They're watching

Last week I watched admirably as parents posted their perfectly groomed, new clothed, happy first day of school picture on social media. I bet in between Insta (Instagram as we old folks call it-my teenagers tell me it’s called insta), Facebook, and Twitter (I’m not cool enough for snapchat), I probably saw 400 “back to school” pictures. I scrolled through this pictures with such delight. I loved seeing the new bookbags. I loved seeing the creativity of some of the signs parents made. I loved the funny ones. I loved the ones with the little ones teary eyed. I loved the clothes. I loved the ones when the little ones were so proud of their new shoes. I loved seeing the lunchboxes knowing that the first lunch packed is always healthy, creative, and with a positive note (knowing that within two weeks…the kids are lucky to have a lunch).

But I am not going to lie to you. I scrolled through all of these with a tad bit of sadness. This is the first year in 13 years that I wouldn’t have a back to school picture. When I left home on the first day of school, my boys were still asleep. I would not receive a first day of school picture this year. As I sat back and thought about this, I realized that I’m not the only educator who sometimes spends more time with other people’s children than I do my own. We give a lot to other people’s kids.

Oftentimes, I have kids in my office during recess or lunch or during the day helping them complete work. I am standing at the front of the school almost every single morning, welcoming the first students who arrive at JBE at 7am. I spend almost every afternoon with students who have not been picked up on time. I stay during afterschool clubs. I often am one of the last ones to leave each day. 

I started talking to the Rosebros about this as I was feeling like a pretty inept mom. They began to tell me about their favorite memories at JBE. They remembered as really young kids watching the teachers do Zumba. They played hide and seek within the school (and the stories of them doing this had me crying with laughter). They recalled the times they played on the playground afterschool and got themselves locked out of the building. They had great stories of their times in the JBE musicals. They had memories of helping me unpack books, set up for events, and playing in the gym for hours. They knew all the teachers who had candy in their rooms- before Michelle Obama (their opinions not mine) eliminated candy in schools. They knew which teachers would let them write on the boards in their rooms. We talked for hours about being the principal’s kids.

The Rosebros reminded me that I do give to other people’s children-sometimes more than I give to them- but they don’t mind sharing me. What I realized is that I am teaching them through my work about service to others. The days, especially in August and September, are long and we sometimes neglect our own children, our laundry, our house, our gym, our nails, our hair, or our sleep. Just know that it is worth it and it is being watched by others. Others care, appreciate, and notice what you do.

safety

If you didn’t know, I have a broken hand. This summer I was in a really stupid accident on my bicycle. While I will not bore you with the details of this accident, I will say that it was 100% not my fault and 100% preventable. But when it happened, I was hurt. I knew immediately that I was hurt. Before I was able to get off the ground, I knew I was hurt. I was also scared. I wasn’t sure how hurt I really was. I knew that my hand hurt, I knew that my knee hurt, I knew that my shoulder hurt, and I knew I was also lucky.

I sat by my bike for a few minutes evaluating my injuries, crying that I was alone, and upset that it had happened. I immediately called my boys.  I needed help with my dog, getting my bike back to the truck, and taking care of myself. My knights in a white car came quickly. They shared concern for their beat up mom, and took care of the dog, my bike and me rather gentlemanly. I called a friend to lament my bad luck and she met me at urgent care-thankfully. She not only helped me physically, she helped me laugh through my pain- both physically and mental. Part of the pain was the pain of knowing that my husband would have known what to do and who to call and how to take care of me.

Once I left urgent care with a sling, a brace, a shot of pain meds, and a smaller wallet, I finally made it home where I sat in pain for some time. During my time of sitting, I thought about some of our kids. As stupid as my accident was, I was so very lucky that I was able to make one call and my boys were there. They handled clean up. I made another call and a friend was by my side at Urgent Care. I was able to give Urgent Care my insurance card. I was able, albeit unwilling so, pay my bill upon leaving.

As unlucky as I felt for this unfortunate accident, how lucky was I to have people to take care of me and the means to pay for my medical costs. So very many of our families don’t have that same fortune. Many of our students and their families don’t have others to turn to or someone to call. Many of our students don’t have insurance and don’t have the means to take care of any medical issues. And how lucky am I that I can.

But what I realized was not only do I have people and means, I have safety. I have the safety of knowing that I will be okay no matter what happens. This is not the fortune of all of our students. And when they don’t have safety, they worry, they fret, they have concerns that far outweigh the lessons we need to teach them.

So I charge to you this year to be that safe place for your students. You just never ever know how important it is until you haven’t felt safe.

Expiration Dates

I love the first day of school. As a teacher, I couldn’t wait until the kids came into my class each year. I was one of those teachers who researched and planned and thought about my kids all summer long. I couldn’t wait for their faces and their stories to fill my classroom. Now, as an administrator, that day is the day that staff returns from summer vacation. Summer in the schoolhouse is busy…really busy. It is amazing the amount of work it takes to close one school year and open another. It is busy, but it is lonely.  Not only am I excited when everyone returns, I am thrilled as everyone returns and the level of excitement, enthusiasm, and joy is at an all-time high. As I sat in our opening meeting today, I looked around as tables were collaborating and I saw so much dedication, enthusiasm, joy, commitment, and excitement. I loved watching, hearing and feeling that energy as it exuded from each staff member.

When I got home around 8:30pm tonight, after a football scrimmage, I was quickly making a Rosebros favorite-boxed mac and cheese. I grabbed the milk out of the fridge to complete this delicious albeit nutritionless meal. The milk was out of date. And I don’t mean a day or two out of date- it was more than a week out of date. It has reached its expiration date. Rosebro2 noticed this as I discarded the milk and he stated, “I really wish things didn’t have an expiration date.”  As I thought about the finality of that statement, I thought about today.

I thought about the excitement, the urgency, the enthusiasm, the hugs, the smiles, the stories, the laughter, the fun. Why does it have to have an expiration date?  Why can we not continue those feelings well into the first quarter, then as we plug along into grunt work of the 2^nd quarter? Why can’t we look at those long dark, cold months of February and March with the same excitement as we do in August. And that last quarter of school….why can’t we understand that same sense of urgency and dedication to our students that we had on day one in August?

 The simple answer is, it doesn’t have to end. We talked a lot today about our mission, vision, and values. We spoke about the idea of inspiring and equipping our students. But what or who inspires or equips you? What keeps you on day 190 just as enthusiastic, joyful, committed, and excited as you are on day 1? Inspiration has no expiration date. Well, it should not have an expiration date. 

Inspiration is the key to keeping our same level of motivation that we feel today. Our work is hard. Our work is tiring. Our work is daunting. We cannot underestimate the need for inspiration within ourselves. It is critical to our work.