It’s a travel day for me, which often means the luxury of lots of podcasts and audiobooks. I happened to have an older podcast with Dean Shareski and Chris Kennedy in my downloaded feed, and though it sparked my interest because it was about research on Superintendent work, I was delighted to hear the opening conversation was about Superintendent blogging.
Chris Kennedy is well-known as one of few remaining Superintendent bloggers. I loved his take on the current blogging (non)trend:
“It’s going to come back. It’s like vinyl. We’ll be back. I hope. I hope. I hope.”
From The CanadianED Leadership Show: How Do Superintendents Spend Their Time?, May 1, 2023
I’ve always enjoyed reading the posts Chris writes on his blog. His research into what Superintendents do was fascinating, and I’ve often wondered about the differences and similarities in the Superintendent role for those leading large public education districts and those of us leading smaller boards. I’ll have more to say about that down the road, but we do share some things in common.
I spend so much time reading, listening and learning, not just about education, but about a wide variety of topics. Often in the middle of a podcast, or a chapter, I’ll just stop because a connection kind of hits me in the head and I have to just give it some consideration. How does it apply to education, or to my work as a superintendent? Exploring ideas in my blog forces me to organize and articulate my thoughts for sure, but it also documents them, and gets them out there for others to connect with and comment on.
In the podcast today, Chris articulated this process so beautifully with a detailed example from his own work.
“That’s gonna be a blog post. So that’s an idea. That’s an idea that I got from listening to a podcast and go like, rather than that just living in my head, I got to write it down because that makes me process it.”
From The CanadianED Leadership Show: How Do Superintendents Spend Their Time?, May 1, 2023
Dean and Chris chatted about how busy Superintendents are, and how blogging can be seen as just another task. I’ve actually heard other superintendents say this!
“Chris can’t be as busy as us if he has time to blog.”
It’s worth a listen to hear Chris talk about just what he learned about Superintendent work, and how time is prioritized. He shares some great thinking on what we need to make time for in this role.
After listening to the podcast, I want to add to my list of reasons why blogging is important for Superintendents.
- Yes, the role is busy, and lonely, and this is WHY you need to blog. It gives people access to your thinking when otherwise you might not have time to explain it to everyone you serve. It gives access to a safe place for others to provide feedback on your thinking, no matter their role in your organization or community.
- Blogging what you learn and the ideas you come up with helps to build a culture of “learning as the work”.
- Blogging feeds into the idea of the “art” of superintendency, similar to the “art” of classroom teaching.
- From Chris: Never appear too busy for the important things. Make time for people and ideas.
- Bust out of the silos. Ideas come from many different places and sharing them with those who are interested, without firewalls, enhances possibilities.
What other reasons support Superintendent blogging? Are there other Canadian Superintendents currently blogging?
Here are some of the Canadian Superintendent blogs I read and have read in the past.
Jordan Tinney (moved on from the Superintendent role)
Sue Dunlop (moved on from the Superintendent role)
Who else should be on this list?
Featured Image by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash
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