All You Need is Love

Well, not quite, but almost. Love is a requirement, a foundation, the place from which we start when we form a community, especially a learning community.

As a leader I would start by letting each and every staff member and student know that they are loved, automatically, without having to earn it first. This is because in order for me to do the job I need to do, need to start with love for the people with whom and for whom I work.

Love is a scary word for many people. It's too intimate, too mushy, too touchy-feely, too insincere. But I don't think anything short of love will do the job. If a community accepts me, asks me to join, and most importantly asks me to lead, I'm going to love each and every member of that community.

That love will help me find the energy, the compassion, the perseverance I will need to help every person grow. Wherever they are, each teacher, each staff member, each student can grow and learn and improve, and they will do that best when they are loved.

This does not mean I will have less love for my family and friends. This does not mean I will have no other life outside of my job. On the contrary, if I also love myself, I must make time for me. Self-love includes taking time for yourself, doing the things you love, and staying connected to the very people who make your life worth living. But it does mean I will work hard, I will spend extra time, I will keep learning and growing myself.

At the center of it all is our students. Every adult needs to feel the same love I do for our students. For us to work as hard as we need to work, to recover from setbacks, to get past the overwhelmed feeling we all have sometimes, to care most about the kids who are hardest to care about, there must be love. Once the foundation is there, the community that is built can support each member on his or her learning journey.

One Word for 2017: Courage

In 2016 my one word was grace. As with most things, I spent a great deal of time researching its meaning and what others had written about this word. I decided it was a word I would strive toward in my interactions both personally and professionally. For the first few months of 2016, it remained a focus, and then life took over. My husband's new business, my daughters' sports and school schedules, grocery shopping, you know.

When choosing the one word that would guide me in 2017, I had many choices. I listed them and thought about each, but I kept coming back to courage. I started Googling images for some of the top choices. I came across a poster of a quote by Ernest Hemingway. It said, "Courage is grace under pressure." It felt like a sign. Courage was an extension of grace according to Hemingway, and who was I to argue? The decision was made.

Within a day or two of making my final choice, I had another sign. In searching through Susannah Conway's website for her 2016/2017 reflection and goal-setting workbook, I stumbled upon a blog post she had written a few years ago. It was an interview she had conducted with Brene Brown. The introduction described Brown as a researcher-storyteller and mentioned her work with vulnerability, shame, and courage. As soon as I saw the word again, I knew it was meant to be.

I ended up buying Brown's 2012 book, Daring Greatly. I've only just begun reading it, but the intended audience includes parents and educators who have the opportunity to help young people understand and defy our current culture of scarcity in which shame controls actions and vulnerability is seen as weakness. Brown argues that vulnerability takes courage and since it is the core of all emotion, being vulnerable makes life worth living.

I hope this year, I have the courage to be my vulnerable self.