Don't ask. Act!

Photo by Karl-Heinz Müller on Unsplash

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you (Witold Marian Gombrowicz).

Without wanting to overthink it, here's the story about who I am and what actions delineate and define me as a teacher/ Principal in 6 steps.

Step 1 - having a fortunate birth. Given the odds it's a fluke that I ended up with parents who sustained my growth. Their example was exemplary and made me value relationships, the need for integrity, the importance of routines and good habits, loyalty, honesty, righteousness and much more.

Step 2 - Royal Oak Primary and Mrs Alexander gave me excellent early examples of how important reading and writing were to my self-development.

Step 3 - Corporeal punishment. At Manukau Intermediate I was given the strap on my hand by Mrs Kay and the injustice of that moment seared itself into my consciousness.

Step 4 - Mt Albert Grammar School and inspirational teachers like Warwick Gibbs and Barry Gough. But also confronting my weaknesses, failures, and liabilities and the subsequent encouragement from the school to pursue my goals beyond school.

Step 5 - Dogged pursuit of a goal (wanting to be a teacher, becoming a prefect, captaining the school's first XI, going to university, gaining an MA degree, getting into teaching)

Step 6 - allowing the universe to guide my decisions (a.k.a. fluking it part 2 - such as landing the exact right job to fluke the time, 1983, and place, New Plymouth, for me to meet my wife).

Booyah! That's who I am as a teacher and a leader.