Teach Boldly

Years ago, I was blessed to be in a position to hold seminars with groups of educators designed to discuss and build leadership skills both informally and formally, internally – for the individual and externally for the school. As we discussed leadership skills and qualities, we would talk about new tools being put in our toolboxes as leaders. This year in Teach & Serve, I have decided to talk about many of those tools.

RELATIONSHIP

I work in a Lasallian, Catholic school. When I am asked what makes our school different from other Catholic schools or other schools in general, the first word that comes to my mind is “relationship.” The connections that our teachers make to our students and that, we hope, our students make to each other defines who we are. We believe that our work in fostering relationship is as important as the curriculum we teach. Strike that. We believe that our work in fostering relationship is the curriculum we teach.

Building appropriate relationships is no small matter for an effective leader. It is a tool that serves a leader quite well. Knowing those you serve and letting them know you is very important to our work as educational leaders. Being able to form solid relationships speaks to openness and authenticity and approachability. Those who do not wish to be in relationship have a harder time being in leadership.

I have often considered and discussed whether those with a preference for introversion are as naturally suited to leadership as those with a preference for extraversion. This question really comes to a head here when we think that relationships are so important to leadership. Those with a preference for extraversion generally develop relationships more quickly than those with a preference for introversion. But those with a preference for introversion tend to develop more solid relationships over time. For either preference, relationships are important and those with either preference can be strong leaders.

Those who do not desire relationships cannot.

I often speak to teachers about something I hope they know: they have immense impact on their students and it does not take long to change someone’s life forever.

When I was a senior in high school, I had a teacher for College Western Civilizations named Charlotte Read. She was also the yearbook moderator and, that year, I was the Editor-in-Chief.

As I remember, Ms. Read had a degenerative issue with her eyesight and, before the end of the first semester, she had to retire. I am not sure that I have the details correct, but she left school before Christmas and we had a new College Western Civ teacher and a new yearbook moderator. 

This was well over 30 years ago and here is what I remember: I remember Ms. Read making me feel smart and competent. I remember her empowering me. I remember her giving me confidence. I remember her making me a better person.

I had her in class for less than 3 months.

Ms. Read, you were part of my educational journey and you changed my life.

We never know the influence we have… While culture tends to promulgate the “those who can, do, those who cannot, teach” idiocy, there are hundreds of examples of brilliance and impactful teachers in reality and in pop culture. Every-other-week this year, I will share my brief reflections on Smart People Doing Smart Things be they in literature, in film, in music or in real life. Many will be teachers, but not all. Many will be fictional, but some will be real. All will be inspiring. Welcome to IntelliPop!

Years ago, I was blessed to be in a position to hold seminars with groups of educators designed to discuss and build leadership skills both informally and formally, internally – for the individual and externally for the school. As we discussed leadership skills and qualities, we would talk about new tools being put in our toolboxes as leaders. This year in Teach & Serve, I have decided to talk about many of those tools.

TIMELINESS

This is the easiest of tools and it will not take much… time… to explain.

Good leaders are on time. 

Good leaders do not waste others’ time.

Good leaders end meetings on time.

Good leaders arrive on time.

When leaders do not show that they value other’s time by letting meetings run long, but arriving to gatherings late, by not sticking to schedules, they are indicating they believe their time is more important than anyone else’s.

That is a disastrous position.

Good leaders are timely.

You will not talk me out of this one.

Years ago, I was blessed to be in a position to hold seminars with groups of educators designed to discuss and build leadership skills both informally and formally, internally – for the individual and externally for the school. As we discussed leadership skills and qualities, we would talk about new tools being put in our toolboxes as leaders. This year in Teach & Serve, I have decided to talk about many of those tools.

ALLOW FOR MISTAKES

One day, when I was an assistant principal, I was sitting in my office with my best friend, who happened to be our school’s other assistant principal, and a young teacher came in. She was visibly upset.

“I’ve lost an entire set of tests,” she said.

She was close to tears or in tears. I do not remember. It has been a very long time.

Without missing a beat, one of us said – and, truly, neither of us remember which it was – “oh, I remember when that happened to me” and proceeded to work the problem with her.

Neither of us had ever lost a set of tests.

People are going to make mistakes. Frankly, leaders who are secure and who are involved in healthy organizations want people to make mistakes. Fail fast and fail often is a great mantra and it was surely in play last year during the height of the pandemic.

Not only do leaders have to make room for people to make mistakes to lead successful schools, they need to create an environment in which it is okay to do so.

In another instance, a teacher I knew lost her keys to the building. She was so fearful of what was going to happen when leadership found out that she never told anyone. I do not remember how she got in and out of the place or what happened when she was supposed to turn her keys in when she left the school’s employ. I do remember thinking, “wow, we aren’t very secure right now.” She was so afraid of making a mistake that she could not face talking to administration about it.

Allowing for mistakes allows for people to be human. Celebrating mistakes that push the school forward fosters a terrific spirit in a school. Mistakes can be fixed and much can be learned from them if the leader’s mindset is correct.

My favorite novel is John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. This is a book I return to over-and-over, reading it once every 18 months or so. I never tire of the language, of the lyricism, of the politics, of the plot. I never tire of the core of the book which I firmly believe is the friendship between the incredible, improbable and unpredictable Owen Meany and the novel’s narrative voice Johnny Wheelwright.

In my past few instances reflecting on the book, I have come to learn new things and have come to new insights about it. That is the power of a work of art that is really, really potent and lasting. You can return to it and learn more.

What surprised me most recently upon reflection is the fact that the adult John Wheelwright is an English teacher and, according to the book and to what I believe about this wonderful vocation, he’s a very good one.

I am an English teacher. I have always wanted to be one. I was, in fact, studying to become an English teacher when I first read this novel when I was in college.

How much did the fact that one of my favorite books had, as its narrator, an English teacher influence my life direction?

I do not know.

But surely it did.

We never know the influence we have… While culture tends to promulgate the “those who can, do, those who cannot, teach” idiocy, there are hundreds of examples of brilliance and impactful teachers in reality and in pop culture. Every-other-week this year, I will share my brief reflections on Smart People Doing Smart Things be they in literature, in film, in music or in real life. Many will be teachers, but not all. Many will be fictional, but some will be real. All will be inspiring. Welcome to IntelliPop!

Years ago, I was blessed to be in a position to hold seminars with groups of educators designed to discuss and build leadership skills both informally and formally, internally – for the individual and externally for the school. As we discussed leadership skills and qualities, we would talk about new tools being put in our toolboxes as leaders. This year in Teach & Serve, I have decided to talk about many of those tools.

EVERYTHING IS NEW ALL THE TIME

Today I offer what I hope is an appropriate tool for the start of the new year.

Most who have formal leadership positions in a school have been doing this work for a while. Typically, leaders who are in “official” positions have sat other chairs leading up to the job they currently hold. They have been coaches or mentors or department chairs or the like. They have seen things and they have lived things. They know a bit about this work we share.

This is a strength, to be sure, and it has helped them reach the positions they have. However, it has, like most qualities do, a shadow side.

When leaders find themselves saying “we’ve been through this before” or “I’ve seen this before” when they are brought ideas, they should remember that part of their leadership is to make everything  new all the time. There is very little that can shut someone down quicker than a leader saying “no, that won’t work, we’ve been through this before.” 

While that sentiment is likely true and the concept that is on the table has flaws that have been lived through, a leader approaches a response to this scenario carefully and with some deliberateness. Old ideas were tried at some point because they did work. There are kernels in them that may work again. The leader explains what did not work before while validating what can work going forward.

Cycles will repeat. The great wheel turns ever around. It is the responsibility of the leader to make everything new all the time.