Thank you for visiting the ISU Ed. Leadershop. Our intent over the past few years has been to field-test community-engaged writings for PK-20 practitioner conversation -- quick, 5-minute "read's" that help put into perspective the challenges and opportunities in our profession. Some of the writings have remained here solely; others have been developed further for other outlets. Our space has been a delightful "sketch board" for some very creative minds in leadership, indeed.

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Monday, July 2, 2012

A Birthday Celebration


A Birthday Celebration

As our United States of America celebrates its 236th birthday, we in the Bayh College of Education's Department of Educational Leadership at Indiana State University would like all of you, our friends and colleagues in K-12 education, to understand how much we value all you do to make a difference in our nation’s schools. 

Thank you for the positive differences you are making in the lives of so many!

Consider the following ... realizing that these are only a small part of what you do:

That you take your time, effort, care, and consideration to educate all who walk through your doors, no matter the inequities of life circumstance or preparatory ability;

That you do so mindful of the steep challenges that exist for all in our profession and our continuing mandate to become even more effective than each next day’s, best work;

That you continually improve your skills, invest in your own professional capacity, and reach your goals through targeted professional development and graduate-school enrollment;

That you learn for the sake of learning, intrinsically motivated as are we in the Bayh College of Education, to become complete professionals as experts or mediators of learning, persons, and members of communities;

That no matter the off-putting headline or misinformed editorial, you arise with vigor each morning, knowing with assuredness that without you, no doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, social workers, or postal clerks would exist to serve our state and nation, as you inspired and prepared them all;

That those in our nation’s military, fighting to preserve our cherished freedoms and those around the world, think often of you in the quiet of the evening or in the midst of valor;

And that those who are your own friends, family, and children, will someday in your passing, remember fondly the sacrifices you made while serving in the most humble of professions, putting others before yourself and taking everyone you knew from where they were to a better place, because that is simply the way you lived … it is what you represent.

On behalf of Indiana State University and all who love children, thank you for serving as a role model, most cherished, and for helping make our nation’s birthday, and this time for rest, relaxation, and reflection, one of joy, honor, and heartfelt anticipation of what lies ahead for all of us.

Happy 4th of July!

1 comment:

  1. The blog this week reminds me of a book entitle The Dash. It is a poem about not the dates on the tombstone, but the dash between; what has been accomplished during the dash. For when all is said and done, it is the dash that will be remembered.

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