Tulsa Public Schools - Strategic Planning Survey

From your classmate Denise Reid:

 

Tulsa Public Schools is seeking input from the community for their strategic plan.  They have set up a quick survey on their website.  I've include the link below that takes you right to the page. 

 

Once you are on the page go to  – TPS Strategic Planning Survey – click on it and complete survey – it should only take a few minutes.

 

http://www.tulsaschools.org/district/strategic/index.shtm

 

Please take a moment to share your ideas on how we can create strategic vision for our children (our future workforce) in Tulsa.

  

 

Embroidered LT Shirts

By special request we are going to do another round of embroidered LT Class 41 shirts - this is where you provide your own shirt (any style - tshirt, polo, dress - no red or black because of logo colors) and for $5 we will embroider it with the LT logo and your class #.   To participate you must have a shirt to us no later than Friday May 29.   We will be closed on Memorial Day of course, but you can generally drop it by the office between 7:30 and 4:30, you might call first just to make sure someone is here. 

 

We hope this will help a few of you who missed the first round. 

 

Wendy Thomas, Executive Director
918-477-7079

Leadership as the New Means of Growing Ideas

One of my favorite informative series is the TED Talks. TED stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design," and TED Talks is a semi-annual series of lectures held by TED, where the world's top minds are given a stage to talk about their passions. They've hosted everyone from Al Gore to Bill Gates, from Karen Armstrong to Billy Graham, and everyone in between. They discuss everything from religion to science, from social justice to war, from personal creativity to mass movements.

Recently Seth Godin, an entrepreneur and social activist, gave a talk titled, "Why Tribes, Not Money or Factories, Will Change the World." In it, he makes a fascinating argument: how change is created, and how people are led to a new conclusion, is in a state of transition. And more importantly, that leadership is becoming the new currency needed to promote an idea, in a way it hasn't been needed in the past.

He begins by arguing that there have been two distinct periods in the way ideas are created, spread, and are implemented on a global scale: we began with the concept that you could change the world with factories (think Henry Ford's assembly lines, the Industrial Revolution, and the thought that we could create bigger and better ideas through bigger and faster machines). The second stage was influenced largely by mass media: ideas were promulgated, pushed, and argued for by television and large-scale media marketing (political ads, commercials, infomercials, etc., designed to push everyone toward buying a single idea/product). The goal here was to influence everyone: to get everyone to buy your product, to vote for you. And because of that, Seth says, the ideas were always average, never extraordinary. When you have to appeal to everyone, you arrive at the middle ground; and because of this, change was relatively uninspired and slow.

Seth argues, and I think pretty effectively, that we are now in a third stage in which ideas are not created through manufacturing or television, but through leadership that unites similarly-minded people. He calls it the "idea of tribes": the spread of technology and the 'flattening' of the world - rather than creating an homogeneous population - instead allows individuals with shared interests or ideas to connect with each other and influence others. This blog is an example of that happening: a group of people interested in fostering leadership in Tulsa can centralize here to share ideas, concepts, and promote these ideas to others.

What these "tribes" require, he goes on to say, is a leader to challenge the status quo - a leader to find a part of society they are unhappy with, and work to change it. These tribes, these movements, do not rise up by themselves - they require that a leader with an idea on how to challenge the status quo connect with individuals who share his/her passion and willingness to work toward that larger goal.

Prior to this video, I had always thought of "leadership" as bound to a person: an individual was a leader, he/she possessed leadership characteristics, etc. The concept of "leadership" based on ideas makes leadership more transportable for me - more able to transcend geographic limitations by creating movements not necessarily grounded in an individual. Ultimately, I think this makes leadership more powerful, and a more effective tool for today's world in effecting social change.

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Check out the video, and let me know what your thoughts on his concept of leadership are. He hits on so many broad concepts it's tough to tap in to one coherent message, and dialogue on the issues he raises would certainly help to clarify on my end.

PAC to feature Hannibal Johnson Play

Big Mama Speaks: A Tulsa Race Riot Survivor's Story a play by Hannibal Johnson and featuring acclaimed actress Vanessa Adams-Harris, will run at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Charles E. Norman Theatre, as follows:

• Friday, June 19, 2:00 p.m. (matinee)
• Friday, June 19, 8:00 p.m.
• Saturday, June 20, 8:00 p.m.

General admission tickets are $10, and may be purchased online at www.tulsapac.com. There will be book signings following the evening play performances.

 

 

PlaniTulsa Survey Kicks off this Tuesday

Over the past 8 months, input from thousands of Tulsans has been gathered at public workshops throughout the city, collected through surveys and recorded during interviews. Based on all these ideas for Tulsa's future, the PLANiTULSA team has developed four different scenarios of how future growth in Tulsa might look.

This email is a two-fold announcement. First, the PLANiTULSA team is rolling out these scenarios to the public at a fun event at the Cain's Ballroom on May 12, 2009. We've been building up to this point for months!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cain's Ballroom
423 N. Main St.
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
(Doors open 5:30 p.m.)

Please bring friends and family to enjoy live music & snacks and learn about the possible scenarios for Tulsa's future growth. Your input will influence the new comprehensive plan for Tulsa. You can also pick up surveys to pass out to friends and organizations.

Second, we need YOUR help. The PLANiTULSA team wants your opinions, thoughts and feedback on these four scenarios. We've prepared a survey for you to rate various aspects of the scenarios. During a month-long survey drive, May 12 - June 18, we hope thousands of Tulsans will fill out the survey. The more the better! The survey results will drive the process of turning the four scenarios into one shared vision for Tulsa's future.

If you can't join us at Cain's, please take the survey online after May 12, 2009!

For more information, go online www.planitulsa.org

 

Purpose in Action

Purpose in Action:

Sometimes I stumble upon things that just make me stop and think to myself “My Goodness, this is exactly what I’m talking about. I wish I could be more like this!”

There is no mention of the word “purpose” in this entire clip, but that is exactly what I see when I watch this. In this chapter I talk about 3 types of purpose. There’s a case for all 3 types to be mentioned in here, but what is see most vividly is Pete Carroll’s quiet clarity of his Authentic Purpose.

Watch this clip. You’ll agree with me that this is worth your time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-wIAL0Dfsw

Education Day Agenda

Tuesday May 19, 2009

TTC North Peoria Campus, Oklahoma Heritage Room

3850 North Peoria  http://www.tulsatech.edu/About/peoria_campus.aspx

 

7:45 a.m..         Gather and Breakfast

8:00                  Welcome & Announcements

8:15                  Leadership Capacity "Purpose" with Ellen Ralph

9:00                  Break

 

9:15                  Susan Harris, Tulsa Metro Chamber "Quality Schools & Economic Success"

10:15                Instructions on Tours

 

10:30                Area School Tours (See your group assignment Page 2)

 

• Group 1 /  Kendall Whittier / Anderson Elementary
• Group 2 /  Mayo Elementary / Jackson Elementary
• Group 3 /  Lee Elementary / Eugene Field Elementary
• Group 4/   Carver Middle School / KIPP Academy
• Group 5/   Tulsa School of Arts & Sciences / Webster High School           

 

 

Sack lunches will be provided or you may purchase a school lunch for around $3.

1:00                  Participants Return from Schools Tours

1:15                  Table Discussion of School Visit Experience

1:45                  Dr. Keith Ballard, Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools

2:45                  "Preparing Students for 21^st Century Careers"

Kara Gae Neal, Superintendent, Tulsa Technology Center

3:30                  announcements & adjourn

 

 

Wendy Thomas, Executive Director
918-477-7079