June 2025, Part Two

Manuscript Submitted. Now What?

Picture Description: A graphic in varying shades of blue depicting the Contextual Intelligence Framework. It depicts how societal conditions plus institutional conditions are necessary to be able to act with contextual intelligence.

June 2025, Part Two:

MANUSCRIPT SUBMITTED!

There’s A LOT more steps before I see the final product in the world, but I'm enjoying this big milestone.

This Sunday, I’m presenting at the ASCD Conference and will be sharing my framework with a live audience for the first time. Nervous and excited.

Below is an excerpt from my final reflection in the book.…I would love to hear your thoughts or feedback in the comments!

Chapter 7: Looking forward as a collective

Final Thoughts

A lot has changed since I began writing this book. In terms of societal conditions, we re-elected Donald Trump as President of the United States, who, within his first 100 days, turned the country upside down with a slew of Executive Orders, causing every industry to be set into a state of chaos. Wildfires have wiped out beloved communities, and the threat to public education continues to rise.

The reactions to these societal conditions have been different at every institution. Some institutions can teach a class on website scrubbing —taking out every possible word that could be seen as supporting specific people, students, and communities that need the most targeted help. Other institutions are holding firm on their mission and vision, and are loud about their work by signing on to lawsuits, authoring op-eds, and visibly showing their commitment. And then you have institutions that are putting their heads in the sand and trying to avoid talking about or acting like anything has changed.

This leaves the individual constituent: leader, student, or family member. Our responses to what we see, hear, and experience every day may be different from our individual histories. We are living in a new state. Yes, it is always helpful to go back in history to see and understand what others have done before us, but we also have to contextualize our current reality.