POWERBALL

A few weeks ago, as the powerball winnings edged towards $400 million dollars, my family and I had many discussions of what we would do if we hit the powerball.  There were talks of  a home at Golden Oaks (a gated community on Walt Disney World property), a beach front home, new cars, a boat, elaborate vacations, and interesting other adventures.  It was fun talking these dreams with my boys. Of course, if you haven’t figured it out by now, we were not one of the extremely lucky folks who won that amazing jackpot. After our loss, my boys and I had a discussion about those things that we had so very much desired. Much of our conversation centered on the religious aspect of being grateful for what you do have, but then I explained to my boys that all of those things-the fancy beach front home, ultra luxurious cars, and fun vacation spots- were possible even without the lottery. It requires work. Hard work. More than you want to work-work. You see the lottery is an easy fix—a quick $2 investment for a lifetime of no financial worries. This got me thinking about our work here. It got me thinking about investment. An easy fix to our jobs is to throw worksheets and loads of teacher pay teacher materials at students. An easy fix is to copy what someone else does. An easy fix is to do what you’ve always done rather than continuing to grow.  I remember early in my teaching career getting one of those extremely cheesy wall hangings that said the best part of teaching: June, July, and August. Isn’t that sad? Sure, it is fun to have some uninterrupted time off in the summer, but should that be the reason we work in a school? Should that be the best part? I would say the person that thought that was funny enough to put on a wall hanging, wasn’t fully invested. Investment is an emotional roller coaster. When you are invested fully in something, you stop at nothing to ensure the success of your students, your grade level, and your school.  Is it hard work? Does it require doing things a little different than you’ve done in the past? Does it require having goals and discovering a plan to reach the goals?  Does it require you to be so tired sometimes you can’t hold your eyes open? The answer to all of those questions, and I dare say many more, is yes. The most powerful factor in transforming students is a relationship with a caring teacher who is fully invested in making sure that every student in the classroom is given every opportunity for success. The investment in that child is a highly rewarding experience albeit at times frustrating and tiring. I see so often the amazing powerball winnings of students coming back here to see old teachers who have affected them deeply. It is by far the feeling that I can only attribute to winning the jackpot. 

We have three goals as a school: to be a model (1) IB school, (2) reader/writer workshop school, & (3) technology integration school. Last week, we have 7 visitors here looking at reader’s and writer’s workshop, and another school has reached out to come see our IB program. We are well on our way to reaching those goals. But I can assure you it will never happen if we don’t have the investment of each person employed here at JBE. When that happens, we all win big.