feedback

Taking A Very Personal Risk

/ Dave Eberwein / 6 Comments

Learning something new can be exciting — it can also be intimidating. A story I am about to share with you today captures both of these realities.

Several of my blog posts have talked about taking risks — about taking that chance at a new idea or new way of doing something to be better.

It can be uncomfortable. Sometimes, it can be downright frightening.

I’ll start with an example of a fairly low-risk professional learning journey I took last year. I wanted to learn more about racism — what it looks like and how it weaves its way into our language, decisions and actions. I immersed myself in the topic, wrote a few blog entries about it and even shared my learning journey with my Board of Education and others in the school district.

I learned a lot, but I felt pretty safe while doing it. Admitting that I don’t know everything about a topic is usually easy for me, so learning more about racism, while important, wasn’t super risky.

But, there WAS something I worked on last year that was intimidating — something that actually had me doubting myself along my learning journey.

(More on Page 2)

Pages: 1 2

I Don’t Know Very Much

/ Dave Eberwein / 3 Comments

I know less every day.

I say this with sincerity, because everything I learn exposes other things that I don’t know — new questions, new unknowns, new explorations. As Superintendent, this provides that ‘fire-in-my-belly’ for me to push ahead.

The opportunities to learn are limitless. There is no finish line.

Does increased knowledge translate into having wisdom? Are people who know lots of stuff necessarily wise?

Wisdom requires more than knowing a collection of stuff.

WISDOM results when one’s knowledge is blended with HUMILITY, REFLECTION and GROWTH.

  • Humility provides the mindset to truly understand your learning journey;
  • Reflection results when you process context and previous learning into your new learning; and
  • Growth happens when the knowledge you learn broadens your understanding.

(More on Page 2)

Pages: 1 2

Compassion – Let’s Have More of That in 2023

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

Welcome to 2023!

Dr Bonnie Henry

Fingers crossed that we’ve turned a corner. What a memorable past 3 years these have been since the pandemic started. We have done very well as a school district and a province. Yes, there have been a few stumbles along the way, but overall, we’ve come through things really well. Not bad for not having ever gone through something like this before.

Yet, there is still criticism about how we handled the pandemic (perhaps some of it justified) but there has also been a lot of personal and negative attacks. And in particular, social media, has been the platform where comments can be ruthless, insensitive, often misinformed and sometimes threatening.

Here in BC, Dr. Bonnie Henry (the provincial health officer) has been a regular target of these attacks. Throughout these past 3 years she has remained a beacon of calmness, intelligence and thoughtfulness. You may have disagreed with some of her decisions, but she had the best interests of the people in her sightlines– and she did so professionally and consistently. In my eyes, she is a hero. And yet, there has been a rather continuous stream of callous, personal attacks on her character — much of it through social media.

That is unacceptable.

(More on Page 2)

Pages: 1 2