Give Your Best Ideas Away

Over the course of twenty years I have had the privilege of working with numerous teams of teachers.  I learned an enormous amount from each of them. I am currently without classroom. This at times can send me into a tail spin.  I miss the elements of a classroom, and the chance to create in a learning space. 

I am co-coordinating our Teacher Leadership Program with Erin Watts this year.  We have launched leadership.  The plane is in the air.  It has survived.  We are six months into our flight plan and every day another sheet of metal forms it way into the fuselage.  We may have dipped in altitude from time to time, but we are flying and our triumphs are big and worthy of some praise.

The little surprises, and near crash landings have been few, less than 10 percent.  Today, we celebrate the 90 percent victories we have faced and embrace the tough work that lies ahead.  We have had success because of the PEOPLE IN OUR PROGRAM.  I'll say it again.  We have had success because of the TEACHERS.  The right people have found their way into our in-classroom and out of classroom positions.  The right TEACHERS have been willing to be LEADERS.

Being a leader can be unpopular at times.  You have to be willing to stand on a limb and often swim against the current. You have to be willing to question and suggest and dare people to see their lives differently AND that can cause parts of your plane to drag and roll. So, you have to be willing to offer help to your colleagues, and SHARE with your colleagues. That's right... the thing you learned in kindergarten.... to SHARE.  You have to be willing to SHARE your expertise, your philosophy, your time, your classroom.   If I can share one piece of advice about what I have learned so far it would be exactly that: SHARING.  The most valuable thing we can give to each other is our shared knowledge.  Our plane will be stronger, and stay in the air longer if we continue to build it together.

This commitment to shared collegiality makes us all stronger.  It keeps us transparent.  It holds us accountable to the expectations of our district.  It keeps us focused on our building goals, district goals, and curriculum expectations.   It makes us all work harder.  It makes us all want to GIVE MORE.  DO MORE.  BE MORE.  It is UPLIFTING. And who benefits the most from that?  

OUR STUDENTS.

So, open your file cabinets and classroom doors.  Ask. Share. Listen. Collaborate. Observe.  Co-teach.  Learn.  We have a long flight ahead.