Quandary

There are many things that we do in schools to impact student learning. There is growth planning, assessment development, instructional discussions, curriculum development, social-emotional learning activity planning, health and wellness programming. All of these things and myriad others are part of the big picture of student learning and success. However, these discrete pieces can sometimes take on lives of their own, in that particular attention gets paid to areas of need, and then effort and resources follow. Sometimes, these discrete things take on a large proportion of time and thinking and the big picture takes a back seat. I have found with school vision and mission this can often be the case; that is, we focus on the needs of the day intensely and don’t carve out needed time to talk about the why. The “why” is so important and as Simon Sinek articulates in his book, Start With Why, knowing the WHY helps the what and the how, the discrete items make sense.

My thinking led me to dig into the why again, to read over our school’s vision statement, to reflect on what our hopes are for our students. Our hope is so important in what we do. We desire to see the best possible future for our kids and giving them the tools to influence and be a part of that future effectively is the heart of all our efforts.

Vision: Empowering a community of life-long learners who are socially responsible, mindful, and resilient.

Looking at the statement again it resonates with all the discrete pieces. But it resonates mostly with a deep rooted desire to ensure our kids are capable and critical thinkers, kind and caring citizens, and able to navigate the unpredictability of life with a whole heart and sound mind.

I think the discrete aspects of what we do as educators serve the most crucial purpose in our society. We are developing the most precious resource that any society has, it’s children. We are trying to be keenly attuned to their needs and support them in their whole selves and bring to bear a better future in our world through their future prospects. We must envision this preferred future in all we do. Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser say we must empower all students to have “dignity, purpose, and options;” this is an idea foundational to developing our students into the people who will shape their, and our, preferred future.

Quest

Being present as an administrator in a school is absolutely the essence of the work. It is crucial to not only be visible, but be invested in the learning going on in the building. The best thing that a principal can be doing is building relationships with students and staff by being there and being interested and demonstrating as much as possible that this is the priority. Getting out there and being available to students so that they can share their reading, show off their art skills, explain their 3-D printing design. Be there to give feedback and be involved in the work the kids are doing in classrooms. That involvement is contagious for teachers and support staff and that experience of your involvement is craved by students. Walking through a classroom today connecting with students at their activity centers, the teacher was able to hand a student their book and have them read to me. The child was so proud to do so and I was delighted to share in their effort and success. Then another appeared on her own with her book. All of a sudden there was a line up and I was in no hurry to move through it! Each kid beamed when given a little compliment about their skill and effort and I was thankful for the teacher who set the ball in motion and involved me. Getting into classrooms, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 or 30 as much as we can is the best time spent. We get to know kids, we get to know teachers and we get to be involved. What I believe is the crucial component of this investment is to be wholly committed to it in the minutes you give and not divided as the work can dictate. Be present with every fiber of your attention to the people who need you to be.

Quest

I have been thinking about healthy outcomes a lot recently, particularly as we have rung in a new decade. The new year always brings resolutions to do more or differently, or better. These are often big commitments to wellness or productivity or family or… It is often hard to meet the expectations we hold for ourselves in these resolutions and then it all falls apart as we settle into old habits, comfortable patterns or get consumed by being busy.

My quest is to not be just simply “busy.” Hey how’s it going? “Oh, really busy, but well.” “Super busy right now but keeping up I hope.” etc. Truth is, the “busy” is always there, how we approach it is the opportunity. So, I am aiming to avoid being busy.

I attended a professional learning session recently exploring Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. From this session our speaker, a former superintendent in my school district spoke about his connection to Covey’s inspiration in Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning; the inspiration being that there is always a moment for choice (I’m paraphrasing here). That is, no matter the situation we have opportunity to choose our response. This idea had been sitting with me since my own reading of Frankl’s book but hearing it aloud brought it right to the surface and it has stuck around for a while now.

This idea stood out to me because as I reflect often on decisions made or communication or whatever being busy is, I think that this moment is truly important. It has this importance because we can choose our commitments to ourselves, our partners, our children, our colleagues, friends, students, and communities in these moments if we are thinking about them.

What has recently been frustrating for me personally, has been a feeling that being busy had control of my choices. What I want is to consciously choose the busy that I am. I want to write when I could sit on the couch and watch TV; I want play and be present with my kids after work when I could read one more twitter article; I want to walk my dog when he could be put out in the yard; I want listen when I could speak.  These are just some of the wants, the list is myriad, and I’m sure I will continue to have moments that don’t fit with how I want to be busy, but I am aiming to see the moments and choose my busy.