Recently, I sat by a student during an after school event. As an assistant superintendent, kids often know who you are, but they don’t always feel like they know you. So, any chance I get to spend time listening to kids, even if it’s stealing just a couple of minutes, I take it.
This young lady was delightful. I learned more about her plans after her senior year, and the impact she hopes to make on the world. She moved here during junior high school, and she articulated so many positive points about why our district has been such a great experience for her. It’s usually easy for kids to share positives. It’s harder for them to trust when I ask questions about how we can improve.
So, I asked what I ask many students, “If you had the microphone and could share one thing, one thing that you hope teachers will do to make a positive impact on students and their learning, what would it be?”
She thought for a good minute and replied, “It’s important for students to interact with the learning and each other versus sitting and listening.” I could tell she had more on her mind though and she said, “I know that’s nothing super special to share, but some of my favorite teachers were able to make the learning interesting through interaction.” I could tell she was still thinking and then she said, “Well, that’s not true. I have one teacher who is such a captivating storyteller. I don’t want to leave that teacher out.”
I’m so glad that I waited patiently for her to share and finish her thoughts because if I had not, I would have missed that last part. That last part about the teacher who is a bit of an exception to the rule.
Too often, in an effort to improve the student experience or in an effort to grow student learning outcomes, we miss some of the art in front of us. There are teachers who are artful storytellers, and I don’t want us to school that art out of them. Teachers learn best from each other, but the goal isn’t to make every teacher exactly the same. We can all agree on the skills that are important to teach. We can agree to teach those skills in the same window of time and even to some common, small ways to assess student learning. And we can then gather around all of that information for a collaborative dialogue where teachers learn from each other and together.
And all of that coexist without teachers needing to do their work exactly the same as one another. If that’s our goal, we are missing out on the magic that every teacher brings to this work on a daily basis, and teachers miss out on that feeling we get as educators when we stand in our magic and give our magic to others.
So, I’m simply asking us to really think about making sure we prioritize what matters in our curriculum and small moves to measure those somethings that matter along with time for teachers to collaborate and learn from each other in this work.
And then create a system that celebrates and amplifies each individual teacher’s magic. We need more people who are lit up on the inside and in a state of flow. Not only in our schools but in our world.
We must protect and grow that magic as leaders.
MEGHAN LAWSON 
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