Welcome To The Jungle!

‘Welcome to the Jungle’ was one of my favorite songs growing up. However, it wasn’t until I was actually living in a jungle when I entered into my teaching, parenthood, and leadership career that I realized what the song was actually about. It is definitely a jungle out there, especially when you are leading a school. The hallways, the classrooms, the moments between driving my kids from event to event while balancing work expectations, trying to figure out how to lead a school, etc. It is all a jungle and it can be scary at times! The big gorillas of fear that can haunt you, or the mysterious creatures of problems that pop up out of nowhere, the fear of the unknown, and the wonder about if you will survive it all in one piece, all feel very real most days. Once I realized the power of the jungle, I valued the need to embrace it and figure it out, pathway by pathway, walking through it together,

Let me explain exactly what I mean by walking together, elbow to elbow, along the paths of the jungle. Let’s rewind back to the first days that I entered the jungle as a brand new teacher, fresh out of university. When I became a teacher, I remember I was so nervous, scared and felt like I had no idea what I was doing.  I struggled day after day trying to find some clarity and purpose to each of my lessons. I pulled lessons from other people or programs and tried to follow it step by step. The thing was, these lessons never felt like my own. I felt like I was an imposter in the classroom and the students did not seem to be buying what I was selling.

One day, not far into the year, my principal, Paulette, walked in to observe my teaching and I remember feeling terrified!  I immediately felt the panic and thought to myself, “What if I do something that she doesn’t like!”  Paulette walked in, looked at me, smiled,  and did something I had never seen before. Most evaluators walked to the back of the room and they open up their computer and type madly while they observe the lesson. The ticking of the keys would make me even more nervous as so many thoughts would run through my mind. Thoughts like, “What is she typing? Why is she typing so much? I bet she has an endless list of all of the things I have done wrong.” The feeling that I was being judged was what I felt every time someone walked to the back of the room to observe silently and started typing.

However, Paulette was different, she didn’t go to the back of the room, but rather, walked right to the front of the room.  She began to team teach with me.  She jumped right into my lesson.  I was shocked at first but she started to nudge me and challenge me right in front of the kids.  She modelled ways I could grow my craft and I started to realize we were in this together and that she was taking responsibility with me.  I also thought, “If this goes bad, it’s both our fault! I can’t lose!”  As we chipped away at the lesson, she nudged me, questioned me, and I started to get into the flow and find that passion and clarity I was so desperately needing. 

Paulette, my principal, was leading me and teaching me right on the spot, in the middle of the lesson.  She was right beside me in the jungle of my classroom with my reality, teaching me, learning from me, and the kids were witnessing us learn alongside each other. Soon I started to lead her and she became a lead follower and it became one of the best lessons I had ever taught.  The kids were ecstatic and so engaged.  I felt confident and had so much growth in the hour that she was there. 

I realized this was so powerful because Paulette wasn’t telling me, she was showing me.  It made me feel like we were partners and she was not just supervising me.  We succeeded together and we failed together.  She had an investment in me and was vulnerable right alongside me.  She had no idea what my lesson was when she walked through that door but made a pact to figure it out alongside me. She also helped me to realize that I needed to trust myself. I instantly became more confident and had way more clarity in the fact that I could build my own lessons and use other lessons to supplement. She guided me to the realization that I did know what I was doing, and that I had to trust myself to do the work and be vulnerable enough to take some risks. I found a passion and a purpose for teaching and the students saw this in me and instantly became more engaged and excited about learning too.

I realized the power of a master teacher/leader teaching and learning alongside me.  I began to watch Paulette during alot of my preps and I asked to team teach with her whenever I could.  It was after this experience, that I knew I wanted to pass this inspiration along and eventually become a leader. I decided that year that I wanted to make an impact through leadership as she did with me and that I wanted to lead as a principal modelling and walking the walk. 

Fast forward to principalship and the fear and doubt that gripped my mind once again. I was back inside the jungle of my mind allowing the gorillas of fear grip me once again. I wanted to stay safe and avoid some hard things. My mind kept telling me I didn’t know what I was doing and that I wasn’t good enough.  I struggled once again, trying to find clarity, purpose, and passion. As a new principal, I was scared because I realized that all that credibility I had built up as a vp and a teacher needed to continue and ignite the whole school now.  What was I going to do to make this the best school and do the best work of my life? I didn’t know where to start until I took a moment and went back to my own experience. I went back into the jungle and reflected on how I felt when I first entered it. I went back to my own beginning. I went back to the people who walked alongside me slaying a pathway through the brush. It wasn’t the people who were leading the way telling me what to do that made the most difference. It was the people who walked alongside me. I had tons of people who impacted me in the most important ways. I had elite coaches who taught me how to play and read and react in game time, teachers who nudged me, and of course, Paulette. I walked myself back to those days and thought about how each coach and teacher made an impact with me. What did they do that struck home for me? How did they deliver their messaging? How often did they connect with me? Next, I went back to the biggest aha moment, back to that day where Paulette walked in the room and walked through the jungle of nerves and teaching strategies alongside me.  I remembered how she impacted me in that moment and thought about what she did.  Paulette and my previous coaches had one thing in common, they walked the walk in the jungle alongside me and they also threw me into the jungle with more than words. Instead of telling me what to do they used actions and modelling and made it a partnership.  They didn’t tell me, they showed me.  I realized that I wasn’t alone and that we were in this together. That was the biggest thing that made a difference for me.

I went back to that day where Paulette walked through the door.  I replayed the student’s faces as they saw principal and teacher learning from each other.  I replayed the fear and apprehension and then the massive realization that we were in this together, and how safe that made me feel.  It lit a fire in me and I wanted to do that with the school I was leading.  I wanted to make that big of an impact with the teachers and students that she had with me.  That was exactly where I started, inside the classroom with teachers and students, modelling and working together using so much more than words.  And..it worked!

As a principal, I realized problems do not get solved in the office but in the jungles of the hallways and the classrooms.  When I walk through a classroom, I am never at the back of the room but right there inside the jungle, allowing those gorillas of fear and vulnerability to brush by me but then to walk alongside them and the teacher.  When they bring a problem to the office, we walk right back to the classroom and figure it out there. I have invested in the jungle and my goal is to always be a part of it and in the muck of it all with my fellow colleagues. “Changes in behaviour often precede changes in belief (Fullan, 2006). Direct engagement, modeling, and team-teaching is a way to help resistant teachers to “act their way” into new thinking. Everybody wants improvement, it is change they don’t like. So if you are right there with them trying things out for the first time, you have more of a chance of making improvement. Lori Neilson once said that professional renewal is an essential ingredient in good teaching that we neither buy nor have bestowed upon us; we renew ourselves by revising who we are and what we do, daily and consciously, alone and together with students, colleagues, and friends.

When I have a hard day or moment, the guide and compass takes me right out of my office and back into the jungle to figure it out together. I learned this in hockey too.  I will always learn the game way better in motion and in game time, with my coach by my side, catching and releasing me to the jungle, figuring it out together as the game plays out rather than sitting and watching a coach draw on a whiteboard telling me what to do. 

As leader, I have learned to always put myself right in the place where I will make the most impact, the jungles of the hallways and classrooms alongside the people. It’s a jungle out there but we wouldn’t have it any other way….although a little less chaotic jungle at times would be nice…:)

If you want to learn some ways to lead alongside, join me in my free live master class happening next week.  You can register here now! I will teach you 5 steps to creating this type of a culture and inspiring teachers and students.

Welcome to the jungle!  I hope to see you there!

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