Education is a Team Sport

By nature I am a competitive person. I want to arrive to work first. I want to be the best assistant principal. I want my favorite sports teams to always win. I want to pick the shortest and fastest moving line at the grocery store. I want to beat my son at FIFA '17. I think there are many examples where being competitive is a good thing. Recently I have reigned in my importance on competition, especially at work. It is more important for me to be a good teammate than to out perform anyone. I believe one of the most important character traits an individual can possess is to be a good teammate. Being able to lift up those around us is so important. Offering others kind, encouraging words costs nothing. Being a good teammate allows us to add value to our teams, organizations, and schools at no cost. When our teammates improve, we improve. 

Collaboration and communication make up two of the "Four C's" of 21st Century Learning. They are as important skills for educators to display as they are for us to help students develop. How can we expect our students to be help each other if we do not model it for them?

I should support fellow assistant principals, not compete against them. They are not my rivals, they are my teammates. I should communicate with them. There is plenty that I can learn from them. By supporting each other we all benefit.  In education, we must remember that we are all on the same team. Everyone in your building is your teammate. The bus drivers, the cafeteria staff, the custodians, and the office staff are all your teammates working towards a common goal:  We want to make our school the absolutely best that it can be! Everyone who works in your school has something to offer. We shouldn't think of the other schools in our districts and state as competition, either. 

Our district's superintendent reminded the administrators at the beginning of the year that the time for pulling against each other in public education is over. He did this by having a few schools challenge members of the district office in a match of tug-of-war against. When the match was over, he asked who won. When a few people pointed at the winning side, he poignantly pointed out that when we pull against each other no one wins. This example, was powerful. Over the last few months, this message remains strong and relevant.     

So this week and every week concentrate on being a good teammate. Make those around you better. Support your team. Give them a boost through your positivity.

  The competition that we benefit from the most is within ourselves.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”-Margaret Mead

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." -Helen Keller

Many Thanks

In the honor of the season, I am using this blog post for focusing on what I am thankful for in my school life. I have had the honor of helping open a new elementary school in my district. I have had the opportunity to work alongside and learn from a tremendous principal. It has also been a blessing working with a wonderful staff, who has been up to the challenge of opening a brand-new school.

I am thankful for my school kids. They remind me of my purpose at school. I thank them for their positive, smiling faces. I thank them for their love of learning. I am thankful for their enthusiasm and for showing up everyday.  I am thankful for the students who look out for each other. I love it when the older students look after the younger students on the bus or in the cafeteria at breakfast. I am thankful for the students who I know come from tough home lives but are champions at school anyway. I love to see students display grit. Learning to persevere is one of the top life skills. I am thankful that I am able to witness the young man in third grade who overcomes physical ailments on a daily basis without ever complaining, or even blinking for that matter. I get to watch him plug away each day with a smile on his face. He never feels sorry for himself or compares himself to others. One day he challenged me to a race. During the race, he slipped on the slick, gym floor. In the blink of an eye, he was back on his feet and putting one foot in front of the other. I am thankful for the Gung-Ho 5th grade girl who is a member of every extra curricular activity that we offer. She comes to school early twice a week and stays after school up to twice a week. She is in the Chorus, Science Club, Student Government Association, and a member of the Battle of the Books team. She takes advantage of everything that our school has to offer and excels. This enthusiasm will take her far in life! Most of all, I am thankful for the kids at school because they make me confident that we have a bright future in store for us.

I am thankful for my co-workers at school. I am thankful you are problem solvers and have positive attitudes. I am thankful for my co-workers who champion kids. Thanks for not giving up on students. Thanks for not showing frustrations. Thank you for designing your classroom for all of your students. Your classrooms are such happy places! Thank you for meeting with parents after school. Thank you for sitting in IEP meetings during your planning.Thanks for all the extra time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears you put into your job. You go way above and beyond 40 hours per week. Thank you for offering extra-curricular activities for our students. Thanks for offering Science Club. Thanks for offering before school choir. Thanks for offering Student Government Association. Thanks for offering the Battle of the Books Club. You don't make a dime for offering these wonderful opportunities for our students, but you surely make an impact. I am thankful for my staff who is beginning to branch out and discover all that Twitter offers for personal growth. I am thankful for the instructional assistant, who when assigned the task to drive an activity bus on a field trip, drives to the location in her personal car and on her personal time. She has done that twice so far this year. What dedication! Thanks for going above and beyond for our students!

I am thankful for having the opportunity for learning from a dynamite principal. She supports our teachers so much! Its been amazing to watch her as the opening of our new school has unfolded. She knew exactly what our new classrooms needed. She knew what our teachers needed. She understands what the community demands and expects. Most importantly, she knows what our students require to be successful. She is an efficient problem solver, who expertly plans upcoming events. I have a better respect for the importance of details because of her. She leaves very little to chance. I am thankful for being able to learn from her on a daily basis.

I am also thankful to my Personal Learning Network. I have an awesome group of friends and colleagues that I learn from on Twitter. I even have a small group of peers whom I collaborate with via Voxer, I appreciate their willingness to share. I am also thankful for the Edu Heroes that I look up to. Thanks to innovators like Dave Burgess, George Couros, Adam Welcome, and Todd Neslonely. I admire their passion, enthusiasm, intelligence, and generosity. They have inspired me to challenge myself to grow as an educator.

Thank you to all of my students, coworkers, and fellow educators for the huge impact you have made in my life! I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Wheels on the Bus

This afternoon I accepted an invitation to ride one of my school's buses as it made the afternoon route. Please note the invitation did not come in a formal manner. It came in the form of hyped-up students that forgot how to properly sit in their seats and how to not break local noise ordinances. I may be exaggerating just a tad, however I am working on a theory that our sweet darlings are currently under some type of effect caused by the super moon. This past Monday, the moon was closer to the Earth than it had been in approximately 68 years. I wonder how kids behaved in school during that cycle back in 1948. What did the schools do? (lol) Even though I could have caught up on office work by answering emails or completing various other to-do-list type items, I did my assistant principal duty and rode the bus.   

What a ride! Now this is not my first bus ride. I try to make rounds riding different buses from time to time. Its a great opportunity to observe and learn about our students. 

There are countless reasons that those of us who work in school should ride a "yellow fellow" from time to time. You have an opportunity to have real conversations with students. While on the bus, you are fair game for the students to fire away at you with questions. Its an up, close, and personal chance to serve as a role model for your students. Your mere presence on the bus makes the ride so much easier for the driver. The ride offers a small glimpse of what school/life is like through the eyes of a child. Bus drivers will love you for it by the way. You get to see where the students live. You will see their parents waiting for them at the stop. You will get a glimpse at younger siblings. You can see their pets in the front yard. BTW, any of these can serve as wonderful conversation topics with students. You gain so much authentic perspective. You create a positive memory. They will remember you riding the bus with them for a long time. I often get stopped in the hallway students referencing our rides together.

I heard Ron Clark say once that all teachers are going to Heaven. I think the same is also true for bus drivers. They deserve a pass to the front of the line at the Pearly Gates! Peter probably ushers them in through a special gate. Is there a more important job in schools? They bring students to and from school. They are in charge of their safety for the journey to and from school. Parents place their kid's lives in their hands on a daily basis. These folks don't get rain passes. They can't stay at home because its Siberia-cold outside. They go to bed early so they can crank their buses at Zero Dark Thirty. It can be really a thankless job. Too often they only hear negative feedback. Do something about that. Bus drivers are the first and last school employees kids see each day. Please take the time to thank a bus driver for what they do! Its an act of love and duty. 

So to all of my fellow educators, I challenge you to....Ride a bus. Support a bus driver. Connect with kids. Make a memory. Gain some perspective. Go ahead, get out there and be awesome!

Kindness

Tomorrow is World Kindness Day. The timing couldn't be more perfect because right now the world is in need of more kindness. We need more smiles. More strangers offering a kind word. More encouraging. More compliments, less complaints.

As educators we will have an abundance of opportunities to provide the world with more positivity. Every single interaction is an opportunity. You cannot go wrong by being kind. Being kind adds value, without cost. Before proving to others how intelligent you are or how right you are, take time to show them that you care what they have to say. Show them that you care. When you close your mouth and listen instead of talking you are choosing kind. When you take time to notice a co-workers extra efforts, you are choosing kind. When you thank a kid for tying a classmates shoe, you are choosing kind. These are just a few examples. Within every interaction you will be presented with an opportunity. When it happens, have the discipline to choose kind.

Smile, silence, listening, respect, everyone has a struggle going on in inside of them. 

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”

-Wendy Mass

Just keep swimming...

 This week the wise words of the charismatic Disney theologian Dory are ringing through my ears.  In the Disney classic Finding Nemo, just as her and her companion Marlin are entering dark, murky waters she tells him to "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim. " This is a perfect message to my fellow educators right now. It is certainly comforting to me and not only because I am a huge Dory fan. I mean if the kids are going to leave a DVD on repeat in the mini-van I just pray that it is Finding Nemo. 

Dory's message is something I recommend you carry along with you to school each day. Think about Dory. She is kind no matter what. She has a great time wherever she goes. She is positive. She is a good friend. We can all relate to her forgetfulness. I think it is good to be able to forget things quickly and move on. Despite that flaw, she does seem to be able to stay focused on what is important: helping those around her. Education is what we do. It is what we are built for! We are prepared. We have the skills. Just keep plugging away. Show up everyday to school and give it your all. You are doing the right work. As you put your heart and soul into your students everyday never forget that it is indeed all worth it. The struggle will  bring success. I indeed think we all need to be more like Dory. As I leave you to go watch the epic sequel, Finding Dory, I simply say.....


"Just keep teaching, teaching, teaching. What do we do? We teach, teach!"