1. Raise the Bar
“Expect a lot from yourself or no one else will.”
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hen people are confronted with expectations of themselves,
they can reflect about what their lives can bring to the world if they reach
their full potential. At my age, the learning process still occurs through
events, people, research, and fun. I never expected to be a middle school
principal. The prospect of being an educator for thirty years let alone a
principal in the same school for seventeen years would have been a ridiculous
thought when my career started. To quote a song written by Robert Hunter, “What
a long, strange trip it’s been.” Fortunately, that “Ta Da” moment still appears
but I’m sure this will not be my last stop.
An integral
part of “raising the bar” includes knowing your strengths and weaknesses. By
working together with other stakeholders, strengths eliminate weaknesses and allow
a higher level of achievement. By
knowing our assets and not ignoring our flaws, we keep becoming trail
blazers and innovators. Most of all, the students and staffulty at our school are
able to astound each other when we encourage each other to take calculated, creative
risks. Our success has been measured in multiple formats: publications,
research, awards and most of all the creation of whole people that reach
heights beyond their wildest imaginations.
For me, “Raising the Bar” is the
prelude to all the great things that leaders do. Granted, everything you do is
not off the charts, but your goal should be to create the best. In Jim Collins
book, Good to Great, he suggests that
good is the enemy of great. If you are an educator, you see it all the time.
Teachers, parents, and students sometimes do “just enough”. Well, that should
never be a part of your organization and surely not in our building. In schools,
we are dealing with our world’s most valuable resource, our future. In your house,
you are dealing with the success of the people around you which translates into
the success of your mission.
“Excellence will not attack your school.” -Larry Biddle
By raising the bar for yourself, you
raise the bar for everyone. Then they raise the bar for the people around them,
and so on and so on. It carries over into everything you do. High standards are
catchy. Work hard, be successful, have
fun.
Most people have high expectations
for themselves but they do not believe in themselves. Children, adolescents,
teenagers, and young adults will automatically raise the bar when they know you
believe in them thereby allowing them to believe in themselves. When you are
connected, no one wants to disappoint one another. This creates a tremendous
amount of opportunity to complete research and fine-tune the quality of our
educational process and the creation of positive climate and culture.
One of the
most noticeable differences between the first and second editions of this book is
the different stories that have accumulated over time. The following letter
(email) was written by someone who lived the 50 Great Things as it was being written. One of the most
influential and touching stories about my career follows. This girl continues
to raise the bar that started at a very early age. She was ten when I first met
her. This letter is usually saved for the end of a presentation or keynote but
it is the powerful beginning to the many new stories that occur when people
work together.
Dr. R.,
It’s hard
to believe that in just a few weeks I’ll be a college graduate. These final weeks at Queens are filled with
sentimental time of reflection and celebration. For me, part of that reflection piece is
passing on words of gratitude.
Today was a
beautiful day on our campus to celebrate learning with the scholarship donors
who generously give to our university.
As these donors talk about why they’ve chosen to make an investment in
our education, I couldn’t help but think of the investment you’ve made in my
education. It’s so neat that you’ve
cared enough to watch me grow through college graduation!
At Queens
our focus is living a noble life through community and character. It’s our job to look at the world, as it
“ought to be.” I’d like to think I came
to college with a basic understanding of what that meant. It all started with you! Character traits and
leadership began in those fifth grade leadership lessons. When I share with professors, peers, and
family about why I’ve been able to thrive here at Queens, It often begins with
the phrase I had a middle school principal who encouraged me to write
goals…. My middle school years are such
a critical part of my story.
There are
the moments when it gets difficult to sit in education classes knowing that the
road to being a teacher has been anything but easy because my peers will be
teachers sooner than me. And then
there’s moments like today’s class where we talk about classroom climate and
school culture and my thoughts immediately turn to Belhaven! Or the moment a few weeks ago when a group
of students was sharing their experience about visiting the Ron Clark Academy
and I told a friend that rather than going to visit that school they should go
hear you speak about Belhaven…. It’s that brilliant!
I leave Queens with a compassionate heart to
serve the students in our city who need someone to believe they have a chance
to succeed. You’ve given me a
tremendous amount of hope and inspiration.
It’s time for me to give that to other young people. You’ve made me a
visionary! Being an educator is still
the passion that sits in my heart and it’s going to take us more time to
accomplish that goal. I haven’t given
up! My bigger dream though is to serve young people. So maybe I’ll work with a non- profit. I’ve given deeper thought to why I want to
teach and molding people of good character is a huge piece of that…. So, I wonder what it would be like to get a
job promoting character education programs like Renaissance in more of our
public schools.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve learned in my time as a student… If Dr. R. says he believes in you, he meant it and
nearly anything is possible! WE did it!!
With Gratitude,
Julie
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