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.