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Monday, November 30, 2015

A Room with a View!

This week my post is more of a reflection than anything else. Five years ago, if you had asked me where would be today, I NEVER would have told you leadership. A funny thing happened. After getting a new principal a few years ago, I decided that I was tired of us “spinning our wheels” year after year. I suggested we do a Read-a-thon as a fundraiser. I agreed to head it up, figure it out, get it rolling, and see what happened. What happened was $18,000! The most money we had ever raised in a fundraiser. That year I was awarded “teacher of the year.” Those two events alone gave me enough confidence and courage to believe in myself and think that I could make a positive change at my school. I then went on to become our instructional coach and was able to really see a change in myself and the way I looked at education. All that to say….the past two years have really taught me how to see the “bigger picture”; to see the school as a whole instead of a grade-level “part.” My eyes have been opened to so many things that I never realized as a teacher. There are days when I sit in my office and wish that a teacher could trade places with me; if just for a few days. What a perspective! As I read over the blog posts from the past few months, it seems as though we all have the same issues, problems, people, and challenges at our school. I didn’t think that was possible, but relieved to know that I’m not in this alone. I think that teaching has become such a challenging endeavor that we seriously need to look at creating opportunities for teachers to see the “bigger picture.” Leadership Quality is an excellent article about not just seeing the bigger picture, but ensuring that others see it as well. There is a story in this article called “The Three Stonecutters” (well worth the time to read). The story begs the question: are we just in this for our own individual purpose or is there a greater reason why we do the work we do? This article was very encouraging to me and reminded me why I am in my current position and how I should desire to share and take our work to the next level!

2 comments:

  1. Great post Kimberly! Thank you for the reminder to remember why we do what we do. Sometimes we can get caught up in the daily routine and forget how important our work is and what we truly hope to accomplish.

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  2. Thanks, Kimberly! It was awesome to hear your "how I got into leadership" story. I'm sure we all came to this place from different paths-- I would be interested to hear others' stories, too! A school leader I met with recently, summed up our work so eloquently a couple weeks ago: "leadership means handling a parent issue, caring for a sick student, coaching a teacher, delivering a presentation, and plunging a toilet all in the same day!" :) She went on to say we are in this for the love of education, the passion for making the world a better place. Anyone in it for the personal glory just won't (or shouldn't!) last.

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