Morning
walks are how I start each of my days. It gets me moving and motivated! I’ve
been a teacher at heart for such a long time. So, when I walk I find myself
thinking of experiences with students, being grateful for mentors, and thinking
about the teacher I aspire to become. As
the start of the school year gets closer I’m reflecting on setting expectations and
learning how to lead.
On any journey there are moments when we
get deeply discouraged and eagerly encouraged to follow our hearts. This is
especially true as I consider my winding road to teaching. This week was an encouraging week because I
visited a school and one of my greatest mentors published the second edition of
his book. He has graciously included me in his story of becoming an educator. He writes, that as a middle school student, I “raised
the bar and took control of my goals.”
It’s an honor to be remembered in this way. Nonetheless, his leadership and high
expectations are a major reason for my success.
As principal he challenged us to write goals. The challenge wasn’t an empty expectation
that he had created for a class presentation instead; it was his daily practice
that he had given to us as middle school students. He hadn’t memorized his goals, but pulled
them from his suit pocket to read them aloud to us as a class. The authenticity
of the moment is what made it so life changing.
In that moment the man who led our school
was not leading with the knowledge of the Doctoral Degree that preceded his
name but from his heart! Leading from
the heart is the best way to lead but it is ultimately the most challenging.
There are two reasons for this: First, it
means that you are prepared as leader to share personal experiences that have
shaped you with others. This is an art and takes courage. In order for
this to be effective you must know who you are.
Second, this is not a leadership approach that all communities
embrace. Thankfully, this principal set
the tone for leading with your head and your heart in our school building.
As I reflect on my leadership approach
during student teaching I realize that I wasn’t leading the way I wanted to
lead. I had high expectations for my
students and myself. Yet, I struggled to
effectively convey those expectations to students. Here’s why I struggled with this. My students were did not learn the basics of
leadership from my middle school principal the way I did. So, if I wanted them
to act like young leaders I had to give them the basic outline for leading and
learning from the heart but I never did!
In that first week of school I wished I
had introduced myself with this prompt:
SOARING LIKE EAGLES IN THE UPDRAFTS! It means life
is hard. We recognize that and then keep going! It comes from Dr. R & Dr.
Biddle. What it means to me is less important than who it comes from! So, I’ve also allowed students to know that
these teachers INSPIRE me!
1.
List three people in
your life that inspire you I hope to INSPIRE kids as there teacher, that’s a big HOPE but when they
list the people that do Explain to them that they should always work like that
person could walk into the room at any given moment!
2.
How are you today? History is an EPIC STORY of emotions so, in
order to teach it effectively I care about how you are…. before we evaluate
others feeling let’s understand how we feel and help one others feel
better! We are not always going to feel
good but we should make an effort to feel better!
3.
What is your
favorite thing to do? I am your
teacher, I want you to be a successful student but we need to recognize your
ABLITY to be AWESOME at other things too.
4.
Do you like History/
Social Studies? Why or Why not? (It’s totally alright to say no.) BE HONEST! Most kids don’t like it. They think it’s boning and stupid. We’ll get through it together. It’s easier
to do things that we don’t like if we know that someone’s always cheer us on!
