Everything I Need to Know I Learned From My Browndog

It’s funny how life works out sometimes. I grew up in wonderful family and was blessed with two loving parents and three fantastic siblings. I am the youngest of four and have a sister for a best friend and two great brothers. For as far back as I can remember, we always had dogs in our family. My dad, a hunter and fisher extraordinaire, had a saying about dogs: "If it can't hunt, it can't stay." As a result, we usually had a retriever or a setter. So when I grew up, got a teaching job, and bought my own house, I also bought my best friend...my browndog; a wonderfully friendly and spirited chocolate lab named Bailey (officially named Kate's Mudsplash Bailey Girl).

As I reflect on my life as an educator, as I often do, I can say that everything I ever needed to know about life I learned from my browndog. Here are some lasting life lessons that I've learned from my furry and brown best friend:

1. Greet everyone enthusiastically, be happy to see them, and show them how much you care about what they do. In other words, build lasting relationships. Dogs have this wonderful connection to people and, as an administrator, I can't say enough about how important it is to build relationships with those with whom you live and work closely. There is always a common goal to strive toward in education and there's no better way to get people to follow you as a leader but through building relationships and appreciating what they do every day. Take time to appreciate those important people in your life and show them how much you care about them and what they do. It is the single most important thing you can do for your teachers, who do the most important work in the world...inspiring the next generation to do great things.

2. Work hard and play hard. My browndog will be turning ten in a few weeks and she is still all puppy. She loves to work hard and please me, her leader, and she loves to play even more. We need to take time to do the same things. Being an educator or an educational leader is hard work; we face obstacles every day and do our best to inspire and motivate others to do their best work as well. But the job can be taxing, both physically and emotionally; so it is ever so important that after working hard we reward ourselves with a little bit of fun. This is true not only for us, but for our students as well. We need to remember to reward hard work with some fun. It will pay dividends that are everlasting. Kids and teachers alike will become more connected to their schools and they will become leaders in their own right.

3. Take a walk every day. In other words, take time out to get some physical activity every day. I have a teacher in my UPK program that is seeing the rewards of this idea in real time. Each day, after her normal routine of calendar, weather, the pledge, etc., she has the kids count to 100 doing combinations of ten reps of some sort of physical activity...jumping, push-ups, squatting, jumping jacks...anything she can think of. The kids love it and are building strength and so are she and her aide. I visit each classroom every day and I can see the kids making progress! But what I really love is that the kids make me join in too. It's fun, we see progress in others and praise each other, and we expend some energy which helps us to focus on our work afterward.

4. Rest as needed. My browndog is a power napper. As she is approaching her ten year mark, she naps more frequently and tuckers out more easily. However, she recuperates quickly because she rests as needed throughout the day. As adults, we need to remember to do the same. Of course, we cannot nap while on the job but we can be proactive by planning accordingly so that we are able to organize and manage our work in meaningful and effective ways. Teachers need to learn be ever-mindful of their weekly and report card deadlines so that they are not spending their personal family or home time grading papers or projects to calculate grades. There must be a clearly defined line of work and life. Educational leaders need to find and share strategies and tools to help teachers monitor their time more effectively.

5. Praise good deeds. I will admit that the browndog was not always the best pet. As a pup, she chewed every rung on my dining room chairs until they were toothpicks, she ate my favorite and original Birkenstocks my sister brought me from Germany, and she often shredded magazines or books for me to find when I got home from work. Rather than spanking or punishing her, I found that a much more effective way of stopping the bad behaviors occurred when simply praising her for being a good girl each day. Although she has not done anything like that since she was a pup, I still greet her each day upon my return home from work by asking if she was a good girl. Each day, she takes me through every room in the house to show me what a good girl she was or to "brag" in her own way about what she had done that day. As a result, I take time to shower her with praise for her deeds (or lack thereof) and she is so receptive to that praise that she is inspired to do good work each and every time I leave her. People, or students and teachers, are no different. Taking time to praise them for the work that they do each day goes a long way.

6. Play well with others. Dogs and people are social beings, so why aren't teachers? Many teachers operate as islands; they close their doors, plan their own things, and rarely collaborate unless required to do so by their leaders. A teacher can do wonderful things, but teachers, together, can do AWESOME things. Teachers need time to work together to plan meaningful learning experiences for children. In addition, teachers must be granted time together to ensure that what they are teaching is aligned to state standards. Further, teachers need time together to discuss the different strategies and ways they implemented their content and instruction in order to compare with one another which ways were more effective for kids. This is the most powerful conversation that is worth having in our field.

7. Take time to smell (the roses). Dogs, especially my labbie, are led by their noses. Those of us dedicated to the profession of educating kids need to take time out to appreciate the good things we do and the progress that we reap. We must make time to reflect on the things in life and work that we do well in order to find inspiration and motivation to continue to grow as people and professionals. Reflection is the key to inspiring growth and ensuring that we do not enter into a "rut." We cannot continue to do things the way we've always done them. Our students and teachers deserve much more than that. We must be open and willing to grow professionally and continually in order to inspire the best in others.

So take time to look for life lessons in the little things that we take for granted. My browndog has certainly inspired me to do so. Your teachers and your students deserve the same.

Stuck in the Middle: Finding Ways to Inspire and Motivate Adolescents

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited. - Plutarch

As I returned home from teaching the first class of a new semester of pre-service English teachers at Niagara University recently I was feeling inspired. I love the energy that a new group of students brings to the classroom and their willingness to learn, try new things, and absorb as much as they can motivates me to do my best in leading them into the reality of teaching today. When I returned home, I sent them all an email welcoming them to class and telling them how happy I am to have them under my wing. Simple communications such as these go a long way in building relationships and classroom community. It also fosters sharing and building a personal learning network (PLN) among my students.

In the past my pre-service teachers have been quiet and shy, lacking confidence and afraid of what awaits them in the classrooms of their future. Granted, there have been some who have been more eager to learn and outgoing, and there always seems to be that one who knows everything and assumes the attitude that there's nothing you can't teach them that they don't know already, but this new group, however, seems different. They're excited to be there, eager to share their ideas and beliefs about education, and they're asking more questions than any class I've had before. And I am loving it! Just when I was contemplating how much longer I can manage to teach along with my administrative responsibilities, I am inspired to find ways to make it possible.

Nothing can compare to a classroom full of students eager to learn and try new things, ready to be challenged and chomping at the bit to share their thoughts. My new group of pre-service teachers fit this bill and so do my four-year-old Universal Pre-K students. Both are excited to walk in the door everyday to learn new things, try something different, and share their thoughts with one another and their teacher. Why is that those students in between these two age groups have lost that spark and excitement about learning?

Having been a secondary English teacher in both middle and high school for fourteen years, I can attest to the fact that the spark for learning begins to fade somewhere at the onset of adolescence and tends to last until the excitement and uncertainty of applying to colleges begins to set in. Even though there are some great teachers who do some great things to motivate and challenge students "stuck in the middle," that spark essentially alludes both teachers and students for quite a few years. It's sad. It's criminal. And it's our reality. But what causes it to happen?

Is it the emphasis on standardized testing and benchmark assessments? I think there's something to that, but I don't think it's the sole cause. What I do think is that, somewhere along the line, the emphasis changes from the exercise of skills to the demonstration of knowledge and this is what stifles the natural inquiry inherent in students. Although the world, students, and the expectations of schools has changed dramatically since we were young students, many teachers continue to teach the way they were taught when they were kids, with desks in neat rows, very little interaction among their peers, and very few assignments that foster constructivism and the creation of a new original product.

So how do we challenge teachers to move away from the way they've always done it and, in turn, challenge their students to engage in content in new ways? We must help teachers to become confident in relinquishing some control and allowing students to take the reins once in a while. Some wonderful things tend to happen as a result. Just read this blogpost by friend, Crista Anderson, to see what can happen. It's our job as administrators to provide opportunities for teachers to learn new strategies to tap into that spark and motivation that seems to be missing in students who are stuck in the middle.

Leading With Heart

Why is it that so many school leaders or administrators are viewed as being far removed from the classroom and children? If you ask the teachers "in the trenches," many have the perspective that administrators have long forgotten what it is like to be in a real classroom with kids. Sadly, administrators are viewed as being leaders who are not grounded in what is the true reality of teaching kids in today's world. Whether they seem to impose impossible goals and objectives for teaching learners who are far different from those of ten or even five years ago, or they are seen as the omniscient voice who imposes regulations from a lofty existence, many leaders are viewed by both teachers and students alike as people who have no idea what it is like to be a student in today's world.

Faye Wattleton, the first African American and youngest president of Planned Parenthood, once said, "Whoever is providing leadership needs to be as fresh and thoughtful and reflective as possible to make the very best fight." This is an important aspect to address in regards to educational leadership today as, in schools, many leaders are so occupied with the immediacy of things that take place on a daily basis that they have little time to devote to true leadership. Sadly, the nature of educational leadership, especially for those in building leader positions, is often occupied with "putting out fires" or managing crises that arise at any given moment.

However, the recent focus in educational leadership is for those in building and in district office positions to become instructional leaders. Lord knows that instructional leaders are what is needed in schools today, but finding and managing the time to devote to being a true instructional leader is something that many administrators, including myself, struggle with on a daily basis. How does one find that balance in being a manager of operations and being an inspirational and effective leader?

A friend and educational leader from Western New York, Theresa Gray, has written a recent post that is very provocative which addresses this concept of leadership being a difficult balance between leader, manager, and mentor. It is this balance that I struggle with each and every day in my new position. I need to manage the curriculum, departments, and grade levels among several buildings while building relationships with school administrators and teachers along the way. I must inspire all staff and leaders to reflect on their practices and help them to find new ways to be open and willing to learn new approaches that will challenge the status quo in order to improve student engagement and achievement. I must find ways to help others see the value in analyzing data to improve daily classroom practices in effective ways that result in real world applications for kids who can see the relevance of their classroom learning that applies to their own lives.

Why is that most teachers, parents, and, sadly, our students think that educational leaders have forgotten that what we do is ultimately about kids? How can leaders like myself impress upon teachers, parents, and students that we have not forgotten that what we do is in the best interest of our students? I vow to work to re-establish this ideal in the minds and hearts of those I serve...the teachers, the parents, and most especially the students. Albus Dumbledore said in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, "A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen." Well, it is high time we started listening to children and begin to identify their needs and meaningful ways to address them. My New Year's Resolution is to listen more closely to children, parents, and teachers in an effort to understand their needs as learners and how to serve them best.

Poetry is All Around Us

I'm starting a New Year's Resolution early...I'm vowing to write shorter posts! Gosh, I'm wordy; so wordy in fact that I feel bad asking people to read my posts because they're so lengthy. I focus on making effective word choices and letting my voice come through, but I'm trying to figure out why I feel the need to explain every last detail when fewer will do. I do this when composing a poem, so why can't I in a blogpost? I've asked for tips from some other blogger friends whose posts are suscinct and provocative, so I'm going to give it whirl. After all, Shakespeare, one of my favorite poets, said that brevity is the soul of wit and I am fairly witty, if I do say so myself!

This past week, the recurring topic of conversation in my social network seems to be about poetry. I LOVE this genre; I love reading it, watching it being performed, creating it from magnets, and writing it. I love classic poets like Hardy and Housman, modern poets like Tupac Shakur and Taylor Mali, and def poets like Twin Poets and Shihan. In fact, I really love performance poetry. If you have never seen a poem being performed, it is a powerful experience. Poetry is built from emotions so the true meaning behind the words really leaps off the page when watching a passionate poet perform. And this is how I used to get kids to shed their hatred of reading poetry...I'd show them poetry instead.

Using this approach, I inspired students to write their own poetry and to analyze poetry for deeper meaning. I even got boys to stop complaining and moaning in disgust whenever I mentioned poetry. Performance poetry helped my students to see poetry in the world around them and helped them to connect poetry to other things they have experienced or read. They were inspired by simple things and my seniors loved the dramatic performance piece I assigned in my Speech and Communications class after watching selected def poets. Below are some of my favorites that I used to inspire my students. I hope you find them inspirational as well.









Where do you see poetry? Right now I see it in the snow that won't stop falling. And I hear it the wind whistling through my fireplace. And I feel it every time I walk into a classroom full of kids. Excuse me, but I feel a poem coming on!