To set the stage, I share a few personal motivations for this topic. My research, writing, and presenting are prompted by care and concern for the future of Lutheran Christian education. I learn from others and cherish the opportunity to distill best practices and utilize them in ways that work where I serve in ministry. I’m a firm believer in modeling after success.
Okay, okay, before you lose your cool, I’m no Bill Belichick fan nor am I a Patriots’ fan. In fact, I root against the Patriots every Sunday. (The Green Bay Packers are my first love). However, whether you like football or not, one cannot deny the secular success of the greatest football coach in history not named Lombardi. Moreover, from the opening page, I could not put this book down.
I am a planner. I love to plan, I find joy in organization, and I appreciate the achievement of a well-executed and challenging task. There has always been comfort for me in preparation and security for me in knowing the details. Essentially, my personal comfort zone was focused on planning and having thorough knowledge. It was about ensuring that all the details were fully planned and under my control. It was about arranging and executing my plan of action.
“The standard Carnegie Unit is defined as 120 hours of contact time with an instructor, which translates into one hour of instruction on a particular subject per day, five days a week, for 24 weeks annually.” https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/resources/publi...
There it is, the standard for high schools across the country and across the centuries. I’m confident we are in the last days of the Carnegie Unit. I for one am not sad to see it go.
Some time back in December, when I had made it known to those outside of Concordia University Nebraska that I would be retiring at the end of the school year, Jim Pingel contacted me and asked me if I would like to write a piece for the ALSS Journal. I am honored by the request and the task has caused me to do a lot of thinking and a more than a little reminiscing. I think that a little reflection on how things have changed (and not changed…) might be useful for all of us.
Jim Pingel has been dogging me to submit a piece for The ALSS Journal, and I have been dodging him for awhile now. Also was motivated by Duane Jobst’s masterful and meaningful trip down the memory lane of his illustrious career in the Winter Journal, so I gave in. However, my compromise OK’d by Jim is not to produce another leadership primer by another old retired college guy, but instead a stream of consciousness-type list of principles I’ve lived by…
There is a plethora of research and recent publications disseminating the critical importance of moments and timing. None will be more fun to read, however, than Daniel Pink’s latest entitled When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. As Pink says, we have lots of books on the how-tos of leadership, but very few on when-tos of leadership.
One of my favorite television shows is NCIS. The lead character, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, has a set of rules he developed that direct his personal and professional life. Each rule is numbered and his subordinates are expected to know the rules by number. Over my years in administration, I have attempted to follow a set of rules that I have found channel my actions and decisions. Below are my top ten…
After prayerful consideration I have announced my retirement at the end of the academic year as Principal at Lake Country Lutheran High School (Hartland, WI). It seems like only yesterday that I told my family goodbye from our farm in Iowa and got into my ‘74 Mustang to begin my ministry in Ohio. Where did those 42 years go?
What distinguishes a top school or organization from another one or average one? When you really look at it, there is no one-size fits all solution that gets the great results you are looking for. There are, however, common qualities of success that one should be able to realize in every school or organization.
When God blesses a couple with children, life changes. Priorities are adjusted as the needs of the child replace the needs of the parents. Parents are so excited about their son or daughter; they see their child as amazing and beautiful. They desire what is best for their child and they begin to dream about the future and what they hope their child will become.
Someone asked Mother Teresa once how she could decide what to do with all the incredible needs she encountered. She replied, “I just do what is right in front of me.” I believe that is what God calls us to do, to minister to those right in front of us today even while recruiting the students of tomorrow.
In late August, 2017, the Houston-area faced catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall, which was more than 51 inches. Houston averages around 49 inches of rain a year, so to receive a year’s worth of rain in a mere three days was devastating. Our school, Lutheran South Academy, a Pre-K through 12th grade campus, was especially hit hard from the flooding.
Just take another lap. That is what my wife Jenny told me. I quickly responded, “Why? I can’t get to the finish line in time and I am running SO slow. I am losing time.” She repeated, “Just take another lap.” And finally, after she repeated it about five times, I said fine, and I took another lap.
A terrific book for administrators and teachers alike, George Couros’ work is packed with innovative thought and best practices in regard to student learning. Lutherans especially can appreciate his contention that we are at a “printing press” moment in education. Yet, unfortunately, too many twenty-first century schools are inundated with twentieth century learning.
