Today’s lecture left me with more than one profound thought, foremost of which is simply that WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.  I’ve known this from a very young age.  The Lion King, circle of life theory of things permeated my childhood consciousness in a surprisingly meaningful way.  In my adult life, this intuition has only been strengthened.  I am always keenly aware of how my actions and reactions are received and interpreted by the people around me.  As a result, I am constantly reading people’s faces, words, body language – anything – to gather as much information as possible about how others are feeling. At times, this means that because I am wrapped up in other people’s emotional data, I am less aware of my own emotional state.  Practically, this manifests itself in a kind of emotional forgetfulness.  At times I forget, or perhaps suppress, my own needs and concerns in order to accommodate those of others.

Likewise, in a professional sense, I am very attuned to the impressions of my colleagues.  I now realize that these impressions have had a direct effect on what I have felt able to accomplish.  And, so, the concepts of institutional isomorphism, conservative dynamism and sociocultural homestasis ring very true for me, as do the concepts of autopsiesis, structural coupling, and linguistic cognitive domains we discussed today.  The accepted, the norm, the expected are more often promoted within the school community, perhaps disguised or gussied up with a bit of new technology, because people are more comfortable being comfortable.  There is no certainty in progress. The motivated few know where they want to go, have a plan for how they’re going to get there, but have no idea if that plan is the absolute best way to travel and won’t know until they’ve tested it all out first hand.  And, yet, progress is inevitable.  The school community, as a living organism, must change, it must evolve.  And, it can do this through the relationships, the connections of it’s members and what can be accomplished through their effort, determination, and communication.  When we are aware of the effect that the promotion of accepted norms is having on us and our view of what is possible, we are able to develop strategies that will allow us to move beyond expectation and help others to see the benefit of doing the same. There is incredible potential for revolutionary change in the school system.  Now, where do we begin?  Social media feels like a good place for me to start.