Principals and Teachers need Grit too

Last Tuesday my Superintendent's meeting resembled a Pep Rally. It has been a tough winter with 17 extreme weather days. To the majority of folk that means bundle up and open up the homeless shelters,  to schools it means 17 days when they had indoor recess and indoor lunch. All of my schools serve what we might consider "at risk" populations and even on the winter days when children can go out to play, not all of the children have the winter wear to keep themselves warm. They are schools where the children need the very best teachers, the very best principals and supportive, active parent councils and fortunately, they do, but they are tough places to work day after day. Even the very best educators can get the winter blues and can start to wither under the demands of their job and so the Pep Rally.

Part of my inspirational chat, or I hope it was inspirational, was the importance of teaching our kids grit, especially kids in hard to serve schools but as I have reflected on that meeting I have realized that Principals and Teachers need grit too.

When you are working in schools where the children need the very best educators have to offer it is exhausting. You can't just be a teacher who is skilled with strong pedagogy, you have to be a teacher with a heart the size of New York City. You have to be a teacher who understands the importance of forgiveness, you have to be a teacher who never gives up on a child and you have to be a teacher who truly, honestly, without any doubt believes that they can make a difference. To lead a school of such committed and dedicated educators the Principal has to model and support all of these lofty characteristics. What I am describing are teachers and principals with Grit.

Angela Duckworth defines grit as a combination of passion and perseverance. Passion to fuel the vision and supply the incentive, and perseverance to see it through. I would add to that definition the creativity and innovation necessary to find new ways to engage and inspire students to succeed.

I consider myself to be a very fortunate Superintendent of Education because the group of Principals and Vice Principals are leaders with Grit. They get discouraged sometimes but they find the strength to brush themselves off and go back to their schools the next day with a smile on their faces and optimism in their hearts. Together with their teachers they model Grit to their students each and every day and I feel privileged to work with them.

I have attached Angela's Tedtalk on Grit. Give it a listen and then find your Grit.