It will be a time of change. Life is unfolding along an unexpected and uneasy path, with so much outside of our control. When moving into the unknown, it is helpful to sit and pause and listen to o…
Source: * My Words for 2017
Be ready to be fierce.
Be ready to be kind.
Those words sound paradoxical, but to be kind one has to be fierce in our kindness to others. We must want to be kind in the way others have set an example for us.
It is like being radical, which takes us back to our roots. In French, roots is racine and it connected to being radical. If our roots are strong and give us strength to act and speak out against the wrongs others do to the world and people, we can stand and shelter those who need it.
About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Or we can be strong and stand together to shelter all of us…fiercely and kindly, Ivon. 😉 xoM
Margarita, your comment brings to mind how zebra circle thei young when there is a theat present.
Fierce and kind. I like that. Stalwart and considerate also comes to mind.
Tish, that is a great way of describing the paradox in those words.
Good, strong words.
They certainly are.
Fierce kindness. I love it❤️
The paradox in those words is wonderful.
Thank you Ivan for standing in this radical kind place 💛
You are welcome Val. Thank you for a wonderful post.
I love the idea of ‘fierce kindness.’ I believe it’s more realistic for those of us who have a passion for existence and are incensed by injustice.
That was a phrase that drew me as well. It is like servant leadership, filled with paradox.
Well said, Ivon!
Thank you Cynthia.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN OF COMPASSION AND CARING ADVOCACY! 🙂
It is and it was worth sharing with others.
I absolutely love everything this blog is about- from its title to the humble givings of every single post. I aspire to transform with my teaching too. Thank you so much for your words and I wish you all the best!
Thank you for a lovely comment. I look forward to reading your posts, as well.