In the fall of 2015, I approached Dr. Judith Aiken about the possibility of teaching a college level course at the University of Vermont. I was in my fifth year serving Montpelier Public Schools as Superintendent, and I wanted to get back to teaching. That is why I got into education in the first place. After a couple of meetings, I heard back from Dr. Aiken that I would be teaching a graduate school course in the summer of 2016 called Staff Development & Evaluation. I was thrilled!
As the end of the school year approached, I started organizing my ideas, authors, and articles. I pulled out textbooks that had a meaningful impact on my own work in leadership, reviewed papers I had written in graduate school, and began to sketch out themes. I wrote outlines for each day of the class, selected the readings, and wrote my first ever syllabus. And yet, I was starting to feel very, very nervous.
The class met for two consecutive weeks, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 - 1:00. How was I going to fill five hours, with graduate students? What would happen if got through my entire plan, looked up at the clock and it was only 10:00? What if I didn't know the answer to one of their questions? Very quickly, that nervousness turned into panic.
I distinctly remember feeling the same way the night before my first day teaching first grade. I had all the same questions, all the same worries, all the same fears. This seemed worse somehow, probably because I can look back very fondly at my experience teaching first grade as I am connected with a handful of my former students through Facebook. So as I fell asleep that Sunday night, I tried to think about those little first grade faces and not the unknown graduate students I would meet the following morning.
What took place over those two weeks was some of the best professional learning I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. The level of dialogue, honesty, and openness in Lafayette Hall L200 gave me even more hope about the future of educational leadership in the state of Vermont. There was a deep dive around the professionalism of teachers, a thorough conversation around the capacity for human growth, and most importantly, a consistent thread of equity woven into our work. We discussed best practice for evaluation, the wonderful commitment Vermont has made to proficiency and personalization, and how critical relationships are to the success of our work.
I was reminded of all this when I listened to Susan Koch, the 2016 Vermont State Teacher of the Year welcome all employees back to MPS this past Monday. Especially this slide:
It resonated with my experience teaching graduate school this summer, it resonated with my experience teaching first grade fifteen years ago, and honestly, it resonates with my life experience. The magic rarely happens while we are comfortable.
It is true for us as adults, it is true for our students. It is true for human beings. Think back to your own experience outside your comfort zone and see if any of these things happened to you:
In education, we are constantly looking for opportunities for growth. Whether for ourselves, our students, or our colleagues. While it is scary at times, we know that we must be uncomfortable in order to ensure the right conditions for growth. Too much comfort can lead to complacency, which is not fundamentally inclined toward growth. Find your sweet spot where the magic can happen for you this year, outside of your comfort zone.
Sincere thanks to my first ever class of graduate students: Jessica Allard (@JESS_EDUC), Joseph Antonioli (@JoeAntonioli), Crystal Baldwin, Janet Battaile, Tim Bilodeau, Francesca Dupuis (@fdupuella), Rebecca Haslam (@EunMi_Haslam), Scott MacNamee, Amy Magyar (@UnlimitedVT), Melissa Makay, Chris Palmer (@cpalmer0608), Todd Rohlen (@trohlen), Nichole Stevens, & Hemant Tamang-Ghising.
No comments:
Post a Comment