Call Me By My First Name

This past week, I had the privilege of talking on the phone with my 6th-grade teacher. Let me explain...

Sheri Hefler is no longer teaching, she has a business called The Paint Tube. She uses Facebook, and I saw something that I wanted to get for my goddaughter. I e-mailed the store and inquired about the product I wanted. In the e-mail, I called her "Ms. Hefler," as that is how I knew her. When she responded, she included her phone number and insisted that I call her Sheri. I was not to call her Ms. Hefler anymore.

When we spoke on the phone, just the sound of her voice brought me back to her classroom and that year in my education. I had vivid memories of the room itself, we had a loft, and all my classmates as well. I remembered how Ms. Hefler would stand at the blackboard (yup a blackboard) with her back to us and say, "Excuse me," repeatedly without turning around to try to get us to stop talking.

I remembered that her dad died during that year, and the timing was early fall. Ms. Hefler didn't dress up for Halloween that year. But she still took pictures with all of us and had a genuine smile on her face.

I remember that her classroom management was centered around finances. We each had a transaction register (remember those), and when our behavior was worthy, we got a deposit into our account. When we did something that required redirection, money was deducted. Everyone was included.

As I listened to her talk, I remembered how safe I felt in her classroom. We had so much agency. Ms. Hefler would not let us "snitch" on each other - we had to handle disagreements with our classmates. She only stepped in if we came to her together.

Ms. Hefler's classroom was so welcoming. It was not perfect, nor was she. But she was human. On Day 1, she introduced herself and told us her first name. She told us where she shopped and that if we saw her out in the world, she wanted us to say hi. It was clear that relationships were the cornerstone of Ms. Hefler's work.

I will fully admit, I don't remember a substantial amount about the content that I learned that year. I do remember watching the Challenger launch and disaster in real-time because that year, we were focusing on space. I mentioned the transaction register to her, and I remember learning the steps for reconciling a bank statement. I do distinctly and palpably remember how I felt in that room and how Ms. Hefler made me (and I suspect all my classmates) feel.

After our call, she followed up with a beautiful e-mail and even sent along these pictures of my classmates and me in the Penny Power magazine from a jeans test we did. Recognize anyone?

So why does all this really matter? When I introduce myself to students, particularly younger ones, often the question is asked of me, "What does a superintendent do?" I struggled to answer that for the first several years of my superintendency. What I've learned, what I believe, and what I say now when a student asks me that question is this:

It is my job to make sure that every single student who comes to school feels safe, welcomed, and included so that he or she can learn to the best of their ability. 

Lessons I learned well from Sheri Hefler, my sixth-grade teacher.

We're on a first-name basis now.

Photo courtesy of www.edutopia.com