Beyond Breathing—for Leaders

I talk a lot about the power of intentions as it relates to our professional practice as inquiry educators. Whether I’m leading a school through a professional learning session or I am working with a small group of teachers on my own campus, I begin with a collection of intentions to bring a presence and mindfulness we all need to arrive with one another.

I love the way that intentions shape my days, ground me in the present moment, yet invite a sense of play and wonder about what’s possible. Intentions allow me to show up for myself, in turn, those I connect with and serve. As leaders, we as tasked with portfolios that may lend themselves towards more of a managerial role, yet we maintain an inquiry mindset within our roles when as we carefully balance ourselves as well.

I’m currently closing out a school year with my learners, reflecting on the challenges we faced, what we’ve learned along the way and what new ideas and questions are emerging based on our time with one another. We’re capturing this evidence in the form of surveys, anchor charts full of thinking routines and other collaborative structures that provide equitable space to capture multiple perspectives and experiences and other informal one on one conversations during weekly learning walks.

While these reflections are quite valuable to inform our next steps they are evidence of the exhaustion. It’s been necessary for our intentions to be clearly shared with our learners, encouraging tones and mindful questioning that show our flexibility that meets our learners where they are at while maintaining the integrity of these collaborative sessions. Let’s face it, all educators are ready for the longer break and while these longer break are necessary for us all, it’s also important for us to consider how we maintain this restful state and mindfulness when we start a new school year.

We value and honor the whole teacher when we value and honor ourselves. I’m so very excited to be able to collaborate with Lisa Baylis, Self Compassion for Educators, in a two part series (July 27th & August 10th) that focuses on the power of intentions as leaders and full of tangible takeaways and next steps that allow us to recognize the whole teacher as we continue to cultivate the dispositions within ourselves as inquiry leaders. Mindfulness isn’t merely breath work and yoga postures but a mindset that nurtures and gives us structure to be more compassionate and mindful leaders as we welcome a fresh start to an academic year.

We hope to see you at this event giving you and your learners the space for a mindful start. Registration details can be found here.