We Are Just Warming Up!

Thank you all for not turning in your homework all at once! I am getting a really good idea about the way you think and approach your craft, and my respect grows. You all have such an important job, perhaps that is why I am so motivated to work with you, knowing that whatever we accomplish together will help so many children, their families, our communities and the world.  I am very proud to have a small part in that.  Having said that, I am also very, very serious about this mission, and I will be asking a lot of myself and of you. I was lucky to have a wonderful academy experience at the University of Akron, and I want yours to be even better - the job you do everyday is so much more important than anything I have done in my life. I know it is easy to get caught up in your day-to-day existence, and I know you aren't getting rich.  But what you do is noble, and that nobility has a price.
You all are my heroes and heroines, and that is not hyperbole. I worked in a refuge camp for only two years; you have dedicated a good part or all of your life even to this work.  But I want to see the evolution of a new kind of hero/heroine - one that lives and works in a heroic system! We have all worked hard, been the one advocate, fought our lonely wars, and as self-righteously satisfying as that can be at times, it is not enough to save these children.  The system itself must be heroic. It must be philosophically grounded, consistent, and finally as flexibly compassionate as it can be while still maintaining its mission.  Now imagine a group of dedicated individuals working together inside this coordinated campaign seeing their personal efforts magnified in the confluence of like-minded colleagues. A true academy in every sense of the word!
Several of you have asked some really good questions about the value of this experience, and more specifically, how it will benefit you.  I think these questions are very fair. I believe there are multiple levels of value that come with this opportunity, the first three straight from motivation theory: Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Achievement motivation. Many of you have already expressed the potential intrinsic value of the academy far better and more eloquently than I ever could. We all find those moments in the day when we feel so good about what we do, the lives we touch, the grace we feel when teaching transcends knowledge. These things are very powerful, yet often far too serendipitous and fleeting.  What if we could make these accidents and incidents less accidental and incidental.  Establishing our philosophic core, creating consistency between the four stages of pedagogy (Philosophy being the first, the other three coming shortly :) should certainly increase these internally rewarding episodes.
Extrinsically, the benefits of this academy are only limited by your imagination and your ability to conceptualize your experience and then to exploit it. I was talking to Ahmad (who loves English, and it shows) earlier tonight, and we discussed language skills. I told him I had seen many people who had learned English as a new language and had failed to make anything of the accomplishment. Others I had known had utilized the new skill to open new opportunities and to reach new frontiers. It has not been my experience that a skill, ability, certificate, or diploma marketed itself. I tell my philosophy students that wisdom is the ability to recognize the value in things - you have to see it first before you can point it out to others.  For instance: You have volunteered to join the inaugural group of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in UNRWA's history - You are all very busy yet you have willingly adopted this extra workload for the benefit of your students, schools, and profession - You will explore areas of your beliefs and philosophy that few teachers take the time to examine - You will go back to your schools and share this process, these lessons of introspection, demonstrating selfless leadership - You are sharing your thoughts, beliefs, and love for teaching with the world on a website for all to see, for all to benefit from - You will work on an idea, a lesson, a concept and take the time and care to craft it into an article to submit for publication, potentially sharing it with the world - You may choose to develop or refine your teaching portfolio, creating a concrete glimpse into your heart and soul -You will network with a college in the USA (New River Community and Technical College) that will support you and grant you a certificate acknowledging your hard work and achievement - You will have the opportunity to return next year and help lead a new cohort through the process - If you don't see something here others would find extremely valuable, maybe you aren't too wise (just kidding, kind of :)
To let you in on a little secret, God has blessed (or cursed) me with the third kind of motivation, Achievement Motivation!  It is neither wholly extrinsic nor intrinsic. If I was at work today, and my boss told me we would all be going through a training program with seven levels, I would have my plan to reach them all in record time before he even told me the subject matter. I have a drive within me, and am so blessed God has chosen the right target for this energy. This will to move forward, onward, upward had also led to the accumulation of a lot of knowledge, experiences, skills, compassion, empathy and a fair degree of wisdom as by products. Seriously speaking, how could an academy experience like this not be beneficial if you applied yourself?
In the next week, I will share more and more of the upcoming schedule and the January program - I have been collecting information from you to integrate into the plan, and I believe we are building a good foundation. 
Keep working hard, find more time, express yourself more in depth as you write and share.  GET ON THE BLOG AND SHARE COMMENTS! I promise we will find value in this journey if you find strength and perseverance right now. Live up to the status of our heroes and heroines building our own heroic system.