Do the Most Good

I originally wrote this blog post about a year ago. This seems to be the time of year when teachers and leaders wonder if the grass is greener in some other district. I think it is important for us to reflect on our level of commitment to the students we serve and the vision of our organization. As with any marriage or long-term relationship, commitment is a choice. We could always choose another way, but staying committed...that takes patience, communication, and work.

Why did you get into education? What made you decide to be a teacher in the first place? I think it is important to revisit this connection at this time of year because it is a time of the school year when there is a lot of contemplation about how things could be easier or better or more convenient in another school or in another district.

I don't think I thought about the impact I could have on other people's lives or on the greater community when I got into education - I was 23 and I was so excited to have a job - my focus wasn't on my role in changing the lives of children or families. Soon after I got a handle on my new position, I became aware of how my role extended past my classroom and into the greater community. As I grew as a teacher, I reflected on my role as a teacher and I knew that I had to admit that I knew that there was places where I could have a greater impact. That was my draw to urban education.

I believe that we need to "do the most good" - that if we are capable that we have a responsibility to help others.

While we can do good in any district, not everyone has the competencies for urban education. And urban education is where we have the greatest need. The children in urban classrooms need the absolute best teachers. They need committed teachers who have deep content knowledge, extensive strategies for managing classrooms, and who appreciate the diversity of our urban classrooms. While the grass may appear a brighter color of green in suburban districts, the reality is that the same grass grows everywhere. Urban, suburban, and rural districts all face challenges. However, the challenges in urban education cannot be solved without the best teachers working to overcome the disadvantages our children may have and strengthen the future of our urban communities. 

Urban teachers have to have strong classroom management skills and have a deep commitment to educating our future. Those are the teachers that we need in urban classrooms. And we need those teachers to stay committed to solving the challenges of urban education. Too often in urban education, we invest in developing a teacher with potential and then after a couple of years they think teaching will be easier somewhere else. Suburban schools are smart - they know that successful urban teachers can be successful anywhere. However, the inverse is definitely not true. It takes grit to be an urban teacher. Anything that is worth doing in life will have challenges. There are classrooms everywhere - but really making a difference means teaching where you can do the most good. Even when it is tough. They say that teachers aren't "in it for the income - they are in it for the outcome." Being the one who can help to shape the future is the best perk that we can have as a teacher - better than summers off or great health insurance or snow days. We are opening doors to the future. 

The Power of Teachers

This weekend, I went back to my hometown for the funeral of a family friend. I saw my elementary PE teacher, my middle school art teacher, former students, former students' parents, and colleagues from my first teaching position. As I talked with people who had meant so much to me throughout my growing up and early years of teaching, I thought about the power of teachers to impact, influence, and encourage the trajectory of individual lives, families, and the community.

I grew up in a small town. The school is the center of the community - providing support, social interaction, encouragement, and a sense of safety for students and their families. My first teaching job was in the small town where I grew up. Many of the teachers who had been my teachers in school became my colleagues. I realized that teaching was a calling for these amazing teachers. They were unbelievably dedicated - not because they were paid to be, but because of their belief in the students and the future of their community. They saw limitless possibilities in their students and went above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of their students and their families. They gave countless hours before and after school without compensation to run clubs, have play rehearsal, volunteer at sporting events, or tutor students with homework.

Main Street in the small town where I grew up and began my teaching career.

When I began teaching in urban schools, I realized that there were many connections between rural and urban teaching. The most important similarity is that students, families, and the community need dedicated teachers who are willing to go above and beyond. Even if the schools that we teach in are dramatically different from those we grew up in, we must bring the same level of commitment and dedication to our students as we want from the teachers of our own children - like what I experienced in that small town.

Teachers have incredible power to impact lives and to change the outcome for so many students. I often write about the power of belief because it has been so important to me personally and I have seen it make a difference in the lives of the students I teach. If the message that we give our students is "I believe in you and I will be there for you no matter what," then they start to believe in themselves - they start to see themselves through our eyes. But that takes time and commitment. In urban schools, the trust is so thin. You must build trust with students through consistency - in terms of belief, follow through, and expectations. Too many people have already let our urban youth down - we must recognize that the power that we have to change lives can go both ways. Our words, our actions, and our messaging must always underscore that we have unconditional belief in our students' future - that is what will truly change our communities.

I love the message in this poem by Taylor Mali. He shares why he teaches - what makes him restart every day. All of the political undertones of education - APPR, Receivership, Turnaround, accountability, funding shortages, curriculum shifts, common core, or the cornucopia of letters that identify new programs and new guidelines - none of that is as important as knowing that we have the power to change lives each and every day in our classrooms. I didn't become an athlete or an artist, but I know that my elementary PE teacher and my middle school art teacher believed in me. And when I shared with them this weekend that I am now a principal of an elementary school in an urban district, I could tell that they still believed in me. That power of a teacher - powerful, powerful stuff.