Our work is too important to give up. Yet, even for the most committed, it can be hard to keep going.  Systems change, budgets adjust, new leadership teams are put into place, and over time we might find ourselves simply complying with what is happening, rather than dreaming, building, and working for the ideals and values we care about.  How do you keep yourself going?  What tools and strategies do you use to ensure you are building rather than complying?  How do you support yourself, your colleagues, and your community of practice to continue to dream in possibilities?  

I recently launched the It's Up to Us: Navigating Change Through Community, Identity, and Collaboration (Official Card Set) as a tool for individuals, teams, and communities of practice to reflect, dream, and to remain focused on the important work they do.  To find our more about the It's Up to Us! card set, click here.

 

"What you intend is what you become."
Gary Zukav

With the start of a new year, what is the purest intention fo your life and your work?  What positive impact do you intend to contibue to this year?  How will your intentions contribute to the global good? For many of us, even with the clearest of intentions, it is easy to loose our way as the businesses of our work takes off, as our organizations restructure, as new policies as enacted, or as new leadership teams are put into place.  Without mindfulness, it's easy to forget why we are doing what we are doing, and quickly move from a builder of our intentions, to a complier to a system.

Your intentions are like a blueprint that builds what is possible. Thinking about your professional work this year what is your purest intention?  

What hill are you currently climbing? Are you traveling a new road for your life? Are you stepping out of what you have always done, and venturing into a new personal or professioinal territory? If these questions or thoughts are in alignment with the hill you're climbing, I would like to suggest that to reach the success you are after, keep looking down.

I learned this lesson while riding in a recent 90-kilometer bicycle event. It was the farthest ride I have done to date, and I wasn't sure if I could complete it. While I knew it was a trip I wanted to take, I was concerned that the length of the ride, combined with some very large hills, would be too difficult for me, even with proper preparation.

On the day of the event, and with the hills looming ahead, I pedaled away, traveling close to the group I entered with.  After a few hours on our bikes, and after a quick lunch break, we knew the major hill was next.  As it began, I lowered my gears, started up the hill, and positioned my bike next to my friend. As we climbed, I looked down at my front tire, focusing on the road below me, and on occasion, looked over to the site of my friend's bike to the side. As we rode, he began to speak words of encouragment. We can do this! The hill is no big deal.We are doing great. I bet the top of the hill is just around this corner. The only response I could utter back was We are not getting off our bikes!

By looking down, and surrounded by his encouragemnt, the hill that I feared, didn't seem so bad...until I looked up.

When I looked up, and though we were still encouraging each other, I could now see how steep the hill was. Because the road twisted, and trees surrounded the road, it was hard to see when it might end. Immediately my mind spoke: You can't do this. This hill is too high for you. Maybe you should get off your bike and walk. What happens if you can't make it? With each thought, and with the sight of the hill in front, the pedaling took on new effort, and physically I began to feel I wouldn't make it. So I simply looked down again. 

I noticed this pattern throughout the ride up the hill. Each time I looked up, the task at hand felt too difficult, and my mind would overwhelm me. When I looked down, my mind would quiet, as I concentrated on the pedaling, the point of the road that I was on, and the words of encouragement I was being surrounded with. When I finally looked up again, we were approaching the top of the hill, a hill I didn't think I would be able to climb.

What did traveling up the hill remind me?

1.  To focus on what I have to do right now- stay present

2.  To be mindful of the people who I let surround me.

3.  There is a mind/body connection.

4.  Use lower gears when going up a hill.

5.  I like bike riding. 

May you climb well! William

While walking to get a coffee today, I saw this sign in front a storefront.  As I read it, I must admit I first felt taken aback.  Yet, a few minutes later I found myself loving its honesty.  While drinking that much needed coffee, I couldn't help but think of the sign in relationship to the leaders, healers, educators, and visionaries I meet and collaborate with.  Leaders, who often find themselves struggling to keep up with all that is expected of them.  Many of these women and men, true leaders who are working to create a more healthy, equitable, sustainable, and socially just world, describe their working life with terms like "exhaustion, overwhelmed, out of balance, or filled with too much to do."  The sign caused me to think about the questions I ask myself, and will ask you here:  As leaders working in what many say is a wounded world, how do we build in time for our own renewal?  How do we ensure our own lives are healthy and abundnant?  How do we ensure we are giving from an integrated, healthy place?  How well are we saying no, setting boundaries, or simply saying no more intakes today, no exceptions?

Thank you to the organizers of the recent Young Minds Conference  #youngminds in Sydney, for including me in such an important event.  The opportunity to speak on Storytelling as an act of freedom, as well as the experience of meeing, and listening to the various conference speakers, left me feeling hopefully for us all!

The books I have read, the mentors I have worked with, the conferences I have attended, and many of the classes I took, were vital tools that moved me out of much darkness, and into the center of my own liberation. That transformative process taught me first hand the power that education has when it is designed to help us thrive.  The questions I ask the leaders I work with are the same questions I will ask you here:  What are the educational opportunities that have helped you transform?  What learning experiences have allowed you to move beyond what you knew?  What books, people, events, teachers, or experiences were most meaningful for who you have become and the path you have chosen to travel?  What experiences have you had with educaton that helped you thrive?  

 

During these times of tremendous change, I’m curious about the spaces we create (at work, within community, in the classroom, in family), that help us find our way together.  These are the spaces where all of our voices are heard, where all are stories are acknowledged, and where all of us are fully included.  I believe we are longing for these places… these “circles of trust” as I have heard Parker Palmer name them.  I continue to meet communities, organizations, educators, leaders, families, and individuals, who are working collectively to create spaces where diverse individuals work to navigate change by being in community. Thesewomen and men, the leaders of tomorrow, who are working in today, are showing us what is possible for us all.  

This year's AVID Australia Summer Institute saw over 125 educators from Victoria and NSW in attendance. In all, 7 schools, and 4 universities took part in the three day professional development. Mark your calendar for next year's Institute which will take place at Victoria University, Melbourne, Nov 27-29.  

I have this dream that all educators (social workers, health care professionals, innovators, spirital leaders, etc) be provided with the time to sit and reflect on who they are and what their work is about.  In our daily business, it is easy to loose our way and forget who we are and what we truly are about.  It takes real courage to stop and reflect, especially when that reflection is with our peers.  For these reasons, I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who participated in the recent It's Up to Us in FDC: Navigating Change Through Community, Inquiry and Collaboration professional development session. It's hard not to be inspired by spending time with gifted educators and leaders who ensure schooling is safe, inclusive, and available to all.To bring It's Up to Us to your community organization, click here.  

It has been nearly 20 years of being an educator.  Well actually it means 20 years of being a student, and then trying to pass on what has been given to me.  As the 20 year mark approaches, I'm even more curious about our systems and our students, and the kinds of communities we are creating. Who is included in those spaces?  Whose voices do we hear?  Who do we label as disadvantaged?  What is going on that creates dis-ease, and what is going on that supports wholeness and wellbeing.  I have a family member (who knows who she is) who continues to tell me, "William our systems often create dis-ease for people inside of them and your work is not just about literacy and equity issues, but really about wellness...wellness is what you have been teaching all along."  In the spirit of these ongoing discussions, I've come to consider that there are new questions we need to start asking on another...how does our work create wellness for us all?  Or, how does our collective work support others to become whole, congruent, integrated, and fully alive in our troubled world?    

Our first AVID Australia Institute has just come to a close.  This four day event saw more than 60 teachers from Wodonga Middle Years College and Primary Schools from around the region, engage in staff development activities on AVID methodologies.  WMYC AVID students helped run the event, which took place at Charles Sturt University.   It was one of the most inspiring events of the year for me, as I got to watch teachers from around the region explore AVID, hear from AVID students, and consider the impact the program is having at Wodonga Middle Years College.  Thanks goes out to the five pre-service teachers from Charles Sturt University, who also engaged in the professional development week.  We are already working to ensure this becomes an annual event, so please mark your calendar and join us a year from now. 

I just returned from an inspiring weekend of TEDx Canberra .  I want to thank the organizers for including me in such a wonderful event.  To view my TEDx talk click here.  

If you want to learn more about AVID in Australia, please read our new article: AVID: targeting under-represented youth for university entrance

I'm happy to announce that  after three years of work, our Special Issue on Queer Educators and Queer Student Teachers in The Teacher Educator has just been published. Thank you to all the international contributors to the journal.  Our hope is that this publication will be one more resource for those working to ensure schooling is a place where all members can thrive!

One of my sheroes is Margaret J. Wheately.  Each book I read from her brings me back to many of the reasons that I got into teaching, reminds me of the power of collective wisdom, and ultimately brings me back to my self.  I often end presentations I give with her quote: the leaders we need are already here. I think we all know this is already true.  Margaret's new  book Perseverance is out.  The timing couldn't be more perfect. 

I just returned to Sydney after spending a week in San Diego at the AVID Summer Institute.  I am told that over 19,000 teachers across the United States went through AVID "training" this summer.  It is simply inspiring to be around so many dedicated, hard-working, inspiring women and men.  A big thank you goes out to the team from Wodonga Middle Years College, who worked hard to ensure they were at the event.  I continue to be inspired by AVID Australia, and look forward to seeing how our work will support student success. If you want to stay connected, please do sign up for AVID Australia in Facebook. 

I wanted to make everyone aware of the recent Border Mail article highlighting Charles Sturt University students who just returned from attending the AVID Summer Institute in Dallas.  Congrats to the team who made the news article a reality.

I'm a news junkie.  I wake up with the news, drive to work with the news, and check out the news online throughout the day.  I'm always suprised by what makes the headlines and what does not...namely, how little is devoted to hope, possibility, and change.  Rarely do I hear about the women and men throughout the world who are working to secure a new future for humanity.  I think that is one of the reasons I turn to books. Namely, I need to hear about the people who are birthing new consciousness for us all.  I just finished reading Three Cups of Tea.  Thank you Greg Mortenson for what you are doing for the world's children.  You offer a needed reminder of the power and possibility of education.

I'm currently reading this amazing book Half the Sky, and want to pass it out to anyone who is working toward a safe world for girls and women around the world.  The book mentions many amazing organisations who are working for a world without violence toward women.  One of those organisations is Equality Now .  The book reminds me, much like Margaret Wheatley, that the leaders we need are truly already here.  

I want to thank everyone who helped ensure the success of our recently published AJEC (Australasian Journal of Early Childhood) publication focusing on Sexuality in Early Childhood.  This journal was made possible through the leadership of Anthony Seaman, as well as the researchers, writers, and early childhood teachers whose work makes up the focus of this special themed edition.  You can read the editorial to the journal here .

Okay, I have finally been convinced.  Thank you Leigh for your assistance with this endevour...You can now officially follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/wfdejean

The Heart and the Bottle is another amazing, wonderful, life-giving picture book.  I want to pass this book out to anyone with a broken heart, or, to anyone who is looking to find their way back to themsevles.  Thank you Oliver Jeffers for breaking the bottle...once again.

I have been having some amazing conversations about the use of technology with friends and family. I'm now interested to hear how folks are using Twitter to spread word of the important work they are doing.  If you know of organizations who you believe are using Twitter in interesting ways, I would love to know.  Send me an email and send the link.  Thanks!

For all the people who believe in "power with" rather than "power over", who believe in community over  isolation, and who believe in communities of inclusivity and consciousness The Power of Collective Wisdom is for you.  I just finished reading it, and want to pass it out to all those who are working collaboratively to build a better world.

Congratulations once again to Wodonga Middle Years College, for the success and expansion of their AVID program.  I just returned from the Sydney Widening Participation in High Education Forum http://www.swphef.edu.au/ and believe that many of the goals of this conference are being worked on with the AVID program at this school.  Wodonga Middle Years College...you are leading the way.

I want to thank all the counselors and educators who attended the Breaking Free conference last weekend.  Your dedication to support LGBTQ students, and your work to ensure all students are safe on campus, was truly an exciting event to see.  Please do keep in touch. To those who were not at the conference you can find out more information on it following link http://sdgln.com/2010/02/04/conference-educate-counselors-and-educators-about-lgbtqi-issues-room-lot-views

I believe education has the power to transform our world.  I often ask my colleagues, mentors, and folks who I believe are offering to new consciousness to humanity the same question:  what is the purest intention for your work?  Now this conference is asking us: what is the purest intention behind how we use technologies?  The timing could not be more perfect! http://www.wisdom2summit.com/

http://www.up.edu/commencement/default.aspx?cid=9456

My best friend and I joke that trying to learn the codes of academic writing, or more importantly, how to get published in the academic world, is like searching for that needle in the haystack.  This process would be much easier if we had more folks assisting us along the way.  Jeff says, "why don’t they just teach us this stuff?" and yet our search continues.  Alas, I was recently introduced to this book to help us all break through the codes.   Write to the top!:  How to become a prolific academic http://www.amazon.com/Write-Top-Become-Prolific-Academic/dp/1403977437   Here is to successful writing for us all!

I just finished reviewing The Two-Hearted Numbat, by Amberline & Exenkiel Kwaymullina, for Multicultural Perspectives.  It is my new favorite picture book, and helps us all remember to live with one full heart.  Check it out!

http://arts.monash.edu.au/historical-studies/news-and-events/reorienting-whiteness-2008/reorienting-whiteness.pdf

Please click here for a flyer for a special issue of Cultural Studies Review themed: Panic

sexualities-2008-pre-conference-flier.pdf

An important conference to know about.

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Dear Friends/Family/Colleagues, You have the opportunity to directly help my school win a contest that  will bring $50k worth of prizes home to our students. This spring Social Justice students at La Costa Canyon HS started a  campaign on campus to encourage our community to stop using plastic  water bottles, and make the switch to re-usable bottles in an effort  to be more environmentally sustainable. In doing so, students made a  couple of short videos and entered a contest open to all schools in  North America. Our school has been selected as one of the top three finalists out of  174 teams, and the public decides who will take home the $50k prize  package, which includes $10k in cash, $15k worth of computers and  other school equipment (including fair-trade soccer and basketballs),  and the choice of an eco-designed skate-park, or an organic garden/ greenhouse. VOTING HAS BEGUN and ends on May 30th. JUST A FEW DAYS AWAY. Please  take a minute and visit the link to register and vote for our team. WE CAN DO THIS IF YOU HELP!http://www.quantumshift.tv/schools/ Vote for “LCC Social Justice” PLEASE send this to people who care about helping kids…adding a  personal touch, and thanks for your help. If you’re a teacher, send it out to your whole staff! We’re down about 50 votes right now, but with you on our team WE CAN  DO IT! Warmly,Christopher Greenslate (Social Justice teacher)