Farewell

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

This lyric from the Byrds is a direct quote from Ecclesiastes 3 and is a reminder of the change and seasons we all face in life.  When I started working in Clinton twenty years ago as a para, I never knew how long this season would last.  This season is coming to an end and I wanted to reflect on and give back to the people that have been such an integral part of this season.

There is always an emotional component to any change and one that is twenty years in the making is bound to be laden with emotion.  As I compose this I am flooded with memories of students, colleagues, mentors and friends.  These experiences have shaped who I am as an educator and a person.  I have learned and grown along they way and I am thankful for so many things.  As I reflect on those, I want to share some of them with you.

Always do what is best for students.  

This is something that I learned very early in my career.  My first teaching partner was Mary Lou Wright and she was hands down one of the most conscientious people I have ever met.  There was never any doubt that what she did always placed students above herself.  Mrs. Wright fell and broke her arm, needing pins to keep the bones in place.  She returned to work sooner than she should have because of her concern for her students.  Yet later, when faced with cancer she chose not to return to work, not because of her health, but because she didn't want the students she would have that year to have the lasting memory of losing their teacher to cancer.

Always look out for your staff.  

I learned this lesson early as well.  My first principal in Clinton was Dawna Mosburg and she went above and beyond to build relationships with her staff and students which transformed the school into a warm environment for students and staff.  So much so, that there was almost no turnover in that building while she was the administrator.  The staff always felt supported and supported each other. This idea was reinforced by other administrators I have worked with throughout my time in Clinton, but without this early example, I don't know that I would easily recognize it in subsequent leaders.   This is something every leader has to cultivate on their own and sometimes it takes a few years to accomplish.  I worked on this during my time as a leader and know it was an area that needed continued improvement, but each leader must find the best way to do this within their personality. 

Always improve yourself.  

No matter how great a teacher you are, you will always have room for improvement.  You may have been doing this for twenty years or you may be in your first five years, either way you always have room to improve.  As a teacher we seek to instill in our students a love for learning, if we are not actively learning how can we ever expect them to do the same.  You can do this any number of ways and many of them won't cost you much at all.  There are any number of books available to help you hone your craft, social media groups are also available to you for sharing with other educators.  Podcasts and videos are also easy sources of information and can be found on any number of topics.  But you don't even have to look that far to find ways to improve and grow.  Look across the hall or across the table during your collaborative team meetings.  Ask what they are doing that enables them to see success in areas you may be struggling, afterall you should have the same goal in mind.  You should all be focused on provided the very best learning experience possible for your students, that is why most of you became educators in the first place.

Always build relationships.

This is one that is critical for every teacher to do in order to see the most success from their students, but it can also be the most taxing on the teacher.  If you are building relationships with your students, you are becoming invested in their lives.  This is something that many teachers in this district excel at.  You attend their sporting events, recitals, plays and church programs.  You send notes home praising the great things they are doing.  You call home to congratulate your students and to check up on them when they are struggling.  You notice when your students need compassion and offer it.  You provide the structure that many of your students do not have at home and enable them to see success they may not otherwise see. This can leave you more emotionally drained at the end of each day/week but in the long run it is worth it.  I can think of a particular case where this paid off for me.  I had a student that seemed unreachable at the time, but I continued to cultivate that relationship throughout the year.  I didn't think it would ever pay off, and it didn't seem to all year.  When that student was a senior they would stop by my office to talk between and before class, at that point I realized that even though it didn't seem as though I was having an impact, in the long run I found out differently.  You may never get the honor of seeing the payoff, but rest assured knowing your efforts are worth it. 

Always accommodate the personalities around you.

This may be your students or your staff.  Our society has created this polarity between the different personality types that often causes animosity between the groups.  Truthfully, we cannot function successfully in any environment with just one personality type.  Know your people and their strengths.  Use it to develop your relationships and to help you understand what each person is most capable of doing naturally.  This does not me you need to exclude people because it isn't a natural fit for their personality.  We all need to continue to grow and improve, but this might help you understand why some tasks are more challenging for some people than others. 

In the end, I am thankful for the opportunity to grow and advance throughout my time in this district.  I have learned from so many wonderful educators.  I have developed lifelong friendships in this community and many of you are family to me.  My daughter started her education here with some wonderful educators.  I feel like she has had a solid start that will carry her through the rest of her life.  I pray that you continue to do the same for others that come this way. 

As I move into my new role as Professional Learning Director for POE, I hope I can be of service to you in some way.  You can always find me on social media and many of you have my phone number.  You can also contact me at the POE office as well.  I will share out some of the opportunities I come across along the way in hopes of continuing to provide for the needs of the Red Tornadoes and now other students across the state. 

Once a Red Tornado, always a Red Tornado!

Thank you for reading The Cluttered Desk.  You can find me on Twitter @jasonbengs.  Please feel free to comment on the post and share your ideas with me.  You can also leave a response on The Cluttered Desk Flipgrid page if you would like to leave a comment on this or any other post or podcast episode by going to https://flipgrid.com/03fa4e01 If you found any value in this post, please share it with others.