I read a comment regarding how many educators often look at business for ideas on education and how we shouldn’t because they are two separate entities. Although the second part is correct, I believe that looking at what happens in the business world is beneficial to educators if they are open to learning from the ideas, not implementing as is in your classrooms. In reality, sports are not education, but some lessons can make a difference in the context of schools, as do our personal experiences.
There is a difference between making a school like a business versus learning from business practices to benefit schools.
Imagine if we took this approach of “you have never taught, so you don’t understand education” in our everyday context? Would you disregard what a custodian or a secretary in your school would say about working with students because they have never studied education? As a principal, I learned so much about my role from students from staff members who were not teachers, and I valued their contributions immensely to the growth of our school.
My parents, both immigrants from Greece with a limited education, have taught me as much explicitly and inadvertently about schools through running a restaurant than any class or workshop that I have taken. The importance of hard work, dealing with adversity, building relationships, servant leadership, amongst many other lessons, were all things that I have implemented in my career as an educator that I learned from watching my parents run a business.
One of my hopes though is that we create schools that are so great, that businesses will look to learn from them, not only the other way around.
Ideas and actions (both good and bad) are everywhere, and although they may not fit perfectly into what you do daily, it doesn’t mean you are unable to use them to make a positive impact on what we do every day.
from Connected Principals http://ift.tt/2BSRElP
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