Thoughts from the Principal's Office

What are you looking at?

Jeremiah Patterson took this shot at SLA.  And wrote a dapper little inquiry piece about it on his blog recently.  A blog entry that has my brain/gut doing all kinds of Cirque du Soleil caliber flips as a result.

If you haven't -- yet -- met Jeremiah Patterson, I'd put him somewhere on your radar.  For many that came to Philly (F2F or virtually) this past weekend, you may have had the pleasure of meeting him then.  If so, you might have checked out his "Little Green Schoolhouse" presentation on Saturday, a little 90-minute number he used to spark new thinking about the 'ecology' of the learning environment. 

He's an assistant principal.  A new daddy blogger (as well as an educational blogger).  A PhD candidate.  A Portland, Oregon guy.  And a passionate researcher about the impact of school design on studnet achievement, especially if one thinks sincerely about the environmental/carbon/green question along the way.

I know I'm going to be following his research and blogging arc.  Why? Well, I'm digging the conversational tone he's taking with regards to one of those "oh, yeah" moments that anyone might have had while standing outside of Chris Lehmann's office -- the Principal's Office at SLA to be exact -- and what it says to all of us.

A snippet from Jeremiah:

This is a principal’s office. 
No, it’s not.
It is.  It says so on the sign just to the side of the door.  Signs, plural.  Principal.  Mr. Lehmann.
But there are three students in there.  And two teachers.
Yes.
Well, the principal is not in there.
Yes.
And one of them is sitting at his desk, on the principal’s computer.
Yes.
So it could be the counselor’s office.  There’s a couch; it could certainly be a counselor’s office. 
Could be, but it’s the principal’s office.
Ok.  Then, where’s the buffer?
The buffer?
The secretary’s desk should be between the students and the principal’s door.
Here it’s not.
Why not?
They do things differently here.
Where?
SLA.

Go check out Jeremiah's blog.  And see what else he has to say about Chris' office.  And all that follows.

Comments

[Susan Carter Morgan]

Christian, So glad to meet you at the end of the Authentic Learning session. You are a fascinating and thoughtful man, and I'm sure a wonderful teacher. I will continue to "follow" you here and on Twitter. Enjoy the rest of your year.

[jeremiah]

Well. Gosh. I think I just blushed. Thanks sincerely for the kind words.

I've been dealing with returning to the local as well -- a bit blurry really after arriving at 2. At the same time, the allure of connecting, networking, all of it pulls as well.

You know that well, I believe. In any case, no thoughts are super clear as of yet other than the grateful ones.

Thanks again.