Introduction

The title of this book attempts to capture my life’s work as an educator. Summaries of “one’s life work” are, however, inescapably autobiographical interpretations of the author’s better moments in a journey also marked, as well, by less than heroic mistakes and self-serving rationalizations. Leadership is a complex process, often enlightened by early failures and imperfect successes. Leading a learning process in the setting of a school is particularly challenging, due to the multiple—student, parent, teacher, school committee, and state authority—understandings/opinions of what constitutes genuine learning and the pedagogical process that promotes the integrity of learning.