Raising the Bar

I have had one of those weeks where obstacle after obstacle presented itself. The feedback I was receiving wasn't necessarily positive. Some of it was personal and I admit I had a hard time seeing beyond it for a bit. I reached out to some people I trust to process through the experiences. Some of this happened face to face and some of it happened online and even via voxer.

I'll admit right before I clicked the walkie talkie button in the voxer app, I hesitated about admitting what I was thinking. To myself, I thought "This kind of stuff never happens to these other guys. I just know it". I assumed what I was working through was something each of them had already mastered.   I assumed what I was working through was akin to my skills (or lack of skills) as a principal. But, that's not what happened. What I learned was completely different.

I learned that principals share similar experiences. I learned that many members of my PLN were alike in how we reflected on our roles and responsibilities. I learned how human each of us really is. I learned how real administrators lead with the heart. I learned that while many, outside of our roles and fields, might consider that a weakness, it wasn't. Leading with the heart is ten times harder than leading with your mind. We have our stories and struggles to prove it.

Near the end of this week, I had the privilege of attending a conference and was fortunate to sit in on a session led by Don Gately and his wife, Danielle Gately.

Don is one of those principals I have been following on twitter and continue to be mesmerized by his approach and ideas at the middle level. He and his wife spoke about the power of being connected and he said something like:

It's about raising the bar.

I've been to at least four other connected leader sessions (even led a few of them myself) but hadn't put it into words just like that. It is about raising the bar. When I make a deliberate choice to interact with members of my PLN, online and in person, I am doing that knowing the possibility of improvement and inspiration will be there. You can not be a connected educator and still remain the same. The interactions change you. The interactions will lift you up when needed. Other times, the interactions will stretch your thinking and understanding of a topic. They may even inform or change an opinion.

Becoming a connected educator has significantly impacted the kind of leader I am today. On some days, that is a good thing. On other days, some may think that is a not so good thing. Either way, these connections affirm for me that the work we are doing is THAT important.

These connections teach me that we are more alike than different. These connections challenge me to see all sides of a situation and move forward from it.

If you work in a school, it really is about raising the bar. Whether it is in improved student-teacher interactions, parent communications, or overall academic achievement, we really aren't permitted to just get by. Nor should we ever be. 

We teach and support kids.

We teach and support each other.

In each of these interactions, at the simplest of levels, our challenge is always to raise the bar. And when we can't fathom even touching the bar, it's about raising each other up to see the possibilities.

"You raise me up so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be."

[R. Lovland, B. Graham, J. Groban]