As school leaders, we often have those around us approach us with requests that are difficult to meet. Many times, the first instinctive response we reach for in those difficult situations brought to us by a student, parent, or colleague is: “no.” That answer is safe, easy, and doesn’t require us to extend beyond our comfort zone. I heard once that the secret to helping others is by trying to get to “yes.” That doesn’t mean that the answer will be “yes,” but the trick is to figure out what it would take to get there and be open to walking down that path. Once you open the conversation up, you must listen carefully and find the good points. In nearly every difficult conversation, even those where you strongly disagree, there is usually some good idea. Looking for good points could get you closer to “yes.” It might not be what was asked for at the start, but working to “yes” gets you further than ending with “no.”
I found you via a recommendation from Beth Knittle. She had thanked you as part of Dembo's Day 3 of 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger. As part of Day 8 I found her and then you by her recommendation to check you out. I have, and your Diigo posts are really awesome. I could have commented to all of them, but took this one because I couldn't resist a 3D Twitter cloud. But I am returning to your more copyright post as well, since it is a huge concern with educating students of any age. I might add your post to my wiki for the students to read as well. Thanks for a great blog. Your title clicked with me--how much learning we do, only to do more (or so it sometimes seems) unlearning.
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