Wednesday 20 January 2016

Change - Panoni - #word

Reflecting on last years word - BBR - Building Better Relationships - or whakawhanaungatanga as it morphed into. I really appreciated having a word/concept through which to focus my thinking and actions.  It was a real "ah-ha" moment when it became clear that whanaugatanga resonates with my whole life philosophy/education philosophy, that it is the cornerstone of all the ideas/strategies/actions that I have ever had. Phew. What a year!!!

And last year was a big year. Leaving teaching to come and work at N4L - BIG year!

Which brings me to contemplating this years word.  No pressure!

With many different items on my agenda for the year, including being part of the NAPP2016 cohort, I thought about having some word to do with leadership.  But then I was listening to the great, late David Bowie and one song reached out to me - flooding me with memories, but also hinting at some concepts for the future. #changes. Such an awesome song!

Hence, the word for the year has been decided.

CHANGE.

PANONI.


I quite like that this is a verb AND a noun.  I also took a leaf out of Philippa Antipas's blog and looked up some synonyms of CHANGE.  A few of the synonyms that I liked include DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATION, REVOLUTION, DIVERSITY, RECONSTRUCTION, REFINEMENT, VARIETY.
Likewise, I happened upon the antonyms for CHANGE - sameness, stagnation and uniformity all hit me with some negative vibes.  Words I hope to NEVER apply to my education philosophy.

So, this year, Change is in MY hands.