Boldly Go

"If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either."

-Unknown

Ignoring the questions about the historical significance of Columbus, the message here is clear: There is no harm in playing it safe, but there isn't much to be gained by it either. Our profession has come under some heat in the last decade or two as people have looked around at how rapidly the world is changing as schools have largely stayed exactly the same. For any veteran teacher, this may sound absurd because we all see changes thrown at us every year (RtI, Common Core, PARCC, Danielson, etc.), but to anyone looking at our profession from the outside, these changes aren't noticeable or nearly on par with the kinds of changes we have seen as a society in the same time span. 

Let me be clear; I am not advocating for change simply for the sake of change. I believe that if something works, you don't fix it, but I think it would be foolish to say that everything about education is working. We see an achievement gap between our high performing students and their lower performing peers. Often this gap can be attributed to socioeconomic status, which is beyond our control but not beyond our ability. What I mean is simply this: We may not be able to change the circumstances by which our students come to us, but we do have the ability to to change the circumstances by which they leave us. Most teachers enter the profession to make a difference, and there is no greater opportunity to make a difference than there is with our lowest performers.

This school has already taken amazing steps toward addressing this with the RtI process. I truly believe that all of our students feel like the teachers here believe in their ability and are supporting them in their efforts. Every one of us can name students who have made a complete 180 degree turn around from when they first walked into our doors. You have all passed on the opportunity to play it safe and allow a student to fail. Nobody would have blamed you. It happens in schools all across the country every day. But here at SMS, our teachers have decided to do the opposite. To hold students accountable and challenge them to rise to our expectations. It isn't always easy, but I promise you, these kids will remember you.