It Takes Faith!

A message to my teachers:

In honor of MLK, Jr Birthday, I wanted to include a quote from him for this post.  Of course, I came across many of the most famous quotes we all know: “I have a dream…If you can’t fly, then run…Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…”  But I came across the quote you see in the picture among those famous, beautiful quotes, and I had never seen this one before.  This quote really struck me.  I thought, “This is a great description of the job of a teacher.”  Rarely, if ever, do we have the luxury of seeing “the whole staircase” before we have to dive in.  New curriculum, new programs, new schedules, new tests, new students and parents, new laws, etc…  This really could be a never ending list, but great teachers put all that aside and stand on faith.  Faith in our kids, faith in each other, and faith in our school.   

I experienced a difficult challenge as a principal this week.  It caused me to ask lots of questions and have a lot of doubt.  Doubt – the opposite of faith.  I was agitated with myself that I let a situation raise doubt within me instead of increasing my faith, but even while I struggled I had to cling to faith many times this week.  Faith in knowing that we genuinely believe everything we do is because it is best for kids – all kids.  Faith in knowing that we try to balance the “rules” we have to follow with what we know to be best.  Faith in knowing we set high expectations for EVERY child.  Faith in knowing we believe EVERY child can be successful.  Faith in knowing we are doing our best every day. 

I asked you to do two things every day at the beginning of the school year.  It was a message Todd Whitaker, author of What Great Teachers Do Differently, left with me.  I asked that you TRY and CARE every day believing if we did those two things each day, we would know great success.  So please know that I have faith that each day, rather I can get out of the office and in to classrooms, rather parents are angry or thrilled, rather students are calm or crazy, rather the tests are getting harder or easier, that all of us are TRYING and CARING about what we do and the children we work with every day.  I thank you so much for that.  And by the way, the best part of my day, good ones and bad ones, is getting in your classrooms and seeing incredible teachers and amazing students.