Looking for a Silver Bullet? It Begins With Us

When I was five years old, my father would take me and my then ten year old brother to work with him on the weekends.  My father served as a custodian for the school district and each Saturday morning we would join my father as he made his rounds through the schools.  I often joke that my father broke every child labor law that existed, often requiring us to help clean for hours on end.  My jobs consisted of emptying trash cans, erasing chalkboards, cleaning restrooms, sweeping and mopping classrooms, hallways, locker rooms and my favorite, sweeping the gymnasium floor with a push broom that was bigger than me.  Although my dad demanded a lot from us and expected us to perform our “duties” at a high level, he was always right there cleaning alongside of us and modeling for us exactly how he wanted it done. And if we didn’t do it the way he expected us to do it, he wouldn’t do it for us, but rather come back and show us again how it needed to be done and help us rather than make us do it alone.  As I got older, this became a way of life for the two Casas boys as eventually my parents got into the movie theater business and restaurant business.  Of course, these were both family businesses which once again, required us to serve in the role as ticket sellers, ticket takers, concession stand workers, gophers, custodians and later serve as hosts, waiters, cooks, inventory recorders, maintenance help, accountants and yes, once again, custodians.  During these critical fifteen years of my life from age five to fifteen, my parents instilled in me through these experiences a sense of pride, the value of a work ethic, and an understanding that if I wanted something in this world, then it was going to be my responsibility to make it happen.

This past week I had the opportunity to meet a man who serves as a school custodian who reminded me of my father in many ways and who I want to thank personally for inspiring me to reflect on my childhood memories with my dad and proving once again how important it is to take the time to engage others in conversation. By doing so, you may be pleasantly surprised by the smiles these interactions will bring to your face, the warmth they can bring to your heart, and the respect they will pay you in return by supporting you and the purpose you serve.  In fact, my new friend Larry and a few of his colleagues at Abingdon-Avon inspired the name of this blog post – “Looking for a Silver Bullet? It Begins With Us.”  What a blessing it was to meet this team of teachers, support staff and leaders who are committed to making a positive impact in their community.  People like Larry and his custodial team, Shane Gordon (@sgordonAAHS) Tina Stier (@tinastier57) Drew Witherell (@dmwitherell) Vanessa Witherell, (@VWitherell), Michelle Andrews (@mla5267), Chad Cox (@GalvaPrincipal) and so many others who have found their Silver Bullet….the knowledge that all positive change starts with each of us.

As we begin a new school year, I am jacked up as ever about the team we have put in place in my own school, but also just as pumped about the staff that is being put together in schools all around the country. Teams of adults who are ready to agitate the status quo in their own behavior and reflect on how they connect with kids can be the catalyst for significant change in school cultures which will lead to success for all kids.  I leave you with a comprehensive list of 40 responses that I compiled from interviews that I did with my teaching staff last spring and shared with them two weeks ago at our Welcome Back to School staff in-service days in order to challenge them to make this the best year ever!  I am not only extremely proud of them, but I am truly inspired by this list that expresses our core belief system, attitude, determination and a mindset that screams that connecting with kids and valuing their voice can and will be the change that is needed to bring about life changing experiences for our students. I hope that one or two of these will resonate with you and inspire you to be the Silver Bullet for your kids this year and bring about the best year ever to your school community.

You just have to remember that it starts with you.  Go be great!

Please share a strategy you use to illuminate learning in your classroom and share your belief in what makes a model teacher (Question posed during interview).

Model teachers…..

1.            Love learning

2.            Have internal pressure to succeed

3.            Value trusting relationships

4.            Are passionate

5.            Are empathetic

6.            Get as much as we give back

7.            Are risk takers for our students

8.            Focus on relationships – greet kids every day

9.            Are flexible – change based on feedback

10.          Reflect systemically

11.          Recognize learning goes both ways

12.          See what kids are doing, not what they aren’t doing

13.          Teach kids, not content

14.          Have students tell us where they are at so we know where to build from

15.          Strive to be the best for our students

16.          See students as partners

17.          Prepare assignments like they were for us. What would cause me to struggle?

18.          Are empathetic through our instruction; figure out what is going on with student so we understand
their thinking. This is a hard and demanding job. Not only do we give everything we have, we also take everything away from it. “The older we get the less we know.”

19.          Want to be pushed

20.          Understand the kids who frustrate us the most are the kids who need us the most

21.          Try to catch them doing things right

22.          Try not to bottle them up

23.          Want them to have a better experience than our own experience – don’t want kids to feel the way we did

24.          Want to find a connection with kids – show them we care

25.          Feed off of student energy and then give it back

26.          Stay active in the classroom

27.          Try to learn something from a student every day

28.          Give our time to students by serving their needs - share a small bit of kindness every day

29.          Take time to acknowledge our kids and recognize their work

30.          Often times as teachers we model ourselves after teachers we had in school so want to be that model   – “I Teach Because Of You!”            

31.          Try to find an emotional connection - desire to want to create something with them like a parent   would

32.          Create unique experiences

33.          Accept that teaching is a calling, a mission

34.          Have an appreciation for what all staff does –everyone works hard

35.          Own what we want to learn

36.          Challenge our own thinking

37.          Appreciate their talents and gifts. Take kids where they are and inspire them to move forward

38.          Honor what they bring to the class

39.          Are flexible with deadlines – understand that kids enter at different places

40.          Want all students to have a positive experience.