"Thanksgiving or Shopping?"

Next week an American tradition of celebrations, family gatherings, and, well, over indulgence in eating begins.

It is interesting though how far a field we as a culture have gone related to the meaning and intention of Thanksgiving.

Sadly, a significant number of Americans relate food, football, shopping, and family as the purpose behind Thanksgiving.

It is rather interesting to look at the actual history of Thanksgiving to note just how far we’ve come – of course, revisionist historians have several versions of the “original” thanksgiving and so any attempt to discuss what, who, where, why, and how is a little dubious at best. With help from Answers.com, I offer this quick history lesson -

“The first official American observance of a holiday called "Thanksgiving" occurred when the Continental Congress declared that December 18, 1777 should be celebrated as a national day "for solemn Thanksgiving and praise" in response to and in recognition of the surrender of the British forces commanded by General Burgoyne in the battle of Saratoga, regarded as the turning point (since it brought France into the conflict) in the struggle for American independence.

Then, on October 3, 1789, George Washington, at the request of both houses of Congress, assigned Thursday the 26th day of November 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer acknowledging the divine favor and protection which sanctioned the adoption of the new national Constitution. This established a tradition that the last Thursday of November was a day of national Thanksgiving.

It is not by accident that President Lincoln selected October 3rd as the day on which he similarly signed his proclamation of a day of Thanksgiving, the country then being engaged in a struggle which could very well mean the end of that very Constitution celebrated in Washington's original Thanksgiving proclamation.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the next to last Thursday of November.

Here is where it begins to get interesting.

Roosevelt was motivated in part to give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would aid bringing the country out of the Depression.

At the time, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. However, Roosevelt's declaration was not mandatory; twenty-three states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not.

Congress in 1941 split the difference and established that Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes the next to last. On November 26 that year President Roosevelt signed this bill into U.S. law making shopping a part of Thanksgiving.

In 78 years our nation moved from a national day of thanksgiving to officially sanctioning “shopping”.

As you prepare for the traditions you and your family share next week, I ask you to consider taking time to reflect, count, and bathe in the blessings received.

As a community, as a state, and as a nation, we have much to be thankful for. Irrespective of the current economic situation, we enjoy much.

One such blessing is the access to an education for every child. In our lifetime we know that this wasn’t always the case. With little argument, we have much to work on but we have also accomplished much.

As a starter, please consider giving thanks for our teachers who work tirelessly for a better tomorrow for each child entrusted in their care. Please give thanks for our support staff albeit, bus driver, child nutrition, clerical, custodial, and teacher assistant for their dedication and commitment to children. Please also give thanks for our administrators for their contributions and selfless sacrifices in the service of children.

We do, indeed have much to be thankful for – blessings to all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Not Knowing what you don't Know"

I recently had the occasion to recall the first time I heard the phrase knowing and doing gap. The expression was used with respect to what educators know and what educators actually do. The knowing and doing gap also pertains to leadership in education as well.

But, what if educators or leaders don’t know what to do?

It continues to be my experience that more often or not, it is not what an educator or leader knows that prevents improvement. Rather, it s a matter of not knowing what you don’t know that creates the real impediment to change or transformation.

Not knowing what you don’t know –

At the center of the knowing and doing gap is a huge assumption. That is, it is assumed that educators know what to do but for whatever reason, choose not to do – a deliberate decision.

It is here that the convergence of habits, mindsets, behaviors, capacity, conviction, and commitment collide. Add to these the values and beliefs of the individual and community and the conclusion of deliberate choice begins to make sense. Not so fast.

The aforementioned still requires an assumption.

This, as we know, is dangerous. Assuming that teachers and administrators know what to do is, from my perspective one of our greatest challenges. This is not about doing. This is not about character, integrity, or commitment. Rather it is almost all about knowing and then doing.

Knowing requires learning. In most, if not all cases, adult learning requires unlearning. Unfortunately, the longer we sojourn the more engrained our habits become. We are wired to learn. We never stop learning. We do, however, create and practice habits.

Habits form by doing. Doing requires practice. Overtime habits become routines. We like routines. I have them; you have them. We generally don’t put much thought into our routines. We just, well, do them.

We cannot readily accept that the performance to date of our school system is explained by the culture in which we live. To do so, minimizes at best our influence and therefore significance to unessential. I am not so sure we collectively understand this. Lamenting about students, their parents, this community, the administration, the teachers, the state and so on says more about our insignificance than anything else. Very sobering to say the least.

I don’t think or believe we are insignificant. I don’t believe you do either.

I don’t think or believe that our work is insignificant. I don’t believe you do either.

I do think and believe that we are at a point where we are ready to accept that our knowing and doing is in need.

To address this need, we are intensifying our efforts in human capital development (aka professional development). We must focus our learning on three core competencies – curriculum literacy, instructional literacy, and assessment literacy. The delivery system for this learning will be the creation of two Learning Develop Centers (LDC) – one for secondary and one for elementary that will be housed in a school. Staff will rotate in teams of 4-5 in daylong seminars that in format of 4 consecutive days at a time. Guest teachers will be recruited, interviewed, trained, and expected to teach during a teacher’s participation in the LDC.

Administration will also be expected to participate and fully engage in the LDC. In all, over a three-year period, each instructional division staff (including support and assistant teachers) will receive over 60 hours of intense training in the aforementioned areas. Suffice; the knowing what to do will not be in question.

To address the doing, we will increase the skill and knowledge competencies of all staff in the area of authentically measuring, monitoring, and assessing performance with the stated expectation of improving our work. Shifting from an evaluation model to an improvement model is critical to improving our doing. I am confident that we can address the knowing and doing gap – no more assumptions.

"there is a cost for not changing"

Here we go – again. Midterm elections are over and the spin about mandates, the mood of Americans, and etc. are everywhere. Many politicians are on record saying that the politicking is over and now it is time to govern. Not to be cynical but haven’t we heard this before? The call to arms to break with tradition and the way it’s always been done mindset will give way to the power of the status quo because of one dominating factor – there is no plan.

Consider the company Montgomery Ward; do you remember the name, company, business, and the story behind their rise and fall?

Interestingly enough, Montgomery Ward closed their doors in December of 2000. They began their business in 1872 as dry goods merchants providing rural Americans merchandise via catalogue technology at a substantial cost savings. Utilizing the technology of the day – mail and rail – they built a multimillion-dollar business.

Based out of Chicago, Montgomery Ward and a new start up called Sears, Roebuck and Company both thrived. However, in the late 1910’s things began to change. The population trends in the U.S. moved from rural to urban. By 1920 for the first time in American history, more citizens lived in urban centers.

Sears open stores in cities where people could shop in person but the owners of Montgomery Ward were unwilling to shift – simply put, they were unwilling to pay the price to make change. By 1929 Sears had opened over 300 stores even during the Great Depression. After World War II another great migration began that found Americans leaving the cities to suburbs. Once again, Sears adjusted. Each time the market changed, leadership at Sears was out front where Montgomery Ward’s leadership held fast to their original success – catalog sales. After 128 years Montgomery Ward closed their doors. Sears continues today.

There is a price for change.

There is an even greater price for not changing.

We need only to look around us at businesses that have closed. We don’t have to look far to see the failure to change. The greatest obstacle in front of us is whether or not we too, will fail to change; sounds drastic!

We are in early stages of redefinition, rediscovery, and reinvention.

What do we need to become? Not what needs to change.

The state and federal governments have answered this question. However, what do the citizens of Anson County say?

What I believe to be the impetus to engage our community is the answer to this question: “What do our citizens expect and required from its’ school system?

This is not about yesterday or even today, we must get beyond Montgomery Ward and see reality as well as trends albeit shifting economic indicators, changing demographics, technology, and the like to inform our conversations.

We must resist the temptation to address today and tomorrow’s challenges with yesterday’s solutions knowing full well that they have failed to produce the results we so desperately need.

Yes, there is a price to pay.

Each of us must decide in our own heart of hearts, mind of minds, and soul of souls if this work is worth the price that must be paid. For me, there is no hesitation – to accomplish little requires little sacrifice but to accomplish much requires a greater sacrifice.

No where is it written that transformation is easy or without conflict and yet, there are many that believe that the solution is simply pushing the right buttons or following a simple formula. It isn’t is it?

Transformation is full of complexity. There are many factors some of which appear to be insurmountable. Yet, now, more than ever, we must engage in conversation, discussion, and dialogue about our expectations and requirements and not so quickly accept that those in Washington or Raleigh for that matter have it right.