This is video of a flashmob celebration of Principal Roget Boddie who recently retired from Hingham Middle School after 36 years in education. I learned about it from Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) who wrote a blog about it. I love what the staff and kids did for Mr Boddie.
After seeing it, this tweet came across my feed.
As wonderful as the celebration of Mr. Boddie's service is, I cannot help but wonder what the impact might have been if this would have happened five, ten, fifteen years before he retired. Did Mr. Boddie know how much his service mattered to his colleagues and his community?
In my opinion, education is one of the most rewarding careers one can have; however, it can be one of the most emotionally draining careers as well. At times, even the most positive, upbeat among us need to hear that they matter.
While one certainly does not need a flashmob every day to know they matter, it does have an impact when we know what we do matters. When I was a math coach, I had decided to handwrite teachers and classes notes when I saw great things going on in their classrooms or math related work hanging in the hall. Last year, I visited a classroom and noticed the teacher had two notes that I had written to her a couple of years ago on a bulletin board. This teacher is an absolute rockstar who goes above and beyond not only for her kids and parents, but for her colleagues every day. I commented how nice it was that she saved the notes I had written. She said that she saves every note she has ever received and posts them on her bulletin board. My notes were the only ones on her board. When I asked her about that, she said "Because they are the only notes I have ever received." Wow! That was a wake up call for me.
I love Todd's challenge. What impact might it have on our schools if we took just a minute every day to encourage a colleague? I would wager that very few teachers got into education because they wanted accolades; however, a note or simple word of praise can have a profound impact.
How do you let your colleagues know that they matter and to encourage them to "Don't Stop Believing?" I would love to hear from you.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI remember a mentor of mine, way back when I was a senior in high school gave me my first set of personalized stationary. As a young man, if I ever wrote a note to someone, I did so on notebook paper. So to receive this personal gift was something special. The gift from this man, who happened to be the headmaster of my school, was delivered personally to my front door. I'll never forget: He said that there was nothing more powerful than the written word, and I should use it often to celebrate and communicate. As a new administrator, I fully intend to keep that mantra. I have even bought new stationary, just like the set he gave me, for this very purpose.
Charles, what a great idea. I have two different sheets that I use for my notes. One has a picture of a rock and and a ruler and the bottom, the ruler is saying "You rock!" The rock is saying "You rule." The other is one that I made. It has a thumbs up similar to the one you click on to "like" something on Facebook. I love the idea of printed stationery. I will look into that. Thanks!
DeleteLesa,
ReplyDeleteI came here to comment on CyberPD and found this post too. Really fun and inspiring!
Thanks for sharing this idea!
Amy,
DeleteSo glad we connected via #cyberPD. I loved your video!