Start with the Adults

I hope all of us got into this profession to do what is best for kids. Schools exist for students after all.

With that said, there is something almost triggering when someone in a meeting says, “I want to do what’s best for kids.” It’s not triggering because they believe this. I wholeheartedly agree. It’s triggering because saying this in a room with other educators makes it sound like the other educators do not, in fact, want to do what is best for students.

I like to believe that we all want what is best for kids and may simply be coming at it differently. So, when we start from a place of common ground on our best intentions, we can listen deeply to possible ways we can approach to the work together.

All of this to say, I don’t think there are many people who don’t believe the durable skills that you see in portraits of a graduate are important, but living our portraits is another thing all together. Perhaps this is why so many portraits don’t make it much further than the pretty graphic that lives on our district websites.

While we exist for students and their learning, we must never lose sight of the fact that adult learning and adult culture in schools impacts student learning. Too often, we leap over the adults in service of BFK (best for kids), when we need to ensure we are positively impacting the adults who care for our K-12 learners.

I recently visited a delightful 1st grade classroom. There were a couple of us who visited as a part of Wednesday WOW walks where we celebrate teachers with 30 Second Positive Feedback, a protocol we learned from Mike Rutherford, author of The Artisan Teacher. Anyway, a student raised his hand and asked for introductions. We each introduced ourselves to this inquisitive class of 1st graders. The two visitors who were with me were principals in other buildings, so when they stated their roles, students didn’t need much explanation. They see their school principal in their own building and have some schema around what principals do. However, when it was my turn, I knew that saying “assistant superintendent” would require some follow-up explanation, haha. So, I explained, “I try to take great care of teachers and their learning, so they can take great care of students.” The teacher was very generous in her response to this by affirming that the staff feels that from me. Honestly, she probably has no idea how much I needed that affirmation.

But I share all this to say that likely portraits stagnate and never become fully realized because we haven’t figured out what we think those words mean to/for the adults who care for our kids on a daily basis.

Take a step back for a moment and if you have a POG, ask yourself, “Could these words be reframed as values?” In our case, our locally developed Portrait of a Graduate could be reframed as our values: character, curiosity, communication, and collaboration. And if we truly value these 4 C’s, then it’s important to align the work of the adults accordingly.

Because if we say we value communication and instilling strong communication skills in our students, but we as a district or school are not communicating clearly or effectively, then it’s going to be challenging for students and families to trust that we value communication let alone have any business growing student skills in this area.

There are so many places we can start with the adults in our system while we determine how to bring the portrait into our instructional practices. Before we take any steps forward, let’s look carefully at our leadership commitments and practices. If we value collaboration, how does it show through our approaches to the work? What evidence exists that we care about collaboration? If we are worried that we will lose sight of our values, do we organization our meeting agendas in way that ensures that we don’t lose sight of the values in our portrait?

We may feel a bit stuck with what to do next bringing our portraits to life, but there is always something we can do in the meantime in our work with the adults. No move is too small. Just keep making moves. And I truly believe it’s best not to lead around the adults. It’s through and with the adults. Kids too. But start with the adults.