Dhaka???

October 10th and we landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh last night at 2am. These are some photos outside our hotel window.

My husband and I are here interviewing for jobs. He is applying as a head of school. I am still unsure if there is a job for me, but I will be interviewing with the elementary principal.

Over the last week I have been reviewing questions and reflecting on leadership skills to help my husband prepare. I have referred to Michael Fullan's book often and read bits and pieces to him. He has been discussing strategic plans, financial budgets, and leadership attributes with me on a daily basis. How interesting I find my studies when they become so relevant to my existence.

My husband has created a power point that is relevant to him as a leader. The visual images are powerful and the wording if brief and to the point. He is talking about keeping the end in mind, commitments, and transferable assets. His commitments are family, community, learning focused, service, collaboration and relationship. His transferable asset are as an innovator, problem solver, compassionate, empathetic and patience educator, a deep thinker, and student centered. He has been asking himself questions that challenge his thinking and forcing himself to reflect on his style of leadership. An example of a question is: Tell us about some examples of how your educational leadership and vision have bought about positive changes in the school curriculum and instructional program in your last school? Or what about this one: Describe your desk as you left for this interview and what are the most important tasks that will be waiting for you when you get back? If I was to answer that question, I would say that my desk was neat and orderly, only because our plane was delayed and I had the time to clean it off. A task I will be returning to is an exciting inquiry unit in grade 5 called, JAVA, FEEDING THE MILLIONS.  I have created a wiki for this unit and it needs some rewording and some new sites added to it. I would like to create a BIG 6 questionnaire that the students will use before they start the project and reflect back on as they work. the students have already done work these last few weeks on evaluating websites and knowing how they are:

R-ead the URL-Evaluate the content

E-valuate the content

A-uthor and who are they?

L-inks, do they leave the site to other relevant pieces of information?

We practiced on sites like the Northwest Pacific Tree Octopus, Robots of the 1800's, Lobster Liberation, Velcro crops in danger due to drought, and a study of how hamsters react to bearded men. The kids were immersed in this learning and I was lucky to note that they were asking great questions instead of finding the answers!

As we move through the process of the next few days it will be interesting to note how all the reading that I have done over the last few months will help me with my hour long interview on Monday.

Till than we need to ask the BIG questions, like...is Dhaka a place we would want to live for the next 4 or 5 years. It use to be that 4 or 5 years seemed like nothing, but they all become more relevant as you hit your mid 50's and know that you are zeroing in on 60! Life is never boring!