DRAFT

Money is overrated. Money has a strong tendency to attract shysters that manipulate learning communities to beget more money to beget more shysters creating a cycle of politicking and power brokering. No, the best donations are donations of time, emotional investment, expertise, reflection, and sacrifice.

The following are some donations that will benefit the learning community and yourself…

1. Take a slice of meaningful responsibility.

   The rapper and activist Killer Mike was once asked what someone can do to help an inner-city child. He responded with becoming a mentor to a specific child. To show them your world whether it be study habits, hobbies, developing refined tastes, etc. while learning the world of your mentee. Become part of their family, not as a patron, but as a caring member of the extended family. Attend a parent conference, host a board game night, or just go about your business with your mentee as your shadow.

2. Become the teacher.

   If you are an administrator -from the ambitious VP to superintendent- any teacher will be happy to grant you access to their class. The donation is simple: take over a period and bring your best self to the task. Learn the class, become one with the struggles of the students and teacher, and bring innovation that justifies the stripes you have earned. If this idea sounds ridiculous or excuses prove to be easy to dismiss it, then perhaps you should re-evaluate your stripes. Imagine how adopting a PE class might change you own view on health or designing a series of surrealism art classes might drop you into a rabbit hole of dream and Jungian analysis that will forever shape your leadership philosophy.

   If you are not a certificated teacher, think again. And again, a teacher will trust you with their class once you have earned that trust. The recipe for teaching is simple: Good teaching = the best qualities of a student X the best qualities of a grandmother + a topic. For an example of the best lesson Mr. B has ever witnessed, see the section “Letters from the Dead” which is inspired by a parent lesson that will move you to tears.

3. Replace Meetings with Meet-Ups

   Have a true honesty check with your learning community. Are there real, meaningful outcomes for all the effort put into weekly PLCs and monthly meetings? If you say yes, ask further of your colleagues and staff; they may be telling you what you want to hear or you may have a deaf ear. Bringing parents in to develop conversational lessons in Spanish or Khmer, or weekly Student-Led conferences that cover teaching chess, or maker spaces covering healthy communal meals may be a better use of time and community.

4. Sandra Kaplan’s Icons of Depth and Complexity

   These Icons are often used as analytical filters for gifted learners in better accessing curricula in a variety of ways. Whether it be a detail-oriented approach to the ethical underpinnings of a topic, the Icons of Depth and Complexity serve as a useful resource that can accompany many teaching methodologies.

5. War.

   Attached is a beautiful graphic breakdown of the key strategies of Sun Tsu’s understanding of warfare and strategy by Readingraphics.com. Use these icons of depth and understanding to filter themes in a book, documentary, movie, a chess game, or snippet of history. More analytical themes can be found in Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, Machiavelli’s The Prince, or the Ancient Indian treatise on political cunning the Arthashastra.