Page 20 - Mini-Module 1

I have a Dream . . .

“I have a dream …” is that famous line delivered twice during a speech
made by Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. It was a personal vision state-
ment of what many said was unobtainable, but that he and his follow-
ers lived (and died) to achieve.
The final ‘food – for – thought’ strategy we offer in this Mini-Module
about getting out of the engine room and make your leadership excit-
ing, is perhaps the most important. We hold that exciting leaders have
a dream of what a supportive, rich learning environment looks like -
and are always striving to achieve that vision.
To illustrate this strategy, consider the following statements about
schools:

1. “Faith and hope”
Schools run largely on faith and hope. Students and teach-
ers don’t leave their humanity behind when they come to
school. They need special moments in the daily grind to re-
flect upon what’s really important, to connect with one an-
other, and to free the common spirit that makes technical
routine more like spiritual communion (Deal & Peterson,
1999).

2. “Two tribes”
Too many schools are organized in ways that create conflict.
A parallel is of a smallish island inhabited by two tribes. One
tribe holds the knowledge, makes the rules and decides on
the timing, activities and types of knowledge they will give
the other tribe. The second tribe is expected to sit for long
periods of time and as they get older, increasing numbers of
people from the first tribe will come and tell them the things
they need to know.- what are the chances of war? (Fuller,
2003)

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