HEART!. Timothy D. Kanold

Timothy D. Kanold, PhD, is an award-winning educator, author, and consultant. He is former director of mathematics and science and served as superintendent of Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125, a model professional learning community district in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Dr. Kanold is committed to equity and excellence for students, faculty, and school administrators. He conducts highly motivational professional development leadership seminars worldwide with a focus on turning school vision into realized action that creates greater equity for students through the effective delivery of professional learning communities for faculty and administrators.

He is a past president of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) and coauthor of several best-selling mathematics textbooks over several decades. He also has served on writing commissions for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and has authored numerous articles and chapters on school leadership and development for education publications since 2006.

Dr. Kanold received the prestigious international 2010 Damen Award for outstanding contributions to the leadership field of education from Loyola University Chicago, 1986 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, and 1994 Outstanding Administrator Award (from the Illinois State Board of Education). He serves as an adjunct faculty member for the graduate school at Loyola University Chicago.

Dr. Kanold earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in mathematics from Illinois State University. He also completed a master’s degree in educational administration at the University of Illinois and received a doctorate in educational leadership and counseling psychology from Loyola University Chicago.

To learn more about Timothy D. Kanold’s professional work, visit his blog, Turning Vision Into Action (www.turningvisionintoaction.today).

To book Timothy D. Kanold for professional development, contact [email protected].

PREFACE

Why I Wrote HEART!

I remember the moment like it was yesterday—July 17, 2002, 10:03 a.m. I was in my office interviewing a candidate for our director of instructional technology position. Usually a high-energy kind of guy, I was trying hard to listen to his responses to my interview questions, but I could not focus. And, I had been superintendent for all of sixteen days.

I knew something was very wrong.

It was hard to breathe, and my chest felt like it was going to constrict and collapse, like someone was sitting on top of me. I quickly finished the interview, quietly slipped out of my office, and drove to the local hospital. I called no one. Why panic?

Within ten minutes of entering the emergency room, I was on an operating table, and a few hours later had two coronary artery stents inserted near my heart, eliminating two severe blockages. According to the cardiologist, I was a month or two away from a full-blown heart attack.

And I had no idea.

I was reasonably young at the time. And you have to wonder, how did it come to that? What had caused me to not take better care of my heart? Or, how could I be so clueless about the actual condition of my heart?

Worse yet, it was mostly my fault. After years of playing baseball and softball, running marathons, and doing the types of “eat, move, sleep” behaviors that are good for the heart, I had drifted through a decade of actions and behaviors that gradually ate away at my heart health.

I justified that decade of course, like we all do. I was going back to school to work on an advanced degree; I was coaching my children in their sports; and my high-pressure work as an educator and author demanded more and more of my time. I had moved further out in the suburbs for more affordable housing and extended my daily drive to twenty-six miles one way each day. I ate mostly fast food, often in the car, and even worse—I had no time left for much exercise. I sat. A lot.

And then July 17, 2002, happened to me. My heart had had enough. It called me out. It was tired of the damage I was doing to myself. And, although it took five years to get it completely right, it is fifteen years later as I write this book, and I am still learning how to keep my healthier heart—every day, each day, one day at a time.

So, why tell you this story?

Soon enough, I realized my personal heart experience served as a metaphor for my work life as well. How well did I really understand my own heart for teaching and leading? Were the contributing elements of my work life gradually inspiring or destroying me and my colleagues, my students,

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