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At Fulton Middle School, we just completed our first full week of school and it seems like we have been back for months already…in a good way! Students and staff have worked hard to build a positive school and classroom culture. Routines are well established and the buzz of learning is palpable when you walk through the doors. We have worked hard to develop relationships with our students and families through positive contacts as well as virtually knocking down the walls of our building through the use of social media to showcase our story. Our staff have stepped up to lead the mission of our school and the energy is spreading like wildfire! It’s been a great start to what looks to be the #BestYearYet as an educator. I can tell our staff feels this way as well.
But I have work to do as an administrator. This is also the time that our staff begin to feel overwhelmed by maintaining this energy. I begin to ask myself, how can I best support our staff? To me, it starts with appreciation. Something that I was inspired to do from the book Kids Deserve It by Adam Welcome and Todd Nesloney is to put together a form to get to know staff better. This form (HERE)includes a place to get contact information for the families of my staff so that I can showcase their amazingness to the people that matter most to them. I am also dedicating this week to not only be in each room, but drop an {anchor of appreciation} to each staff member. To take this to another level, I’m also going to send anchors of appreciation to the other building leaders in our district. Never underestimate the power of appreciation.
One thing that I’ve also started doing this year, that I should have done years ago, is work to secure subs for our mentor teachers and new teachers to observe, model and give and get feedback from each other from the start. We can’t rely on already busy teachers to use their already full plan time. Something else is that at our school, we encourage ALL staff to support our new teachers by checking in on them during plan, lunch and before and after school. We are all in this together. Just because you aren’t new doesn’t mean you don’t need support though. Our school has Team Tuesdays each week. This is a time when all of the teachers of a grade level, the principal and assistant principal, counselors, and special education teachers come together for professional development and data teaming during team plan. A rolling agenda item and focus is “What support do you need?” We are shifting the culture to one of support and collaboration vs isolation, blame and shame. We shouldn’t be nervous or worried if our colleagues are in our rooms asking how they can help, we should be nervous if they are not.
The next #leadlap challenge is to reflect on how you can take time to support and appreciate those you serve from the beginning. Don’t forget others in the district that could use appreciation..other building leaders, district leaders, etc. If you haven’t started school yet, how can you reach out before the first day? If you are in full swing, how can you be sure you build these practices from the beginning. Please share your ideas, thoughts and reflection to the #leadlap hashtag. Shelley and I can’t wait to see all of you ideas! Have an amazing week!