April 24: The Alchemist

After a really busy stretch of about two weeks, we decided to relax by the pool for the entire day. I was able to finish Hang the Moon and read a good portion of The Alchemist. While reading the latter book, I came across a powerful quote that I sent to my son, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve, the fear of failure.” He had recommended The Alchemist to me and now we both are in search of our Personal Legend or the pursuit of our individual dreams.

I also read an awesome article from ASCD titled, “Learning from Schools on the Path to High-Performing.”. The chart defining the values of school and classroom cultures in high-poverty, high-poverty schools really resonated with me.  Some of these values are caring relationships; high expectations and support; commitment to equity; and a sense of urgency.  The article also discussed the conditions to help teachers achieve collective efficacy, which is the number one factor to improve student outcomes and experiences.  I shared it with a few colleagues – two are currently principals and one is a lead teacher of a school's Instructional Leadership Team.  

Ashley met a famous YouTube couple who she follows — the husband is from the United States and the wife is from Korea.  We ate dinner and exchanged stories with them.  The one thing that struck me was how much they’ve learned about the culture of each country that they have visited — lots of eye opening experiences.