I am passionate about making a difference in our world and schools by working with the people who have the biggest impact, the teachers. The students will rise and see what is out there for them if they have coaches and mentors who will build them up and work alongside them. I feel teachers/leaders need this as well. Therefore, we as, leaders and administrators, have to do the work to be visible and vulnerable with a sprinkling of a fierce, but gentle urgency for change.
My work started with my little girl writing a note for me on my pillow that read: (I have kept the spelling and grammar the way she wrote it to keep it authentic and true to the author!) “Dear Mom, Your idea’s that you right on a page are incredible! But your idea’s come from your heart, not your pencil. A pencil is used to remember things on a page! But you don’t need a pencil to right. All you need is your heart and your mind to work together.”
She spent years listening to me talk about how I wanted to become an author and she wrote alongside me too. After reading this, I knew the power of modeling and how we could potentially inspire our youth, and the people who influence them in the most powerful way – through talking, modeling, and learning alongside them. However, as leaders we had to do just that, be visible and show up for each other. In turn, our own lives just might rise too.
My work consists of my school’s journey of how we built our school culture. It includes the success, the struggle, and the ‘messy beautiful’ that has emerged. I am very passionate about improving teacher practice in order to enhance and align school culture through a workshop structure. I know the importance and the impact of supporting teachers within the classroom. Currently, I am in my fifth year of trying to do this very thing. We have built on workshop with teachers each year and my work showcases ways to integrate a gradual release of a co-constructed, collaborative culture in order to create a Super School. Here are some of the ideas that I include in my work and will touch on in later posts:
-ways to set up meetings to keep housekeeping to a minimum and professional development to a maximum
-ways to build wellness into the lives of all who grace the walls of the school
-admin/teacher week long workshops to support teachers with six different modules to focus on
-ways to build vertical and grade teaming and to ensure that action steps are happening towards your goal
-ways to build school culture
-ideas to set up teacher and student wellness committees and setting up success for instilling habits that start your day
-ideas for superintendents to get their admin on board with building wellness into schools in order to enhance culture
This is all work that we have done in our school and have had a lot of success with but also alot of bumps along the way. I will try to be as real as possible about the process because every moment was worth it.
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