Giants!

I woke up today with the most beautiful moment. I turned over and saw my baby smiling back at me. She must have snuck in in the middle of the night without me knowing. She couldn’t wait to tell me about her dream. Her dream was about a giant who kept following her around. She was scared at first but then she stopped and looked at him and realized that he was friendly and he just wanted to help her. “He became my best friend mommy.” This made me think about all of our dreams and how they can feel so big at first but if we just start to work towards it, chipping away at it, it won’t seem so impossible anymore. These giant dreams of yours really can become goals which can then become reality.

My dream of becoming a leader who inspires people through healthy habits, being visible, and motivating them to do the best work of their life was that giant. At first, it seemed so scary and I felt like I was running away from it for fear that it was too big and too ridiculous that people would laugh. However, the more I ran the bigger the pull that I felt towards it. Finally, after the gift of conquering another dream, receiving my Masters degree in Education and Leadership, I realized that this giant was big but also friendly. I just had to get to work, get rid of the excuses, and face it head on. My work has evolved so much and I am finally friends with the giant, even though there are some days we still have our little tiffs! 🙂

I started with being visible in the classroom, working alongside the teachers, and finally stopped and I listened. I heard what the teachers wanted support in and I got to work creating modules that leaders could work with teachers in the classroom with. These modules were designed for teachers to choose from. The leaders and teachers would then work together for about an hour each day for a week on the module they chose. They would plan together, teach together, and meet each day to reflect and problem solve. The goal is to challenge leaders to be more visible and more aware of what is happening inside the walls of classrooms. Teachers will feel more supported and have a chance to showcase their amazing work. Most of all students, teachers, EAs, and leaders can build a stronger relationship and feel more connected.

I have created a Culture Curriculum, in which it provides modules on how leaders can support teachers in order to build school culture by working with them inside the classroom through a pedagogical and wellness lens.

The Six Modules are:

 1)      Reader/Writer Workshop – Working through the lens of the Author and exploring Writer’s Crafts. It also provides ways to build more workshop into your lessons and get students doing most of the work and talking. It provides support in whatever the teacher may need to help build workshop. This will include a lot of ideas from our work with Matt Glover.

 2)      Math Workshop – Developing metacognition and thinking/speaking like a Mathematician. This also provides ways to embed workshop into a math lesson.

 3)      Assessment – Including students in gathering and collecting evidence of learning and triangulation of evidence.  There will also be a section for administrators and leaders to access an effective triangulation of assessment for adults.  This includes a lot of ideas from Sandra Herbst and Ann Davies.

 4)      Learning Support – behavior concerns, engaging all types of learners, involving educational assistants and scaffolding support

 5)      Wellness For Teachers – Time Management, projecting units of study, motivation and engagement, providing optimal opportunities for students/teacher learning, professional development support, surrounding yourself with positivity and giants in the field, optimal team time, integrating daily habits into their lives, and leadership opportunities

 6)      Wellness for Students – Ways to educate students on living the best version of themselves through nutrition, the importance of who you surround yourself with, exercise and learning about implementing daily habits.  This module demonstrates ways to use podcasts to inspire and motivate students as well as wellness committees, starting school student podcasts, health carts, recess clubs, morning habits, journaling, meditation and life coaching.

My work will focus on aligning autonomy of teacher practice through these fixed points.  It is about creating every opportunity to learn, taking immediate action, expecting accountability and shortening the feedback loops to ensure face to face time more frequently between leaders, teachers, and students.  This work is about creating an environment where teachers and students feel valued and confident in what they do through the lens of wellness and masterful pedagogy.  It is about providing education and modeling how to show up each day as our best selves.  Empowering a village of teacher leaders to ignite others is the key to this work.  Leader collaboration/visibility is the cornerstone of where the work begins.  It challenges leaders to take massive action by working alongside teachers modeling their own vulnerability.  My work also presents a case study of our own school’s journey and develops a culture curriculum for building a growth minded culture that is aligned through reflective teacher/leader practice in order to improve student/teacher learning. 

I am also in the process of writing a book. This is another giant that I am now facing instead of running from. This giant has also become a good friend of mine.