SMS Principal Blog

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."  — General George S. Patton, Jr. In education, we often use gold stars to signify a job well done. This week, we get the opportunity to teach our students about a different way in which gold stars are used. The 2nd Annual Gold Star Ride will be passing in front our building on Wednesday at approximately 11:15 am. While this timing is not ideal, I believe it is an opportunity we cannot pass up, so this Wednesday, we will walk our classes out to main street in front of our building and encourage the veterans and active duty soldiers who are completing a 5 day, 500 mile endurance ride to honor and preserve the legacy of Illinois service members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. These men and women will be stopping at the American Legion hall for lunch on the first day of their trip, which will begin and end in Springfield, with the final leg c...

"Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It's teh impetus for creating change." -Max Carver This week we will take an entire day off from regular classes to help our students understand empathy. I chose to start the day by having them watch the movie Wonder  because I think that our students will genuinely empathize with the character of Auggie. I don't think this is just a miracle of movie magic taking hold of them. I truly believe a student like Auggie would be welcomed almost universally in our school. I have watched students in this district be highly supportive and encouraging of peers that they can clearly see have challenges beyond their control. However, my hope is that by engaging them in conversations about the other, less visible challenges of being an adolescent, they will begin to see that everyone needs that kind of support and encouragement. I am hoping that we will empower them to show empathy toward one another...

"Education is improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it." -Marian Wright Edelman We have made it through our first week of September, so in my mind, we are no longer in the first weeks of school. We have entered the long grind that is the entire school year between the "start" and "ending" which we all know is a 2-3 week buffer on both ends where we are either energized to be back or energized to be almost done. This middle part, though challenging, is where our real impact is made.  About a week ago, I had a conversation with a former student of mine who decided late in her college career to pursue teaching. She has found that she has a true passion for the profession, but like many new teachers, she feels overwhelmed only a few weeks in and the prospect of fighting an uphill battle for another 30+ weeks is daunting. She told me she loves her students and wants to be the best teacher she c...

"As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills." ~Alain Dehaze I'm not sure how many of you noticed it this week, but things didn't exactly go as planned. In fact, I think we were only about 10 minutes into the week before things started to get a little sideways. When it was first communicated to me first thing Monday that MAP was not working properly on desktop computers and iPads didn't have the app available, I couldn't help but think it was going to be a long week, and for some of you that may still be the case, but just as soon as that thought entered my head, the next thing I registered was the immediate reaction of our staff to simply find a way forward. I've long believed that there are essentially two kinds of people (Yay! Another "two kinds of people" philosophy): problem solvers and problem identifiers. These tw...

“Love springs from the inside. It is the immortal surge of passion, excitement, energy, power, strength, prosperity, recognition, respect, desire, determination, enthusiasm, confidence, courage, and vitality, that nourishes, extends and protects. It possesses an external objective - life.”  ― Ogwo David Emenike At first, I was going to write my weekly message about MAP Testing, but I just couldn't come up with a message about MAP Testing that matched my excitement for this year. That isn't to say that I don't see the benefits of benchmark testing-- I do. It just isn't the reason any of us got into education. Instead, I want to just take a little time to share with all of you how excited I am to have this school year off to such a great start. The quote I chose for this week's message embodies for me what it means to be an educator. Getting the opportunity to educate, empower, and inspire these kids every day fills me with a vitality that I hope you all feel as...

"You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both, and there you have the facts of life." ~Gloria Loring With so much going on as we kick off the 18-19 school year, it was hard for me to come up with a single theme for my first Weekly Message of the school year. I used the title of one 80's TV show for a title and the lyrics from the theme song of another 80's theme song as the quote of the week, and I have the lyrics from an REO Speedwagon song from the late 70's stuck in my head ("Roll With the Changes" for those playing along). Like the thoughts running through my head, this week was a little all over the place, but to be honest, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I'll go ahead and say it now that I know everything is going to be ok.... I spent most of the summer terrified that I would not have this building as prepared as we needed to be for all this year had in store for us, but I was forgetting one amazing detail-- ALL OF ...

"The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals." -Melody Beattie Here we are at the end of my first year as the principal of Sullivan Middle School, and it seems impossible that the entire year has passed so quickly. It seems like only yesterday you all were saving my bacon by making our tropical-themed opening day run smoothly and on-time in spite of my best efforts to screw it up by starting late and unorganized. From my point-of-view, that is how most of the year went. No matter what was thrown at this faculty and staff, you found a way to work together and figure out how to keep things moving smoothly for our students. I hope someday they are able to appreciate how amazing their middle school years were because of how dedicated and passionate their teachers were every step of the way.  As much as I enjoyed every day of my first year, I know that the closing of this chapter means it ...