The First Day

Coming here- not sure what to expect. Just wanting to make it to Malibu on time, find my place, get comfortable. The phone call on my way down with the financial aid office put me off a bit- this is an expensive proposition. I arrive. Pepperdine is awesome and beautiful- I'm in grad school! I went and bought a Pepperdine sticker for my car- cheesball. I'm committed.

I know what I want out of the MALT program, or at least I think I do. I think a lot about my interview/conversation with Dr. Riel- she made me think about what I believe in about learning. I think I know what I believe in and think about learning- but it's always changing, I'm always changing my mind. Why can't I just pick something and just stick with it- am I indecisive or am I professionally weighing all the options?

I liked the ideas that were shared by Paul, Margaret, and Bill: focus on self-reflection, focus on learning, the ability to share half-baked ideas to make yourself better. Being better for the world. These things resonate with my values, but I'm just not sure where to start. Action research- I thought I knew what it meant, now I'm not entirely sure. I'm nervous about what I'm supposed to produce and learn- but I know I'm willing. I really want to leave here with a clear idea for modeling self reflective, active learning that I can bring to Moreau.

The people in my cadre all are very different, but very cool. Lots of distinct personalities, experiences. I'm curious what they want out of this experience. I don't know many of them yet- just met about half of them. Searching for commonalities with them. I'm excited that we'll have to work together- just working briefly with Jason and Joella was a great icebreaker.

I really want to push myself to change, to move from being a skeptical observer, to continue to learn. As a school leader, I feel like I'm supposed to know, people expect me to know. I'm not sure what I'm going to write in my welcome back staff letter- what direction do I want the school to take itself. I hope I get a better idea in the coming days.