he was going to put my leadership abilities to use. (Part of a rigorous certification process through the American Swimming Coaches Association, where over 6,000 members are certified in a five level program involving education AND productivity, only 5% arrive and are certified Level V, and the Level V School is the Leadership School...).

What I've always known, and know now even more emphatically, teaching IS coaching, and the leadership issues are one and the same. John Wooden, the UCLA basketball icon knew that; Vince Lombardi, the Notre Dame great knew that; even my favorite long-since-fired little league football coach Dick Groth knew that. In this age of over-inflated egos and salaries and misunderstandings of what sport is in America, Scott asks a very important question that literally BEGS to be asked: 'Where are the parents of these kids when it comes to educational rigor/relevance? They're more interested in the next youth NFL/MLB season' (paraphrase mine...oops, and even as I rag on professional sports in America, Darren is sitting, enjoying a hot dog, at an Atlanta Brave's game...the horror...the horror...BOTH (do you know how much fat is in that sucker!?) the hot dog AND the monetary support of America's unbridled meglomania over grown men being paid millions to play a kids game while a huge part of our populace goes hungry...kids in particular...and without basic health care...). I know, I know...I'm going to catch hell for that comment...

I would like to 'tweak' the Leadership Muscles of the one third of educators I mentioned in my previous posts by offering some prodding of my own based on some great reading I'm going to recommend. Wess Roberts wrote a couple of 'easy reads' a number of years back that I really enjoyed on leadership: Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun and Victory Secrets of Attila the Hun. (Tongue-in-cheek, incidentally...Wess' assertion is that Attila received an undeserved 'bad rap' in history...). Here's his take, with a couple of my edits: 'Every teacher is a leader, and has been a leader and will continue to be a leader of the youth of our country through teaching. Very few top CEO's or business leaders of fortune 500 companies get the opportunity to lead the number of people you do!' (And, they pay themselves MILLIONS, not to mention the stock options and trashed employee retirements plans, and we call it 'Good Business'...ouch, there I go again...).

Finally, another great resource is Max DePree's Leadership is An Art. He said: "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, and the last is to say thank you for letting me lead you, but, in between, you become a debtor and a servant". Well, if we're to 'define reality', our reality is changing pretty damn quickly, and we (and my other third) better get on board as quickly, because, as debtors and servants to our students, we owe it to them to 'coach' them into the 21st century...and then thank them for affecting the change in us to keep us current and honest, as well. Sheesh, I'm exhausted, already...