I love school. I love everything about it. It is another national holiday for me when I see the school supplies make their debut in early July. I love the smell of Crayola Crayons, the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil, and there is nothing better than picking out a brand new binder for a brand new school year. I was always the first student in the building and pretty much the only one that cried on the last day of school. For me, school was my safe place. I was good at it. I knew how to do school.
So, it’s only natural that I would decide to become a teacher. My passion has always been education. From the time I was little, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. It wasn’t until high school, and through the relationships that I built with my teachers, that I knew I wanted to teach high school English. I wanted to have the same impact on my students that they had on me.
When I started my career as a teacher, I had no thoughts of EVER going into administration. It wasn’t even on my radar. I loved teaching. I spent most of my summer in professional development learning new strategies to implement in my classroom the following fall. (I think I took 80 plus hours of professional development my first year of teaching.) I would spend many hours at the school, trying to find the summer custodian, to see when the wax would be dry enough for me to get into my classroom. I was eager to put the freshly laminated posters on the wall, eager to decorate my bulletin board with the colorful fabric I picked out at the local craft store, and even more eager to log into the gradebook to see my class rosters. I was always the first teacher in the building and pretty much the only one that cried on the last day of school. For me, teaching was my safe place. I was good at it. I knew how to teach.
So, as you can imagine, it was a huge shock to me that I would decide to go back to school to become an administrator. Remember, I had no thoughts of EVER going into administration. It wasn’t even on my radar. I loved teaching. But, it was once again, through the relationships that I built, that I knew I wanted to become an administrator. This time that relationship was with an assistant principal my first year of teaching. I will never forget the first time I was evaluated as a brand new teacher. I was so nervous. I gave the students the assignment and asked if there were any questions. I looked to the left and as I was turning to look to the right, I heard “She does.” THAT SHE was the assistant principal evaluating me. I will never forget her question, “How do you plan on assessing this?” It was in that moment that I realized I had NO clue what I was doing. That following summer I spent countless hours in professional development sessions for effectively assessing and questioning students. That next year, I am proud to say, that I received EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS in those two domains. I loved teaching. I was good at it. I knew how to teach.
I spent the next five years of my career LOVING the classroom. I also spent those five years shadowing my assistant principal. I stayed after school and assisted with testing. My first assignment was to sort pencils and make copies of testing signs. Each year I was given more responsibility. I went from counting pencils and sorting testing signs to running campus testing downstairs while my assistant principal ran upstairs. I was stoked. It was through that relationship that I knew I wanted to be an assistant principal.
I LOVED my years as an assistant principal. I have a passion for instructional leadership. I have a passion for impacting teachers, which in turn, impacts many more students than I ever could in my classroom of 150 each year. I coordinated testing, was the campus LPAC chair, coordinated SST/RTI, attended ARD meetings, supervised our campus attendance, coached the ELAR teachers on our campus and when I wasn’t doing those duties, I was running to fights during a passing period, or listening to students cry when someone in their 1st period was bullying them. I loved being an assistant principal. I took pride in being an assistant principal. I loved my staff. But, perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned was the key to being an effective leader. The key to motivating and making a good school GREAT. The TEACHERS taught me this lesson. I learned that I better LISTEN as an administrator. Yes, indeed, I better LISTEN. I better be FLEXIBLE. I better be open to new ideas, and open to DISCUSSION of trying new things. The teachers taught me more in my tenure as an assistant principal than a Master’s in Educational Leadership could ever teach me. I am so very thankful to the staff that LET me lead them. It’s a choice to follow a leader and I thank them for growing me into the administrator that I am today.
I left campus administration about a year ago to go into curriculum and instruction. I now work with an ENTIRE district of amazing teachers who continue to teach me lessons each and every day.
I started this blog for two reasons: to have dialogue with educators about the important topics in education. Relational capacity, effective professional learning communities, effective instruction and curriculum and most important- LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER.
The second reason I started this blog is to allow for innovative professional development. Our teachers are pressed for time. They plan, grade, teach, have families, do some more planning, and if they are lucky, they get a few minutes each day to themselves (maybe). I want to reach teachers where they currently are in their learning. Innovative professional development that allows for a quick “booster shot” of a new strategy to use in the classroom. An article that discusses a new intervention to try, and perhaps get more traditional professional development later. You will find this information under my Literacy Chatter tab as the school year gets started. I hope you will join me as we fight to be the BEST teachers we can for our students.
Thank you for learning with me. Continue to ignite your passion and fire for education. We have a hard job, but I haven’t found anything more rewarding than reaching students and teachers. I love school. I know school. I am good at it.
Beth Myers
Beth Myers 