It's been a long road from my first post. I am finally getting to the point that I think I am getting a handle on blogging.
As I continue down the blogger road, I want to give some thanks to some people that have helped make this blog possible.
LTC Dave Grossman, from whom I got the 'Sheepdog' idea. You were one of my big inspirations when I first started in the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy. Hooah!
Michael Dorn, whom I consider a mentor, and a friend. If someone back in 2004 would have told me that I would be friends with the world's foremost expert in school safety, I would have laughed at them. Yet, here I am. Not only has he taught me how to do site assessments and other school safety concepts, he is teaching me how to be a professional, how to write professionally, and has made me a better person overall. My wife Robin will attest to how difficult that last task is.
Speaking of my wife, no WAY I could do this without her. She has been a sounding board, a Devil's Advocate (Sometimes TOO good), a confidante, and has loved and supported me through some very trying times. I love you, Robin.
And of course I cannot forget all the people who I am responsible for, the kids, staff, and administrators of the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County. You are all dear to me, and are the reasons I do what I do.
Non in meus vigilo!
School Safety Shield
Non en Meus Vigilo!
Showing posts with label Dave Grossman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Grossman. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, December 12, 2011
Virtue #7 - Gameness
Mark Mireles describes 'gameness' as having heart, of rising to the challenge and performing well under pressure. As Mireles writes, "This is a characteristic that warriors cultivate through training." (p. 65) He contrasts this with "room wrestlers," people who do well in training, but don't perform well in the match.
What sets these two groups apart? Heart. The Warrior does not like, or want, to lose, so when they compete, they do so with all their heart. Mireles describes this as an innate trait, and in many ways he is correct. However, I also believe that one can choose to never give up, to "bring it." That is not an easy choice, but it is one available to the Warrior.
Dave Grossman's Sheepdog Tip of the Day for Dec. 12, 2011 (http://www.simple-tech.com/sheepdog/tip.php?name=during%2F65.html), is about Officer Stacy Lim of the LAPD. While off-duty, she was set upon by some gangbangers looking to jack her car. When she ID'd herself as a police officer, she was shot through the heart with a .357 magnum bullet that tore a chunk out of her back as it left her body.
She returned fire, and chased after the shooter, while the reaming gang-bangers decided this Warrior was too much for them and ran off. The shooter died of his wounds, and Officer Lim died twice on the operating table. However, she came through, and returned to duty eight months later. She is indeed a gamer!
As LTC Grossman so aptly wrote, "Lim had a competitive attitude that refused to lose, and she had a plan, a visualized determination to win."
That is a virtue worth having, whether you are a Warrior, a Sheepdog, or a Master Teacher.
What sets these two groups apart? Heart. The Warrior does not like, or want, to lose, so when they compete, they do so with all their heart. Mireles describes this as an innate trait, and in many ways he is correct. However, I also believe that one can choose to never give up, to "bring it." That is not an easy choice, but it is one available to the Warrior.
Dave Grossman's Sheepdog Tip of the Day for Dec. 12, 2011 (http://www.simple-tech.com/sheepdog/tip.php?name=during%2F65.html), is about Officer Stacy Lim of the LAPD. While off-duty, she was set upon by some gangbangers looking to jack her car. When she ID'd herself as a police officer, she was shot through the heart with a .357 magnum bullet that tore a chunk out of her back as it left her body.
She returned fire, and chased after the shooter, while the reaming gang-bangers decided this Warrior was too much for them and ran off. The shooter died of his wounds, and Officer Lim died twice on the operating table. However, she came through, and returned to duty eight months later. She is indeed a gamer!
As LTC Grossman so aptly wrote, "Lim had a competitive attitude that refused to lose, and she had a plan, a visualized determination to win."
That is a virtue worth having, whether you are a Warrior, a Sheepdog, or a Master Teacher.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Virtue #4 - Nobility
This virtue has the most meaning for me. As a child, I not only grew up with stories of Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, John Wayne and Superman, I had the real-life examples of my grandmother taking care of my bed-ridden grandfather, slowly dying of emphysema, and my dad taking care of my mom and us kids so my mom could go to school and get her nursing degrees (Three of them!). In all of what they did, I never saw complaint, nor did they shy from doing what needed to be done. My grandma and my father did what they did out of love for their spouse. That love ennobled their efforts.
Mireles writes that the virtue of nobility "sets the warrior apart." Warriors do not do what they do because they have to, but because they have chosen to do so, a noble choice. However nobility, as Mireles describes it, is not about that choice, but in how the Warrior relates to others. A police officer demonstrates nobility when he/she treats their prisoner with respect. A Warrior demonstrates nobility when they treat a prisoner with respect. A master teacher demonstrates nobility when they treat the at-risk student with as much professionalism as their top student. It's a matter of basic respect.
Mireles writes this about respect:
"True respect is caring about people at a deep level, a caring
that is related to nobility. Respect is manifested through the
warrior's action, and nobility is his persona. one cannot exist
without the other. Warriors carry these virtues in their hearts,
and it is what separates them from mercenaries." (p. 61)
This describes the Warrior's Paradox. In the Sheepdog analogy, Sheepdogs are described as having a capacity for violence, but a love for their sheep. Thus, Sheepdogs have to have a deep respect for humanity, even while they may have to engage in violence against those who seek to harm others. Those who are able to do so demonstrate true nobility.
Master teachers learn to look beyond the behavior and see the hurt underneath. That doesn't mean they don't hold the child accountable for their actions, but they are still human beings, and are still due respect. Master teachers will do this, and try to address the hurt at the same time. They don't take such actions personally. After 23 years of dealing with middle school students, I know that if I were to have taken everything that happened personally, I would have gone insane long ago, or I would have quit and sought a new career field.
Society has given the Warrior, the Sheepdog, the teacher, a tremendous amount of trust by putting us into positions in which we protect others. By maintaining respect for others, by holding ourselves to a higher standard, we demonstrate nobility, and thus maintain the trust that society has given us.
Are you up for that challenge?
Mireles writes that the virtue of nobility "sets the warrior apart." Warriors do not do what they do because they have to, but because they have chosen to do so, a noble choice. However nobility, as Mireles describes it, is not about that choice, but in how the Warrior relates to others. A police officer demonstrates nobility when he/she treats their prisoner with respect. A Warrior demonstrates nobility when they treat a prisoner with respect. A master teacher demonstrates nobility when they treat the at-risk student with as much professionalism as their top student. It's a matter of basic respect.
Mireles writes this about respect:
"True respect is caring about people at a deep level, a caring
that is related to nobility. Respect is manifested through the
warrior's action, and nobility is his persona. one cannot exist
without the other. Warriors carry these virtues in their hearts,
and it is what separates them from mercenaries." (p. 61)
This describes the Warrior's Paradox. In the Sheepdog analogy, Sheepdogs are described as having a capacity for violence, but a love for their sheep. Thus, Sheepdogs have to have a deep respect for humanity, even while they may have to engage in violence against those who seek to harm others. Those who are able to do so demonstrate true nobility.
Master teachers learn to look beyond the behavior and see the hurt underneath. That doesn't mean they don't hold the child accountable for their actions, but they are still human beings, and are still due respect. Master teachers will do this, and try to address the hurt at the same time. They don't take such actions personally. After 23 years of dealing with middle school students, I know that if I were to have taken everything that happened personally, I would have gone insane long ago, or I would have quit and sought a new career field.
Society has given the Warrior, the Sheepdog, the teacher, a tremendous amount of trust by putting us into positions in which we protect others. By maintaining respect for others, by holding ourselves to a higher standard, we demonstrate nobility, and thus maintain the trust that society has given us.
Are you up for that challenge?
Source:
Christensen, Loren W.. Warriors: more on living with courage, discipline, and honor. Rev. ed. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin, 2010. Print.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Active Shooter Training - Educator Style
On November 10th, the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy conducted a regional training at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center. Mike Horton of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy put some educators through basic active shooter training. Day One consisted of classroom training, which I didn't attend.
I was intrigued enough by the concept of educators going through this training that I asked Dave Woodward, the Program Director of the ISSSA, if I could observe Day Two, the scenario part of the training. He agreed so there I was, wearing an orange vest and watching fellow educators demonstrate their skills in traveling in a team, and in room entry.
From a military or law enforcement perspective, there were times I cringed. I watched a shooter stick a gun into a doorway and turn their head as they fired into the room. I watched a person come out of a room with their hands up, was directed to the rear of the formation, and pulled a gun out of a pocket to shoot the team from the rear.
They were using sim rounds, capsules filled with soap that mark where it hits. They sting, so the adrenaline was kicked up a notch every time they ran a scenario. This is stress inoculation, as Dave Grossman explained it in his book On Combat. When they face a real situation in their schools, these educators will remember this training, and it will help them make proper decisions.
What was important was not the mistakes being made, but the discussions that went on immediately after each scenario. The LEOs involved shared their experiences and knowledge with the educators, and the educators shared their insights and knowledge with the LEOs.
This is an excellent concept for the ISSSA. Educators need stress inoculation and a wide variety of experiences to be able to effectively respond to whatever comes their school's way. Educators should not concentrate solely on active shooter training, but the lessons learned from this traiing will go far beyond what they went through.
Volunteering to go through this training shows Sheepdog traits. My colleagues are to be commended, as is Dave and Ryan from the ISSSA. You guys make e proud to be an educator AND a School Safety Officer!
I was intrigued enough by the concept of educators going through this training that I asked Dave Woodward, the Program Director of the ISSSA, if I could observe Day Two, the scenario part of the training. He agreed so there I was, wearing an orange vest and watching fellow educators demonstrate their skills in traveling in a team, and in room entry.
From a military or law enforcement perspective, there were times I cringed. I watched a shooter stick a gun into a doorway and turn their head as they fired into the room. I watched a person come out of a room with their hands up, was directed to the rear of the formation, and pulled a gun out of a pocket to shoot the team from the rear.
They were using sim rounds, capsules filled with soap that mark where it hits. They sting, so the adrenaline was kicked up a notch every time they ran a scenario. This is stress inoculation, as Dave Grossman explained it in his book On Combat. When they face a real situation in their schools, these educators will remember this training, and it will help them make proper decisions.
What was important was not the mistakes being made, but the discussions that went on immediately after each scenario. The LEOs involved shared their experiences and knowledge with the educators, and the educators shared their insights and knowledge with the LEOs.
This is an excellent concept for the ISSSA. Educators need stress inoculation and a wide variety of experiences to be able to effectively respond to whatever comes their school's way. Educators should not concentrate solely on active shooter training, but the lessons learned from this traiing will go far beyond what they went through.
Volunteering to go through this training shows Sheepdog traits. My colleagues are to be commended, as is Dave and Ryan from the ISSSA. You guys make e proud to be an educator AND a School Safety Officer!
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