My mom was in the hospital last week. If she had not been rushed into emergency surgery, she could have died. The road to recovery is long, but we are so grateful for modern medicine and surgical advances. While it is devastating to think about how my dad may still be alive today if he had had access to what exists today, I’m grateful for doctors could do for my mom.
The long days comprised of work and hospital visits has really stretched and challenged me. I’ve experienced new levels of tired, and I’m emotionally depleted. But times like these also present an opportunity to see your support network show up for you. To those who have been there for me in big and small ways, thank you. Every little bit counts.
I recently heard a teacher explain school culture. She said when we are doing well, and someone else is down, we pick them up. We help write their lesson plans or pick up coffee for the team. And when we are down, we let others do the same for us. I was humbled to hear her refer to concept from Legacy of Learning. Essentially, when we have 50% to give, and we give 50%, we gave 100%.
No one is more responsible for our culture than our school and district leaders. But we are ALL responsible for building the culture we wish to see. Understanding this causes us to move differently. Because when this is true, every interaction matters. Every little moment. Every conversation is an opportunity to grow the culture we wish to see. This also means that we must care enough to confront that which threatens the culture we are trying to build. What we permit, we promote. And if that sounds scary to us as educators who sometimes struggle with artificial harmony, then let’s start with ourselves. Let’s start by holding ourselves accountable to be the culture. Accountability starts with self-accountability.
Climate is how we feel. Culture is what we do. What we do impacts how we feel. Culture is how we do the work. Culture is action. Culture is making the invisible – visible.
If we have been in a culture for a long time, it’s like the air we breathe. You don’t realize you’re breathing it. It’s just there and invisible to you. Part of our work on culture requires us to model and name. Model and name the small moves we make to nurture the kind of culture we want to see.
As I say in Legacy of Learning, my expectations for learning are high. My expectations for how we treat each other are even higher.
When I say we, that’s all of us regardless of role.
Culture is also how we do the work. It’s how we model effort, a willingness to try, an openness to new perspectives or ways to doing things.
I will say this in the most loving way possible. None of us is free from responsibility for our culture. The parts of it that bring us pride. And the parts of it that don’t feel so good.
Our first step is recognizing this and holding ourselves accountable for the standard we expect from others.
In a healthy culture, we lead and lift each other.
But we always lead ourselves first.
MEGHAN LAWSON 
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