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!!