Learning Along the Way

I have to admit this is the third post I have attempted to write in the past few weeks since we have been home due to COVID-19.

Wanting to write something meaningful, but going through the same struggles as many in adjusting to a new normal has given me pause.  I’ve had some wonderful moments having extra time with my family and connecting with others in new ways, but there have also been moments of feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and unsure of what my role is as a school leader.  Having never been through something like this I’m just trying to figure it all out as much as the next person.

In the spirit of newness and we’re all in this together, here are my greatest takeaways so far:

Start with simplicity and then build from there.

This is new for everyone.  Kids, parents, and educators need to learn and adjust to the new routine.  There will also be a learning curve for the tech piece for some.  Create a simple template that follows a pattern and uses some foundational technology that you plan on using throughout the time kids are learning at home.  Spend the first few days making sure that everyone can use the technology and provide assistance when needed. Creating or linking tutorial videos can also be helpful for avoiding some of the technology confusion.  Many educators I have spoken with have said that this is where most of the questions came in the first few days.

Once the routine is established, you can start to add in more new to what you have created.  If you are concerned that some students need more of a challenge at this time, add in some optional activities so that all kids can have their needs met.

Relationships are more important than ever.

One of the greatest losses that students are experiencing at this time is the sense of community.  Whether it’s a virtual meeting, a phone call, an email, or a handwritten note, reach out to students regularly to see how they are doing beyond academics.  At Jefferson, my teachers have used Zoom or Google Hangouts to get everyone together as a class.   Although not a live form of connection, they have also used Seesaw for communication and inviting students to share what they have been working on.  We want students to continue to learn during this time, but placing an emphasis on the relationship first will lead to a stronger ability for students to do that.

You can never communicate too much.

During times of uncertainty, people need communication more than ever.  Last week I started virtual daily announcements on our social media platforms for the purpose of keeping a routine and helping families to continue to feel connected to Jefferson.  Just like our in-school announcements, I recognized birthdays and shared important information about virtual activities for the day.  This will continue throughout our time at home as a vehicle for both daily connection and communication.  Our teachers will be sending out a communication to families at the beginning of each day letting them know important information for the day.  Additionally, families will continue to receive my weekly communication with both school and district information.

Beyond communicating about “all the things,” it’s also important to remember to let people know that we are all a team in this process.  Many of our families have two parents now working from home and maybe feeling overwhelmed at the thought of also now being a full-time teacher.   Reassure families that if they don’t know how to help their students in something they are working on that is okay.   Letting families know that we are here to help and providing communication channels for when they need help is also incredibly important.

Regular reflection to move forward.

Reflection is an important skill at any time, but during this unprecedented time in the world, taking time to reflect is more important than ever.  In the beginning, I spent a lot of time thinking about my role as a school leader at this time and what I could do to make my greatest contribution to our Jefferson community.   As a result, I have spent most of my days focusing on connection and communication.  Each day I reflect on the day’s process, what went well, and what I could have improved upon.

Additionally, I’ve thought a lot about this experience and what might we learn that we can bring back when we return to our regular school schedule. (whenever that may be)  What has really stood out to me so far is the home school connection and how much this has brought us all together.  I actually feel so much more in touch with our families as a result of this experience because I’m seeing or hearing about home life so much more.   I see possibilities for more creation of a shared vision and a greater partnership with the home when we return as a result.

I think about teaching practices as well.  Learning at this time has caused us to focus on what is essential, instead of trying to do it all.  We’ve focused more on relationships and connecting with one another.  We’re building on what we know works well with our students, but we’re also taking more risks.  We’ve incorporated more technology than ever.  How might that impact our planning and instruction when we return?

One Last Thought

We’re all trying to make meaning out of our new existence.  Do the best that you can.  When you are stuck, reach out to a friend or a colleague (hopefully both).  If you’re a parent, no teacher is out there judging you if you don’t get all of the math or Seesaw post 2 done.  If you are an educator, it’s okay to reach out to your principal and say, I’m overwhelmed, I need help.  If you need to spend a day just connecting with your own children that’s okay.  If you need to spend some time just doing something you love all by yourself, that’s okay too. (I mean, if you have kids, you might want to talk your partner about your plan to retreat to the basement to binge-watch Tiger King and eat a box of chocolate first so you don’t reappear with a live re-enactment of Lord of the Flies occurring in your living room.)  This is a time to give yourself grace, and also extend that courtesy to others.   

 

 

 

Compassion Fatigue

If you’re in education you’ve probably either heard of or experienced ” teacher burn-out,” a condition that results from being over-worked or under-valued or the experience of a disconnect between the work you required to do with the truths you know to be true about teaching.  This Wednesday my social worker gave a presentation to our staff about something I had never heard of, “Compassion Fatigue.”   

Compassion fatigue is common in fields like education where people are regularly taking care of others.  It’s best described as “the cost of caring too much.”  From the outside, it may sound like burn-out, but it results in much more grief, sadness, and detachment from the person being affected.  If not treated, the results can affect the person physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

A truly eye-opening part of the presentation was on Self-Compassion.  We each took this survey that required us to rate ourselves from one to five, one being almost never to five being almost always on a variety of statements related to the way we respond to difficulties.  Some of the statements included:

• When I feel inadequate in some way, I try to remind myself that feelings of inadequacy are shared by most people.
• When things are going badly for me, I see the difficulties as part of life that everyone goes through.
• I’m disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies.
• When I fail at something important to me I try to keep things in perspective.
• When I’m feeling down I try to approach my feelings with curiosity and openness.

Prior to taking this survey, it had truly never occurred to me that other people would have similar feelings of inadequacy.  Just knowing that gave me an incredible sense of calm.  Other staff members that I spoke with at the training made similar comments.  Without even looking at the results, just rating myself on the survey made me realize that I am not very compassionate towards myself.  Self-judgment has always been my go-to.  The thought of any other option was completely foreign.

I don’t think it was anything that my parents, teachers or anyone else did that resulted in me being so hard on myself.  It was just always there.  This has gotten me thinking about our students.  What are their inner thoughts?  Do they judge themselves harshly or do they practice self-compassion?  Do they feel alone in their failures and self-doubt or do they recognize that feelings of inadequacy are shared by others?  

People who are self-compassionate handle stress better, move forward more quickly, and can enjoy life more because they are able to live in the moment.   If you take the survey, there are some strategies and exercises recommended for developing more self-care.  At our training on Wednesday, we learned the following:

• Separate from what you wish you can do from what you can do.  Set a daily intention with something small.  (Small daily wins practiced over time lead to big ones!)
• Acknowledge your fears…and release them!  
• Develop a Self-Care Plan…part of this is being ok with saying No!
• Create a Strong Network…Disconnect from things to connect with people
• Be Authentic…Embrace who you are!…Let go of the pressure to be someone else…model this for students!
• Practice Mindfulness…Daily practice…change your view and you change our world

I’m sincerely so grateful to our social worker for putting together this training for our staff.  It’s already helped me to be more self-compassionate over the past few days.  Let’s all be a little kinder to ourselves.  You are perfect the way you are today, not because of your actions or what you will become.  Like Stuart Smalley said, “You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you.”

 

 

 

Unlimited Growth & Connection: Creating a Common Vision

“It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.” – A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Now maybe I’m being a bit dramatic using the opening line of a book about the dichotomy of people’s lives during the French revolution to describe my inner turmoil as I drove to work on the opening institute day of the year, but I honestly don’t think I could describe it any better.  Never in my life have I been so insanely excited about something while also so completely terrified at the same time.

As a former instructional coach, I know that trust starts day one. It’s not one thing you do, but a collection over time that builds up.  Brene Brown tells a story in Daring Greatly of a time that her daughter lost trust in one of her friends who hurt her deeply.  Her daughter’s description of how trust works has become one of my favorites.  (I actually used it on the opening slide of my keynote that day.) 

“Trust is like a marble jar. You share those hard stories and those hard things that are happening to you with friends who over time you’ve filled up their marble jar. They’ve done thing after thing after thing where you know you can trust this person.” 

I had started building a few marbles of trust with my staff over the summer, meeting in coffee shops individually or in groups to get to know them better, but this was the first time I would be addressing them as a whole, sharing my hopes, my fears, my dreams and promises to them as a leader.  The importance of vulnerability is another concept I learned from Brene.  This felt like vulnerability on extra strength steroids. On this day not only was I was going to be incredibly vulnerable, but in one of our activities, I was asking my staff to also be vulnerable as well.  It was a perfect storm for complete success or epic failure.  

I learned from Katie Martin visiting our school last year the power that sharing your why can have in creating connection as well as a direction for the vision of the school.  With this in mind, my instructional leadership team (myself, assistant principal & coach) planned out an activity where staff members were asked to bring two objects, one representing their personal why and one their professional why of everything they do.  They then were asked to get into groups of four with people they don’t normally interact with and share the stories behind them.  Finally, they had to create a visual that represented the common theme among them.  They had about an hour to do this and then were instructed to come back to our Multi-Purpose Room to share what they had created.

Our greatest hope was that we would find a common thread among them that would focus everything we did for the year.  Our greatest fear was that nothing would be connected and we would be coming up with an artificial idea that some people would get on board with, but others would find greater disconnection.  

My assistant principal and I spent the hour walking around classrooms listening in to the powerful conversations that groups were having with one another.  Many shared stories of people, adults and children, who had had a great impact on them.  The positive energy was flowing as smiles and memories lit up the faces of everyone involved.  It appeared that although each story was unique, there were definitely common themes emerging.

At around 10:00 the moment of truth arrived and we asked the groups to return to our MPR to share their common threads.  As each group stood and shared their creation, it was truly amazing to hear the ideas that each group shared and the inspired ways they chose to represent them.  You can see a picture of what they made below, but one group made a chain with important words connected together.  Another group drew a puzzle with different pieces connected.  Another team talked used Buzz Lightyear in their image to represent that students need to know that they have infinite possibility.  A couple groups used nature to demonstrate how as educators we want students to grow to their full potential.

It was completely inspiring to see how much we had in common.  I deeply appreciate the vulnerability it took to have these conversations in sharing their passions and beliefs.  It was because of this that our vision for the year emerged easily:  Unlimited Growth and Connection, applying to both our staff and students.  

We spent the next hour sharing ideas for how we could better connect with students at the beginning of the year and throughout.  Splitting up the ideas into the four categories of:  Classroom Community, Community of Learners, Sense of Belonging and Student Strengths teams, we created a chart that could be referred back to throughout the year.  Each staff member selected one to two ideas of something new to try this year and created a plan of action.  

The week and a half following our opening day has been nothing short of amazing.  As I have been in classrooms and around the building I have seen our focus unfolding and evolving as each person has been connecting with our students in inspired and inventive ways.  Yesterday one of our staff members shared an idea with me that she and another staff member have for our entire staff for Unlimited Growth and Connection that totally blew my mind.  They are hashing out the plan for it this weekend and I sincerely cannot wait to talk to them about it on Monday.  

We have decided to use #unlimitedgrowthandconnection in our social media posts for the year to share our journey with others.  

This is another quote that I shared on my first day to describe the best team I have ever been a part of.  It was truly the best time in my teaching career and I thought it would be impossible to duplicate.  As I have begun to build relationships, I am seeing this same quality emerge in my Jefferson staff, students, and community.  That sheer and utter terror I had on the first day has turned to delight, pure joy and excitement for the great work we will do together.  

As always, thanks for reading!  Christina