SMS Principal Blog

"Great people are those who can make others feel that they, too, can become great." -Mark Twain As I sit here on Friday afternoon reflecting on the past week, there are three big things that stand out in my mind. The first is the most obvious. In the wake of another tragic act of violence at a school in Florida, we had concerns of our own addressed here in our school community. Fortunately, our concerns were comparatively minor and easily addressed, but it does lead me to think of the second big thing that stands out from this week. Yesterday, Mark Waelde (hat tip) sent the video I've included below to our administrative team with the comment that he only sees the second half of the video here in our schools and commended our staff for making this a great place for kids. I echo his sentiment. I commented back to him that the first part of the video seemed really awkward and foreign to me, which I guess is a pretty good sign that I don't see that behavior

"I realized if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you change enough communities you can change the world." -Erin Gruwell For anyone who attended last night's varsity girls Sectional Championship game, I hope you felt the same sense of pride and community when our (significantly larger) crowd erupted when our girls took the court to begin their warmups and then over and over again throughout the game, especially in that very exciting first half. For about 90 minutes, any differences some individuals in attendance may have with one another, we were united in a common purpose-- to support our Lady Redskins up until the final buzzer sounded, at which point they earned a well deserved standing ovation for giving us all something to get excited about this week. I love moments like that. Championship runs are a prime example of the sense of community that can be built when a group of people all share a common goal or sense of purpose, when

"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." -Japanese Proverb As I walked the building this morning, I found myself getting more and more energized by what I was seeing. Ever since I stepped into my role as the principal here at Sullivan Middle School, and even before that as assistant principal, I have told anyone who would listen about how great our teachers are, and I truly believe our students here receive one of the best educational experiences in the area. Just to give you an idea of why I believe this, here is what I witnessed during a single class period at SMS: -Students were:      DISCUSSING the POSSIBILITIES they have through EDUCATION in SOCIAL STUDIES              doing MATH in PE.                     doing CREATIVE WRITING in SCIENCE                          doing ART in MATH                               READING books in MATH                                    COLLABORATING with TECHNOLOGY in the LIBRARY

“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo- far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance.” -Jodi Picoult There is no way around it. Being an educator is almost synonomous with being flexible. I know most people probably don't list flexibility at the top of traits for being a good teacher, and I'm not saying that flexibility is more important that content knowledge or an ability to connect with kids. Those are the traits that will make you great in the classroom, but even if you are a rockstar in those two areas, if you are not flexible, you will not last long in this profession. Great, veteran teachers are like yoga masters, bending and contorting themselves in ways that make the rest of us cringe while maitaining a totally serene demeanor. They don't even breath heavy.  Being an educator means balancing the demands of a diverse array of stakeholders. We know that we have to be aware of the expectations of parents, students, colleagues, admini