One of the things that happens when I walk into a school district, as a colleague and a consultant or visitor, is that I start looking around. I start asking myself questions, such as, “What is the physical manifestation of someone’s idea?” You’re probably saying, “Who asks that kind of question?” Only a crazy person.

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And so I see that the community is gradually acquiring a life of its own. I have a feeling that at this point it could probably sustain itself without my presence, without my prompts and contributions. When I log on, when I “walk in” and “hear” all these conversations around me, I know that they are learning, that my students are becoming writers.

Yet, being transformational is a choice. It is a decision we make on a daily basis, to be a change agent. On my way to work this morning, I asked myself what it means to be visionary. I would never consider myself visionary the way Wes Fryer describes, but then, who would? How often have I met people who discounted their efforts as just being in the line of work, not realizing–or perhaps unwilling to realize–that they saw something others missed.

This happens to me all the time. I look at something and don’t really SEE it. I see what my mind is ready or predisposed to see. Others look at the same thing or situation, and see something entirely different. My favorite example of this is Stephen King’s (horror-writer) account of what would happen when if he and Louis L’Amour (western writer, now deceased) were to look at a pool of water. One might see something ominous creeping from the depths, the other a range war over cattle rights.

We find common ground in what we are able to “agree” with each other about, but we become visionary when we see what is not there and share that with others.

In some places, that would get you locked up. On Texas Leads! list, that’s the kind of seeing that’s valued. Join the collective. Aren’t you ready to try and SEE things?
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