There is something about new days, new beginnings, new school years, and new life. It is a sense of renewal. It is that pause between breaths and that satisfaction of a new breath filling your lungs. It is that bright spot and that moment when everything seems ok. I love coming back to school and seeing the sun kissed faces and hearing the stories of a well rested summer. Seeing how rejuvenated everyone is makes me think about how we can keep this feeling all year long. How can we get through the sludge of report cards, the biting chill of winter, and the overwhelm of everything that comes with being a human? These questions were on my mind for awhile now and finally I am taking action and doing something about it.
My vision this year is to encourage and educate teachers to challenge themselves to stay lit all year long. This idea of being lit came from Jody Carrington, who is the author of Kids These Days. I highly recommend this read! However, wishing and dreaming for it just isn’t enough. I have sat on this for too long and I have made the decision it’s time to get up. The three action steps that I plan to take are: 1) educating them and modeling healthy habits 2) being visible and face to face as much as possible 3) having the expectation that everyone, including myself, will do the best work of their life this year.
Let me be more articulate as to how these three steps will get us closer to our goal. The idea is to educate them about taking care of themselves first. We will continue to make this a priority at all of our professional development and staff meetings. We will model healthy habits and develop morning routines so that we can all come to school feeling refreshed instead of rushed. An example of what our school will continue is developing our 5 am club. A few of our teachers started this club last year in which we check in each morning with what we are doing to start our day. We began this last year and it was so inspirational. Each teacher had a choice to join and when they did, they chose what brought them joy each morning and tried to do it every day. Some teachers chose exercise and journaling while other teachers decided to get up and feed cows with their husband in order to spend more time together. This group was a game changer to me. The teachers also felt the effects of joy settling in because for the first time in their lives they were doing something for themselves. We will also build on our wellness committee for teachers and students in which we will focus on making habits out of our dreams and goals.
The second milestone that I plan to reach as a leader is to ensure joy and passion stays for the long haul. Being visible in the classroom and shortening the feedback loops so that I can be as supportive as possible is one of those immediate actions that I will take. However, my goal is not to just be visible. It is to work alongside them modeling my own vulnerability and journey while also instilling intention and purpose back into my own work. I will model this frequently, meet face to face with them as much as I can, and challenge them to take an immediate step towards their own goals, whatever they may be. In our first staff meeting we plan to have the staff choose one goal that they will work on for the entire year. This goal can be personal or professional but the idea is that they can’t just dream, they have to brainstorm three things they will do this year to get closer to that goal. We will then challenge them to take a sense of gentle urgency to move towards that first step. We all deserve to be happy and to find our calling. We go all in. We do this for ourselves and for no one else. I believe in this so much because it is a gift that I have found for myself. It has brought me to a whole new level of knowing myself and what I am capable of. We all deserve this!
Finally, I will challenge them with expectations to do the best work of their life this year. If we all showed up every single day as our best selves, our students would benefit, our joy and passion would return, and we would have the support of each other to take our growth beyond the classroom and into the world. In order to do this we need to build connection, explore emotional regulation and wellness strategies, and share our journey through evidence and action steps. We will challenge each other to lean in. I learned this from Jody Carrington. Show up as authentically as possible every single day and see what happens! We will expect teachers to surround themselves with people who raise them up, challenge them, and change the conversation. We are called to influence. We are called to inspire and motivate. In order to do this, we must be influenced and inspired as well but we must seek this seemingly forbidden fountain and drink from it. We are called to do the work so let’s go all in and do it. We are not alone. We are here for each other and we will rise.
Here are some concrete examples of what are school is already doing and how we are moving forward one step at a time.
Admin/Teacher Week Long Workshops – 6 modules to choose from
Always Face to Face Whenever Possible
A dedication to triangulation of assessment for adult learning
Goal Setting and 3 steps towards making that goal happen
Collaborative teaching/Grade/Vertical Team Times embedded into the day once a week
A Dedication to Developing Daily Habits to Help us to show up as our best self each day for ourselves. Everything else will rise because of this!
A promise to do our best to stay lit all year and to continuously check in
Looking at more ways to make space for connection
Developing a School Wellness team for staff and students
Providing resources for people to access support and ideas. For example, hosting a wellness fair, book clubs, podcast sharing during meetings and through class, etc.
Mentorship and empowering teachers to lead the learning
What if….we went for it. Went all in for ourselves and created connection whenever possible? What is your what if? Choose one and then write three actions that you will do this year to get closer to your goal. Let go of your excuses, adopt a growth minded behavior with a whole lot of grit, and then acquire the skills to achieve your goal. Do this for yourself and lean in to that sense of gentle urgency so that you make something happen today.
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