Sue Dunlop

  • Meditation on Selfies

    I’ve never been good at selfies. I get the angle wrong, you can’t see the background, the final photo is often one of me looking startled, and well, not my best. And these days, as I get older, I’m rarely satisfied with pictures of myself. I’m fine with the aging thing (well, mostly – rather…

  • Good Leaders Read…A Lot

    Educators know that reading is power.  I’ve been reading What Connected Leaders Do Differently by Todd Whitaker, Jeff Zoul, and Jimmy Casas. It’s a solid read with an american focus, and I’ve found some great nuggets. Here’s one: great leaders read all the time. Great leaders also always seek to improve. They want to learn…

  • My Leadership Inquiry – the New Problem of Practice

    In our district, every educational leader pursues a leadership inquiry. It’s a way to investigate an area of leadership where you want to learn more. That said, it’s not just “pick a topic”! The inquiry must be rooted in continuous learning improvement, which means based on educator learning need, which is, in turn, driven by student learning need. This…

  • Let’s Have Classrooms Full of Books!

    Creative, inquisitive classrooms are wonderful. But no matter how great the classroom looks, or how many provocations are employed, a classroom must have books. I love to read. I’ve talked about it in this space before here.  Frederick Douglass said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”  It’s the freedom to go anywhere…

  • A Simple and Powerful Leadership Truth

    We love to ask grand questions. What was your best day ever? What was the worst part of your vacation? What is your favourite book of all time? These kinds of questions can be great conversation starters, but I always have trouble answering them. How can I choose one book of the hundreds I’ve read?…

  • Listen and Be Honest

    I attended ICSEI, the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement last week. I listened to powerful keynotes by Russell Bishop, Charlene Bearhead, and Warren Simmons. These passionate and articulate educators from New Zealand, Canada and the United States shared themes of equity, caring and action for indigenous, black and latino students which resonated strongly with me.…