Teach Me to Lead

My teacher helped me learn to lead and be part of a team. - Elgin

We sometimes get bogged down in what we are supposed to teach, what we have to get done by the end of the year, and what we were told to do today. It is easy to look at each day as 1 out of 180, and we are just trying to get through it. Sometimes that is all we can do. It is a tough job.

Sometimes it is also just a matter of missing the “forest for the trees.” Of course we have to make sure the students get all of their math and reading skills down, but there are some bigger things at stake as well.  

If we step back a little and think of a student’s journey through our school and see what the end goal really is, it might not be those skills that we are so worried about. They enter our schools full of curiosity but barely able to sit still for a minute, and they leave as young men and women ready to take on the more complex issues of the world.  

Somewhere along the way they learned how to read and write, to speak, and to convey their ideas successfully, but they also hopefully learned how to be a good neighbor, take care of others, fix their mistakes (both physical and emotional), and forgive others for their mistakes.

Most of that will happen naturally, as 9 years of practicing things while being supported by families and teachers that want them to succeed will likely do. There is a ton of it that won’t happen unless we are intentional about it. 

Learning to “play well with others" will certainly give them the most important skills of building relationships and practicing empathy. If they have mastered that before they leave our building, then the world is a better place for it.  

Make sure you practice the human stuff with the students in addition to all the others. The more time spent there, the more the math, reading, and science are that much easier.  

It also makes for a much more pleasant place for you to work at.