The Power of Graduation

Last Monday, on my way home from the beach, I stopped by my grandfather's house to help him with some chores. He is 87 now and while he still thinks that he can do everything, he probably shouldn't. While I was there he mentioned that he recently had his high school reunion. I had always heard there were some strange circumstances surrounding him finishing school, so I took the opportunity to get the whole story. It goes like this...

My grandfather was a dropout. Not just that, but he finally dropped out of school at 16 because he was still in the 7th grade. As the oldest son of tenant farmers, he often missed school to work in the tobacco fields and this led to him being held back numerous times. At 16, he just stopped going altogether. That year, a man that went to his church, who was a principal at another school, told him that he would help him study over the summer and would help him get back into school the next fall. My grandfather agreed to this and worked every night at this man's house. The next year, the man told him to go back to school and join the class of kids that were his age. That fall he entered Lucama School in the 12th grade. A couple of weeks later, his school records caught the attention of his principal. My grandfather explained the situation and asked him to talk to the other principal that helped him. Two weeks later he was told he could stay. The principal even purchased him a class ring. My grandfather paid him back at the end of the year with tobacco money after he graduated. After high school he joined the Army and fought in the Korean War. He came home to Kinston and got a job at Dupont and worked there for the next 30 years.

Can you just imagine the chatter among the teaching staff at learning about the kid that was just pushed through from 7th to 12th grade! Weren't there any standards? Wasn't this just social promotion? I'm sure they thought that school must just be pushing kids through with no regard to what they actually learned. It's the same things we say today, but that was 70 years ago. To be honest, kids today graduate with the highest set of standards in American history in regards to graduation requirements. It doesn't always feel that way when we see a kid that doesn't do much to earn that walk on the stage at the end of the year.

Since high school, no one has ever asked me my class rank or my high school GPA. Once the moment of graduating happens, life is all about what you do next. It's what you do with that opportunity. You have a chance to build a life and it can be better or worse than the one you had before. The principal that helped my grandfather saw a young man struggling to help his family. He must have known how poor they were and how they moved from place to place, each smaller than the last, to make ends meet. He must have known about the social issues in their home that still plague homes in poverty today.

Without graduating, it is very likely that my grandfather would have continued as a tenant farmer; poor and uneducated. Graduating high school gave him a shot at a better life and while it may have been unethical to put him in the 12th grade, it made him better and society better. My mom, his daughter, went on to be the valedictorian of her high school class. My grandfather had adopted a respect for the power of education that did not exist in his family before him and he pushed that on his children. It was pushed on me as well.

In one week the chairs will be set out and the tassels will be hanging from caps as eager high school students prepare to leave us. Some worked very hard and some not very much at times. Some are gifted and some are not. Once that diploma hits their hands, they all become equal with an opportunity to be whatever they want to be. They have a chance. That is the power of graduation.

Behind the Scenes

Over the past few weeks I have been pretty busy. There have been several end of year ceremonies, performances and awards that I've attended. At each of these events I've been paying attention to something other than the main event. I've been watching the people behind the scenes.

Those that work behind the scenes work exceptionally hard to go unnoticed. If they do their work well, your focus stays on the performer(s), the action or the stage. All you notice is that everything ran smoothly for you to see what you were intended to see. They work hard to make someone else shine.  Between the students that run lights, sound and props at the Ramblers show, assistants that organized and ordered plaques, and staff that mail home notifications to family, there are many things that get done that we often overlook. I saw that especially this week as we prepared for the Senior Signing as SGA officers worked with school staff to organize the event and as our staff worked hard to be certain that every student walked away with something to represent their school. All we saw was a large group of happy students that proudly signed their name for everyone to see.

Teaching is the same way. We have been working hard to prepare students for an exam that will lead to credit for a course, and ultimately, graduation. If we do our work well, students show up, do well in an exam and everyone congratulates them on their achievement. The work behind the scenes is what got them ready for that day. So as we prepare for the end of the year, much like the end of a performance, I want to thank the crew. Thanks for all of the work behind the scenes that has given our students the opportunity to shine. Their achievement comes from your work and while you may not be in the spotlight, your work hasn't gone unnoticed.

You Get What You Need

The Rolling Stones formed in 1962 and emerged in America as a part of the British rock invasion that swept the country. Unlike all other bands of that era, they are still around today. While they may have started out with lyrics like, "I can't get no satisfaction," they grew up to learn that, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you'll get what you need." There is a lot of maturity in that change and I think we go through the same changes in schools. When we see problems that are difficult to fix, we feel very unsatisfied, but when we put our own effort into it and roll up our sleeves, we often can get what we need to make it work.

Yesterday our student leaders met with the Board of Education. I try to never script what student say at this meeting and let students have a real voice for what matters to them. They discussed wanting some changes to Overtime, increased prep for college applications and scholarships and some general upgrades to school facilities. We try to work through these big requests and find a place where we can get what we need. That same philosophy holds true for me as well. This week and next I will be working with the counselors and data managers to build our schedule for next year. Right now I (and you) want a lot of things, hopefully, with some effort, we will get what we need.

Things that we want changed take effort and while we may not always get what we want, when we put forth that strong effort, we do usually come out just fine. Thanks in advance for all of the last minute effort that so many of you are putting forth, I'm certain that our students will get what they need.

Passion

Three bricklayers are hard at work. A man passes by and asks, "What are you doing?" 
The first bricklayer says, "I am laying bricks."
The second says, "I am building a church."
And the third says, "I am building the house of God."

The first bricklayer has a job. The second has a career. The third has a calling. 

                                                                                                                                                                   

On Wednesday when Marlanna Evans spoke to our senior class about her career and what inspired her, she talked about passion. She explained that she has put 10,000 hours over 10 years into what she calls her job before she has started to receive recognition. That passion for who she is and what she wanted to do has paid off. She asked that our seniors take the same approach in choosing what their next step in life will be. I hope that they listened.

Teaching is something that you have to be passionate about to appreciate. Much like the story of the bricklayers, the emphasis of our job changes depending on how we see ourselves, not how others see us. I think that if we applied this parable to education, the first person would be teaching students, the second would be growing young minds and the third would be building tomorrow's citizens. The passion that one has for their job and their goal can greatly impact how they perform. It is usually easy to spot someone that is passionate about their job. These are the people that are always enjoying what they do. They put extra time and effort into it and they genuinely care about the outcome. I have no doubt that any school has all three "bricklayers" on their staff and honestly, that's ok. It takes time to determine what you are passionate about. Inspiration does not come overnight. I do encourage you to find what you are passionate about in this job and seek to grow that into a career and if you're lucky, a calling.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week and thanks to all of the "bricklayers" that are building tomorrow's citizens.

Perspective

I thoroughly enjoyed spring break this year. I spent some time with my family, relaxed and even managed to knock out a few chores that I have been putting off. One of those chores involved cleaning out old documents in my home office that needed to be thrown out. In this process I managed to find my first paycheck as a teacher. This instantly brought my productivity to a standstill. My first paycheck as a teacher was much smaller than I remembered. At the time, Erika and I were in our first year of marriage. She had a car payment and we had purchased our first house. Erika was still in school and was doing her nursing internship. Until February of that school year, this check was our sole source of income.

Those of you that are older than me will get this, those younger might not yet. There are a few key moments in your life when you first feel old. This was one of mine. After trying to figure out how on earth we managed to even buy groceries that year, I laughed at myself for feeling like my grandfather when he would tell me that a Pepsi used to cost five cents or when gas was more than a quarter a gallon. After the initial shock, I was hit with the fact that this paycheck brought me a lot of perspective. In thirteen years a lot has changed. I've grown and while my paycheck does look better now than it did then, I definitely spend it much differently as well. Children and things like insurance and savings start to take the place of nights out with friends and late night pizza orders. We grow and adapt and if you don't, you're stuck with what you had then.

In the coming weeks we will all be completing our end-of-year PDPs. We will look back on our goals for the year and how we did toward meeting them. We click a few boxes and determine if we reached our goal. This time of year is important for that same perspective. Where did we end up and where do we want to go next. How has our instruction changed and have our values changed? What are you good at and how can you be better at the other things? Reflection and this perspective of looking back allows us to appreciate where we have been and celebrate where we are now. Growth is not just an important word for student test data. It's just as important for each of us and it's a personal thing. I'm sure that in 2004 there were plenty of people that would have loved my paycheck and there were many others that would have laughed at it. Growth is specific to the individual. So what is your perspective? What mountains have you climbed? Where are you headed and what challenge will you take on next? Think back to your first year teaching, or if you're a beginning teacher, think back to your first month. How much better are you now and how have your priorities changed? Most importantly, take time to laugh at yourself when you think through your journey. Those things that looked like mountains then, just might look small to the goals that stand in front of you today.

Get Rested & Get Ready

One week from today we will all be enjoying a much deserved break. I have seen the looks on teacher and student faces over the past week of exhaustion. With spring break falling a little later this year than last year, many of us are simply doing our best to hold on through prom next Thursday night. Despite the mentally and physically demanding days, so many of you are neck deep in after school events that continue to help our school and our students. I want you all to know that your work hasn't gone unnoticed. We all appreciate you. 

When we return we will be in the sprint to the finish. So many things will be demanding our time and attention and graduation day will be here in the blink of an eye. In that short time I will be asking everyone to dig deep for test prep and to get all of our seniors to graduation. So much of school success comes in the last month of the school year. I say all of this to remind you all to follow one of my main rules...take care of yourself. Please take time to put away school work, put down lesson plans, log off of your email and log on with your family and friends. You've earned some time to be selfish and you need it. I want you rested and ready for when we return...have a lot to do when you get here!

Nothing

I recently saw a teacher post her frustrations with her students via social media. (Don't worry, it's not one of you!) The teacher remarked that her students had come to her with the age-old question, "What can I do to improve my grade?" in the week that grades were due. In her post, she stated that she always responds to that question with the same answer, "Nothing. I hope that this teaches you to do your work when it is due, but I doubt that it will." This teacher was obviously frustrated at the fact that this seems to happen every time grades are due.

That question is frustrating to a teacher. I remember that feeling very well. Objectively, I try to think back about myself as a teacher and what I did or could have done differently in that situation. All I can come up with is that if there is anything that you do not like as a result in your classroom, then you have to be the one to change the environment that causes that result. If this teacher is always frustrated with this response from students, my question to her is this: "What did you change to keep that from happening?" The answer that she gave her students applies to her as well. "Nothing."

I have written a lot about teacher leadership recently and how it has to start within the four walls of your classroom. Recognizing where things go awry and working toward changing that for the better is true teacher leadership. In this case, it's also data-driven leadership! It's never too late to assess, identify and respond to issues preventing student achievement. What can you do today that will change things for the better in your classroom?