"Happy vs. Crappy"

To be a successful administrator in Worthington, we believe that we must all be able to
"Connect, Communicate, Care and Lead!" 

 For me, the best way to do all four of these and do them well, is to create an intentional forum where I have the opportunity to listen and learn from our students. Certainly, my intention and hope is that our school community can speak positively about these four qualities happening as an integrated part of what we do each and everyday, however, for me, the invested time away from my typical day with the Principal's Advisory Council is a time I cherish. 

Just last week on Wednesday evening, I reviewed my calendar before leaving for the evening (something I do every night as I walk out of my office) and quickly realized that I had not prepared for my Principal's Advisory Meeting (PAC) which was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday morning...the next morning.  Ugh!  What should I plan? Or maybe I should just cancel?  I then remembered that I had just written a short piece to our WKHS Families in the October Newsletter that spoke to the start of our school year and amazingly,  how we were only 10 days from the end of the first nine weeks.

That's it...I would spend some time in focused dialogue with our PAC student leaders in grades 9-12 and we would title this focus, "HAPPY and CRAPPY."  It is true for me that there have already been events in the start of my school year as the principal that have been "happy and crappy" and I am sure the students have also experienced these same feelings.  Better yet,  I knew I could learn so much as a leader if I took the time to listen to their conversations.  It would be great if our students experienced only happy events, but we all know that is not the case.  While I know I cannot avoid all crappy events in high school, I believe I can do my fair share to help reduce some of these feelings for our students.

So the conversation started and before I could share my "Why?" and intended outcomes for this mini- lesson, the students had already started sharing with one another in their small group settings.  It was so fulfilling to listen to their heartfelt "happy" conversations about their classmates, their teachers, and their Athletic/Co-curricular coaches because of their ability to CONNECT with these adults in their life.   It was evident that our students know these adults, including our academic assistants, secretaries and custodians, in their life CARE about them as individuals. They respect each other and lean on each other in good and difficult times.  Friendships mean the world to our high school students.  They appreciate the time to COMMUNICATE and share stories in their 50 minute lunch period.  We get to celebrate The 2016 Homecoming Week this week and they are very excited about the multiple spirit activities that are traditions at our school. Our students take pride in the multiple opportunities to LEAD in our school.  They care about their learning, their growth as a learner and they care about the overall success of our school and the people in it.  For all of these things, I am a Proud Principal.

After about 15 minutes of "happy" conversation and documentation on the dry-erase board, the "crappy" conversations started.  It was amazingly similar dialogue among all table groups;  waking up early for school, stress of schoolwork, homework without purpose and the application process when preparing for college admission.  It's now been 4 days of reflection for me and overall, I am not surprised by our student reflections.  I do ask myself, "So what?  Now what?"  Well, my first response was to document in this blog and begin sharing these responses with our teachers and staff.  It's not enough for me to just listen to student voice.  In fact,  I believe their voice is what we need to create a positive and meaningful partnership in education.  We live, grow and work in the same environment each and everyday and there are days were we spend more time with each other than we do with our own families.  It's important that we are all active partners in the educational process.

Our students need for not just administrators but all staff to Connect, Communicate, Care and Lead.  I am confident that our students will "Change the World," but we must create an intentional forum for their voice to be heard and acted upon.