Celebrate GRACE - All In

Every year, our school has a dinner which is both for fundraising and for celebrating our love for the school.  It is called Celebrate GRACE.  This year, I was privileged to speak on the topic of being All In.  For those who weren't there and care to know, here's a copy of my speech.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”  Each day, I hope to honor that prize by working hard at the education of your students, work that I am certain is worth doing.

I was asked to speak to you tonight about the benefits that come from being “all in” at GRACE.  Before I do that, we should probably be on the same page about what it means to be all in. If I surveyed this room, there are some answers I would imagine we could expect.  For some, being all in would mean arriving early and staying late. While true, I think we would find that in most places. It is not unique to GRACE. For others, being all in might be defined by attending school events, like dances, plays, and games.  This is also true, but if you are friends with teachers, you know that this is not unique to GRACE either. Teachers everywhere are doing that. For many, money is where commitment is shown; so their definition of being all in would likely include giving money to a cause.  I agree, but this is true of any non-profit and thus, only part of what it means to be “all in” at GRACE.

For me, what it means to be all in at this school is to be completely on board with the mission and vision statements in the everyday practice of our work.  For those of you who don’t have them memorized, let me remind you what those statements say. The mission statement reads “GRACE Christian School is a loving community that spiritually and academically equips, challenges, and inspires students to impact their world for Christ.”  The weight of this mission is heavy and requires daily dedication. As big as the mission statement is, the vision statement requires even more. It states, “Students at GRACE Christian School will be grounded in God’s Word and challenged to achieve academic excellence as they prepare to use their gifts and abilities effectively to follow God’s plan for their lives.”  At the first meeting teachers had with Eric Bradley, he challenged us to pray students names into the vision statement. That’s an amazing perspective changer because it is no longer “students will” but “Hannah will, Bradley will, Olivia will.” When you start putting student names into the vision, it requires knowing students as individuals and helping them to grow in the uniqueness of God’s plan for them.  To teach anywhere is a sacrifice of time, energy, and emotion. The uniquely GRACE combination of these two statements requires each teacher to do their work with their whole heart invested in service to the Lord.

What are the benefits of this investment?  After sixteen years here, I can tell you, there are many.  Like any good investment, there are short term returns as well as those that take years to mature.  I want to tell you some stories, but I will mostly use fake names.

Day after I day, I see the evidence of students benefiting from the “all in” teachers around here.  It is evident in Caleb and David, who come to my room still debating about a point they were arguing in history because their history teacher isn’t content for students to memorize dates and themes but makes it relevant to their experience as students.  I see it in the open mouth wonder of Rebecca, an anatomy student who has just taken someone’s blood pressure for the first time, because while we all know Dr. Smitley gives hard tests, his commitment to the mission statement means he doesn’t challenge students without also inspiring them.  (We were recently contacted by Kira, an alumnus who just earned her Masters’ degree and will soon be pursuing her Ph.D. in Genome, Cell, and Developmental Biology) because of that inspiration during her freshman year.

It is visible in Roger, who has always hated reading until this year, but because Mrs. Petty is so dedicated to the GRACE vision to help students’ develop their individual gifts that she found just the right book to spark a love of reading in that student, his world has been turned upside down.  It shows up in the yearbook inscription where a student tells me that they admire me for “not caring what other people think.”

Each year, I have the joy of seeing a kid “wake up” in the middle of the year.  It’s hard to describe what it is like to see a student like Mike go from disengaged to fully involved, it seemed, literally, overnight.  From the outside, it looks like magic, but the experienced teacher knows that it is the cumulative result of years of “all in” teachers and parent investment that caused this “sudden” awakening.  

One of the best things about teaching at a school the size of GRACE is the opportunity to teach a student for more than one year.  Because of this opportunity, there is another reward that comes from being all in. I get to see students grow from goofy middle schoolers to mature young men and women.  When Josh was in the 8th grade, he did the minimum he had to do just to get by, but this year, he is fun to teach, asking many questions and offering suggestions for videos we can watch that illustrate the concepts we are covering.  I don’t know how he knows about every video on Youtube, but he’ll say something like, “We should watch that video where they spin honeycombs” during a discussion of centripetal force, and suddenly, I am learning about something I didn’t know.  One of my favorite responsibilities is writing college recommendation letters because they give me the chance to reflect on a student’s growth and tell stories that illustrate it. They leave us as different people than they entered, and that is the result of God using us as we are “all in” with our students.

The long term payoff of being “all in” can be seen in the lives of our alumni.  If you come to the upper campus during the first week of January, you are likely to find a dozen graduates roaming the hall, visiting their high school teachers.  They share their stories of college, thank us for preparing them well, and reminisce about their time with us. Jake and William visit together every time they are in town.  Not only are they successful in school, but they are also excited about serving the Lord. For many students, the bond is long lasting, and we forge actual friendships. Liz used to drop into my classroom frequently and say, “I’m here to kidnap you.  Let’s go to dinner.” She’s the mother of five children now, so that doesn’t happen anymore, but we still get to communicate online and enjoy each other as people. Last year, when one of our teachers had a baby shower, half of those in attendance were her former students.   When Hannah got married last summer, there were GRACE teachers at almost every table.

Sometimes, alumni return for more than a visit.  Liz Murray returned to teach 1st grade. Sarah Jarvis is currently on our 2nd-grade team.  Anna Green and Lizz Wilson have coached basketball for us. Hannah Eichhorst, who sat in my physics class as Hannah Vanderkin, is now not only a colleague in my department (who still won’t call me by my first name), but her teaching inspires me every day.  I can’t think of a more profound payoff on the investment of teaching here.

While I am standing here tonight as a representative of teachers who are all in, I am thrilled to tell you that I am just that, a representative.  I am not the exception at GRACE. As the yearbook advisor, I see every teacher in every classroom on both campuses at some point during the year, and usually multiple times.  I get to see them do incredible things that require time, love, and dedication. In short, I get to see teachers and staff being “all in” on a daily basis.

Next door to my classroom is Zane Smitley.  You will find him at his desk at six o’clock every morning.  In the afternoons, his room is filled with students who are taking measurements of plant growth, studying bones, or attending his incredible help class (which is always standing room only and once required the use of two rooms).  Zane is all in.

I can’t remember the last time Meagan Stone was alone in her classroom.  She teaches Calculus and Statistics, four sections of which are AP classes.  She challenges students and then gives of her time to help students meet that challenge. Yet, she still volunteered to sponsor the math club and take on the job of student council advisor. Meagan is either a crazy lady, or she is all in.

Speaking of student council, we have student council on both campuses.  Carol Shelton has been advising the TK-6 student council for years. Imagine with me, if you will, trying to develop the leadership skills of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students, wrangling their energy into something productive and instilling the ideal of service to others in their hearts.  This photo is on the student council page of Carol praying with those student council kids, and it is a beautiful thing to see. It’s safe to say Carol is “all in.”

Elizabeth Walters spends hours planning field trips and preparing student artwork for competitions.  She takes them to Art Spark, museum exhibits, Duke Gardens, Art Space, the Scrap Exchange, and Cristal Cerrone glass studio.  She enters their work in the State Fair, the Women’s Club, Congessional Art Competition, and ACSI art competitions. While it would be easier for her to keep them in the classroom, she wants them to have real-world art experiences and spend time with others who share their gifts and interests.  This is a tangible expression of the GRACE vision, and it shows that Elizabeth is “all in.”

Several weeks ago, there was this picture on facebook with two teachers, a facilities staff member, our TK-6 assistant principal, and a slightly embarrassed 3rd-grade boy, happily holding up his retainer. The caption read, “How many adults does it take to dig through the garbage to find a retainer??”  I have vivid memories of digging through the trash for mine when I was in middle school, and I can tell you that there are no adults in those memories. Each of these smiling people showed this boy what a loving community really looks like.  They are, for sure, all in.

Marcia Wingerd believes so strongly in the value of students’ reading that she has organized her classes around reading choice and gives up the first ten minutes of her instructional time.  She has invested hundreds of dollars in books for her classroom library and tracks their reading so that they can see the cumulative effect of reading time. She spends her summers designing and refining projects so that students will interact with their reading, not just fake their way through a classroom discussion.  And, this year, she started the Writing Center, a place where students mentor other students in their writing. Marcia is all in.

Willa Bea Coates has been all in for as long as I can remember.  While her official title is student information manager, I’m pretty sure her job description reads “whatever needs to be done.”  She does all the intake paperwork for admissions, administers medications to students, helps with dress checks for dances, deals with dropping and adding of classes, creates report cards, and has anything anyone might need in her office.  She does all of this with a smile and is the first representation many kids get of our loving community.

Mary Claudia Huntley is the first-grade teacher you wish you had.  As soon as you walk through her door, you know you are loved, and so does your six-year-old.  Last year, when she was at home recovering from surgery, she posted many times on facebook about how she wanted to be at school and how much she missed her “firsties.”  Mary Claudia is all in.

So, as you can see, I stand here representing an entire school of faculty, staff, and administrators who take the work of educational equipping, challenging, and inspiring very seriously and joyfully.  It is our pleasure to know your kids as individuals and help them find and develop their gifts. While it looks different in each of our classrooms and roles, we are all “all in.”

Teddy Roosevelt was right.  Working hard at work worth doing is a wonderful thing.  The outcomes are not only deeply meaningful prizes, but they are also eternal rewards.  I’ll leave you with one last thought from Freedom Writer, Manny Scott. In a seminar that I was privileged to attend seven weeks ago, he said, “Life, at its best, is about helping people, serving people, and giving yourself to people.”  You have the ability to experience life at its best tonight by being all in. Thank you.

The Interesting, Quirky Kid

When you teach, you meet a wide variety of people.  The Breakfast Club divided high school students into the criminal, the athlete, the princess, the basketcase, and the brain.  Anyone who has been in a real high school knows that list is just the beginning.  It doesn't include the theater kid, the artist, the computer kid, the cheerleader, the marching band kid, the car enthusiast, the mimic (that's the kid who takes on the interest of the people around him).  I even went to school with a girl who red books and openly laughed out loud at them while sitting with other people at the lunch table. 

Of all the types, my favorite is the quirky kid.  She's the one who defies category.  He's the guy with an abnormal hobby.  When you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, their answer is likely a career that you didn't even know existed.  These are the most interesting kids in your class, and it will benefit you to get to know them.

My first year, I taught a young man who rode bulls on the weekends.  I obviously know that there are people who do this, but I had never thought about how they got started.  It was a dangerous hobby for a freshman, but I never got tired of hearing him talk about it because it was just so interesting.  Ten years ago, I asked a parent what interest her son had, and she said he wanted to be a naval architect.  I had to ask what that meant.  It's a person who designs ships.  After that, I noticed that he was drawing boats in my class all of the time.  I tried to work boats into whatever problem I could. 

There's a seventh-grade student in my school, who passes me every day at the door, making some kind of strange sound and/or walking in some unusual way.  She wants me to guess what kind of animal she is.  I don't know if this is just for me or if she does this with others, but it's a pretty fun game.  Thursday, she was a bird, and by Friday, she had become a horse.  It'll be strange if she continues doing this as an adult, but for right now, it's how she feels she can connect with the world.

By the way, if you can, allow them to incorporate their interest into your class, you should.  If you are a math or science teacher, perhaps you can include their quirky interests into problems you are working on in class.  For example, a problem could read, "A naval architect wants to find the volume of a boat . . ."  This not only signals the quirky student that you care about his interests, but it has the added benefit of opening up the world to the other students.  They probably don't know that job exists, and it may help them to know how many career options there are.  If you have projects that allow students to choose their own topics, encourage your quirky kids to choose something interesting.  You are going to have three presentations on the physics of sports, so how great is it when someone decides to talk about flying fish? 

The quirky kids make the most interesting adults.  Don't miss the opportunity to know them while you can. 

Thank You, Administrators

Some teachers want to be administrators, thinking that it must be easier to work in the office than in the classroom.  This has NEVER crossed my mind.  There's not enough money in the world to make me want their job.  Between student teaching and my career, I've worked in five different schools under 9-21 different administrators (depending if you count only the top guy in charge or all of the principals and assistants as well).  As you can imagine, I've taught under some great ones and some poor ones.  It makes a huge difference.

My first principal was the perfect person for me to have as a first-year teacher.  As you can imagine, I screwed some stuff up during my first year.  I said the wrong things and did some things that weren't wise because, when you make five hundred decisions a day with no experience, you are going to make some poor ones.  Mr. Matthews always had a story that would make me feel hopeful that the foolish decision or mistake wasn't fatal.  He had done something equally bad during his early years, and he was a much-loved principal.

The day to day support of administrators helps create school culture, make teachers feel safe, and protect the overall vision of the school.  That also means that a poor administration creates a negative culture, makes teachers nervous and insecure, and keeps the school from proceeding with a unified goal.  The administration matters every day.

Then, there are the special days, the days when the quality of the school administration matters even more than it usually does.  They are days when we look to them for guidance most, and that is when there is a tragedy.  Whether that is a national tragedy, like September 11 or a school-specific one, like the death of a student, the administration sets the tone. 

My school lost a student almost a month ago, and I have been in awe of our administrators.  When our head of school called us together to make the announcement, he couldn't have been more genuine, showing students his own emotion.  Our principal allowed everyone to do whatever they felt they need to do, from going back to class to staying together if we needed to.  She announced to students that there was help available.  Our administrators called in local pastors to help with counseling students, reminded teachers that our insurance provided counseling, and sent emails of support.  They provided all of the support we needed, but they were never intrusive.  I cannot imagine how they did all of this while managing their own grief, but I couldn't have asked for this situation to be handled more perfectly.

Thank you, GRACE administrators.  You are awesome every day.

Love Your Yearbook Staff

Tomorrow, I will submit the final pages of our school's yearbook for publication.  This is the fourteenth time I have done this since becoming a yearbook teacher.  Because Jostens understands the power of simple gestures, a fun thing will happen when I hit the last submit button.  Little fireworks will appear on the screen. 

It's unreasonable how happy those little dots of light on the screen make me.  They are just little digital dots of light, after all.  Except, they aren't.  They are a representation of the time, energy, heart, and work that my staff puts into making this book.  In case you don't know what a yearbook staff does, let me give you a quick run-down.  The GRACE Christian School yearbook consists of:

176 pages
Covering almost 800 students and around 100 staff members
14 grades on two campuses
60 seniors
Every student pictured a minimum of 3 times
26 athletic teams across 3 seasons
Homecoming Dance
Spirit Week
6 types of fine arts on two different campuses
2 school plays

30 clubs on two different campuses
Multiple events like Grandparents Day, Hoops for Hope, etc.

I think I just realized why I overslept this morning.  When we began work back in August, every one of those 176 pages were blank, white sheets of paper.  Now, they represent memories, victories and losses, rehearsals and curtain calls, learning experiences, time spent with friends, senior fun, community service, and a hundred other things. 

Keep in mind that this is accomplished by high school students who have all of their other classes to attend and work on.  This week, take a moment to recognize that accomplishment, and give some love to your yearbook staff.

Let Your Students Teach You

Fifteen years ago, I had an idea.  Fortunately, I had a chemistry class that year that was game for me trying things out with them.  Together, we formulated what became the "Free Choice Project," so named because students could make a number of choices.  They can decide if they want to work alone or in a group.  If they wish to work in a group, they can choose their partners.  They can choose their topic, and they can choose just how deeply to delve into that topic (i.e. go deeply into a small aspect or cover a lot of the surface).   With the exception of the end date, they set their own timeline based on their own schedule and work preferences.  During the three months, they update me once per week on the progress of their work and whether or not they are keeping to their own timeline.  They are required to have a demonstration, but that it is mostly up to them how they do it (within the bounds of reason, legality, and safety). 

As a result of this project, I was asked questions that year that I had never been asked before.  One group, whose topic was fireworks, came to me and said, "Would it be alright if we brought a small amount of gasoline and a blowtorch?"  Questions like these took some mental navigation, but they showed that the kids were going to try some big things.  I'm on board with finding ways to make that happen whenever possible.

This project went well, so the following year, I implemented it in my physics class (mostly the same students, so I knew they could handle it).  This project is now done by three different teachers in my school across all of the levels of chemistry and physics.  The ones for my class have been presented for the last two weeks, and they are two of my favorite weeks of the year.  There are at least three reasons these are my favorite weeks.

1.  The variety of projects is staggering:  In the past two weeks, as 42 students have presented their projects, I have seen presentations ranging from the buoyancy boats and flight of airplanes (both real and paper) to knife throwing and the physics behind musical instruments.  One day included dog agility (with demonstrations from their actual dog) and flying fish, complete with a scale model of one to illustrate their fine construction.  I even watched a presentation on the physics of feces.  (You did, in fact, read that correctly; I had a project that explained why there are different sizes, colors, and consistencies to our daily bowel movements and how they are influenced by environmental conditions.)

2. They go big:  I already mentioned that in the first year, my students asked me things I had never been asked before.  That's never stopped.  When I introduce this project to my students, I always include the line, "Don't assume something can't happen until you ask."  There have been a few things over the years that were simply too dangerous to do (and I had to put some rules around the demonstration on the feces project), but most of what students want to do can be done with the proper planning.  The first presentation this year was from a pair of students who built a boat from PVC, plywood, and a tarp.  It was 24 feet long, requiring a boat trailer to put it in the lake and drone footage of their maiden voyage.  On Tuesday (or the next day it isn't raining in Raleigh), one of my students will actually fly a plane over our parking lot.

3.  I get to learn:  If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I believe strongly in modeling curiosity for students.  One of the main reasons I went into education is that I want to instill a love of learning in students for more than just the chapter or semester.  I want them to love knowledge and the act of acquiring it.  I want them to look at the world and say, "How does that work?" and then set about finding out.  This project allows them to see me as a learner while they teach the class.  I ask questions while they present, not for the purpose of evaluation, but for curiosity.  One of my favorite things about the presentation on flying fish is that it is a topic no one has ever chosen before, so I got to learn many things I didn't know before.

I'm sure this would look different in non-science classes and at different age levels, but if you have an opportunity to work topic choices, reading choices, writing choice, etc. into your classes, I highly recommend it.  While I am not a believer in purely personalized education, I am thoroughly on board with working appropriate levels of choice into your structure.  You'll be pleasantly surprised at what most students do when given the opportunity.