A Fresh Start

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird -
That kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never in Extremity -
It asked a crumb of me.
                                        --Emily Dickinson


Today is the first day of school for students! Is there anything more hopeful than a new beginning? For me, one of the best things about working in schools is that each year brings an opportunity for a fresh start.  While some measure time by the calendar year, most "school people" mark its passage each August and May.  As I looked at my three children this morning (grades 2, 7 and 11 this year), I marveled at the quick passage of time and felt such gratitude that Luke, Andy and Mia are part of a caring school community where they are pushed to be their best and loved for who they are.  Yes, it's the first day of school, and anything is possible.  Here's to a great 2016-2017!  May hope strengthen you throughout the year.


 

Thanking Those Who Make a Difference

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day.  An educator I greatly admire, Dr. Todd Whitaker, always says that everyone who works in a school is a teacher because young eyes are watching them all the time. At Perry Central, we agree with that statement so we celebrate "Appreciation Week" and honor all of our employees with small gestures that cannot adequately express our gratitude. (Mostly, we feed them!)  I am deeply thankful for the love and compassion teachers and staff show to children every day in this school and in schools across the world.  In honor of Appreciation Week, I want to share a few stories that touched my heart.    

• At recess, some children have a difficult time getting along with others or finding friends to play with so a group of staff members started a kickball team and invited the children to play. There was joy on those faces, both the children and adults.  
• Our high school principal and teachers are in the process of buying a car for a student who has no parents and lives independently. The student has big dreams and a plan to achieve them but needs a job and a way to get there.  They searched and found an affordable, dependable car. The funds are almost raised to make the car a reality!
• A teacher encouraged her students to explore their interests and passions, and when students asked for support in their endeavors, she stayed after school to host make-over sessions and cooking classes, and she met them at school on spring break to help them complete projects they volunteered to do.  
• Our bus drivers sincerely care about the children they transport.  Never is this more clear than when listening to radio chatter at the end of a school day.  They do their best to ensure that students get where they are supposed to be (no easy task) and even ask the office to call home to be sure parents are at home before dropping off a young child.  
• Recently a young person was in a bit of trouble, and things at home had been difficult. A teacher wrote the child a note, offering to support him in any way she could and promising to be there for him.  They worked out a signal he could use to communicate that he needed the teacher, and he wrote her a note back to say how much it meant to know that someone cared.
• A teacher wanted to connect with the students and help them achieve their goals so she wrote each child in the class a personal letter outlining his or her strengths and identifying some areas for improvement.  She met with each child individually and read the letter to him or her. She is writing the students another letter for the end of the year to honor their growth.

There are so many stories like this--small things done with great love. Saying thank you is a simple, powerful act.  Perhaps today, you might consider picking up the phone to thank someone who works in a school who made a difference for you. Maybe your kind words will fill the hearts of those who work with our children and give them renewed commitment and energy to continue this important work.  

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day and Staff Appreciation Week!

All the Other Days

Many of you know that my dad was recently diagnosed with lung cancer.  The months of December and January have been filled with doctor visits and x-rays and worry and prayer. My dad is really lucky because his cancer was found early and could be treated with surgery. He is at home recovering, and while the healing process will take some time, Dad is effectively cancer-free. Gratitude and immense relief have replaced the worry. At some point during these last weeks, I saw this Charlie Brown cartoon on Facebook, and it resonated.  It has probably been around forever, but I have repeated the message to everyone I know lately! Coming from a long line of superstar worriers, I think that what this little message drove home for me is the value of today. This day. This opportunity to live.

Someday, hopefully in the very distant future, my father will leave this earth. But likely, he will not today. Today we are both still here where I can give him a hug and tell him the latest funny thing my daughter said. Today my dad can watch Family Feud on TV and make a joke with Mom and eat Uncle Marty's famous ham on homemade bread. Today we get to live.

As we move out from under the fog of worry of the past few weeks, I endeavor to let go of the worry of what is to come.  I want to be more Snoopy and less Charlie Brown. "All the other days" are flying by, and I don't want to waste a single one.

Coffee and Conversation

I have always believed that what unites us as human beings is far greater than anything that divides us.  It seems like we are often confronted with our differences and asked to choose between one idea, or belief, or "side" than another.  In this kind of thinking, there are winners and losers; there is acceptance or rejection; there are divides that seem impossible to cross.  Over the past week, I have been thinking about how we are all one people in the world, united by our humanity, and wishing for bridges that could help us reconnect. In a small way, my wish came true last night.

Yesterday evening, our school hosted an event called Coffee and Conversation. This began as a Fed Ex day idea last year (thanks to Euriah Bryant), and it is being carried on this year by Mrs. Jennifer Ball and our students.  At Coffee and Conversation, a diverse group comes together to share a bit of their humanity with each other.  Students from all walks of life and from vastly different peer groups converge on the elementary commons area, and they perform.  Students recited original poetry, played original songs, sang song covers, performed comedy skits, prepared wonderful food, shared their blogs, and exhibited their artwork.  It was a really beautiful thing to see.

As I looked out at the crowd in attendance, I saw looks of love and hope and encouragement and joy on the faces of the audience.  They clapped and cheered, and if they felt like I did, they marveled at the bravery of the kids.  For two hours, we were one people, bound by our hope for these students and their impact on the world.  My heart today is filled with gratitude, as it so often is, for the opportunity to be part of this school community where we are united in service of young people.

Time, Choice, and Good Books

Two of the best things that ever happened to my life as a teacher came right at the start of my career. The first was reading a book called In the Middle by Nancie Atwell.  By some stroke of luck, as an undergrad I landed in a class for writing teachers at USI with this book at our text.  To be honest, I do not remember a thing the professor said in class, but I treasure my well-worn copy of In the Middle. The book describes Atwell's approach to teaching reading and writing to middle school students. Her methods are rooted in deep respect for children and a belief in the power of two things:  time and choice.  As their teacher, she facilitated, modeled, encouraged, and marveled at what they created.  

The second awesome thing happened less than a year after reading Atwell's book.  I began my career teaching Spanish and English at Heritage Hills High School, and I got to work alongside a wonderful teacher, Jacquie Sabelhaus.  She taught me many things, but perhaps the most important was that I needed to read the books that my students were reading.  Jacquie said we have to be experts on young adult fiction and nonfiction--to read it voraciously and to use this knowledge to hook kids on reading, too.  The great news is that young adult literature is really, really good.  In addition to being great stories, they are usually quick reads, which is important to teachers already struggling to keep up with demands on their time.  

Jacquie's lesson hit home again this year as I have watched our teachers so diligently implementing the Calkins Units of Study for Reading.  Having firsthand knowledge of the books that students are reading is a bridge to engaging them in deep, meaningful conversations.  Knowing authors, titles, genres and having an ever-growing list of "hook 'em books" is priceless when kids get stuck or fake read or tell you they hate reading.  Kids do not hate reading.  They just have not found the right book yet.  Matching readers to text is so much more than finding a book on the right "level". It is about finding books that give kids a way to transcend their own circumstances, finding books that inspire hope, and finding books that show kids they are not alone.  When we find those books for kids and see the light in their eyes, it is the best feeling in the world. Those are the moments when we remember why we love this work so much.  

There are so many resources online to help find these books, and we are extremely fortunate to have tons of them in the PC library.  The Perry County Public Library has an amazing children and young adult collection as well.  If you are interested in reading more from Nancie Atwell about time, choice, and good books, she wrote a short blog recently for The Washington Post.  You can access it here. http://wapo.st/1b6M9Ce

September 30th

September 30th will always be a tough day for our family.  On that date in 2013, my sister's husband died of a massive heart attack.  He was 49 years old.  Some of you know my sister, Tammy.  Like most of our family, she is a school person. At the time of Jim's death, Tammy was principal at McGary Middle School in Evansville, Indiana.  Her four kids were ages 23, 20, 13 and 6.  As Tammy said just the other day in a gross understatement, "It sucks."

And it does.  But with humor and grace and toughness and an impressive repertoire of swear words, my sister keeps moving forward.  She just gets up every single day and keeps going, even when all she wants to do is hide inside Jim's oversized Packers jersey and bury her head under the pillow.  Watching Tammy navigate this grief, I have learned so much about the kind of person I want to be, and I have also learned something important about leadership.  In remembrance of Jim and in honor of my sister's strength, I wanted to write about it today.

Here's the thing.  Tammy has not survived by denying the pain or acting like everything is okay.  She has talked about it and written about it and let people in.  Not long after Jim's death, in Tammy's weekly newsletter to her teachers, she wrote about how she was feeling and helped the staff understand what she needed from them and what they could expect from her.  She was real with them.  She let them see her at her weakest point, and what guts and strength it took.

For me, the lesson here is that it is okay to let those you lead see who you are--to let them see your heart.  It can bridge divides and build community and remind us that we are all human.  For teachers, sharing your heart with students is just as powerful.  Our students need us to be strong and steady for them, but strength and emotion are not mutually exclusive.  Showing students how we manage our own emotions and find ways to keep moving forward is a powerful model for their own lives.

So today, I will share with you that I am sad about my brother-in-law, Jim Dexter, even though it is hard and scary to share something so personal.  Today, my heart and mind are with Tammy, Elizabeth, Everett, Jordan and Jake.  My thoughts are with Jim's mother and his brothers and sisters, who remind me so much of our own family.  Today, my parents, my brother and I will all call Tammy and check on her, and we will swallow the lump in our throats and try not to cry.  Like my sweet, sassy, strong sister, Tammy LaGrange Dexter, we will keep moving forward. That's what she taught us to do.

What Will Your Verse Be?

My friend, Jacquie, once told me that she was not talking to me again until I had watched the movie, Moulin Rouge.  Convinced that no one should walk the earth without having seen this film, she hounded me until I watched it, and I became a believer.  That is just how I feel about the movie Dead Poet's Society. It combines several things I love:  teachers, students, poetry, and Robin Williams.  When I am feeling discouraged and allow cynicism to creep in, this movie is medicine.  To steal a line from the script, it fills my soul.

There are all of these moments in the film where Mr. Keating, played by Robin Williams, builds a relationship with his students and inspires them to risk failure and to dare greatly. My fellow Dead Poet people will instantly connect when reminded of the opening scene in Keating's English class. As the high school boys gaze at old photographs of students from long ago, Keating reminds them how quickly time passes.  He whispers, "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." (I just got cold chills writing that, but then we established last week that I have nerdish tendencies.) From the very first day of class, he finds a way to make his message relevant to kids' lives. 

In the film, Keating uses poetry and words to connect with his students--to push them to be brave, to swim against the stream, and to find their voice.  In our school, I see teachers doing this for their students every day in diverse ways.  I was in a classroom today, and on the door the teacher had posted a letter to her students.  "I trust you," it said.  "I believe in you..."  And the teacher's actions matched her words--she interacted with students lovingly and respectfully, and they returned that respect. It was something to see.  The same thing happened in movie-land with Mr. Keating.  He listened to his students, and he challenged them to be their best selves.  Keating's lines from the movie that follow (my favorites) provide a challenge for us all.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering-- these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love... these are what we stay alive for! To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?' Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.

"What will your verse be?"