100 Posts in 100 Days
This is the seventh, and final, post in a mini-series on lessons I learned from parents.
Back in Post #21: Behind the Scenes: Developing 100 Posts in 100 Days, I noted that I was working on grouping my initial brainstorm list of topics into themes. Lessons learned from parents was one theme that emerged and that is shared across posts 27-32. My original list, and plan, was to write a couple of stories. Once I started writing, those couple of ideas became 7 different stories. When I look at them as a collection, there are some things that stand out to me.
Nothing compares to a mother’s love
Plain and simple. The circumstances in each of the cases were different, but in each story, the love of the mother for her child was evident. As teachers, principals, and educators, if we lead with this recognition and think of how to tap into that feeling, we lead with humanity.
DEIJ is in every story
I don’t know if I was thinking about the role of DEIJ in each of those stories when they were happening. But writing them and looking at them as a collection, there is a clear DEIJ journey. Each of these families was some combination of minority, marginalized, or both. I hope that for each individual story, I ended with more sensitivity and awareness than when I began. And I hope that my sensitivity, awareness, and action improved with each subsequent story. These stories have shaped me and I hope I am a better leader and collaborator because of them.
Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
As educators, we know the research and evidence demonstrating that learning is built on the foundation of strong relationships. We often hear or read the refrain, “Maslow before Bloom.” Building a relationship was essential for each of the vignettes I shared. Nothing would have come from any of these stories without some sort of relationship.
Takeaway Question
One coaching move I like to use is the “takeaway question”, the lingering wondering that doesn’t have to be answered in the moment. After writing this mini-series, the takeaway I’m thinking about for my school is this: what are the opportunities we have to move from friendly engagement with parents to deeper levels of partnership with them?