My thoughts on educating our students

I put the following blog information in my parent/community newsletter called the Bailey Bear News.  It is my thoughts on educating our students and what I think really works!

Thank you for entrusting your students with us every day! We love our job and our hope is that we will be and do exactly what each student needs to be successful in life! Teaching is not an easy profession! Over the years I have watched the changes in education both good and bad. I started my teaching career in Houston, Texas in 1983...yes, I said 1983 which is before most of you reading this were born! I taught 8th grade advanced Earth Science and 7th-grade math and went on to teach 7th Grade Life Science as well as ESL Life Science. I student taught in first grade and then was placed in the middle school to teach math and science. It was an eye-opening experience, to say the least, and a scary one too! Every day there were fights and disagreements, disrespectful behavior to adults and students and I learned pretty quickly that these students were acting out in order to hide the fact that they could not do the work...many of them were reading on a first grade level in middle school! Getting control of a class of 35 middle school 8th graders to teach Earth Science and 10 of them reading on a first-grade level was pretty daunting. This is when I knew that our education system was failing our kids.

Over the years people have tried new programs, new teaching methods, scripted lessons, new administrators with new ideas, etc. The problem is there is not a program, a teaching method, or a scripted lesson that is going to make a student learn better it is the TEACHER and what she/he does each day that will make or break the learning for a student. It is teaching children how to have a growth mindset and model it every day as a teacher. Every child comes to school wanting to learn and somehow as parents and teachers we tend to squash that love of learning because we get too fixed on grades, how they measure up to other students, their state test scores, etc. We forget that every child does not learn in the same way or at the same speed as other children. Children are unique little individuals and learn best when given a teacher who makes a relationship with them and finds new ways to help them learn when they are not "getting it" and at the same time reassures them that learning is a process and they will succeed. This is where the job gets even harder! This is where teachers stay up at night trying to find ways to help a student so they can be successful and feel good about themselves, they reflect and look at what they are doing and change if needed, they throw out scripted lessons and teach to the needs of their class which means a lot of work on their part because it is not all packaged and pretty. Teachers deal with parents who want their child to be an A student and who have no idea that an A really means nothing in the big scheme of things! Teachers want parents to focus more on how their child is progressing because growth is much more important than a grade. During my teaching career, some of my highest students in the classroom were afraid to step out and try something that was hard for them because they were afraid of not knowing something and did not want to expose themselves to that type of struggle. They came into the grade level pretty much able to do all the work and they made great grades but as a teacher I wanted to push them to take on the next level of learning and sadly they choose to not move forward but wanted to stay were they were because I believe they were conditioned to focus on grades and not on growing themselves and learning new things.

I think as parents and teachers we want to help our students WANT to be a part of their learning and to spread the message that it is okay to struggle or grapple with learning, that through hard work and perseverance you will get better and succeed! This is the best life lesson we can give them. Those students with a growth mindset will many times surpass their straight A peers because they have learned to love the process of learning which involves struggling and not always knowing the answers! Our job force of the future will be looking for people who are able to think, be creative, are tech-savvy, and are open to a lifelong approach to learning! NOTHING is off limits if you have embraced learning and have a growth mindset! It is the secret that at some point everyone who has a say in education will figure out and will begin looking at kids as individuals and not as statistics on a test.

What's in your suitcase?

I just finished watching a TED Talk on celebrating introverts and what they bring to the table both in our personal life but also in our school life.  It was refreshing to hear that introverts should be celebrated because I have for 58 years tried to push myself to not be as introverted as I am.  I will be honest, I don't particularly care for social gatherings that require me to talk to everyone and be happy and full of great information to share....So, you may be wondering why are you a principal?  Lord only knows why I have been put in this position, but I do the best I can!  I will also be honest and say that I have grown to love being a principal and pushing myself in ways that I would have never done if I stayed in the classroom.  I feel as a principal I can offer teachers something that an extroverted leader may not be able to offer.  I listen and I listen well!  I have found that most extroverted people listen but they do not listen well.  Now, they will say they are listening, but if you are an introvert you can tell they are not!  I notice all body language, cadence in the voice, changes in speech patterns to denote that you are thinking about something else while you are trying to listen to me!  As a leader listening without putting your "spin" on what someone is saying is how you can grow people to want to step out and take a chance...that their idea is worthwhile and it is their idea and NOT the extroverts spin on their idea!  Does that make sense?  I love extroverts, don't get me wrong!  They are some of my best friends and my husband is one and I love him dearly.  But, in saying that, I think as a society we tend to push those that are quiet and introverted to be like their extroverted friends and when we do this we miss out on some of the most talented and creative souls that have so much to offer but may not step out and do so when always pushed to be someone they are not.

At school last year,  we talked about storytelling...telling our own stories which are so important as we build relationships with our students.  In looking for something on this subject, I ran across a TED talk about introverts and it fit so well into why we need to tell our stories that I thought I would share.  At the beginning of the TED Talk, Susan Cain talked about what was in her suitcase as she was going to camp for the summer.  Her suitcase was full of books which are her passion.  At the end of her talk, she asked that we take a moment to examine what we have in our suitcase and take it out every once in a while and share with others because we all have so much to share.  So I started thinking about what would be in my suitcase?  My suitcase would be filled with fabric, quilting magazines, sewing instruments, books on creating things, mystery books, magazines like PEOPLE  (I do love gossip stories), my kindle, stationary, lots of pens, markers, pencils, my calendar (knockoff Erin Condren) with all the trappings for marking up my calendar, essential oils, pictures of my kids and family, and my dogs if they would fit in the suitcase!  My husband said he would bring the following in his suitcase; me, kindle, his favorite pair of shoes, guitar to play, firewood and essentials to make a fire, bourbon, and cigars!  Oh,  how we are different!  In fact, he looked at me like I had two heads when I asked him what he would put in his suitcase which is exactly what I expected.  The funny thing is that my husband who is an extrovert freely shares and talks about what is in his suitcase and all of what he said fits him and what he shows the world.  On the other hand, many people know I love quilting, sewing, and reading but I do not share my work but on rare occasions and it is something that I love doing but never really have the time to devote to on a regular basis!

It was refreshing to hear what Susan Cain felt was important about those of us who function as introverts and that in the school we are always pushing our kids to work in groups, which is fine, but we should also celebrate working alone and thinking deeply which cannot be done when you have five or six kids all talking at once! I think balance is the key to helping our introverted children.  They need to be pushed, but at the same time, they need to have quiet time as do our extroverted kids so that they can learn to think through things, build up their perseverance, and learn to follow through with everything that is asked of them in the classroom.

Her TED talk is excellent if you would like to take a moment to watch it!