Courage - July 23, 2019

Courage 

By, Michael Earnshaw 

July 23, 2019 

@mearnshaw158

Courage is something that every individual holds inside of themselves, yet not all utilize it and showcase it in their lives. The beauty of courage is that displaying it varies from individual to individual, situation to situation. Courage is a necessity for educators to truly reach their students and make a positive change in this world.  

I find courage in anyone that decides to enter the field of education. Teaching is a profession where one holds in the palm of their hands the outcome of all our futures. Educators can use what’s in their power, take risks to bring the best experiences, and build loving relationships with our students to change the course of the world. Educators display courage by knowing they are entering a field where the media focuses on the negative and they are judged by test scores from an assessment created by those far displaced from understanding what truly happens in a classroom. Teachers are courageous by doing what they know is best for a child’s well-being, advocating for them, supporting them and building them up when the rest of the child’s world has thrown their hands in the air and given up. I find teachers who fight for our kids, despite going against popular opinion, to exemplify courage.  

Last school year I had taken a leadership personality test. Hands down I came out as an “Ambassador.” Here’s the description:  

In the age of choice, the Ambassador is a more desirable, more important leadership type than ever before. Ambassadors are the entertainers of the leadership universe, bringing unmatched passion, enthusiasm, and charisma to the table with the goal of telling the best possible stories of their districts, schools, and classrooms.  

Out of the entire District Leadership Team, I was the only “Ambassador”. No one else even fell into this as a sub-category. Reflecting on this description I agree whole-heartedly that I am an “Ambassador.” It has not always been that way.  

Before last school year I was not myself. I was living my role as Principal in the stereo-typical fashion: sit as desk, stare at a computer screen, make phone calls, do a lap around the school to show my face, blah, blah, blah. I was unhappy, unproductive, and not a successful leader. I was fortunate enough the summer of 2018 to get involved in Twitter and build my PLN, realizing the role of Principal does not have to be that bland.  

In my role as an “Ambassador,” I display courage by going against the grain and challenging the status quo of how a Principal operates. I am never in my front office. Instead I’ll be found in the halls with my mobile desk, Adina, or in the classroom on the floor working with students, or reading a favorite picture book to Kindergarteners. I’ve displayed courage by telling my staff that I want them to take risks, design lessons that are out of their comfort zones, and I will support them through the process. I model this by openly taking risks myself and sharing them with our staff. It’s ok if it flops. No true learning or growth will occur inside of our safe little bubbles that we’ve grown comfortable with. It has taken courage to show that I will put relationships, the well-being, and emotional states of our students, staff, and parents first before curriculum and test scores. I display courage by knowing that deep inside my heart a positive relationship with ALL needs to come first, second, and third before true learning and growth happen. Our students will not reach their true potential, take learning into their own hands, discover solutions to problems that aren’t even birthed in our world yet, until they know we are here for them. It takes courage to fight for our students and see them as individuals with so much unlocked potential rather than a State Identification Number. As a leader, it takes courage to admit defeat and failures to our staff but is a necessity. We are all human, and no one of us has all the answers. We need others just as much as they need us to keep moving forward. 

Courage is a unique concept. Educators that fight for our students, lose sleep over what is going on their lives and try to brainstorm how to help them, that will implement relationships first and lessons that are smirked at by co-workers, all in the benefit of helping students, that is true courage.