A large portion of the discussion generated by my colleague Faith's presentations in class was centered around the idea of what makes a great school. We have spent and the educational community spends a large amount of time trying to define greatness in hopes of one day developing a plan to achieve greatness. There in lies the problem that many not so great schools fall into- they spend all of their time, resources, and energy into trying to define what a great school and not nearly enough resources on actually becoming great. One of the biggest pet peeves I have developed in my time as an educator is the notion that one will discuss at length the areas in which a school. idea, initiative is lacking, but almost always they will fail to take the next step and act upon anything that will help correct or fix what is supposedly lacking. Everybody and their mother has a definition of what a "great school" might look like and I agree that much is to be learned from those that truly do excel, but meaningful change does not occur from simply talking about how meaningful our change is going to be-we actually have to do something! A great school, organization, team, etc. is one that is not afraid to take risks and actually act upon those ideals that make up a "great school". Great schools do not come in a box nor can you simply pay a large sum of money and somebody will make your average school great- as the great Todd Whitaker would say "It is the people,not the programs" that make a school great. Do whatever you can to attract and retain the best possible staff, empower them to reach their fullest potential, and your school will begin the journey to perceived greatness. One does not have to reinvent the wheel to become great, but simply find what works in other places and find a way to tweak it to fit the needs of your building. Roadblocks to greatness will always be present- there will always be people that complain for the sake of complaining, there will never be enough money, and there might never be enough time in the day. The great schools I have seen, and more importantly the great leaders inside of those schools do not let anything, even "insurmountable" roadblocks get in the way of achieving their goals. They have worked too hard to create a culture in which everybody involved believes in the task at hand, and will go to any lengths to make that vision a reality.
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AuthorRyan Huels is a 1st Grade teacher in Northern Illinois. A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Ryan places an emphasis on being a connected educator eager to put the needs of all students first! Archives
October 2015
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