This year, I have transitioned from my (more than) full time position as a school leader of a public preK to 8 school. That hasn’t meant that I have given up my connections to schools. I still believe that education — particularly public education — is the single most important tool we have to achieve a more just, kind and equitable world. I volunteer weekly at the school where I used to work. I lead a sewing lunch club on Mondays and Fridays where I work with second to eighth graders in the FabLab. I also am a good listener to help out my former colleagues when they face challenges. 

That said, I am grateful to have time and the mental space necessary to nurture my attention. Being a school leader is intense work. Being a school leader during a pandemic and the aftermath, is extra intense. By the time this past September rolled around, my brain was tired. Four months later, I am recuperated and still interested in my life’s work of learning. 

Recently, I have been reading Maryanne Wolf’s book Reader, Come Home. There is a lot to unpack in this book. The first lesson I am taking away is the importance of attention in reading deeply. Maryanne Wolf uses the poetic phrase “a quiet eye” to describe the antidote to the constant movement of our eyes and attention as we navigate a highly distracting world (p 69-70). 

These past few years, my reading has been fairly shallow given all the demands on my time and emotions. Now that I am rested, Dr. Wolf has “prescribed” that I work on reading more thoughtfully and deeply — that I come home to the place of getting lost in a book’s story and ideas and the connections I make and insights I gain from reading the ideas of others. That is hard work. I am doing it on paper with a pen or pencil in hand and a pack of sticky notes at my side. 

The posts from 2023 and earlier on this blog are from my time as a school leader. From this point on, I am going to be using this space to ponder the books I am reading. Hopefully, the reading and writing I do will help me gain important insights into challenges faced by schools and learners and deeper empathy for the experiences of others.