We have only 17 days remaining of our inital year as Sumner County's 1st Instructional Coaches.....what a journey! In thinking back to our first day on the job in July 2009, we all eagerly boarded the big yellow bus for a crash course of ALL 42 of our county's communities and schools, through which I still believe to have been some type of "boot camp" strategy to weed out the car sick folks! Afterwards, we axiously soaked up weeks of training with Steve Barkley and other most wise gurus in their resepective fields. And finally, feeling as if we had grown from fledglings to full feathered avians ready to take flight, we entered the hallways of the schools! As I type this, the feelings still reasonate of that first day..... eager, ambitous, willing, nervous, alone, questioning...any of these sound familiar? We spent each day from that point working diligently to build relationships, trust, bring comfort, provide support, etc... each school's environment evolving at variant rates. Then, in a blink of an eye, here we are ONLY 17 days remaining! This sudden time warp brought many questions to mind, "what has been accomplished?...."where have we been, where are we going?..... "will we get there before time is up?"
I have revisited these questions for a couple of weeks now. Being the overly ambitious person I am, I wished I could have done more. But then, in an ever so simple statement, those notions were calmed. A wise woman said..... "Coaches, you have been the wave of change." "AHHA... I said and the realization came....
"The WAVE of change is just as important as the CHANGE itself!"
Taking that notion to application through Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, we as a coaching group were provided with an extroidanary series of opportunities, seized those opportunities, widen our knowledge, refined our personal strengths and exercised our practical intelliegences. However, we have merely logged 1,222 hours and 30 mins of PRACTICE in being Instructional Coaches...... thus being only a ripple in the 10,000 hours rule! My hope over the next few weeks of this journey is to STOP, reflect on where we have been and how the simple laying of the tracks will effect future travels.... not everyone in the village will ride the first train leaving the station......
"Yea...My 1st Ever Blog Posting!"
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Congratulations on your first blog post ever! This year really has been full of "firsts", hasn't it? Wow. I loved the bus analogy from the book presentation on Friday. I may take a few minutes to blog on that when I have the chance. But, Emily, I was forced to reflect on our year simply by reading your post! (You meant to do that, didn't you? :o) )
ReplyDeleteNow, I don't feel like a "full-feathered avian," but I think I'm perched on the edge of the nest. It reminds me of a nest of robins that hatched at my parents' house a few years ago. We watched the process of empty nest to eggs to hatchlings to something that more closely resembled the parents to flight. It was lovely, really. However, one little guy wouldn't leave. After several more days of the momma retrieving the food and feeding her young-un, she finally kicked that energy draining child out to fly on its own. She was ragged and exhausted when she finally finished the bulk of her work. It made me wonder in what ways I've been the eager new bird, in what ways I've been the stubborn adolescent refusing to leave, and in what ways I might even be the exhausted momma. Just thinking out loud here.
I really believe that so much of my remaining insecurity has to do with the rule of 10,000 hours you referred to. When I read Outliers, the idea occurred to me that I should calculate the hours I've spent practicing coaching, but didn't do it --- just too tired!. So glad you did it for me. :o) Thanks for sharing, friend!
I am so proud of all of you. It is really hard to believe that only one year ago we were just going through the initial stages of interviewing for this position. Think of all the places we have been, people we have met, things we have learned. Life brings so many interesting and unexpected opportunities our way, and this last year has certainly been full! It is such an honor to work with each and every one of you!
ReplyDeleteYes, this first year has been an exceptional experience I'll never forget....learning, sharing, building new relationships with SO many people! Just an incredible opportunity. I'm so thankful to have been a part of it.
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