Dear Anonymous Teacher

 Dear Anonymous Teacher,

A few weeks ago I had you fill out a survey for me for a PD that I was going to. It was about my leadership style and it asked you about the things I do well and the things that I need to improve on. 45 people completed the survey and I received the results earlier this week. I got a lot of good feedback for my personal growth and it was great reading some of the comments at the end. Those comments do more than the numerical ratings because it lets you hear the thoughts of the people that I work with. The comments taught me that I might be more of a "people person" than I thought and that communication is really important to the people that work here. I learned that I could improve on being more direct with some people and that I don't always seem consistent. But your comment caught my attention the most. It said, "Even though it sometimes feels as though I was a "better than an empty classroom" hire, I am thankful for the opportunities and training provided by working at GCHS." Reading it made me pause the first time and I've come back to it several times since. 

The survey was anonymous and that gave everyone permission to say things that they mean. But it also means that I can't find you to tell you that you're more than a "better than an empty classroom" hire. I don't need to know who you are to tell you that. I know this because you're still here. You show up to do the job of trying to educate and lead children. You mentioned being thankful for training and opportunity. That shows that you're taking it seriously and are conscious about trying to be better. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of working in an organization is that we often compare ourselves to others around us. We see others with more experience or even just someone in a good moment and feel like we aren't enough. We also see others in a time of struggle and wonder why they can't get it together. It's human nature and I'm probably never going to be good enough to change that about the people in any organization. But I can tell you that you matter to this organization. You show up for kids and those kids (even though they stress us out) are always our top priority. 

Over a decade of leading schools has taught me that it's much more difficult today to find teachers than it was when I started. I used to ask all kinds of pedagogy questions in interviews and now I look for people that care. We can teach you how to teach if you're willing to learn. That's you. And it's everyone else that reads this and wonders if they matter or if they are doing well enough at this crazy thing we call education. So do me a favor and throw that phrase out of your mind. No matter who you are, I promise you're good enough.