I grew up in a small town with deep-rooted traditions. We did things because that’s the way we had always done them. To this day, when I go back to that small town, nothing much has changed. Don’t get me wrong; I loved growing up in a small town. I loved that everyone knew each other and I loved how simple things were.
After leaving that small town and getting my very first teaching job in the big city, it took me a long time to realize that not everyone thought the way I thought or had the same values that I had. I had to learn to accept different opinions, different ways of life, different beliefs and different expectations. Moving away from that small town in my early 20s forced me to open my eyes to learning to live with and work with many different people. I had to take a leap of faith. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know the cashier at the grocery store or the people who were driving the cars that I passed as I drove to and from work. I didn’t know the families of my students like I did back in my small hometown. But, by taking the leap of faith many years ago, I grew. I changed. I learned. I became a different person. I didn’t abandon or discount all that I learned growing up in my small town. Instead, I expanded my view of the world. I tell the story of this leap of faith because as educators, it’s very easy to get stuck in the “way we’ve always done things” mentality. It’s easy to be afraid to take a leap of faith. I challenge you to think of a time when something made you uncomfortable. Think about the excuses that went through your head; the “what ifs,” the “yea buts,” the doubts, and the complaints. Now, think about a time that despite those “what ifs,” you did it anyway. Think about a time that you jumped in; a time you took a leap of faith. What was the pay off? In what ways did you grow and change? Where are you today simply because you took a chance when something was scary? Right now, we are all taking a leap of faith. We’re jumping in head first as we redesign elementary education. We don’t know what to expect. This isn’t the way we’ve always done it. I can’t predict the outcome, but what I can predict is that we’ll learn, our students will learn, we’ll grow, our students will grow, we’ll change and our students will change. Thanks for taking the leap with me. Here is your staff update for May 20th.
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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 into 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. Here is your staff update for May 6.
Sometimes academics don’t matter.
Sometimes the most important thing in the world to a child and to a family is for the child to feel loved at school. Sometimes all we need to worry about as teachers is providing the emotional stability a child needs to feel safe and cared for. Today a new student walked through the doors of J.W. Reason. He is five years old. And, in his first five years, he’s experienced more heartache than some people have experienced in their entire lives. He needs us to understand that. He doesn’t need us to lower our expectations for him, but he does need us to help him feel safe, loved and comfortable so he can begin to learn and grow. As the school year winds down and we all have a million things swirling through our heads, let us not forget why we do what we do. We are here for kids. We are here to make a difference. Maybe today we won’t accomplish everything on our “to do” lists and that’s okay. What really matters is that we take the time to make a difference in the life of a child. If you haven't watched the greatest TED Talk of all time, I urge you to take 20 minutes to do so. This is Rita Pierson's TED Talk called "Every Kid Needs a Champion".
Here is your staff update for April 29th.
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. Here is your staff update for April 22.
We've spent the year preparing for something new.
We've asked you to share ideas. We've asked what needs changed. We've asked you to dream. Now, it's time to act. It's time to take the next step. Next week I will be asking for those who are looking to take a forward leap! I am looking for the early adopters who are willing to "try and fail, try and learn, try and succeed". Is it you? Will you be an early adopter. If so, we're ready for you!
Here is your staff update for April 15.
I set a goal for myself to write an inspirational, positive blog post each week of the school year. I’ve been proud of myself so far this year, until this week. This week has been rough. I’ve been in my office most of the week administering assessments to 3rd graders who are at risk for retention due to the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. As an educator who loves nothing more than seeing children passionately engaged in meaningful learning, it was difficult to watch them sit for hours on end taking a test that would ultimately determine the fate of their future.
This week I haven’t felt inspired. So, I’m giving myself permission to feel uninspired. I’m giving myself permission to feel annoyed. I’m giving myself to let some things go. Next week will be a fresh start. I hope you give yourself permission every once in a while, too. Here is your staff update for April 8th. 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? Here is your staff update for April 1. 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. Here is your staff update for March 11. 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. It just popped right out of my mouth. 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. Here is your staff update for March 4. |
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