Читать книгу HEART! - Timothy D. Kanold - Страница 9

Introduction

This book is quite a ride! You will learn about parts of my professional journey while reflecting upon and discovering your own journey as well. You will explore and find your heart as an educator and examine contributing factors to becoming more deeply connected to your profession.

The book is different! It is not exactly linear, meaning there is a natural flow to the reading, but you can dive into almost any of your favorite parts or chapters that interest you and then use the book reflectively as you deem fit.

The book is more informal! It is written as if we were in class together having a conversation. I provide references at the end of each part of the book, and as endnotes and online, so as not to disrupt the flow of your thoughts and reflections as you read.

Each part of the book ends with a final thoughts section. These summary reflections bring each part to a close and offer a brief set of resources connected to the topic. I hope these resources are helpful as you explore ideas from thought leaders and experts who understand these ideas at a much deeper level than I can ever offer.

When I reference you in this book, I am including all adults responsible for educating students in your school or in the district. I am referencing each adult working in the school system—faculty, support staff, administrators, and board members—all the adults who have chosen the education profession.

Regardless of your position or job title, you are leading students and influencing each other for good or for bad, one way or the other. Thus, when I use the phrase teacher and leader, I am referring to the three and a half million K–12 public and private school faculty members (of which more than 350,000 are in their first or second year of teaching) as well as the half-million school administrators. I consider the heartprint you and your colleagues are leaving on each other, and on the fifty-four million K–12 students you serve.²

You have most likely heard of the word footprint. One Merriam-Webster definition of footprint is “a marked effect, impression, or impact,” as in the footprint you leave on others.³

To this effect, in this book, I use a new word: heartprint.

You won’t find heartprint in Merriam-Webster, but you will find a form of the word in the book The Heart-Led Leader by Tommy Spaulding.⁴ Using the word, and combining it with Merriam-Webster’s footprint definition, I define your heartprint as the distinctive impression and marked impact your heart leaves on others—your students and your colleagues, as your career and your school seasons unfold.

HEART! provides insight supported by research and various experts about ideas for pursuing a deeply mindful teaching and leading school life and professional career as an educator. It is my desire to ensure the ideas are much bigger than just my personal thoughts and experiences. By experts, I include thought leaders outside of our education profession who have much to teach us about our work. For example, you may or may not know these names: Grant and Tichy, Rath and Conchie, Goleman and Collins, Brown and Kahneman, Loehr and Schwartz, Seppälä and Spaulding, Kotter and Cohen, Sanborn and Segar, Duckworth and DePree, and Abelin and Benkler. You will meet them from time to time throughout this book.

I also include reflections and wisdom from more than forty teachers and leaders in our profession. You will meet them all during your journey through HEART!

Each part of the book represents one of five unique aspects for developing your heart for our profession. The five unique parts derive from the word heart, as the title indicates: finding happiness through engagement in meaningful alliances while taking focused risks using intelligent thought and wisdom. Each part answers an essential question.

♦ Part 1: Happiness—Are you a person of passion, positive impact, and perseverance for the education profession?

♦ Part 2: Engagement—Are you an inspiring person with the day-to-day energy required to be fully engaged in your work life?

♦ Part 3: Alliances—Are you a person open to influence and shared values, able to become relationally intelligent and collaboratively interdependent with others?

♦ Part 4: Risk—Are you a person of vision-focused risks for sustainable change, with a growth and data-driven mindset for learning and life?

♦ Part 5: Thought—Are you a person with surface and deep knowledge capacity, thought, and wisdom?

I believe all five of these HEART! elements are essential to deeper connections to your work over the lifetime of your professional career. You might be strong in one element but weak in another. You might be great at taking risks but not very emotionally positive and happy (and no one may really know). You might be positively passionate and happy in your work but lack the engagement and energy to bring the best of yourself to work each day. You might be awesome at developing your own knowledge but not very adept at creating alliances and being part of an effective collaborative team (so your great thoughts and wisdom are not shared and ultimately have limited benefit to your school and its students).

Your heartprint matters! Knowing the heartprint you are leaving on others is a reflective activity. So I ask you to be mindful of the ninety-plus My Heartprint reflections that occur throughout the book.

MY HEART PRINT

I suggest reading one to two chapters per week—not too quickly! My personal improvement as a teacher mostly came as a result of becoming a more reflective and mindful practitioner and by learning from and embracing my mistakes along the way.

It is my hope that HEART! will be both affirming and challenging as your teaching and leading career unfolds. No matter where you may be in the wonderful journey of this remarkably rewarding and sometimes frustrating profession, I hope the book will touch the story and the humanity of your professional life.

Please complete this book by writing in your own story along the way. Perhaps use the book in group study and discussions with colleagues. As you do so, you will discover your personal heartprint and realize the power you have to touch the hearts of all the students and colleagues in your school community and professional life.

These spaces or margins are places to write your responses and tell your story as you read your way through the book and reflect on your career progress. Use the spaces as you deem fit for your personality and style. The chapters are reasonably brief and provide space for you to take notes and be more reflective as you read, if you so choose.