This user hasn't shared any biographical information
Gadget Fever
Posted in Technology on December 18, 2011
My gadget world is complete. I now possess the tech troika of a MacBook Pro, an iPad, and an iPhone. The laptop belongs to the Hopkinton, NH School district, the iPad was a present for my 50th from my family, and the iPhone…well, it’s a early Christmas present. This love of technology comes my way genetically, at least in part from my father. But there’s something about holding a gadget, seeing it operate, and not knowing exactly what wonders it shows until I hit a button or flip a switch.
The troika with my Evernote synced blogpost on each screen.
Clearly, education has embraced technology for many years. Those in positions of influence have longed for gadgets to change the academic world but despite everyone’s best intentions technology has not dramatically improved student learning for many schools. Why is this?
- In many cases, districts spend thousands of dollars on technology without setting realistic goals for the equipment and not engaging in serious professional development for teachers.
- There is a temptation to exalt the gadget over its usefulness. Having a one-to-one iPad initiative or a school full of interactive white boards makes for a wonderful press release.
- Teachers can’t be fooled. They can sense when an administrator has gadget fever. I have said early on that any technology we utilize has to support the academic values we already hold.
With new teachers on board at HMS who are closer to being digital natives than most of us, I will have to hold true to my maxim above and fight gadget fever.
Meanwhile, with my college aged kids home for the holidays, I look to my right and my wife is on her iPad, my two oldest are on the MacBooks, Jake is poised over the ol’ iMac keyboard, and I’m punching this blog entry out on my MacBook Pro. Don’t worry. We talk a lot too. Face to face…not over Skype.
Giving Thanks
Posted in Leadership on November 20, 2011
Courtesy of best-norman-rockwell-art.com
I do love Thanksgiving. It’s one of those holidays when families can get together under a simple premise that we give thanks. There’s no need to exchange gifts and few expectations beyond a properly cooked turkey and a large enough TV to watch the football games. Those of us with full time jobs are thankful for our ability to provide for our families, purchase things we need, and arrange the occasional vacation. Yet, at Thanksgiving the focus is on people. When we sit across from our families and friends Thursday, we will be eye to eye with the ones we love. In the end, we are certainly thankful for what makes our life a bit more comfortable. But for me, I am most thankful for my family, friends, and those I work with.
I am also very thankful for my job. It’s not an easy one and most days you enter the building not quite knowing what challenges you will face. But while the Sunday night butterflies will always remain despite my over 2000 school days working as a Principal, I still love the hugs and high fives from kids, the daily laughs in the office, working out solutions to problems, and seeing growth in faculty while initiatives move forward.
Here are ten things this Principal is thankful for as we head into Thanksgiving 2011:
I am thankful for…
1. Hopkinton parents who are overwhelmingly positive about what we do at HMS and when they are critical, they do it kindly. They are also amazing volunteers.
2. A staff full of professionals who not only work hard but are still hungry to learn more. In 2011, I would place my own children in any one of the classrooms in my school.
3. The new teachers who have entered our HMS community and have brought new ideas and fresh energy.
4. The students who are generally respectful, happy, and eager to learn.
5. My “boss”, the Superintendent, a man of integrity, always striving to do what’s right while maintaining an amazing balance in his life.
6. My Leadership Team colleagues who are able to give me advice and counsel with a perspective unlike any one else’s.
7. The Central Office specifically; in a world where the local school and the district office are often at odds, it is refreshing to find such professionalism and good cheer in that funky little building next to Maple Street School.
8. New technology tools allowing our students to be creative and engaged in their learning.
9. Our new playground built in part to a $100,000 donation and scores of hard working volunteers.
10. A School Board that understands education in the 21st Century and is very supportive of district staff.
This is but a slice. It’s a good exercise; develop your own top ten list and you may find yourself even more thankful this November 24.
How Can Soulful Leadership and Teaching Continue?
Posted in Collaboration, Leadership, Technology on November 13, 2011
My former Superintendent Dick Ayers used to say, “Teaching is a contact sport”. As his central office career closed, he was witnessing the movement toward inanimate technology substituting for educators. A number of New Hampshire School Boards have advocated for decreasing school budgets by cutting teachers and increasing online opportunities.
This weekend the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “My Teacher is an App”, a treatise on how public schools are moving toward online courses at the expense of brick and mortar schools. Indeed, they quote from the Evergreen Education Group that an estimated 250,000 students in this country are enrolled in virtual schools, up 40% in the last three years. Clearly, this trend has implications for the future of education. Teacher unions in particular decry this movement. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a leading proponent of online schooling, says that digital learning will happen with or without support from the unions. He states that he is “willing to go to war” over this issue. In a passionate response to the Wall Street Journal article, education blogger and Web 2.0 expert Will Richardson criticizes what he sees as a “disheartening and disturbing vision” of what education could become.
What affect could this have on educational leaders? The answer lies in the potential repercussions to education from digitalization, but inevitably, the soul of our field is bound to suffer. The Boards of Education looking to save money and the technology corporations looking to make money are missing the point. Since education should be a “contact sport”, students may lose out on the depth of knowledge that comes from human interaction if learning moves to an online venture. In the many courses I have taught online both to prospective teachers and Principals, I’ve learned that true Socratic discussion is nearly impossible via Internet discussion boards.
Mike Morgan, Superintendent of New Hampshire SAU 16, extols the virtues of “the Soulful Leader” and has defined what this looks like:
The Soulful Leader values and attends to relationships as much as to tasks and outcomes, valuing the sacredness of the other person. A teacher stripped of her ability to interact in person with her students will likely not seek or need the same level of interaction with a soulful leader, thereby diminishing the natural synergy that can exist between school leader, teacher, and student. The building of positive school culture is almost symbiotic in that affirming, caring relationships and its productive results spread throughout an institution.
The Soulful Leader works in collaboration rather than in hierarchal…fashion. No doubt, collaboration is a significant component of Web 2.0 technology. But that’s not what this profit motive is suggesting. In fact, Richardson states that “direct instruction and standardization will make us less competitive, not more”. The world we are living in and our students are growing up in, will require live collaboration skills, ready to engage in creative partnerships. Leaders must model this as we work to maximize the talent on our staff that is only discovered in a collaborative environment.
Teachers are not “apps”. Teachers are credentialed and adept facilitators of learning, helping their students discover how to change the world for the better. Technology tools serve to exult and support the educational skills we know to be critical in the 21st Century. Teacher leaders and building leaders need to fight against the depersonalization that the inappropriate implementation of technology may bring to our schools. If we are not careful, soulful leadership will deteriorate into ordinary management and the spectacular advantages we enjoy from technology will be potentially lost in a mire of misuse.
The Lens of Leadership
Posted in History, Leadership on November 10, 2011
I regularly view the world through a lens of leadership. In the sports arena I observe coaches and general managers, evaluating their decisions and styles. In the political world, I ask, “Are the candidates getting their message out? Are they able to rally and inspire their staff to implement the leader’s vision?” In the business world, I ask “How do the barons of industry strike gold and how do some small businesses continue to grow in the midst of a tough economy?”
In the world of religion, I have admired the work of Pope John Paul II who played a significant role in spreading freedom throughout Europe and Asia from a pontificate perch that rarely changes the world. Yet, it was the leadership of Oscar Romero, a relatively inconsequential El Salvador Bishop in the late 1970’s that got my attention as a Freshman in college. His reign as Bishop only lasted three years, but in that short time he inadvertently left us with many leadership lessons.
FINDING YOUR VOICE
Romero was a reluctant leader. Although he had a passion for the Priesthood, he could not have foreseen the influence he would gain in the last few years of his life. He found his voice by reexamining his own values in the context of a horrific lack of human rights in his own country. His leadership was partly circumstantial but he rose to the challenge even without a traditional leadership skill set. He did not begin as a dynamic speaker or marketing mogul, but he led from his core. He knew what he believed and his actions came from his philosophy, not from a desire for fame or to please humans.
THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION
Every great leader finds a way to communicate the message. The poor of El Salvador did not have televisions but they could gather around a radio. Romero was able to use this medium to spread his liberation theology via the broadcast of a Mass and the homily contained within. After high profile murders of El Salvadorians he loved, he made a controversial decision on a specific Sunday to cancel all Masses in his country except for one large Mass on the steps of the Cathedral in which more than 100,000 faithful gathered. While this decision drew criticism, it helped to unite the people in the direction of justice and sent a strong message to those in power.
COURAGE
Every leader must show courage in the face of conflict. One must be ready to make unpopular decisions, risking old friendships or the ire of those with the ability to make a leader’s life uncomfortable. As a Principal, my daily walk through the building often includes smiles, laughs, and stories of the weekend. However, the good natured day sometimes includes tough exchanges that have to be had, even if they are always respectful conversations. A visit from Union representatives might begin a chain of events resulting in a grievance if a request is denied. A phone call to a thin-skinned parent takes courage, preparation and a deep breath before dialing the number. Romero’s courage took a different tack. He was willing to die for his convictions knowing that he could never be the leader he was meant to be without extending his decision-making to the point of risking his life. Toward the end of his ministry he knew a violent death was just a matter of time.
COLLABORATION
Romero understood that the poor of El Salvador needed to participate in their transformation. The power of a leader rests squarely in his ability to motivate, persuade, and inspire. A solitary leader can only achieve temporary success. Romero’s influence rested in his ability to change citizen’s minds and hearts and instill courage at the same time. As he stated to his followers, “Aspire not to have more but to do more.” There are many school leaders with good intentions who take on too much responsibility for their staff. The non-collaborative Principals lead committees that should be led by teachers and begin initiatives themselves rather than build the power from within.
Ninety-five percent of Romero’s life was spent preparing for the 5% spent in courageous leadership. Not many of us are called to risk our lives, but like Romero, if our calling is to be transformational, we may have to be transformed ourselves before we can be effective leaders.
Building Social Capital
Posted in Leadership on October 15, 2011
Courtesy of wii.ign.com
In my first year of college in 1979, I was introduced to Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, a multi-volume classic written from the pen of a French man examining the wonders of representative democracy in 1830‘s United States. I was impressed by de Tocqueville’s observations of an America filled with active citizens, ready to participate civically in the formation of a new nation founded on democratic beliefs. Now, more than a century and a half later, author Robert Putnam decries what he sees as the disintegration of social capital in his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.
Every spring, our school enjoys a visit from the elderly members of the Grange, a civic organization that was founded after the Civil War as a fraternal organization for farmers. Three women from the Grange come with special dictionaries to give free to our third graders. They spend a few minutes with our students describing their organization and highlighting the finer points of their gift. In between, the “Grangers” and I bemoan the disintegration of their organization and how they are probably the last generation to be part of their fellowship. Unfortunately, their national membership has decreased 40% in the last 15 years. They are saddened that local young families have no interest in joining the group.
Putnam uses the sport of bowling as his leading example for diminishing social capital in America. While people will still bowl by themselves or perhaps on a date with another person, league bowling has decreased dramatically. Many studies also show a decline in church membership, involvement in city or town committees, or in civic organizations such as The Grange.
What effect does this have on our public schools?
- The local elementary school can substitute as a tool to build a community’s social capital. In many ways, our Hopkinton schools are the hub for the community. Parents will congregate in the morning after dropping their children off, at pick-up time in the afternoon and often on our new playground. Open House is as much a social time for families as it is an opportunity for parents to see our classrooms. In addition, families are increasingly busy. While Dads and Moms are not as tied to organizations such as the VFW, Lions Club, or the quilting circle, they do congregate at community sporting events or enrichment activities. Many argue that our public schools take on too much responsibility to meet the needs of society. Yet, we can be a comfortable and reliable social institution for families who depend on us.
- Another factor in declining social capital is the necessity for both parents to work. Once a source of extra income to keep up with the Jones’, a second salary might be essential for families who have been hurt by the current state of the economy. I have seen some decline in school volunteerism as a result, especially for specific requests. This shift requires schools to adapt and offer volunteer activities that do not require in-school attendance. For example, one of our volunteer opportunities is to help in our “Publishing Center” which produces professional looking books for our students’ writing, complete with a biography page, a fancy cover, and typed content. Most of the adult typists complete this task at home and bring in the finished copies on their way to work.
- As Putnam describes in his book, the rise of time spent alone with technology has much to do with the decline of community and civic involvement. Schools can take advantage of this and leverage students’ skill with technology to work collaboratively around projects that can benefit the community.
Assuming Putnam’s alarming contention is correct, we may be able to stem the tide of community apathy through purposeful opportunities in our schools. Good schools provide options for community building and will teach the next generation about the power of face-to-face contact and collaboration. This can lead to an increase in civic involvement and return us to de Tocqueville’s image of a democratic America.
Following Your Intuition
Posted in Leadership, Mac, Technology on October 13, 2011
courtesy of oldcomputers.net
I was bothered by Steve’s death more than I thought I would be. I have been an Apple user for so long that my entire educational career has been influenced in part by the company and its products. I started using Apples/Macs in 1984 at the start of my teaching career. The old Apple IIe with the green letters and the floppy disk drive was my constant companion. I used to bring this desktop home often and I can still feel the heaviness and awkwardness of carrying the CPU with the monitor and disk drives sandwiched between. I used to have a grade book program on a 5 1/4 floppy which was archaic by today’s standards and all of my lesson plans and handouts were done on that machine. A couple of years later, Gov. Sununu secured legislation that gave each school district enough Apple IIgs computers for each teacher in each New Hampshire school building.
Years later I attended a workshop with colleagues on this new thing called the Internet. Not long after that workshop, I purchased a Mac LCIII which was truly state of the art. I used a 2400 baud modem (v e r y s l o w) and I began connecting to the Net even before browsers were used. Everything in those days was text, but through an early AOL and Compuserve account I was amazed that I could receive AP news live right to my computer and even tap into the card catalog at the UNH library. It took at least 30 seconds to download data each time, but since everything was so new, it didn’t matter. Not long after that, I upgraded the modem and Mosiac was born which allowed one to see web pages with graphics. I was one of the first to use the Internet at my school but I had to use the school’s phone line to do it. Of course, there was no wireless or even wired connections at that point.
courtesy of alldeaf.com
My wife Marie and I rented our place out in Rochester, NH in the early 90s out moved in with my father for his remaining years. My Dad, an electrical engineer, was fascinated by the Net and despite my Apple bias, he bought a PC running DOS and later Windows 3.1. I was amazed that the world was so enamored by Windows when Apple had developed this type of interface many years before. But this was before the days of iTunes and iPhones. Dad and I would email each other across his large New England Colonial and then we would chat together about these emails later over dinner.
In 1996 I was offered my first Principalship and I came into a world of PCs. For four years I used a PC running Windows 95 at work but I bought a Mac Powerbook 190 for my non-work life. Merely a few days after it was introduced in 1998, I bought the first iMac which was sold in only one color, Bondi Blue. It held me long enough to reach Harold Martin School, where I was relieved to
courtesy of mac-man.co.uk
discover was an Apple School.
These last 11 years have seen a tremendous change in technology, in large part…truly in large part, to Steve Jobs. Music purchasing and listening was transformed by iTunes, the iTunes store and the iPod. Cell phones have been transformed by the advent of the iPhone. Apple made popular the concept of a smartphone which soon everyone will use. Now the iPad is being utilized as an essential tool in all walks of life and in nearly every industry.
How much does a CEO contribute to his or her company’s ideas, products, and vision? In Steve Jobs’ case, no one has ever had a greater impact on technology in the last 50 years, both within his company and the world. What made Steve so different was the undying love he held for every product that Apple released. When he talked about a new Apple gadget you could tell that if he had to, he would be one of the many standing in line for hours to purchase it. He was proud of his company and its people. He knew precisely his own strengths and weaknesses and he had a vision for his company.
Perhaps the most famous quote traveling around the Internet since his death came from Jobs’ 2005 speech at Stanford’s
commencement:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Steve Jobs knew, as we all must, that our time on this earth is finite. We go through life ignoring that fact, partly as a defense mechanism so we don’t go crazy. But the beauty in this
courtesy of news.softpedia.com
realization is that we have but one chance to use our talents, share a little kindness, and “change the world”. Steve learned through his own mistakes that while we should take everyone’s opinion into account, ultimately our “inner voice” must take precedence. I hope you too “have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”.
Lessons From The Sox
Posted in Leadership on October 8, 2011
Courtesy of justinjabs.com
Larry Johnson is a local sports pundit on WEEI sports radio in Boston and unlike many of his counterparts, he recognizes the rightful place that sports ought to play in our lives. Johnson calls sports “the candy store”, a particularly apt description used often on sports radio when the news cycle includes dire economic news or report of terrorist attacks. Nonetheless, the New England sports scene can easily overtake our Yankee (a reference to geography not team choice) sensibilities as it has the last few weeks. You see, our beloved Red Sox just completed the most dreadful September of baseball eva’, resulting in the second straight year we have not made the playoffs (notice the pronoun use?) and the firing/resignation of the Sox manager Terry Francona.
While the saga of the 2011 Red Sox is miles from being written, it is clear from both Terry’s words and the local media that he had lost control of his clubhouse and that the players were not responding to the same Francona magic that resulted in two World Series titles this decade. The strengths that he brought to the job in the earlier part of his tenure did not result in success in 2011.
What I haven’t heard in the press these last two weeks was that the truly skilled Boston media completely missed this story during the course of the season. While Terry was toiling in his job, realizing that he was losing respect with the players, the rest of us simply saw the Red Sox pitching failing so extraordinarily that they failed to win even two games in a row during September, while still ending the season with the top offense in the majors. Francona even admitted to his bosses that the ship was sinking. We did not see a failure of leadership as the source for the losses. We only saw a rash of Ls and a minimum of Ws.
Clearly, there are myriad factors for the September collapse including poor free agent pick-ups orchestrated by General Manager Theo Epstein with likely strong arm twisting from Sox owners who wanted a return to TV ratings. Adding to this were players with big guaranteed contracts who rested on their financial laurels. Yet, there are a couple of lessons in leadership we can glean from Manager Francona’s lack of success:
- A lack of success does not necessary equal failure. In the what have you done lately for me atmosphere of Boston sports, this truth can be hidden.
- When circumstances change, the leader will have to adapt to the best of his/her ability in order for an institution to grow and be successful. When that adaptation requires a leadership approach stretching beyond a change in habit, actions, or discipline into a alteration of one’s personality or “hard-wiring” then it is simply time for new leadership. Francona had the integrity to recognize this and the safety net of knowing that there will be other teams with fresh job offers.
Drive
Posted in Leadership on October 7, 2011
While late to the party a bit, I recently finished Daniel Pink’s Drive. It’s a breakthrough book for leaders in all fields and anyone who cares about motivating employees. He consistently riffs off a classic truism that human beings are more productive when given intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic motivators. Fortunately, Pink puts some meat on the motivational bone by citing numerous psychological studies as well as personal experience, while maintaining a colloquial approach throughout.
SETTING GOALS
Every organization engages in some form of goal setting. There is little debate on the efficacy of this exercise but Pink states a warning that goals set by others, such as sales targets, quarterly returns, or standardized test scores in the education field, can lead to a narrowed focus and decreased intrinsic motivation. However, goals that employees set for themselves and are devoted to mastery work can be powerful and effective.
REWARDS
Capitalism is an American standard. Children are taught that the growth of our country was based on manifest destiny and the quest for fortune. How was the West won? Primarily through the ingenuity and hard work of those seeking gold we opened up the West and changed the course of human history. Children are raised believing that our country is run on the spirit of profit. Pink counters this by citing research that positive feedback can be more valuable than gold. Intrinsic rewards are much stronger than extrinsic rewards. Granted, there are some situations where extrinsic rewards may work as a small “booster shot”, especially for routine tasks that don’t require a high level of creativity. But Pink believes that any extrinsic reward should be unexpected and given only when a task is complete. When money is used as an extrinsic reward, subjects lose interest for the activity after some time. Cash is a short term boost like energy drinks.
CREATIVITY
The carrot and stick philosophy has been an established standard. Its origin comes from the donkey moving toward the carrot dangled in front of him as a reward while being scared of the threatening stick at his rear. There are clearly better ways to motivate people. Pink cites the Google 20% Program which gives Google employees the freedom to use up to 20% of their work time to develop projects that they may not get to in the normal course of their job. Gmail and Google News have both come from that 20% time. Another company developed a similar program they call FedEx Days which challenges employees to develop an project “overnight”. This task creates camaraderie among the staff as they work toward a common goal. Pink also cites the rise of software projects that are “open source”, available for anyone to use and completely free. These developers have an innate desire to be autonomous and creative and while the profit motive may come into play down the road, for now they are thrilled to see their efforts result in scores of happy computer users.
CONCLUSION
So what is the implication for leaders? Pink insists that management is not about making sure people are working in their offices (the stick) or flashing cash rewards for increased profits (the carrot). Instead, managers need to create conditions for their employees to maximize their own creativity. Humans need to be self-determined; Pink cites three innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When these needs are met, we are happy.
Revisiting Joplin
Posted in Leadership on September 23, 2011
I really can’t explain it, but tornados have been following me around for a lifetime. It began with my father in the middle of the famous Worcester Tornado. He happened to be driving in the city on June 9, 1953, when a driver passed him illegally. This proved to be a fatal error as, minutes later, Vic Carozza ended up pulling this driver out of his car that had been hit by the tornado. In 1966, I had just moved to St. Louis and a tornado hit our neighborhood demolishing homes around us but sparing our domicile. And then on July 24, 2008, I was having lunch in my school’s lunch room with a fellow Principal when the now famous New Hampshire tornado tore through a number of towns, flying a mile from my house.
It is with this background that I felt connected to my friend Denise Legore, (@dlegore) Principal of one of the elementary schools in Joplin, Missouri. Her school was spared in the May 22, 2011 tornado, the deadliest in the US since 1947 and likely the most expensive. The cost to rebuild Joplin might reach $3 billion.
Right after the tornado, she wrote me:
“Thanks Bill. This is surreal. The district is accepting monetary donations. We are committed to having summer school & then restart in 84 days.”
Courtesy of AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Arthur Harvey
I wrote about this in our school newsletter a week after the Joplin tragedy and you responded. Hopkinton, NH residents sent a number of packages to Joplin via Ms. Legore and she and her students were delighted. As Denise told me in a recent email about the boxes of stuffed animals, books, and cards:
I can tell you that all the goodies went to the kids from one of my summer schools who lost everything – nothing warms your heart like kids scrambling to get books and stuffed animals! I know the kids provided good homes for their newest treasures!
Denise also gave me a very positive view of Joplin’s progress:
We are doing well. The start of the school year has been very smooth and I really feel that it is like we never left – kids and staff. The town is really starting to see growth and repair. It is still very surreal to drive within the rubble but I’m moved constantly by the spirit and support we have received.
It is a more stressful year than average at Harold Martin School. Our school population is larger than ever and our space is as tight as I have seen it. Nonetheless, we work hard to maintain a thankful spirit for the great children we have been entrusted with and a community that has consistently supported education. We do not share the unimaginable stresses that Joplin has been through. When we continue to support those less fortunate, through our local food pantry, our civic or church organizations, or in special circumstances such as natural disasters, we do more than help others. We grow a more positive perspective and develop an energy to move beyond ourselves.
A 9/11 Message to Elementary Students
Posted in Patriotism on September 10, 2011
courtesy of worldstatesmen.org
Like many of you, my school, Harold Martin Elementary, has direct connections to 9/11. One of our teacher’s sons worked for a New Hampshire Senator and was actually in the White House at 8:46 AM that day. Another teacher’s husband was scheduled to fly American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, but at the last moment traded with a good friend. Many of our current students had relatives who were among the 3,000 who perished. This week I received an email from a parent who is currently a pilot and will have to fly on 9/11/11. His son is terrified that he won’t see his Dad again.
It is against this backdrop that I wrote this brief piece trying to grasp the positive from what is a scary, confusing, and surreal period in our history, especially for the students at Harold Martin who were not alive when the decade old events occurred. It was not read to the students but given to parents this past week in our newsletter for families to use in any way they would like:
This Sunday, September 11, we will commemorate the events that happened 10 years ago on September 11, 2001. None of our Harold Martin School students were even born 10 years ago but many of your older brothers and sisters as well as your parents remember that day quite well. It was a scary and sad time for all of us as many people died in New York City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania that morning due to terrible choices made by a number of people who strongly disagreed with our country’s leaders and what the United States stands for.
But instead of focusing on this tragic event, we should consider the lessons we learned from 9/11:
Immediately after these events 10 years ago, good people around the world showed their kindness and love for each other by reaching out and helping save lives and support families who were hurt by this event. Fire fighters and police officers in particular showed great courage in risking their own lives to save others. Americans put aside their differences by coming together and showing the power of patriotism by reaching deep into their souls and finding the strength to love and help their neighbor no matter the color of their skin, their religious background, or how much money they had. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that we were all Americans and we would stick together. Soldiers sacrificed their time and lives to fight against those who might harm us and a whole country started taking our own safety more seriously.
So, again what are the lessons? We must show each other kindness and love. We must have the courage to do the right thing and protect and defend each other. We have to put aside differences and care for each other equally which sometimes means sacrifice.
I hope you will keep these thoughts in your mind as you hear more about 9/11 this weekend. If you ever have questions please feel free to ask your parents, your teachers, or myself. We all feel very blessed to have you as our students.
Goodreads
No data found
Flickr Photos
More Photos
