LEAD News

Carolyn Rogers, Faculty Chair, P-12 Leadership & Licensure Programs

Melissa McIntyre, Faculty Lead, LEA

Carol Pasanen, Faculty Lead, SEL

Phil Corkill, Core Faculty, LEA

Doug DeWitt, Core Faculty, C&I

Ted Ray, Core Faculty, LEA

Alma Rodriguez, Core Faculty, LEA

Skot Beazley, Faculty Lead, C&I

Sam Song, Core Faculty, C&I

Hello Leaders,

As I write this message for our September newsletter, I began to chuckle and could not stop laughing. I was remembering a joke that one of our faculty told us in a recent meeting. Most of you know Jerry Horgen, so the fact that he brought laughter and a spirit of happiness to the meeting is no surprise. However, just in case you missed the meeting, or simply missed the punch line, I thought the joke was worth repeating, so here it goes:

There was this high school principal, a real jock, training for a marathon. Every day he rose early to run a 10 miler before heading off to school. This Wednesday morning was no exception. However, he knew that he needed to get to school on time to start the day and to be in a first period class for a teacher evaluation. Plus, he knew this teacher and wanted to be as alert as possible, since the teacher’s presentation always appeared to be in a very monotone manner. When the first period bell rang, he entered the class with the children. The principal nodded to the teacher as he headed to the back of the room to get the best possible spot to observe the children and the teacher. The principal took out his observation form and began to write as this math teacher began his opening in his usual monotone fashion, "now boys and girls go to page ten and we're going to do problems one through six..." According to the principal, it was only a few seconds that passed, but he knew he must have been wrong, because he heard a bell and saw the children packing their books and getting out of their seats. It was then that he truly realized that he had slept through the entire class. He turned to the kid next to him and the boy said, "It's tough ain’t it!" [ed note: see Dr. Horgen's picture close to the end of our newsletter.]

While I laugh at this true story, we are fortunate that at Capella our tone can be corrected before we press the send button. What we write, how we write and the efficiency in the manner in which we respond can clearly address our effectiveness, thus leading to our increase persistence. Persistence will forever be the driving force in how we do our work for learner success.

I am sure you remember last month the major setbacks of President Abraham Lincoln. This month, I would like to share with you another president. President Calvin Coolidge used persistence as the driving force in how he led our country. He said,

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

We cannot debate the power of persistence. We simply have to continue to use it as the driving force in how and what we do. At Capella we understand the importance of persistence. It is evident in the way in which we design our courses, respond to learners and leaders, and even in the manner in which we provide substantive feedback that support Socratic thinking and learning. We know that it takes persistence to learn, to have high levels of engagement, and to have a successful experience. It is for this reason that Dr. Ted Ray and I have created a blog that will give us the opportunity and the forum to share our professional thoughts and ideas with others regarding our persistent efforts as well as other educational topics. In creating this blog, I was reminded of the words of yet another president when thinking about the true purpose for us to engage in thoughtful collaboration. President Barack Obama said,

When we are willing to continue to have exchanges and dialogue with others, and we are also willing to learn from each other in terms of the good practices.

What I ask of you is to share with other faculty in how you make learning in the Capella online environment happen for the learners you serve. You can access the blog at http://capellalead.blogspot.com/

In closing, I ask that you join me in our Celebration of Success for September. This month I take pride in recognizing our accreditation efforts that were done in the Leadership in Educational Administration (LEA). The work seems endless in LEA. Accreditation work has been done for Louisiana, Georgia and NCATE. For their phenomenal work, I salute and acknowledge Melissa McIntyre, Phil Corkill, Doug Dewitt and Ted Ray. These four individuals have spent more than 350 total hours writing reports, completing applications, pulling data, collaborating with other departments, team meetings, etc. Through their efforts, we have submitted a state report to operate in Louisiana, a state operating application to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC), and a resubmission of our ELCC district leadership application to National Council for the Association of Teacher Education (NCATE). I know this would not have been possible without the work from the excellent faculty, and therefore the celebration belongs to each of you for your due diligence in our persistence effort to graduate Capella learners at a high rate.

Thank you all for your persistence in your courserooms and with your mentees. Capella is a GREAT University because of YOU. As WE continue in our efforts to support learner success, remember, there are three things in life that are real: “God, human folly and laughter...We will never fully understand the first two so we must make the most of the third.” What has continued to guide me each day are laughter, persistence and relationships, learning, and celebrations of successes. Let’s continue to smile together because we have much in which to be thankful.