It's hard to make sentences too short (Seth Godin)

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

As usual, I'm reading two books at once. One is a non-fiction book by Ryan Holiday, the other is a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. I love them both but for different reasons.

Generally, Ryan uses shorter sentences than Penelope. She's a brilliant writer who packs a lot of brilliance into her sentences - so much so that I savor the words a lot more, whereas I savor the message more from Ryan.

Here's what I mean:

Ryan - Outward appearances are deceptive. What's within them, beneath them, is what matters.

Penelope - She had a kind heart, though that is not of much use when it comes to the matter of self-preservation.

See what I mean? Both are examples of great short (ish) sentences, but different.

Seth Godin says:

The most direct way to improve your writing is to make your sentences shorter.

I was reading a magazine article yesterday and was rapidly losing interest. The topic appealed to me, but I couldn’t keep reading. Then I noticed that halfway through the first column, I was still on the same sentence.

We have trouble keeping that long a string in our heads at once.

You can make sentences too long.

But it’s hard to make them too short.

...here today and it's gone tomorrow (The Beach Boys)

Movember has arrived at Hastings Boys' High School!

The women folk are exercising to fundraise for men's mental health and the men folk are growing their hair for the month. To be absolutely accurate, this means that the few men on the staff without facial hair are growing their hair.

This includes me, having got sign off from the boss.

This takes me out of my comfort zone. Big time. But it's for a good cause - men's mental health. If you want to support my efforts you could visit the link here.

It is dangerous to assume that people can be trusted to behave in a rational way (Vance Packard)

This is great, from James Clear:

"In many cases, you'll find the only thing preventing you from learning is your ego.

No one enjoys feeling foolish, but attempting something new requires that you climb down from your perch and struggle as a beginner. You must ask questions that reveal your ignorance or attempt skills that make you look uncoordinated.

Learning demands the willingness to live in a brief state of discomfort. You must believe that looking like a fool for an hour will not ruin your reputation for life."  

In many ways I realise I have a lot to learn!

A colleague took a class for me last week, on social media. I learnt a lot - about how much the boys knew (a lot) and about things I had no idea about (also a lot).

Teaching constantly evolves. Like the earth spinning on its axis, teaching evolves without you feeling it necessarily.

While film techniques have not changed much, social media is a different beast.

I do have an Instagram account but it is seldom used so I don't access it; I abandoned Twitter when Elon Musk took over and changed it to X; I also abandoned Whatsapp when I left my previous employer; Facebook is mainly to publish my blogposts; Messenger is to keep in contact with my mates; WeChat is exclusively for family; LinkedIn has also been kind of abandoned.

Marketers are constantly evolving how those platforms are used and it was great being brought up to date last week.

Actually, it would be fun to reread Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders (published in the late fifties!) to see if anything much has changed. He could be writing about 2024 advertising algorithms on Facebook when he says:

What the probers are looking for, of course, are the "whys" of our behavior, so that they can more effectively manipulate our habits and choices in their favor.

Another week of learning looming. Wahoo!!

A skilful person is always active, giving happiness to people, very accomplished, and easily adaptable (Hsing Yun)

 

Mature and seasoned version

Yes, clearly there are differences between 1983 and 2024. 

How different? Well aside from a white board replacing a blackboard, long sleeves replacing shirt sleeves, and every cell in my body having regenerated completely about 6 times, not much. 

I'm still the same simple guy with a complex life.

Quivers down my backbone, I've got the shakes down the kneebone (Johnny Kidd and the Pirates)

In a galaxy far away and long ago...

I was looking back at a post I wrote about this time in 2011 - one about a teaching staff comprising three basic types:

• Superstars (the cream - the top 5 - 10%) 
• Backbones (the middle 80 - 90%)  
• Mediocres (the foot draggers, the gripers)

You can read the full post here. 

I am not a foot dragger, a griper, but these days I'm not a superstar either.

We have a couple of these in the department and they are great for advice. They are also hugely tech savvy. I get by, but I am not in my twenties anymore, i.e. at the cutting edge of new technologies.

I realised this as I looked at a brilliant presentation one staff member had made on fake media and I reflected on how, once upon a time, I used to teach media studies. That was 30 years ago though and I am out of date with the ebbs and flows of social media.

I intend to get more current by looking at current jargon. That will be my next post.

Let's see if a seasoned campaigner can learn new tricks.

Everyone's got a something they will never sell (Herbs)

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Recently, after finding out I gave up a Principal job to teach him and others English at Hastings Boys', a student said - Eeeehh!!! Sir - why did you do that, to start again at the bottom???

It really was a loud and long EEEHHHHH too.

I guess it does look like that to a student, and from a certain view he's not wrong - I was an English teacher from 1983 to 1989 - the first years of my career. In 1990 I gained a leadership position in an English department and haven't been a full time English teacher for 30 years.  

It could have been a shock being back full time in the classroom but actually it wasn't. It's taken me back to what is vital and important.

I have told many of my former colleagues how much I'm loving the change. I mean it, maan.

As Ryan Holiday says in his book Right Thing, Right Now:

This is a journey that we all must go on too, not just avoiding selfishness and cynicism as we age but making sure we are not hardened by our profession or our circumstances. If time and experience don't make you more generous, less threatened by others and their needs, more openhearted, what kind of life is that? Because it sounds more like a prison, like some kind of curse that an enemy would swear on someone in a tragic play, like the cost of selling your soul.

Last term, I helped a student improve a piece of writing for his writing folio. After he'd finished it, I graded it an Excellence. The honesty of his writing really had a powerful affect on me (the reader).

He will never know how fulfilling that was for me. I never want to lose that feeling.

See me, feel me, touch me, heal me (The Who)

Photo by Maja Erwinsdotter on Unsplash

Brené Brown, in her book The Gift of Imperfection, has this great definition for 'connection':

I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.

There is a lot in there.

I have mentioned before the connection I have felt in some of the staff rooms I've been in. Sadly, it's rare, I've only experienced it twice in my 41-year teaching career, but only for a short time, because in both cases the key leader moved away from the school. 

But, because of that feeling of sustenance and strength I derived from the connection, I recognised it when I saw it, felt it. 

In my experience, it does take that key person, in my case - both males, to cause that connection. Seemingly, it's a rare combination in schools - to come across those leaders with that combination of empathy, vision, purpose, integrity and honesty.

I'm certainly thankful to those two gentlemen from my past.