It’s a Pirate’s Life for Me!

Educators sure should know about Dave Burgess and his publishing work.  As the school year is winding down across the USA, more tweets are being seen that show stacks of great books getting ready to be read by eager learners.  And many, many of them come from Dave’s publishing company.

I’ve read a shocking number of books from the Dave Burgess house.  All have had impact, several have literally been career changers. Here are a few titles that I know lead learners will recognize.

I could write about almost all, from first hand experience.  And I would be remiss if I flat didn’t recognize Innovator’s Mindset (George Couros) and Lead Like a Pirate (Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf).  I only call those two to extra attention, because we bought lots of those to read as leaders.  And Innovator’s Mindset still remains the most profound career changing book for me.

However.  I’m actually writing about Dave Burgess today because of these words.

I consider it one of the most important parts of my job to constantly expose myself to the high quality thinking of other people. It challenges me, it keeps me current, and it provides me the raw resources necessary for creative alchemy. -Dave Burgess.

Yesterday, we wrapped up our professional growth conversations in our Teaching-Learning-Innovation department.  I shared this quote with several of my learning colleagues during our talks, and then shared the quote with the whole department when we were all done with our conversations.  I literally have printed this quote out and have it hanging on the wall next to my desk in my office.

I have this prominently displayed, because it’s a daily reminder of the responsibility I and we, in our department, have to read, collaborate, write, share, model, and grow in public.

The realization I had, as I was talking with the other leaders in our TLI department, was that I thought of Dave’s quote only in terms of twitter, blogging, and conversations with people around the world.  Thus the power of twitter and a big PLN.

What I missed, and of what I was powerfully reminded was, my colleagues here, down the hall, in the car, on the phone, around the table, are all part of ‘high quality thinking’, who challenge me, keep me current, and provide the raw resources for my creative alchemy.

Thank you friends.

#TOGETHERwearefife #EdLeadership

Author: Jnelson

Jeff Nelson Fife School District Assistant Superintendent:Teaching-Learning-Innovation 39 years as an educator. 16 years teacher 3 years assistant principal 12 years principal 8 years Assistant Superintendent BA, Washington State University MAEd, Washington State University Previous member of AWSP Legislative Committee Previous member of UW Tacoma PEAB, Administrative Certification Established and maintained Fife’s first website for 7 years Present work includes establishing the first Teaching/Learning/Innovation department in the Fife School District. Examples of responsibilities include: teacher/administrator professional development, assessment, TPEP, curriculum/materials review, 24 credit requirement, technology levy leadership, teacher/administrator bargaining. Initiatives underway in Fife, as a result of new TLI Department: AVID, OER, Curriculum and Materials reviews, Student Perception Pilot with CSTP, Google Expedition Cofounder of Educational Internet Communications, LLC. Marketed and sold one of the first online grade checking programs in the US. Consulted with Seattle Educational Internet Company for 2 years. jnelson@fifeschools.com twitter.com/jeffnelsonTLI View all posts by Jnelson