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!
