Collaboration is Power

I read the "Tough Times Do Not Last" article from this month's ASCD magazine (September 2011 | Volume 53 | Number 9). 

The past few months have taught me that tough times do not last.  At the same time that our school is looking for ways to cut the budget my dad's company deals with moving expenses and graciously donates large loads of office supplies. 

The article states that, "These are tough times, but we can survive them if we agree to innovate, invest, and collaborate."  We have been innovative.  Rather than spending money on new supplies, we are finding new ways to use the donations.  Our district is also still considering the 1:1 idea with technology.  Not only are we investing time into this process, but also money has been invested in looking at this new technology.  We are investing our money from paper saved to electronic versions of everything.  We invested time today at our first inservice to go through Common Core Standards and Math Expressions training.  Lastly, we're trying to collaborate.  Many people attempted Google Docs for the first time today.  Some staff even attended training this summer for Twitter, Facebook, and Skype. 

We know that the past few months have been tough, but we have to remain tougher.  My favorite quote from a fellow instructor that I heard recently was "Train your staff and risk losing them, or don't train your staff and risk keeping them forever."  This article was all about using humans as your best investment.  Tough people will survive!