Nice Guys Finish First!

It has been almost a year since my last blog post.  I really thought it would be easier to post things when I started this blog but I have to admit it has been more difficult than I thought.  Something happened recently that has prompted me to post about a great friend and educator.  I hope you enjoy reading about him.  HIs Twitter name is by his name in case you would like to follow him.   

There is an old saying that good guys finish last.  I guess sometimes in the business world that may very well be true.  As a whole I have never bought into that thought process or theory.  I think that good people do finish first (whatever that means) and are very successful.  Recently a good friend of mine was hired as the high school principal at West Side Greers Ferry High School.  For those of you not familiar that is in North Central Arkansas.  That friend is Matt Irwin (@mmirwin3).  I can think of no one more deserving than him.

I worked as a teacher/coach at West Side for nine years from 2001-2010.  Most of those years Matt was an English teacher at that time as well.  We both were getting our Masters in Educational Leadership at the same time as well.  Being an English teacher he was my go to for grammatical corrections on assignments.  I really had nothing to offer him except advice.  I don't know how good that advice was though.  We spent a lot of time discussing educational issues during this time and how we would handle certain situations and scenarios as administrators.  

When people talk about great educators they often talk about individuals who can build  relationships, bring people together, know their content, and last but not least have a passion for educating students.  He certainly has all of those attributes. Not only that but also has a great passion for the West Side community and will be great in his new role.  

Anytime there is success there is usually a great support system behind that person.  He certainly has that with his wife Kristie (@kbethsmom) who is a great educator herself and his kids that are all grown.  He is not only a great person but they are a great family as well. In order to succeed it is important for people to have great people around them both in their work and their home life.  He certainly has both!

West Side School District made a great decision when they hired from within their own ranks!  He will serve the West Side students and community with great passion! 

Teacher Investment

Graduation is such a great time of year. At Western Yell County (WYC) we had our graduation ceremony for the class of 2015 on Friday, May 15.  It was a sweltering Friday evening in our gym that does not have air conditioning.  It was about 85 outside so it was close to 100 degrees inside.  The rain forest type climate didn't take away from a class with great academic accomplishments.  It was still a great night for obvious reasons.  There was another reason it was a great night.  Something very magical in my opinion happened at that graduation ceremony.  One of the class sponsors and teachers was recognized by students addressing the audience.  As part of the senior class started to stand up and give this sponsor a standing ovation for her tireless effort and dedication to this class the entire audience did so as well.  This particular teacher is Anna Ridenour.  I would like to take a few minutes to share some thoughts concerning Mrs. Ridenour, even though she will not like the attention and probably be mad at me for sharing this.

Anna Ridenour is a math teacher WYC.  She is also a graduate of WYC as well.  I won't say what year that occurred though so I can stay on her good side.  She is invested in this school and is a Wolverine through and through to say the least! The recognition from the class of 2015 and the standing ovation wasn't just due to the academic help she has given each and everyone of the graduates but the investment she made in her students.  That investment was not just academic.  She invested in them completely and it is obvious they invested in her as well.

This is what education is supposed to look like.  Not the recognition but the investment.  Mrs. Ridenour is embarrassed by this recognition or any other she receives.  As educators we work tirelessly to help our students and want nothing in return with the exception of student success and life lessons.  We hope to have a positive impact.

It is this type of impact we all hope to have on our students.  If we can have that impact on just one it means so much.  She had this impact on an entire class.  I continue to be impressed with her approach to education and the investment she makes in her students.  This is my 18th year in education.  She is truly one of the best educators I have had the pleasure of working with.  Not just because of her knowledge of content and her ability to relay it to students even though that is most impressive.  She is a great educator because of her investment in young people and the school in which she has been a part of her entire academic life.

Anna Ridenour is the example of how students should feel about their teacher when they graduate and leave high school.  Anna Ridenour is everything is that right about education.  Anna Ridenour is what is great about education.  Anna Ridenour is what education should look like.

Perseverence

It is no secret to anyone that knows me any at all that I am a die hard, extremely loyal Arkansas Razorback fan. I definitely bleed Razorback red! For those of you who don't know there is a different between bleeding normal blood and Razorback Red Blood! Those of you who are big sport fans understand in one fashion or another about bleeding your teams colors as well. Being a Razorback fan for pretty much my entire life there have been so many high points as well as heartbreak along the way. At it's highest point there was an NCAA men's basketball championship in 1994 under the great direction of coach Nolan Richardson. As Razorback fans we have had to persevere through some very lean years in basketball and football. The 2014 edition of Razorback football persevered with their fans as well this year. For an organization to persevere whether it is a sports team, a business, a family, a school, or school district there has to be perseverance. For perseverance to happen there has to be great leadership at all levels.

This particular Razorback team had great leadership at the top in coach Bret Bielema. They also had great leadership with its assistant coaches and its seniors and other players. They had to in order to persevere through what was a very difficult start to the SEC season. They had some very painful losses and could have folded their tent up and mailed the rest of the season in. However, they didn't! The reason being was perseverance due to great leadership at all levels that wouldn't allow anyone to quit on their season or each other.  There is a similar parallel in education that we can learn from.

With the huge demands put on us as educators and in turn increased rigor on our students there can be some very difficult days, weeks, months from time to time. During these difficult times how do we react as educators? What type of leadership do we show? Do we have the determination to persevere? To make it through difficult times? To continue to do things the correct way even when it would be easier to take short cuts? Everyone can persevere through good times. I love to quote movies. One of my favorite quotes is from the movie, A League Of Their Own. Tom Hanks' character Jimmy Dugan tells Geena Davis' character, "If it were easy, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." We have all persevered and came out on the other side of a difficult situation and not only been better off for it but have experienced tremendous growth from that perseverance. It is not easy getting to the other side but once there it is so worth the journey.

Perseverance may have to come in many different situations. It may be a teacher that has to become a better classroom manager, teach with more rigor, an administrator setting the pace/example for instruction in their building or district. There may have to be a complete culture change in a district or building that will take a lot of perseverance for sure.  A previous district that I worked was going on fiscal distress as I became principal there.  As a district we had to persevere through some difficult times and make some difficult decisions that certainly paid off and that district is on very sound financial footing.  I currently work for a district that had to experience fiscal distress as well before I arrived and were taken off that fiscal distress list as well.  They persevered and there was tremendous personal and professional growth because of that perseverance.  In both of these situations the administrators, teachers, and staff were great examples to their community stakeholders and most importantly to their students.  Much can be and is always learned by persevering.

As we endeavor through our days as educators and things get difficult it is important to understand and remember that if we don't persevere, if we take the easy way out then ultimately it is our students that suffer and get shortchanged. As educators we have to persevere! We must have great leadership!

Do We Understand?

As educators it is extremely important that we understand the impact that we have on our students and community!  On a daily basis there are numerous moments where we will impact a student's life.  Will we be aware of that impact and care whether it is a positive or negative impact? Do we understand how important our role is in a student's life?  This is a burning but simple question!  

Being a great educator takes a great amount of hard work, dedication, passion, and reflection, among other things. Reflection is something that I used to sweep by the wayside and roll my eyes at when asked to reflect as an educator.   The more time I spend as an educator the more I realize how much true reflection is vitally important in an educator's life.  It has many times given me clarity on the impact both good and bad I have as an educator.  I have also realized how important it is in my personal life as well.  

If you are not familiar with TED Talks then as a person and an educator I urge you to become familiar with them. They are so informative, helpful, and inspirational. There are many that center on education and leadership. One such talk that focuses on leadership is by Drew Dudley. A lot of you will be familiar with this video. Drew speaks about the importance of leadership and the impact we can have on peoples' lives and not even be aware of it. Drew refers to them as lollipop moments. You'll have to watch his video to understand what he means.  

As educators we will effect our students on a daily basis. We may not even be aware of it until years later or maybe ever!  Rest assured we do have an enormous impact on our students and our community. We are leaders!  As educators we matter in the lives of our students! 

Do we understand the impact we have?  Do we understand how important we are in the lives of students? Do understand we may very well be the most important person in that student's life?  It is so important that we do!  As we all enter into a new school year we should be cognizant of the huge impact we have on our students. There will be many lollipop moments along the way, even if we are not aware of them at the time. 

Failure is an Option

In the movie, Apollo 13 Gene Kranz, the flight director for NASA at the time was credited with the quote, "Failure is not an option".  Even though not any of the astronauts or people associated with the space program actually said that it was a good quote for a movie as well as a title for a book Kranz would later write.  However, it characterized the determination of getting astronauts home safely during the Apollo 13 mission.  In that sense that mantra was extremely important for everyone involved to have that frame of mind. Of course in NASA's attempts to build rockets and develop a space program before astronauts were ever sent into space, failure was an option.  Improvement and perfection require and demand mistakes.  It is important to see what doesn't work before we as people know what does and will continue to work.

That thought process of failure is extremely important in education.  For so long it seems that the opposite thought process of not failing was preached so to speak.  There is a Domino's Pizza commercial that is currently airing where two Domino's executives state that 'failure is an option'.  Andy Wetzel, of Domino's product innovation states, "At Domino's failure is an option!  We know everything isn't going to work".
Also, Scott Hinshaw who is Executive Vice President of Operations says, "In order to get better, in order to move ahead you're gonna make mistakes."  This type of outlook has to be mirrored in education.  Not only for our students but also for our teachers, parents, community member, and all stakeholders alike.  Mistakes will happen.  What we learn from those mistakes and how we move forward are paramount and of the most importance.  There is no success without failure.  I am using several quotes in this entry.  I will use another one from Robert Kennedy; "Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."

As educators it is so important for us to understand that failing along the way will make not only ourselves stronger but make our students stronger and help them achieve and learn so many life lessons along the way. We want to perfect our craft and be as complete as possible.  None of that will happen without failure along the way.  I hope that this thought will hit home for educators and parents alike as we are about to begin the school year.  I will leave you with a quote from the great Winston Churchill; "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

We Are a Product of Our Environment

As I was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch recently there was a family sitting somewhat close to me.  There were mom and dad, three kids that I am guessing were about seven, four, and two, as well as a grandma thrown in too.  The two year old seemed to be a typical two year old which all parents know can be a very trying age.  She had interest in many things such as crawling on the floor, grabbing things, talking a lot, and not wanting to listen very well.  I watched without trying to seem obvious as the father continued to get more and more irritated at the daughter.  He would raise his voice loudly: STOP, GET OUT OF THE FLOOR, I AM GETTING TIRED OF YOU NOT LISTENING!  However, there was never any follow up other than raising his voice where everyone in the restaurant could here him.  Meanwhile, the little girl paid him no attention whatsoever.  She appeared to have her own agenda as two year old children often do.  She eventually went too far and the dad and grandma had enough.  She was told by the father and grandmother: Now you've gone too far! Look what you've done!  You need a spanking now! Sure does!  The two year old continued to smile and never really seem to give them another thought.  She did receive a spat on the behind but never really reacted one way or the other.  She was unfazed to say the least.  We won't discuss or look at merits and negatives of corporal punishment.  That is a discussion for another time.

However, the little girl brought a thought to mind concerning education and society in general.  We are products of our environment whether we are adults, children, or even pets.  If there are consistent parameters then there is a consistency in our habits and behavior.  In both the home and in our school districts kids need guidance, direction, and parameters.  They don't need these parameters on a part time basis.  We can't be part time educators or parents.  There is way too much at stake!  This consistency must occur in both their personal and educational lives.

If there are inconsistent parameters in a person's life there will be inconsistencies in their behavior, work ethic, academic performance, etc. There are exceptions to this rule it seems with people that seem to be naturally more driven than others. Typically as adults we can stay consistent for the most part but children must have that consistency and guidance.  If there are behavior issues and academic issues because of our inability as adults to provide the guidance that is necessary then we are failing children miserably.  We have huge responsibilities as parents and educators to guide children and provide a consistent environment in their life.

We can't expect consistency in behavior and academic performance if we are not providing a stable consistent environment in both the home and in the classroom.  The young girl who acted inappropriately due to lack of guidance and follow up seemed to be a product of her environment.  In the end we will all be products of our environments.

Leaving Is Never Easy

I have been the high school principal at Armorel School District for four years.  As of June 30th I will be the principal at Western Yell County.  Leaving a place is never easy!  As an educator you forge relationships with your staff, community, and mostly students.  The students are the hardest to say good bye to and let go of.  Armorel has been wonderful to me.  I am sorry for them that I had to cut my teeth as an administrator at this wonderful community. 

There are many people who I will miss as I leave here on to a new challenge and adventure at a wonderful school.  I am leaving a wonderful school as well.  Even though I have thanked my staff, students, fellow administrators, and community members directly they are certainly worth one more mention.  I spoke of Sally Bennett, the superintendent at Armorel in my blog earlier in the week.  She has been wonderful.  I have worked alongside two great educators in Teresa Lawrence who will replace me as high school principal and our elementary principal Joey Carr.  Everyone knows that a school does not run efficiently without a great administrative assistant.  I certainly had a great one in Mrs. Terry Tillman.  Thank you for your hard work and making my job as easy as possible.  I will miss you.

I spoke earlier of relationships that are forged in not only a school but any place of work.  I am going to speak of one particular person who would absolutely not want to be mentioned because of her modestly and humility.  Melissa Booker is the K-12 counselor at Armorel.  She is a wonderful person, mother, wife, and educator.  She is every principal's dream as a counselor and support person!  As all good school employees do she goes way beyond what is expected and is so much more than a counselor.  She is fantanstic at her job, loves kids, and has such a soft heart for them.  I spoke to regaining passion in my first blog post earlier in the week.  Melissa has such a passion for kids and what is right and fair to them.  She is a great advocate for students!  She is everything to everyone in a very small school district.  During my blog post earlier in the week I spoke of educators who have inspired me.  Mrs. Melissa Booker certainly fits into that category.  I knew I would write this post separate and thought she deserved a space to her own.  I can't thank her enough for the encouragement, support, and friendship she has afforded me over the past four years.  I will miss her greatly!

Thank you Armorel for a great four years I will always hold near and dear to my heart.