Our Bucket is Full

This week we inducted our National Honor Society students. I videoed my message to them rather than delivering it in person and for some reason, I changed what I usually talk about. I wish I hadn't now. My message usually makes the comparison to them as the "Talented Tenth," a term used by W.E.B. DuBois in his plan to advance African American society. My message is the same as what DuBois wanted. The best among the group should rise up and lead the change for the rest. 

When I taught my African American history course, my favorite unit involved comparing DuBois and Booker T. Washington. Both men had strong plans and while they competed to promote those plans, I wish that they had worked together more. Washington's plan included the idea that all African Americans "cast down their bucket" and pull up one another through hard work and effort. Right now, I see so much of Washington's plan in our teachers. 

School works right now because teachers work. Since we began, I have seen so many of you help one another by sharing resources, information, time, and expertise. You have all cast down your buckets, in an effort to pull up one another. Those buckets are full and that is why we are continuing to make progress. Had we relied on a few instructional coaches or admin to try to fix technology, curriculum, or instructional problems, we would still be painfully behind. A talented tenth could not work fast enough to meet the demands that opening school and teaching students have given us this year. Luckily, so many of you have risen to that challenge and I cannot tell you how much I brag on you to every person that calls, emails, or visits our school. While I hope every day that we are moving one step closer to getting schools back to normal, I genuinely hope that your spirit of collaboration never goes backward.