Wolfpack

In Education, things are constantly changing; new research for best practice, curriculum, standards, schedules, laws, funds (or lack there of), programs, etc. Most educators know this before they begin their career. 

While I was in college, Professor Lisa Baylor, who taught one of my Intervention Specialist classes, constantly reminded us that, "Schedules change and that's okay". It was a phrase she had used in her classrooms and it really stuck with me, because I've never really been fantastic at change. Routines keep me sane. The familiarity and repetition can be very soothing so when things change, I really try  to handle it as best I can and I often refer back to that phrase.

In fact, when I first began my career at GESD, in an induction group we were asked to come up with a mantra or message for the year to share with everyone, and I used that phrase. Sure enough, my schedule constantly changed my first year. With the help of amazing colleagues, leadership, and administration I coped pretty well. Now, changes in my schedule don't affect me.. as much. ;) 

This year, I'm really struggling with changes because of how it is affecting me students. For example, a few weeks into the school year, we lost a position and had to change the entire middle school schedule. I was really mostly okay with the schedule change for myself, but I was very nervous for some of the students. Since the schedule change, things have definitely felt overwhelming. The students are somewhat adjusting to their new teachers, but instructionally we've had to start from the beginning to build up procedures and protocols as some teachers have new students or have lost students or have even changed content. This has been extremely difficult. The cool thing, is that the school I work has built up and continuously fosters a positive, we-can-and-we-will-together attitude. Amidst the changes, we have been able to rise and carry on. 

The collaboration and spirit among the staff is inspiring. It's cool working at a place that genuinely supports each other and works together on a daily basis in order to improve student and staff growth. We care about each other in a genuine manner, not in the 'oh, we're work friends' kind of way. It really does make a difference on those real rough days, to know that you are have an entire wolf pack behind you getting their hands dirty for the betterment of our entire school community.

This weekend, yet another big change. Due to architectural issues, our buildings are not deemed safe until some construction is done. That being said, these changes are not new, but there has been a lack of educational funding to fix things before they reached this point. Reality is this is where we are at, so what are we going to do,

There is a plan in place that seems reasonable and as good case scenario as this situation could be. I'm nervous about how it will affect our kiddos and I have tons of questions. Will all my students be able to make it? Will they be able to bus all students to the new location? What all will I need to bring to put in the shared classroom? How much instructional time will we lose? Will my students that struggle with routines be okay? Will I still be able to hit all of my service minutes? Questions flooding in the whole meeting.

Though it is scary, I do firmly have faith that things will work out. We will get through this. There is always something, but as a staff/team/wolfpack, we've become pretty great at fulfilling our school pledge as 'problem solvers and lifelong learners'.  We will rise from this, together. It is a change and it will affect things for a little while, but we'll pull through because we always do.

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