A Gift in my Mailbox

As exciting and humbling and life-changing as the opportunity to serve as Indiana’s 2016 Teacher of the Year has been, a quick run over to my school to drop something off helped me to remember what truly makes my heart sing.  As usual, I ran over in the evening because my days are filled with new and amazing ways to impact education in Indiana, and I don’t often have a minute to drop in while school is in session.  As I organized what needed dropped off and picked up, I gave my mailbox a quick check.

Inside, there was a large envelope and two smaller ones.  The large one contained a commendation for my award as INTOY.  “How wonderful!” I thought.  To be knee deep in my year of service and get a reminder of appreciation and congratulations is so appreciated!  Next, I opened the first small envelope.  In an instant, the certificate from the big envelope was completely forgotten.  In it was a short message, “I hope you remember me from 5^th grade…I am graduating this year and I would love for you to come…You meant so much to me and I will never forget the impact you had on me.”  Mic drop.  Of course I remembered him!  I remember his smile and his perseverance and how lucky I felt to be his teacher. 

In the second small envelope, another note, “You have made such an impact on my education, as well as my sister’s…As I graduate high school, I feel that I do it in honor of you.  You introduced me to the world of reading and writing and creativity.  Just saying that I looked like a clarinet player motivated me to join band which allowed me to grow out of the dense shell that I had kept for years.  It completely changed my life.  Now I have become a leader, a successful student in the top 8% of my class, and cannot go a day without reading…I would be honored to have you as my guest at my high school graduation.” Oh, you sweet, sweet girl. I am the lucky one to have spent time in your presence!

I don’t for one minute take credit for the incredible human beings these former students have become.  But, oh how they have blessed me!  In the noise and busyness of policy meetings, state-wide professional development, and university visits, these two notes mean more to me, go to the very heart of me, more than anything.

Honestly, I am a little tired, my tank is running a little low, and I have been putting my all into finishing strong.  But, today, once again, it is my students that remind me what all of this is about.  I am honored and humbled and blessed beyond measure by the opportunity to spend my days with boys and girls.  I will don a cap and gown and walk with my former students, knowing that the invisible steel cable that is created between teachers and students continues to hold us together.  Thank you, sweet students from 7 years ago, for giving me the chance to stand in the quiet office of my school, with only the emergency lights on, to cry tears of joy for you and for me and for the gift of being a part of the best profession in the world.  Teach! Indiana!!

My Principal Gets It Right

I just finished reading two blog posts (http://www.indy.education/blog/2017/3/13/teachers-quit-principals-not-schools) and (http://misterrad.tumblr.com/post/158564691132/hey-principals-you-are-screwing-up) explaining how often teachers are leaving their classrooms, not because they can’t handle the pressure, not because they don’t want to teach in their school or community, not even because their paychecks are not enough.  They are leaving because of leadership. 

They are leaving with broken hearts, tears streaming down their faces, with a pit in their stomach.  They want to stay.  They feel terrible leaving others behind.  But, they have finally tried to affect change for the better for the last time.  Teachers are going to another district where students’ needs come first, or to a job related to education, or any place where they feel that their heart for teaching will make a lasting impact.  They are leaving to teach where innovation, creativity, and reaching the heart of every child is the vision and mission of the district.  This stuns me.  How can there be schools where leaders do not support their schools?

As the 2016 Indiana Teacher of the Year, I have spent my year working with educators and administrators from pre-K through 12^th grade, university professors and administrators, policy makers and teacher candidates.  Mostly what I do is go around and share all of the amazing things that I have been a part of accomplishing just by being in my school district, my building, working with my colleagues and MY PRINCIPAL! 

I can’t get very far into sharing the instructional practices, innovation, achievement and growth results we experience at my school without mentioning my principal.  She is an instructional leader, a visionary, a cheerleader.  She leads with her heart and her head, and does that lady LEAD.  The culture in my building is one of always moving forward, always meeting student needs.  Sometimes I think that being inside of her head for a day would wear me out.  How can a person look at absolutely anything and see how it should be just a little better, or maybe a whole lot better?

It is exciting and amazing and exhausting in the very best kind of way to teach at my school.  We celebrate and challenge one another.  We come along side of each other to lead and share, and we listen to each other.  No one knows everything, but every single one of us knows something that could help the rest of us to be better tomorrow than we are today.  Our principal is the one who first believed that.  She is a leader who creates leaders.  She never, ever seeks the spotlight, or makes any move with recognition in mind.  Her most fulfilled moments as a leader are when she sees one of her teachers leading.  Her bar is high, for herself and for us, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

She loves kids. Period.  No matter the challenge, her answer is that we will do what is best for the child.  If that means coming up with a plan that we have never used before, we do it.  We make changes and add programs and tweak instruction because it is what our students need.  We are never alone in our journey, because she manages to lead us from alongside of us. Her favorite phrase is “fail forward”.  It gives us permission to try and fail, to hack and learn, to be brave and joyful!

Want to keep great teachers in classrooms? Put great principals in schools.  Put great superintendents in district offices.  Put kids first. 

Everything We Do and Everything We Say Matters So, So Much

The idea that, as educators, we have this opportunity for profound and lasting influence is often the reason that we are led to the profession.  The reality of that influence, and the legacy-leaving work that we do can remind us, especially on the hard days, that as we cross the threshold of our school building, today may be the day that a student remembers for the rest of his life.

From the little encouragement we give, to the hilarious, engaging memories we create, we must assume that our students will not only remember us and how we made them feel, but that they will have specific memories of things that we said and things that we did.  It is likely that we will not even remember most of those things.

Think about it.  Who was your favorite teacher?  Now recall a memory of a day in class with that teacher.  Realistically, it is pretty unlikely that your teacher remembers that exact thing.  Which is why we MUST remember that Everything we do and Everything we say matters so, so much.  Because the thing that your students remember could literally be anything. 

As I think about one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Oliver, the thing that I can distinctly picture in my mind was entering that third grade classroom every day.  I can see her face, every detail.  From her bright and inviting smile to her dark hair and big brown eyes, I remember.  As she greeted me each morning, I could feel the complete joy that she felt in getting to see me.  I knew, in my third grade heart, that I was, without question, her favorite student.  That smile and her friendly greeting remains etched into my memory forever.  Forever.

After 26 years of teaching, I now know that the magic of Mrs. Oliver was that every single student in her classroom felt the exact same way.  Ask any one of us in her class, and we would have quietly admitted to knowing that we were her favorite student.  She did that.  She did that because she realized that from the very first moment she saw her students, they were recording.  Everything she did and everything she said mattered.

My mom, a teacher for 35 years who is now retired, had a little boy in her kindergarten class ask her the question that all teachers dread, “When are you going to get those papers checked and back to us?”  

“Well,” she answered, “They are in my car and I have been very busy, but I promise tonight I will get to them.  I am a little concerned though because there are so many papers that I may need a truck to get them all to school tomorrow!”

So, sure enough, that evening, she was going through those papers, adding smiley faces and stickers to each one, when the phone rang. 

“Mrs. Herr?” 

“Yes?”

“Johnny is telling me that you need us to bring the truck to school tomorrow, but we don’t quite understand why.” 

The precious part is that they were perfectly willing to figure out a way to bring their truck to school, they just needed some clarification. J Everything we say.  Everything.

Thank you to Mrs. Oliver, Mom, and to so many other teachers, for helping me to understand the power and influence of teaching.  The memories of you and the things that you said and the things that you did remind me to treat the honor and privilege of teaching with the reverence my students deserve.

Teach! Indiana!!

The Future is BRIGHT!!

Last week, I got to go to dinner at a local joint right off the campus of Ball State with four education majors who are also officers in their university’s Kappa Delta Pi academic fraternity.  I am telling you that I have seen the future, and my friends, it is bright!  The eyes of each of these students light up with a fire for the best profession in the world.  They are already talking about “their kids” from their practicum experiences.  They are intelligent and passionate.  They have a heart for learning, and are hungry to be better tomorrow than they are today.  One teacher candidate has committed to an urban student teaching experience, even though she is from a town of a few thousand.  One has been to the United Kingdom, and already has a global approach to her teaching, and another admitted to me on the way back to campus that he plans to be a principal and then a superintendent for his educational journey. 

These four are just a few of hundreds of teacher candidates that I have had the honor of meeting over the last few months.  We MUST keep them!  They are the teachers that will be next door to us soon, inspiring us to do better, to think differently, to engage more deeply.  Encouraging them and supporting them is the most important thing we can do for Indiana’s students.  As an instructional coach, I feel strongly that effective coaching for teachers can play a very important role in getting and keeping great teachers.  We can help to lead and support our newest teachers as they create an engaging learning environment and “learn the ropes” of student-centered, responsive teaching.  We can come alongside our seasoned educators to help them try new things, stretch their thinking pedagogically and philosophically, increase student engagement and achievement and, most importantly, reignite their passion for the best profession in the world.  In addition, teachers in the trenches must have open classrooms and steady dialogue with teacher preparatory programs.  Working with colleges and universities to help bridge the gap between college prep and the expectations of an educator’s job in the classroom is the responsibility of every current teacher in a classroom.

Indiana University has an honor and one-year fellowship for educators called the Armstrong Teacher Award.  Eight educators from around Indiana are chosen to participate in Panel Discussions for education majors, and are matched up with professors teaching classes in their area of expertise.  This was the game changer for me.  As I started having conversations with the two professors of elementary education literacy classes, we really got to the nuts and bolts of what they were teaching, and worked to find any missing components that incoming teachers to the field would be expected to understand, but were not a part of the syllabus.  It started with an opportunity to talk with college students about the teaching profession, and evolved into me getting to teach classes about small group instruction, formative assessment using anecdotal notes, and meaningful integration of technology in elementary classrooms.  Now, I have had the opportunity to do this at several Indiana universities.  Never, in my wildest dreams, did I picture myself doing this!  What surprises me most is how much I enjoy the classroom time with college students!  I now know that I am happy teaching ANY kids in ANY classroom.

So what is my biggest takeaway from these experiences?? The students!  People! I have seen the future, and it is bright!  I mean, put on your sunglasses, watch out for a sunburn, knock your socks off… BRIGHT!  Making sure that our teacher candidates are well prepared for the classrooms they can’t wait to teach in is essential for us to get and keep Indiana’s best!  Teach! Indiana!