The Journal presents my weekly reflections on being a private, Catholic school principal during what promises to be a year filled with energy, excitement, challenges and possibilities…
We have to determine the limits of what we can sanely do, the limits of what is reasonable, the limits of what is possible. We have to understand that letting ourselves off the hook right now is sane, reasonable and possible.
We have to give ourselves a break.
This is a year unlike any other and it has changed, is changing and will continue to change education as we know it. We are building the plane in flight, making the model without the instructions and painting without the numbers, the colors or the right brushes.
This is stressful. It’s difficult to manage. It’s close to overwhelming.
We have to give ourselves a break.
This is not to say that we must lower our standards, but perhaps we must alter our expectations. High expectations are built in to educators. High expectations are part of the fabric of our work. High expectations should be maintained.
However, all too many of us – teachers and administrators alike – are trying to keep things as “normal” as possible for our students and for ourselves. We are trying to give them the same content, the same curriculum, the same experiences. We are trying to proceed as if the context in which we are working can be overcome and, after almost eight full months in it, I don’t believe it can be. The context has changed.
We need to give ourselves a break.
We have to determine the limits of what we can sanely do, the limits of what is reasonable, the limits of what is possible. We have to understand that letting ourselves off the hook right now is sane, reasonable and possible.
If we do not give ourselves a break, we’ll never be able to give our colleagues and our students one. If we don’t find the limits, we can only disappoint ourselves.
It’s okay – it’s more than okay – to take it to the limit, and not beyond it.
This was our first full week back from distance learning. Knock on wood as you read this: no new cases were reported.