What's Next?

As we move further and further into spring, thoughts are turning toward an essential question in education: "What's Next?" How do we take next steps? What should they look like? How ambitious should we be as we think about next year and the year after that? 

There are many things to consider as we look to the future. We must assess the capacity of our students and the capacity of our adults. We need to gauge our areas of strength and weakness from a system perspective, as well as individually throughout our community. We need to strike the right balance, aiming high enough to make progress but not in a way that asks anyone to take on too much. 

This brings me back to a familiar mantra I've held in education for the past twenty-six years: Our work is about relationships. It's not more complicated than that. If we put relationships first, we will be able to achieve great things together on behalf of our students and their families. 

I was meeting with a teacher this week who was interested in another open position in our school. Something they said struck me as our time together progressed. "I make sure that I say at least four positive things about one of my students before I redirect them publicly." Stop for a moment and listen to the power of that statement. Four positive things about one student before redirecting them publicly. I will admit that I rarely say four positive things about my own children before redirecting them in our house! I am truly in awe of this person's commitment to relationships in the classroom. 

Our students come to us with so many invisible needs on their shoulders. Bethany Hill captured it best with this graphic from Edutopia: 

If we can notice them, give them four positive messages before we redirect them publicly, and love them, we are making classrooms safe places. If classrooms are safe places where all students feel welcomed and included, then our students can learn to their potential. If our students are learning to their potential, then we are doing the real work of education. Our work is about so much more than content; we have little humans in our professional world, surrounded by so many claims of what is true and good. We must help them navigate this in a way that honors who they are as people and as learners. 

That's how we take our next steps forward. That's how we aim high. That's how we notice and love our students. 

It's all about relationships. 

Pre-Pandemic - Not Normal

On Thursday, March 31, at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier, the Vermont Superintendents' Association gathered for an all-members meeting. It is not the first since the pandemic began. In the spring of 2021, we were able to be together at Lake Morey before the delta surge. However, this one feels like the beginning of a return to what life was like before March of 2020. 

I met Vermont colleagues for the first time ever in person. They were named superintendents in 2020 and 2021, and the only time I met them was in a box on my computer screen. There were handshakes, hugs, and high-fives. Yes, those are the same options I gave to my students as a classroom teacher for dismissal. We all have to practice what we preach!

It felt wonderful. It felt like old times before we even knew the word pandemic or even COVID. I know there are still public health concerns, and I believe we must work toward managing this virus and avoid further shutdowns at all costs. 

As I've been reflecting on all of these feelings this week, I'm avoiding the use of a particular word: normal. I don't want us to go back to normal. Normal wasn't working for enough of our community. 

Normal meant accepting the inequity in our systems. Accepting systemic racism. Looking past the opioid crisis. Not talking about the lack of affordable housing. Avoiding the hard conversations.  

Normal meant strict adherence to arbitrary deadlines. Rigidity and inflexibility. Words like zero tolerance and completely unacceptable. And while some of this has its place, I wondered about where it should be as we look forward. As we look to emerge from these past two years and what lessons we've learned. 

In a recent conversation with some students, the themes of flexibility and adaptability were mentioned as they thought about what felt different about school during COVID. They spoke about how teachers were gentler about deadlines, more forgiving about mistakes, and less concerned with issues previously felt too big to overcome. In other words, more patience and grace. 

I want schools to be normalized with more patience and grace. Let that be our normal. And before the naysayers come in with the arguments about slippery slopes, I don't know one adult boss in our world that cannot be flexible on some deadlines. The notion that if we show empathy and kindness to our students, we are not preparing them for the real world is simply untrue. In fact, I argue that our world could use substantially more empathy and kindness. Let's start in our schools. 

This week I saw a tweet from Dr. Justin Tarte (@justintarte). If you're not following him on Twitter, stop reading this and go follow him now. 

So while we are talking about patience and grace, let's talk about second chances. I want schools to be places where second chances are given. And thirds, and fourths if need be. The emotional toll these past years have taken on every single human being, regardless of age, gender, profession, or circumstance, cannot be calculated. Notice that I didn't say second chances just for students; adults should also get second chances. 

To be clear, leading with patience and grace still allows you to hold people to high standards. Giving second chances speaks to behaviors people exhibit, not the people themselves. Expecting this from a school community is what leadership is all about. 

Ricca, you're too soft. I don't think so. But if you disagree, perhaps consider this as the strength we need to come out of these past two years a little better than when our world changed in March 2020. 

Let that be our new normal. 

Photo Courtesy of www.society6.com