Sometimes IT IS a Great Job

Sometimes IT IS a Great Job

As the 2015-16 school year has come to a close, I had two fantastic experiences reminding me of why I decided to make education my life’s work, and of the impact we, as educators, have upon the children, and young adults we are charged with teaching.  What an amazing job I have!

The last week of this school year brought on some tough and unpleasant issues.  At one point or another, all administrators are put in situations when we have to enforce rules, and when we have to inform parents of the poor choices their children make as they navigate through the arduous task of growing through adolescents. Without getting into the gory details, I will just simply say I suspended one student for possessing materials not belonging to him, and two others for deciding to send inappropriate texts to other middle school students.  This was an unfortunate but necessary action facilitated by poor choices.  I do have to thank the wonderful parents for their support and help with administering consequences to these actions, and for allowing their children the opportunity to grow via these circumstances.

I am sure you can all relate to and imagine the bummer type stupor this put me in.  Then, as if by divine intervention, I was reminded how great the job of education and working with youth can, and always will be.  The first opportunity I experienced was a wonderful celebration honoring the reading achievements of the North Rich Elementary Kindergarten students.  Their reward….pieing the Principal (me, in yellow) and the Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Conk.  Instead of telling, just view the video.

How cool is it to be able to allow these young, wonderful children to have such a fun and exciting time?  I really do love these kids!

The second experience I was honored to encounter happened the very night I had to suspend the two texting middle school students.  I was attending the joint middle school and high school choir performance.  In the combined choir, the students from both schools performed very well, but it was the special highlight performance of the high school seniors which had the most impact upon me.  I literally had not seen these students since they had left the 8^th grade and moved to the high school.  One student, who could hardly find his locker and struggled socially and academically during his adolescent time with middle school, just absolutely blew me away with his guitar and singing performance.  It was amazing to see how much growth, talent, and confidence he demonstrated while performing on center stage.

But the icing on the cake was the singing performance of a high school young woman.  When she took the stage and started to sing she completely mesmerized me with the quality and strength of her voice.  I was so moved by her capacity to perform; I could do nothing but wipe the tears from my face.   

This was a middle school student who was sweat, academically proficient, and just a small cute young girl.  WOW!  What wonderful performance by a beautiful young woman!  When I was able to visit with her after the show and express my wonderment, joy, and genuine feeling of gratitude for being able to share in her talent, she unselfishly, and without prompting she said, “Mr. Motta, you always told us we could accomplish anything if we were willing to put ourselves out there and willing to grow by overcoming our fears and learning from our failures.  If it was not for the confidence I gained from you and the middle school teachers, I would have never been able to attempt to sing.”

YES….Sometimes IT IS a Great Job!!!

Failure for Learning and Growing

Failure For Learning and Growth

Success can come in many different sizes and shapes.  In athletics, it could range from winning a single game to winning the state or world championship.  In business, it could be making the first sale of the year, improving your number of contacts, or increasing your productivity.  In school, it could vary from increasing a grade in a course, to making the honor roll, or getting straight “A’s” on the report card.  However you define success, there are qualities necessary to support you with your journey to achievement.  For the sake of this discussion, I would like to focus on success being growth.  Becoming better at something, in general improvement.

What do you think some of the attributes needed for this definition of success could be?  As I attempt to improve my motivational presentations and grow in my development as a speaker, this is a question I often ponder.  I think about things like having a clear vision of your end product, or having the drive to complete a task.  These qualities are only two of what may be needed to help with your passage of growth and improvement.  I would like to focus upon one particular characteristic I feel is completely necessary for attaining growth and improvement.  For any level and for any endeavor, Failure! Or more to the point a Fear of Failure.

While conducting a teacher evaluation, I was sitting in a middle school language arts classroom observing students learning the finer points of verb object agreement.  I associate with these students on a daily basis, and I find it extremely insightful to observe them as they process information while learning.  I think we can apply the concept of dealing with failure to everyone who is working to develop themselves.  

In this particular situation, I notice one student raising their hand continually with correct and more often incorrect answers.  I also noticed a student who never raised their hand and, in fact, looked for ways not to participate.  It is interesting to note the first student is generally recognized as an average student who seems to work hard to understand and learn.  The second student is known to be one of the brightest students in the school with fantastic grades and strong performance with their testing.  What about growth?

The first student is always willing to put their opinions, thoughts, and answers out for all to inspect and dissect.  On the other hand, the second student rarely offers their insight, and when they do, there seems to be a tentative attitude venturing on almost a backward shyness.  The differing attitudes of these two students peaked my interest so much I decided to visit with them individually.

I asked both students about their reasons for the way they participated in class.  The first student told me they loved to give ideas and to find out if their thinking was correct or not.  I asked how they felt when they gave a wrong answer or if someone happened to disagree with them.  The response I received was very intuitive.  The student told me every time they were wrong was an chance to learn, grow, and get smarter.  If fact this student seemed to thrive on the opportunity to be wrong and to use their “failure” as a springboard to get better.

As a contrast, the second student responded by saying they never liked to be seen as having the wrong answers, or being in a situation where they were asked to defend their thinking.  This student said they had always gotten good grades and felt they were successful.  When asked if they felt they had grown throughout the year, they responded that they did not think so, but it did not matter because their grades were good.

Throughout my career as a coach and an educator, it has become abundantly clear a fear of failing is a stifling entity to developing and growing as a person, student, or a professional.  If we, as educators, administrators, and supervisors, can create an atmosphere in which people feel safe in learning form failure, there is no end to the amount of growth they will be able to experience.  Failing to Learn and Grow…..WOW, cool stuff.

Elite Educational Leadership

I have been honored with being elected as the President of the Utah Association of Secondary School Principals (UASSP).  The people I have been able to meet through the association have truly inspired and refreshed my personal and professional lives.  I am so blessed to be a pare of a profession charged with the responsibility of directing the educators who touch, inspire, develop, and change the lives of the young people who will become the leaders of out great country.

As a part of the responsibility of being the President of UASSP, is to develop the yearly theme for the Association.  The theme I chose was, "Elite Educational Leadership."  The article describing the theme is to follow.  i hope you enjoy it, and please make comments.

Elite Educational Leadership

The path I took leading to principalship was not the traditional teach in the classroom for an extended period, and then get the administrative certificate and job.  After graduating with a master’s degree and teaching one year in an Ohio public school, I spent the next 13 years coaching basketball at a junior college, a Division I college, and in the NBA.  It was during my seven year NBA stint, coaching and observing some of the greatest athletes in the world, that I asked myself, “What makes the great ones great?”  In a world where every participant is considered the best at what they do, what qualities made Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Jason Kid, Buck Williams, Karl Malone, John Stockton, among others, not only stellar players, but the best teammates, the best leaders, and champions?  What qualities make these men the best?

Being able to coach these people from very close proximity, I was able to observe the characteristics which made these players the ultimate performers within their profession, and I believe these qualities transfer to the abilities desired in an elite leader of an educational team.  The first thing I realized was the talent level between these players and their teammates was not significantly different.  They could all shoot, dribble, pass, run, and jump very well.  So what sets the elite apart from the rest, and how can we apply this to our professional duties in order for us to become elite educational leaders?

After spending some time observing and pondering the habits, or characteristics each of these players exhibited, I came up with five common traits leading to what I considered the reasons why these men were at the top of their profession. I do believe these qualities are what can make the difference between a good educational leader and a great one.

Each of these players always had clearly defined and discernable goals.  One thing I noticed about this attribute was each player did not set more than one or two goals designed for self-improvement, nor did they set an overwhelming number of goals for their team’s performance.  Their personal goals all centered on off season improvements they perceived as a weakness, and their team goal was always to simply win a championship. It is very difficult, if not impossible to attain great leadership within our schools if we do not have clear and discernable goals set for our own performance, and for the performance of our school as a whole.  Take a close look at yourself and find one or two areas you think need to be addressed, and spend the better part of the “off season” improving.  When setting a goal for your overall school, consider only one goal, and keeping a laser like focus throughout the year. Simply win the championship.

The next quality makes the setting of the improvement goal a success.  That is an insatiable desire or drive to succeed and be the best.  It is all good and well to set an improvement goal for the off season, but if we do not do everything in our power to work on the goal, we will not make it.  After Jason Kid’s rookie season, he set a goal to improve shooting off the dribble.  He was at the gym every morning for two hours just shooting off the dribble.  This was not enough, so he spent another two hours in the evening.  This took place five days a week for the entire off season.  Whatever goal you set, you need to be willing to put in the time to make yourself elite.

A willingness and ability to make their teammates better is the next ability shown by these exclusive athletes.  This means not just helping on defense, or making the pass for a better shot attempt.  It means setting the example for the work attitude necessary to get better, and a willingness to help others improve.  Michael Jordan was renowned for setting a tone in practice of always working to be the best. If a teammate was not performing at a high level, Michael would make sure they were on the same team, and would will the teammate to compete at a level needed for improvement.  As educational leaders, we must seek out the teammates who need our help to improve their performance.  We must be willing to make sure they are on our team and we do everything possible to help them become the best.

Furthermore each of these elite athletes had a complete disregard for a fear of failure.  Everyone of them was willing to take the big shot and willing to take the criticism of attempting and failing.  I truly believe nothing great can ever be accomplished if we are so afraid of failing we do not try.  Make sure we attack the goals we set with tenacity, and if we encounter setbacks, attack them again and again until we break through.

The final characteristic common with all these elite players is an easily discernable self-confidence.  An example of this was when Larry Bird entered the locker room for the three-point contest at an All-star game. He said to all the other competitors, “I can’t believe they are going to pay me all this money to shoot three-point shots; which one of you guys is going to come in second?”  He then proceeded to win the shooting contest.  When we stand up in front of our staff at the beginning of the year, it is imperative they sense a leader with an easily discernable self-confidence.

Clearly defined goals, a resolute drive to improve, a complete disregard of a fear of failure, a willingness to make others better, and a strong self-confidence are some of the notable characteristics exhibited by the greatest athletic leaders with whom I have associated.  Check your inventory relative to these attributes and make yourself the elite educational leader your students and staff need and deserve.

  Kip Motta