Changes, Field Supervisors, and Such

Everything changes. We hear it all the time: in print, on the radio, on the internet, on TV. It's tough for most folks to embrace change in spite of the fact that everything changes. I was a full-time pastor for over a decade and the church is full of folks who fear change. For them the "golden years" is what happened when they were a kid. I mean, what was going on when Grandma took them to VBS is what should ALWAYS happen as far as most are concerned. Tonight I stood in the presence of change...and I survived!

Tonight our church had a youth party at the home of some members in our congregation. My son, Tommy, is going into 9th grade and he wanted to go. During the day he asked me to go with him and stick around. I haven't been on staff as a youth pastor since 2003-2004, and it was rather surreal. I've NEVER just been a dad attending an event. I was a chaperone tonight. I wasn't in charge...which is not my normal safe-zone. What I did was keep my mouth shut...which is yet another non-norm for me! However, in spite of all of these things I survived and all was well. The young folks that were in charge did a fine job, and I wasn't sad about anything that happened which gave me some peace. Overall it was a good night, maybe I grew up a bit.

In this Educational Leadership class we are preparing for more change. As we enter a ring of growth where we mentor teacher rather than kids is a change. My first school was a private Christian school, where I served as vice-principal for one year. They wanted a discipline guy who could oversee all student activities so I did that. One small bit of wisdom that I can pass to you is this: If you get an administrative job at a school where you've been be prepared that some folks won't handle it well. You will walk into a room and see your old friend Bill, and he'll say something like, "Well hello, Boss!" And you'll get it, you are now one of "Them"! Yes, yet another change! Don't fret, just know that some folks get bitter for no particular reason.

CHANGING GEARS! After talking with my LFS this week my mind is more at ease. Dr. Perez has been working with the Lamar Educational Leadership program for a few years now, and has been in education for 30+ years. Her wealth of knowledge was comforting to me. She asked what my concerns were and I said that after seven weeks it feels that Lamar has some vertical alignment issues between the rubric/assignments/google sites/etc. She agreed and said, "However, it is SOOO much better than it used to be, Daniel. Trust me, they are really working hard for you guys." The best thing I heard was that Lamar sticks with you after you graduate. They want you to be a success! A couple of tips she gave me were:

1. In your inquiry compare your data vs. other schools in your area that comparable in student population size.
2. Spend as much time as you can with your  building principal in planning. Especially, you need to work on budgeting, as it's vital for success and is not covered much in classes.
3. Get on as many committees as you can during the process.  The school is a multi-sided labyrinth and you need to learn many varied skills.

 I hope that everybody has a great week 3!