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Half Full

I was in my former district for 10 years in various capacities. During those years, my favorite role was that of Middle School Principal. It's an experience I look back on often and recall with pure fondness. I learned so much during that time and with that team. As I spent more time there, my awareness and perception about our school grew and gained dimension. My appreciation for what we had deepened. I could find beauty, effort and celebration in so much. I grew skilled in articulating those positives.

In my new role, in a much larger district, I serve as a newer member of the administrative team and often walk away from different meetings in different buildings truly amazed at what this district offers for students. I don't always get to articulate that as well as I should. It's all so new to me still so the time to fully process is longer. 

Do we have areas we need to look at more closely for certain parts of our student population? Yes! Do we have areas of needed improvement? Of course we do. All schools do!  

 But, when you look across all buildings and listen closely to all stories, you have no choice but to be struck by the vastness of what is being done. In some areas, we are making big improvements and in others there are small steps forward. But, the direction in both is forward. All kinds of people (and members of teams) are suiting up each day to do what is best for students, day in and day out. 

What is it about our work or our lens that might be used to seeing what is missing instead of seeing what is already there?

It's a forced shift in thinking, isn't it?  Is the glass half-full or half-empty? 

We place such pressure on ourselves to be perfectly linear in our progress. We know better than to think any path to improvement  moves with that kind of precision.  We know better than to think that's what (real) success looks like.

http://www.calmer-you.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/success-really-looks-like.png


This is the kind of advice we give students and our own children each and every day.  We tell them to trust the process and stay the course. Celebrate the small wins. Sometimes, we'd do well to listen to it ourselves and to keep pushing forward. It's a matter of how we decide to see it and what we take time to fully notice. 

"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"

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