Impact

Sometimes life gives you little reminders of places were you may have had an impact. It's easy to get caught up in your personal and professional events and forget that the things you do, have a lasting impression on others. And when you need to remember, life has a funny way of putting a reminder right in front of your face...literally. So as I sat in an EC classroom this week to do a teacher observation, I saw a student wearing a t-shirt that I hadn't seen in a very long time. The shirt was one that runners and supporters received for the Bo Run. The Bo Run is an annual high school cross-country race held in memorial for a student, Bo Thompson, who had passed away in the early 2000s. While I did not coach Bo, I knew him fairly well. I coached for another school and we partnered together to host a summer running camp in the mountains. In the wake of his death, several of the teams with runners who knew him started the memorial race in his honor with proceeds going to charity. The race is still an annual event and will be held on September 28th this year. It's a pretty big deal now with tons of schools and individual runners participating. I honestly hadn't thought about it in a long time until seeing the shirt.

It's strange to think back to the kids I coached who were there when it started. To think about how they grieved his death. We watched at the first race, and students from many different schools joined in prayer and support for one another. They overcame an obstacle and helped start something that continues to make an impact today. In the moment, we knew that we were helping kids grieve and supporting a good cause. Those "kids" are all in their 30s now and a whole new generation participates in the event. Today's runners didn't know Bo and if they start the race in traditional fashion, only hear a short story about how the race came to be. But seeing that old tshirt reminded me that the things we do to support kids really do mean something. The phrase on the bottom of that shirt served as a powerful reminder that the actions we take for kids matter in their lives and while we often share comforting words with them, it's the things we do that mean more. 

Smile

I'm privledged to have met a lot of really interesting people throughout my time in education. I've met politicians, policy-makers, CEOs of large businesses, and all kinds of people with a lot more influence than I'll ever have. It always makes me feel proud when one of those people asks me my opinion about something related to education or when I have the opportunity to brag about a program, teacher, or student. It's the same feeling you get when someone says something nice about your children and you get to brag on them a little. 

This week I had a great conversation with a former legislator. We chatted about schools today, what it takes to lead one, and what issues face those who work in and attend public schools. I can talk all day about that stuff, but I had to acknowledge that it's not as bad as they would have you believe. He asked me to explain that, so here goes:

There's a lot of noise today around education. It's a topic that people care about and it generates interest and emotion. Politicians and anyone trying to get you to support one will tell you some narrow or jaded (sometimes wildly false) view of one part of education. But the truth is, I think we are doing ok. Yes, we need more funding. We always have. Yes, we need more people who want to teach and work with students. We always have. Yes, some policies and locations make the job more difficult than others. There always have been. But despite all of that, every educator that you know can tell you a heartwarming story about a kid. They can probably tell you a funny story from just this week. 

When I told him this perspective, he said something that gave me that same proud feeling. He said, "I always know that if you need to smile, just talk to an educator." It's true. You are the advocates that tell first-hand stories about what you do every day. Some of those stories are crazy! Some are exciting. Some give you hope. Tell your stories and make people smile. It'll give you that same feeling.

Goals

I signed a lot of Professional Development Plans this week, and I always find it interesting how differently teachers in the same building can write up a goal. Some teachers write highly detailed language that could rival the best AI bots. Others write very simple sentences that get right to the point. Some sit down to complete the task as soon as they can, ready to mark it off their list. Others put it off until they are forced to get it done. (Yes, I'm talking about you if you haven't done yours yet!) There's no right or wrong way to have a goal. The only things you can do wrong are to not have one or to forget to guide one. Having goals is similar to tending a garden. If you never plant seeds, it's pretty foolish to expect plants to grow. And if you don't water and fertilize those plants, they probably won't yield much fruit. 

If you're normal, the professional and personal goals that most of put on your PDP aren't always fully capable of capturing what you really want to accomplish in a school year. Your department developed a goal that's likely centered on curriculum, something new that came your way, or a problem that needs fixing. Those are pretty formal. But the bigger question is what do you want to get out of the next ten months that we call a school year? How do you expect to change? I forced myself to take a dose of my own medicine this week and think about those things as I sat down to write my own PDP. Like most of you, I kept that document pretty formal, but afterward, I wrote out some goals of my own and I'm going to do my best to water and fertilize those goals this year so that the change I want is actually something that I'm working towards. So if are like me and you didn't take the time to write those things down in a PDP this year, do it for yourself. Otherwise, you might find yourself staring at bare dirt, while gardens around you found ways to grow. 

Awards

This week I got the privilege of accepting a couple of really important awards on behalf of the school. On Thursday our school was recognized by the State Board of Education for renewing our STEM School of Distinction Model School status. A ton of work went into the achievement of this award. STEM teachers put a great deal of work into the courses and counselors have the arduous task of getting those courses to fit within the student schedules. Several teachers and students also worked with Emily Lahr to complete the rubric and host the site team when they came to grade our school. When the presentation was made to the State Board, they acknowledged that our school had been a part of this designation for over a decade and that now it was a part of our culture. 

On Friday evening we give out the state championship rings to the players, coaches, and support staff of the 2024 baseball team and they were nice enough to give the principal one as well. Just like the STEM award, a lot of work went into making the state championship possible. Players and coaches put in lots of practice. Many teachers volunteered to work in the concession stand or gave up precious weekends to watch them play in the final games. And we won't get into the field maintenance and other work it takes over a long season to make everything right for game time. 

This week's awards show the dedication, effort, and resources that go into building something great. The unfortunate thing about these awards is that only a few get to receive them. But it takes a community to pull off both of these accomplishments. Think about the parents who take the time to learn about the STEM program and get their children to make this investment into their education. And I'm fairly confident that many of these parents have some effort in making those Grand Challenges happen. Think of the hours that go into taking children to practices, lessons, camps, and games. And for both programs, think about the many other community partners that support, cheer, and give to make us better. These awards are given to the school, but they represent a much larger community that all made investments. So while I get to hold a banner or wear a ring, I know that many others celebrate these achievements along with us. And that's a pretty cool thing to take part in.