That Friday morning, those kids taught me...

It all started out in typical Friday fashion.  I was determined to have my ever growing to-do list chopped down by the end of the day.  As a million thoughts rushed through my head, I hurried quickly back to my office to peck out some response emails, review a bus video, and set the plans for a future PLC, I was handed a small pink sticky note with a name and a number written on it.  I was told that a lady had called and asked for an administrator to call her back; no other details were given.  I grumbled under my breath as I walked the final few paces to my office, plopped down in my chair, and stuck the note on my desk.  I resisted the urge to trudge through my to-do list, lifted the phone, dialed the number, and began to listen to the caller on the other end of the line.

The voice on the other end was gentle, yet it was easy to distinguish that hint of brokenheartedness that is felt rather than heard.  The lady kindly introduced herself and, without knowing how to cordially lead us in, quickly plunged into the issue at hand.  The lady on the phone was a concerned grandmother that was worried about her granddaughter.  She began her story with a little background information about her little girl.  She talked about how her girl had always loved school and seemed to really enjoy learning.  She talked about how much she loved her and how she was her life.  Her next word ate at my core.  It's not that the word itself is bad.  Granted it shows contrast, yet it usually goes unnoticed in conversations.  Not this time.  Not in this conversation.  When this grandmother muttered the word "but," everything changed.  Right after she said it, she had to apologize because she had begun to cry.  She didn't have to tell me that she was crying, I could hear it in the trembling of her voice.  I could feel the heavy heart from her words and occasional sobs.  She illustrated for me a story of a little girl that has been constantly picked on for something that she can't even help.  For a very common skin condition.  She told me that her granddaughter had become the "cheese" of the infamous "cheese-touch" from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  She sobbed to me that her granddaughter  who once loved school, who once couldn't wait to get to bed so she could wake up the next day, had to be pried out of the car on this typical Friday.  That same girl who hung on the words that were spoken in class by her teachers and peers, cried herself to sleep at night because of the punch line she had become.  As she talked, my head hung low, but not lower than my heart.

I concluded the phone call in a typical administrator fashion, but my heart hurt.  There are times that you go through the motions; you follow policy, procedure, and protocol.  You don't think, you just act.  Then there are times that you're human.  You feel, you hurt, you hope.  After that call, I was human, humiliatingly human.

After hanging up the phone, I took a minute to get my thoughts together then called the little girl into my office.  Other than the, "I don't think I did anything to get called to the office" look she gave me when she turned the corner in my office, her attitude was not what I was expecting.  The little girl I locked eyes with was surprisingly chipper for someone who had to be dragged out of the car previously that morning.  She merrily talked about her morning and how she liked her substitute, but misses her teacher when she's gone.  After the formalities of introduction subsided, I asked her about some of the things her grandmother informed me about.  She told an identical tale of being picked on since 1st grade.  She told me the whys and hows and whats.  Enraged at this point, I asked for the whos.  Who in God's Holy name could be bullying such a sweet child...I thought to myself.  I was going to deal with that bully or few bullies.  I anxiously anticipated her answer, but was humbled by her response.  This sweet little girl, with pain in her eyes, gazed at me and said, "Mr. Richards, it feels like half of the entire grade picks on me."  I didn't think my heart could drop much lower than when I was on the phone with the grandmother, but believe you me, it did.  I am known to be able to throw out a pretty good poker face.  Very few things shake me, but there is no way that that little girl couldn't see the hurt in her eyes mirrored in mine.  However, what happened next was the most amazing thing.  Without even thinking, possibly in the same breath, she used that word...that same word that changed everything in the conversation with her grandmother.  That same word that will again...change everything..."but!"  "But Mr. Richards," the look in her eyes returning to the sparkle she displayed at the outset of our meeting, "there are some students in my class that never pick on me."  "They've even stood up for me."  She went on and on about the times they've helped her and how they make her happy and not sad like the other kids.

As she talked I zoned out.  This was too much for me to process.  Here is a girl who has been bullied for years, and all she can really talk about is the people that have come by her side.  I asked for the students names and called them to my office.  When the group arrived, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting the students that showed up.  I'm not sure if the ingrained Hollywood image of heroes and heroines just has me messed up, but this was the rag-taggiest group of kids ever.  Honestly, and this is sad for me to say, I'm not sure if I had ever even seen a few of the kids before that fateful Friday morning.  I asked them all to sit down and gently shut my door.  The lone boy in the room joyfully asked, "are we in trouble?!"  I honestly didn't know how to respond.  I sat down in my desk chair and stared face to face with six children.  Six snaggle-toothed, pig-tail braided, breakfast stained shirt, crumb wearing kids...and I never felt more humbled.  Here were six children, all under the age of 10, and five of them were heroes to one little girl.  I am never at a loss for words, but I was then.  I simply said, "thank you."  After being asked why, I went into further details.  I'm not sure what all I said to them, but I hope my heart came out as I said thank you.

They later left my office with smiles and headed back to class.  I called each of their parents and thanked them for having them at Wood Elementary.  Each parent was grateful for the call, but none more grateful than I was for having the opportunity to make the call.  On that Friday morning, I sat face-to-face with five heroes.  Five students that were willing to go against the grain.  Five unassuming students that have made a huge mark on one child's life, and one administrators life, simply because they were willing to do what was right.  That Friday morning, those kids taught me...

The POWER of Home Visits...

My first 6 years of teaching was spent at wonderful charter school named Carolina School for Inquiry in northern Columbia, SC.  One of the things that the school prided themselves in was that each teacher did everything they could to visit every child in their class.  My colleagues and I would schedule visits together and get as many done in one day as possible.  I remember one day where I drove over 200 miles zig-zagging  across the Capital City.  Columbia is not a huge place, but our attendance zone was huge, and I had a ton of students to see.  Despite the driving in a truck that only gets 12 miles to the gallon, the days that I did home visits were some of the best days I had in my teaching career.

Today I took two 4th grade teachers with me on a home visit to see a student in their class that they were worried about.  The student wasn't home when we got there and never came while we were there, but we had the immense pleasure of speaking with his grandmother.  When she opened the door, she wasn't sure what to make of the visit, but after we explained why we were there, she welcomed us with open arms.  She continuously commenting on how great it was that we came and saw her.

After leaving the visit, the teachers were informed, relieved, and excited.  It made me start thinking and reflecting about the power that a simple home visit has on the classroom all the way to school culture and community views of the district as a whole.

7 Rationales behind The POWER of Home Visits...
*not in any particular order.

Team Building - As soon as that doorbell rings, there is a very interesting team that is forged.  Student, family, teacher, admins, district personnel, etc. (YES...even people not on the visit can benefit!)  KNOW that everyone is willing to meeting in the middle and/or go out of their way to make the educational experience a successful one for everyone.

Teacher's Understanding - The teacher is afforded an opportunity to assess the home life of a child.  Not in a judgmental manner, but in a way that will benefit the child.  If the teacher observes an impoverished environment they will be able to plan, act, and react accordingly.  The teacher will also be given the opportunity to meet the persons that make up the household.  It may be a nuclear family, or it may be a very eclectic family made up of aunties, or cousins, or family friends, or any other combination.  Regardless, this information will help the teacher connect to and relate with the student.  The teacher may also discover hidden talents, interests, skills, and/or accomplishments the child has that would not otherwise be shared.  All of these will assist as the teacher strives to make the learning engagements more relevant.

Parent's Understanding - Many times parents will pass their baggage of poor school experiences off to their children.  When a parent sees a teacher uncomfortably out of their confines of the classroom, it levels the playing field.  The parent can view the teacher as a person, as a regular, good ole' human being.  The lines of communication can be opened that would otherwise be closed.  Trust can be built!

Student's Understanding - I once heard it said that "you can't teach 'em until you can convince you care!"  I know it's cliche-ish, but dag gum it's so true.  A home visit is a very "un-mushy" and "un-Hollywood" way to say, "I care and I'm here for you!"  The times that I jumped on trampolines, played X-Box, Wii, checked out family pictures, ate Grandma's home-made fried chicken and collard greens, listened to a impromptu piano concert, at popsicles on the back porch, helped clean a fish tank, and so many other things that I did on home visits were in a sense uncomfortable for me, but the students understood that language.

School Culture - Students, teachers and admins have a very big role to play in the building of a positive and quality school culture.  I just struggle in understanding how a culture could be bad in a school that values students enough to take time out of their busy schedules to visit students and their families on their turf.  Conversations begin to change from, "blame blame blame" to "let's work together as a full team to figure this out."  Students are valued, parents are valued, teachers are empowered, admins are supported...sounds like a solid recipe to me!

The poverty stuff makes sense - Dr. Pawloski from the Francis Marion University Center of Excellence came to Lexington County School District 2 to talk with the employees about honoring students of poverty.  However, she surprisingly did not define poverty using the income scale, but instead simply said that poverty is a condition in which a child is missing something of importance or a basic need (think Maslow).  This can possibly \ include even children from filthy rich families.  A home visit can help assess the needs the children are having met on a daily basis, but also identify needs that are going unmet that may hinder academic performance.  Again we have more information that can be used to better make the curriculum relevant to the needs of the individual child.

Improves reputation - When teachers are willing to go out of their way...they look good, the schools looks good, the district looks good...HECK even the state department of education looks good!

FUN - Home visits are just fun.  You get to see students in their element...in their environment...dong what they do!

I'm sure I'm missing some more reasons on why home visits are so powerful, if I did please add what you think in the comment section!

Chore doer vs. Leader

I was reading last night and reflecting on this past week. I have realized in my short time doing the admin gig, that there is a huge difference between completing the admin chores and leading the people. Many people are more than capable of completing the admin chores. I think that's why so many people make very unsuccessful attempts at administering schools. Teachers and other school building personnel can easily pick out admins that are poor at the chores and correctly think "I could easily complete those chores." However, great chore completing principals are not always great leaders of the people they serve. This lack of leadership from an admin causes distress among their followers; maybe even more stress than a completely incompetent admin would cause. At least one that is poor at the chores and at leadership has an excuse to be bad (bless their hearts)! On the contrary, an admin that humbly displays an ability to lead the people they serve is not necessarily bound by their personal chore completing ability. The ability is a plus, but not mandatory, because great leaders delegate. Efficient and effective delegation empowers, not burdens, followers, as well as frees time for the leader. Furthermore, great leaders also bestow many intangibles (communication, empathy, sympathy, vision, discipline, etc.) that further empower followers, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, further deepening the roots of the organization.

Situational Awareness

My wife is off at bible study and my baby is in bed, so this is finally a perfect time to blog.

Today was our first early release day of the year, which in my district means "Cohort Day". All of the APs in the district met together and were led by Dr. Lindsey from the University of South Carolina. She is a veteran of the schools and has served in a plethora of capacities from teacher all the way to Deputy State Superintendent. On top of all that she is personal and fun to interact with. Needless to say, she is someone you want to listen to.

During her presentation, she reviewed the 21 Traits of Effective Leaders from Marzano. After her review, she handed us all a sheet with each trait listed and asked us to circle 2 strong traits and 2 weak traits. Situational awareness was the first thing I picked as a weakness because of the daily feeling of things running 1,000 mph while I'm only moving at 10 mph.

I remember feeling the same thing as a new teacher. I remember the day when I realized that I could actually do this and be good at it. I remember thinking, "man, I knew what they were going to do before it happened." I was glad to see that moment. Now, I wonder how long it will take for me to feel the same about my job as an admin. When will it all slow down a little? When will I get my frame of reference? When will I be aware of the situation so I can be proactive rather than reactive?

I can't wait for that day to arrive!

Respect for reading...

Picture linkI am in the midst of this awful turmoil in my life. I lay in bed awake at night, my mind rolls as I drive in my truck, my thoughts wonder during bland conversations, my stomach tightens at the thought of my issue, my distress quickens my tempo as I run in the wee morning hours.

I just can't seem to shake my fear that students are being force fed reading skills (main idea, details, inferencing, cause & effect, etc.) without ever being guided and scaffolded into a love of reading. Now my utopian view does reach a level of realism in the fact that I understand that not all students will LOVE to read in the end. However, if we don't balance the scales of skills and love of reading, we may be in more serious trouble than we already are.

I have always been drawn to the beautiful game of basketball! As I was starting out my very short career in rec league basketball as a 5 year old playing with 6 and 7 year olds, I was placed on Coach Mike's team. Coach Mike was the park supervisor and possessed a love for the game equal to mine today. Coach Mike knew, however, that a love to basketball must be accompanied with an understanding and ability to execute the skills. During practice, we practiced defense and dribbling with both hands and proper shooting form and passing, but we ALWAYS got to play and play hard and have fun. Through this, even as very young boys, we learned to love and respect the game. We were taught both HOW to play basketball and to PLAY basketball. Even these days, as a 30 year old wannabe, I find myself bouncing the ball off the house, cutting around a pick to the top of the key, catching and releasing the ball in fluid motion in order to practice. I respect the game!

I fear that students these days are crammed with reading skills that have no meaning. They're forced to read and respond to canned questions, forfeiting their chances to truly interact with text. They read snippets of some of the best children's literature ever written from the pages of a reading basil only to answer comprehension questions at the end of the section, complete a vocabulary quiz, and write poorly connected spelling words in alphabetical order. Never is the child taught to savor the story or struggle with the character or criticize the author's writing style. Granted, an understanding and ability to utilize the skills of reading is needed for this to take place. However, isn't a love for reading equally needed?

A respect for reading will only be fostered in children when we balance teaching them HOW to read with teaching them to READ! One canNOT be done without the other!

Yearly conundrum

I laid in bed last night anticipating my first day as an AP with the teachers in the building. I found myself in a familiar place, thinking about all the challenges I am going to dish out, but scared to death of failure. I plan on asking for great things from the teachers just like I did from my former students, but like so many times before, I'm paralyzed by fear of the challenges before me. I'm not going to lie. I'm a cocky man that would never willingly admit fear (I think I just did though). However, I'm scared of not living up to my unreasonable expectations. To counter this yearly conundrum, I will have to remember the two things I preached to my students (which really was more of an excuse for a daily personal reminder):

1. Do EVERYTHING with all your heart, mind, strength, and ability.
2. Fail successfully.

Even though my job description has changed, my answer to my yearly conundrum has not: work hard, fail, reflect, learn, repeat.

If the teacher is bored...

I heard a college professor rightfully say in a lecture, "if the teacher is bored, the kids are dead!"

I was thinking about this statement yesterday afternoon on my drive home from school. I thought about the exciting conversations I had with several teachers that were hard at work preparing their rooms for their new students. I thought about the passion and excitement in their voices as they talked about the fun they have in the classroom learning along side the children. I thought about the teaching ideas being generated and shared that will create an exciting learning environment for all. I thought about the teachers that ran into the office ecstatic about a fun video idea that could uniquely showcase our school. I thought about the expressed interest in innovatingly utilizing technology in the classroom in order to make the instruction more rigorous, relevant, and fun.

All this made me wonder, "If the teacher is having fun, the students are _________!"