At the end of last school year, my staff and I were charged with the task of redesigning elementary education. This was a scary request for us because each day we are entrusted with providing the best education possible for our students. Who were we to redesign something that has been the same for so long? Then, I realized there were no better people to be asked to redesign education than amazing teachers who were so passionate about doing what was best for kids. In the words of Steve Jobs, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” So, we started off on a journey to question the status quo, dream big, and imagine the unimaginable. We haven’t completed our journey; we won’t ever do that. But, we’re well on our way to discovering a new way to engage students and make learning meaningful. A few weeks ago I wrote about the mess we made. The following post illustrates how our mess has turned in to piles. Still not completely organized, but piles at least.
A few weeks ago we made a mess! A really, really big one. We began to question everything we believed about education. We questioned our purpose. We questioned what we thought was best for kids. We even questioned how we should organize our classrooms and our teaching teams. After the dust settled and we began sifting through the mess we made, we started to see all of our ideas as more than just things we needed to throw away or put back where they once were. Instead, we were able to begin to sort our mess in to piles. As we sorted, we of course threw some things away. We also uncovered ideas that we didn’t really like anymore, but as we sorted we also discovered that buried amidst the mess were glimmers of new ideas. Many of these new ideas aren’t fully developed yet, but they’re a start. We don’t have all of the answers yet, in fact, we won’t ever have all of the answers. Still, we’re turning our unorganized mess into piles. We just might rearrange our piles several more times before we land on something we are ready to invest in. But, we’re on our way. And, we’d never be where we are right now if we’d been too afraid to make a mess. My advice to all educators is this: Make a mess. You just might find exactly what you’ve been looking for within it. I love organization. I love things to be in neat piles and tidy rows. And, if things can be color coordinated, well, that’s even better. I always find myself straightening things and lining things up.
Obesessive compulsive? Maybe. But, what can I say, it’s how I was raised. As a kid, I remember my mom and I cleaning out the basement, the garage, drawers, closets, kitchen cabinets and more. When I moved out on my own, the desire to keep things neat and purge the things I didn’t need continued. In fact, a few weeks ago, I found myself in the middle of a clean out. It started with just rearranging a few things in my basement and it quickly turned into a full-scale basement reorganization. About an hour in, I looked around my basement only to see what used to be a somewhat organized room, turn to complete disarray. Nothing was where it once was. There were piles of things to be thrown away; other piles of things to be sold; and still more piles of things that I couldn’t decide what to do with. In the midst of the mess, I wanted to run away or put everything back where I started and forget about it all. But, instead, I pushed on. I sorted, purged, reorganized, labeled, stacked, and packed. And the end result was a completely organized room with much less clutter than before. It was functional and everything was in a place that made it easily accessible. The moral of the story is that sometimes in order to get a really great end result, you need to make a big mess. In the middle of my project, my basement was messier than it was when I started, but I had to muddle through the mess to end up with my neat organized space. Just like my basement project; as educators we often have to create a mess on the way to big change. Currently my staff is being challenged to redesign elementary education. At this moment we are in the messy stage. We must push forward and keep working through the mess. We must resist the urge to put things back where they once were just so we don’t have to deal with the chaos. We must be willing to muddle through the mess so that we can come away with something that is better than we could have ever imagined. I love being part of a team. I love the feeling of camaraderie that comes from working through a problem and finally coming up with a great solution. I love the sense of accomplishment that I feel when my team brainstorms ideas and lands on something innovative and new. I also love knowing that when things are tough, there are people who have my back.
I’ve worked on a lot of teams in my life. Some have been energizing and positive, others have been frustrating and unproductive. This year I’ve been reflecting on what makes an ELITE team. Here are the “must haves” I’ve come up with: 1. Don’t just say what you think others want to hear-When members of an elite team reflect on their work or brainstorm ideas they must avoid the temptation to say what they think their team members want to hear. Elite team members respect one another enough to appreciate differences in opinion and see these differences as opportunities for learning and growth. 2. Be honest with the data-Let the data tell the story and look at it honestly. Just like in number 1, elite teams must be ready to see and hear things that they don’t really want to see and hear. Members must look honestly at the data and be ready to roll up their sleeves and make changes when necessary. 3. Don’t settle-When you think you’ve solved all the problems and answered all of the questions; you’ve actually only just begun. Elite teams are always asking more questions and looking for better ways to accomplish their goals. 4. Create something new-Elite teams are always looking to stay ahead of the curve and be disruptive. These team members attempt to look at common situations in uncommon ways in order to discover new ways to solve problems. 5. Panic-I’ve written about this one before-elite teams are always uncomfortable. Elite teams want more. Elite teams panic now! They don’t wait for others to tell them that they’re not good enough. Elite teams are always striving for more. Is your team elite? What else would you add to this list? This post is dedicated to every new teacher, every struggling teacher and every teacher who just doesn’t feel like they are quite the teacher they wish to be...YET. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for first year teachers. I think it’s because of how traumatic my own first year of teaching was. As I look back to that year I can’t believe how naïve I was and some of the mistakes I made. Now, as I sit here writing this post I am happy to have the perspective and experience of a 15 year career in education. I appreciate that I wouldn’t be where I am today without those traumatic, humbling, stressful, and sometimes even embarrassing experiences during my first year. Even with the perspective I’ve gained over the years, I am still not content with myself as an educator. I’m excited that I still have so much to learn. Yesterday, I had a conversation with a first year teacher who has made amazing growth so far this year. Now, it’s true that she has a lot more growing to do but she knows it and I hope that our conversation helped her understand that it is okay. During our conversation, I was completely honest with her about where she is and where she needs to be. We discussed the areas that she needs to work on and growth she needs to make. I did not hold back when explaining my expectations. We looked at her two evaluations from this year and compared them side-by-side. Together we celebrated the growth she made and had a very clear conversation about the next steps she needs to take in her journey. She said something to me with tears in her eyes that I’ve heard from new teachers many times, “You make it sound so easy! I want to know what to do, like you do.” I hope my reply gave her comfort when I said that I don’t have all the answers and neither do our coaches and other veteran teachers. I went on to let her in on an important secret--we’ve just tried lots of things that didn’t work and found a few things that do. Luckily for this teacher and for all of the first year teachers out there, it’s just about time for them to be entering the “rejuvenation” stage. Our new teachers should start to feel like they’re coming down the home stretch of this crazy year. It’s about time that that can see the finish line in the distance. As they head in to the last leg of their first year there are a few things I want them to remember:
To all of my first year teacher friends, welcome to the rejuvenation stage. You've earned it. Before we were a team
Four years ago, when I became the principal at J.W. Reason Elementary School, I had no idea what I was in for. I remember my first meeting with staff like it was yesterday. I let them ask me any questions they wanted. One brave soul said, “Are you nervous?” My reply was complete honesty. I said, “I’m sh*%ing bricks.” That’s right, that was my honest answer to my staff. And, I’ve been completely honest with them ever since. Great relationships=Great Team=Magic Honesty and transparency are the building blocks for great relationships. Great relationships are the building blocks of great teams. And, great teams…well, that’s what makes magic happen. If there is one thing that I’ve always believed about education, it’s that a great school day is magical. But, the magic doesn’t happen by accident. Magic is made when the staff at a school works so closely together that they’re all headed in the same direction, focused on the same goals, and helping one another to become better every day. Urban Meyer calls this “alignment”. In his book Above the Line, Meyer says, “an aligned organization gets things done faster and with better results, and it’s more agile and responsive…” (pg 158). Proof Time and time again, over the past few weeks I’ve noticed the benefits of alignment among my staff. We have accomplished so much together. When we have a problem, a fail to fill sub, a student in crisis, a family needing help, a new student to the building, a staff member in need, a new idea to try, a failure, or a goal to accomplish, we all work together. We don’t blame. We don’t complain. We don’t defend. We...as we say...GSD! Are we perfect? No. Are we as aligned as we’ve every been? Yes. Can we get better? Absolutely. Why? Because we’re a team and we’re going far, together. Magic. There are few moments in my life these days when I can actually say I feel like a kid again. And right up there with Christmas morning, are snow days. It’s funny because I love school; I love everything about it. But, the thrill of getting that early morning phone call telling me that school is cancelled just never gets old. Yes, it’s true, principals work on snow days, but I still LOVE them. On Tuesday, I sat in my office during our first snow day of the school year. I finished projects that I otherwise may not have gotten to until March or April. I organized files. I checked emails. I read a few articles. I answered phones. And, still, I felt like a kid again. When I got home I was greeted with the excited squeals of my four kids as they held their hats and gloves and boots because they had waited for me to get home to go sledding. I tossed my school bag on the floor and bundled up. As I spent the afternoon sledding with my family, I forced myself to pause and take in the excitement of the day. As the day came to an end I was left with happy memories of an unexpected day off from my normal school day routine. To my surprise, I was reminded that we all need to take time to play. I remembered what it means to feel like a kid again. I didn’t take myself too seriously. And, most importantly, I slowed down and enjoyed the moments.
Do you know what I love? Kindergartners!
Do you know what Kindergartners love? Everything! Kindergartners have passion. They can get excited about anything and everything. They love to learn to read and write. They love to play and make friends. They just love everything we expose them to. The excitement and passion they have for learning can take them far! But imagine what happens when we combine that passion with a purpose. A few weeks ago I read a blog post from AJ Juliani called “Why Creativity Begins with Purpose (Not Passion)”. In the post, Juliani says: I used to think all I needed to create something that mattered was passion…I was wrong. It turns out passion might start the engine and get the creative process moving, but purpose is what takes it all the way to the destination (and beyond). After reading the post, I couldn’t help but notice myself recognizing instances where passion and purpose are a driving force behind student success. I saw this passion and purpose play out last week when, Dolly the Dolphin and I were invited to Kindergarten EdCamp. The kindergartners who delivered the invitation stood in my office jumping up and down. They told me that they had spent the last several weeks exploring lots of different ways to share information through writing. They squealed as they explained that on February 10th I could come to their classroom, with Dolly the Dolphin of course, and learn to make a newspaper; comic book; greeting card; song or poem; story book and MORE! I quickly hung up the invitation and had my little friends watch as I added “EdCamp” to my calendar.
And then the day came, the day when the passions of our youngest students were combined with purpose! These children were charged with being teachers. Check out the video of our EdCamp highlights.
If we want creative students, we’ll have to allow them to choose a purpose for much of their learning. AJ Juliani
We have so many duties as educators. This week, I was reminded that one of the most important duties we have is that of the warrior.
We don’t just fight the good fight; we fight the right fight. We root for the underdog. We protect the innocent. We are honorable. We are courageous. We spend long hours away from our families to ensure that we are doing what is best for our students. We do these things because it is our duty, our passion. It is in our blood. We will not stop. We will do what is right for children. Thank you warriors. Here’s to you. I’ve always known that words are powerful, but until a few years ago I didn’t realize just how powerful ONE SINGLE WORD could be. In 2014 I read One Word That Will Change Your Life. The words in the book took me on a journey of reflection and discovery and helped me realize that I could change my life with just one word. My first word In 2014, I chose my first word. CONNECT During that year I set my sights on connecting with my family and friends, building my PLN through Twitter and connecting with other educators through my blog. In 2014, I stepped out of my comfort zone into a world of digital professional development. I connected with educators in Hong Kong and Louisiana to plan a global professional development opportunity for teachers using the book Teach Like a Pirate. We used Google Hangout to talk about the book and were even joined by Dave Burgess, the author of Teach Like a Pirate, for one of our Hangouts! How cool is that? And, I am sure that if it weren’t for my word, I wouldn’t have pushed myself to do any of it. My Next Word THOUGHTFUL It took me no time at all to pick my word for 2015. I know myself well and one thing I know is that I am often quick to make decisions, quick to share my thoughts, and well, just plain quick. So, I decided to focus on being thoughtful in 2015. My goal was to slow down and take my time before making a decision, before sharing my thinking, before being , well, “quick”. I definitely thought about my word every day. I tried really, really hard to slow down and make thoughtful decisions but slowing down and being thoughtful was hard. This word taught me a lot about myself and even more about failure. I failed at being thoughtful more times than I succeeded. I have lost count of the times over the past year that I’ve said, “My word is ‘thoughtful’ if only I would have been more thoughtful, that would have turned out better.” What I learned in 2015 was that when I do slow down and take time to really think things through, great things happen. The Big Reveal: My Word for 2016 I’ve been going around and around about my word for 2016. I decided that I needed to give myself time to think (I learned this trick in 2015), so I didn’t rush to have my word chosen on January 1. I thought about myself, my goals, my struggles, my failures and my successes. I tested some words, tried them out for a while to see how they felt and waited for one to “stick”. Here are a few that I considered: Purpose Intentional Start Patience Surrender Believe Inspire More (I really like this one-maybe 2017!) Journey Reinvent Pause Even though I liked all of those words, I just didn’t feel a connection to any of them. Then on Wednesday I spent some time reading through reflections and goals that my teachers wrote about the first part of the school year. As I read the thoughtful comments, I was moved by how openly and honestly they shared their insecurities, their struggles and their plans to grow and change. I read their words over and over again and marveled at just how amazing these teachers are. I sent each of them an email thanking them for taking the time to reflect, sharing some positive feedback and then asking them how they were doing with their goal. And, to my surprise many of them replied back to me with even more thoughtful words about their progress, their struggles and the things they still needed to learn. I loved the fact my teachers were thinking about growth. I loved that they were seeing our work as a journey. But it made me wonder if they take time to CELEBRATE their accomplishments and recognize how hard they work. So, I replied to one of my teachers with the following words: You are amazing. Remember, you'll never feel "finished" because you are such a learner. So, I hope you take some time to celebrate all that you do. Thus, my word was born! CELEBRATE will be my word for 2016. I will celebrate success, I will celebrate what is learned from failure, I will celebrate the little things and the big things. All too often, we can become so focused on the journey that we forget to stop and take in the sights. So, this year, as I continue my journey with my teachers I will take in the sights and celebrate along the way. What do you need to celebrate? Please share! |
AuthorI hope my blog posts inspire risk taking and new ways of thinking. I hope to connect with other educators on our journey to always do what's best for children. Archives
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