Living the Dream as a Wallflower

Imagine being camouflaged into a swirl of colorful energy....like a wallflower with just enough pollen to enrich the foliage that surrounds it.....a wallflower that's hanging high enough to be able to watch the growth all around....the mass creation of flowers and plants and trees that depend on one another and together overpower the weeds. And there you are....the wallflower....just one "something" that hangs from the rafters and watches the garden grow.

That's me. The wallflower. Living the dream. You see, I'm just one member of the team of leaders that I have the privilege of working with every single day at Waukee Middle School. To engage in professional development, PLC conversations, informal learning-focused chats, podcasts, texting, and lunch conversations with this group of amazing teachers, who refuse to accept the status quo as a way of life, is more than I could ever dream of as a principal. Recently, I shared with them, "We are actually doing the things we read about!" How amazing is that?!? We all know that yearning feeling when we can't put down that book or journal article that addresses collaboration, differentiation, distributive leadership, data-driven decisions, grading practices, assessment, and/or PLCs. We play through the "what if" scenarios in our heads as we draft the plan for getting from the "here and now" to the "Eutopia." I celebrate as I reflect on the past two and a half years, cheering in amazement as I think about the selfless learning that the teachers have engaged in around grading practices and assessment. What started out as a building-wide book study on Rick Wormeli's "Fair Isn't Always Equal" because the staff recognized a sense urgency to analyze their grading practices, has led to a transformation of their approach to grading and assessment. Today, we are transitioning to full implementation of standards-based reporting to replace letter grades at the middle school level. Student learning is happening at high levels because teachers are learning at high levels, and I am just one happy wallflower.

How did we get from there to here? This question isn't an easy one. There's not just one text book that gives you a step-by-step approach where you can check them off as you go. It's kind of like having a baby. A baby doesn't come with a text book. As a parent, you know what you believe, you act accordingly, and you do your best. And PRAY. Being a principal is no different. I know what I believe, I act accordingly, and I do my best. And I pray. Yes, I pray. Even as a principal in a public school setting, I pray. Do you honestly believe that God turns off His support like flipping off a light switch from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every day? Without a doubt, I know with all my heart that God works through me every single day. Being a wallflower is God's work.

For whatever it's worth, here's my "baker's dozen plus five" of what I have learned thus far about charting the course to become a wallflower:
1) Honor and value EVERYONE.
2) Listen. Reflect. Respond. Listen some more. Repeat.
3) Find the good. Always.
4) Professionally confront the challenges. Always.
5) Know what you believe, because you'll get tested every day. Stand strong.
6) Don't get caught up in gossip and drama. Who needs it? It's negative energy.
7) Invite data to be your friend, but keep your eyes wide open. Data needs to be analyzed within context and faced with questions coming from many angles.
8) Don't just sit there. Take action. Break a sweat.
9) Organize your budget in such a way that you give teachers what they need. You can't communicate high expectations if you're not willing to provide them with the resources to make the magic happen.
10) Find the passion in teachers, and feed it. Celebrate with them every step of the way.
11) As excited as teachers get about their own learning and the learning of students, open your heart to take in that excitement just like breathing fresh spring air. Allow yourself to FEEL what they're feeling. (Just the other day, I was telling my husband that I get goose bumps at least once every day from a conversation I'm having with a teacher, and it's not uncommon for me to get teary-eyed as one of them shares a success story with me. Yes, being a wallflower can be quite emotional.)
12) Read. Read. Read.
13) Enthusiastically jump into 21st century learning. If you don't, your teachers will leave you in the dust. Consequently, the words that comes to mind that will describe you are pathetic and clueless.
14) Model leadership. And share it.
15) Embrace the gifts, talents, and emotional intelligence of your team. Together, you are smarter because each person has something amazing to offer.
16) Be a servant. Do God's work by serving your teachers.
17) Know and believe, at the end of each day, that it's not about you.
18) Give thanks.

Today I give thanks for teachers who challenge my thinking, who laugh with me, who learn with me, and who are committed to US. It's not just a job; this is a commitment we have to one another on this journey. I'm not committed to WMS. Rather, I'm committed to the PEOPLE with whom I work.

I give thanks to administrators at the district office who support our work in standards-based reporting, for they are with us every step of the way. I give thanks to the other middle school administrators and some teacher volunteers who, with me, are going to facilitate parent education classes as we transition to a middle school life without letter grades. I give thanks to the experts in the field who are teaching us best practices: Wormeli, O'Connor, Guskey, and DuFours, just to name a few. I give thanks to the other principals in the district who invite me into their buildings once a month to engage in Instructional Rounds where we learn from each other and strengthen the systemic foundation of what we know about instructional leadership. To work along side of them is humbling, to say the least.

Kermit the Frog says, "It ain't easy being green." I say, "It ain't easy being a wallflower. Knowing what I know, though, why would I want to be anything else?"