Mel Rainey wk4 201005 Reaction to Lina Valery

Lina Valery: Week 4 Reading - Leadership

When I think of leadership, I envision Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, King David, Mahatma Gandhi, the Dali Lama, and many others with the spirit and courage to lead against the current. Many teachers began their profession with great ideals and with the hope of making a real difference in education. They came to lead and impact a flawed system. Yet, as they hit walls with district challenges, uninvolved parents, and absent students, inspiration was replaced by frustration. While it is easy to loose heart when it seems no one is listening or willing to look outside the box, it takes perseverance and steadfastness to lead the future.

Educators have an immense power of influence. I’m sure most teachers would say they chose their profession (whether impacted positively or negatively) because of a teacher that marked them. For many students their classroom teacher becomes the greatest voice in their lives, just by giving that student the confidence to believe in him or herself. Many dormant minds are simply waiting for someone to come in and change the recording created by a society that stopped believing in them.

I truly believe teaching, done right, is one of the hardest jobs in our society. It doesn’t help when there are political battles being fought about how to teach our youth, when the battle to inspire children to learn, should be the main focus. WE as a society, WE as parents and teachers, WE as leaders, and WE as a nation need to come together and focus on the goal.

Finally, as a homeschool educator, I would love to see the barriers between public, private, and homeschool go down. To know that even though there are different principals of faith, curriculums, ideals, races, socio-economic backgrounds, and political views, we could all come together when it came to educational collaboration. One thing all educators have in common is we all want the system to change. It’s true, our vision of change may be different, but there is one thing we all have in common. We want our students to learn for the sake of knowledge, to be inspired, and to search beyond what’s on the test.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Mel Rainey
@ Lina

Once again I think you nailed it. Teaching is one of the hardest professions to perfect. and do it well. Education is a revolving door that never slows down. There is always some new program or test, that changes everything we do as teachers. True learning only comes, when teachers inspire student minds, wether it is talking about the weather, a specific college or even culinary arts. ONe thoughtful inspiration from a teacher can mean a world of difference to a student. Students lives are different from what I remember, there are not many nuclear family scenarios left. I think we have evolved and become more of a quantum family, forces pulling in all different directions but still communicate to it original starting point, HOME.
Sunday, May 30, 2010 - 11:29 PM