on taking the wheel.

Like many charter school leaders, life threw me into administration at the ripe ol’ age of twenty-six.  Ten years ago, the turn-around model was all the rage and the soon to be released Waiting for Superman was about to change the charter narrative forever.  

Naive myself, I remember hearing fellow inexperienced administrators half-bragging about all that they expected of their teachers.  Coming from a family of school leaders myself, I did not recognize this type of teacher trash talking at Christmas dinners.

While once road tripping to a professional development down rain-ridden I-80, real talk started to spatter.  

“No, my teachers hate me.  I require four-page lesson plans for ELA alone,” back-seat chatter and chuckles breathed on my neck.  

“Well, if she’s gonna send a kid out of class, she needs to write a referral.  These teachers need to document ev-er-y-thing,” the other principal proudly noted.    

Freshly plucked from just four years as a classroom teacher, now, amidst my inner eye-rolls,  I could understand why this type of power produced “results.” Of course the teachers complied-it’s their job on the line.  And whether or not these non-negotiables were legit, it didn’t matter. You ask, you shall receive.

Furthermore, in the charter world, you can get fired for much less than questioning your boss.  This at-will employment system, designed to reflect “the business world” can interfere with a school’s ability to build a tight-knit community and culture of teacher sustainability, which in turn, affects student learning.   

Because charters often employ new leadership and new teachers to open schools with students from a mishmash of other “failing schools,” chaos ensues.

And the last thing anyone’s thinking about is teacher happiness, let alone teacher retention. It’s all about survival and test scores for the first five years.

That PD road trip scared me more than anything. Didn't they get it?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the lists of reasons why teachers leave the profession. Besides the obvious emotional toll it takes, there’s also the ever-so time consuming paperwork load.  

There’s no “slow day” in teaching-we can’t exactly type report card comments while teaching a child how to read.  Or complete data analysis plans while monitoring recess, right?

As a school leader, you can slowly become a bit removed from your teaching days, and sometimes just need to be professionally reminded of what the teacher facing experience is like. That means we teachers have to advocate for ourselves.

Paperwork might not bring on sweat, tears and bouts of defeat, but it does steal time. What kind of paperwork is stealing your time?

Lesson plans, for example, shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to complete.  If this is where all of your time goes, then draft a lesson plan template, request a meeting with your boss, and advocate to simplify it.

It’s likely, your freshly simplified and actionable version of an otherwise time consuming document, provides both leadership and teaching staff more time to do the important stuff. Like...lead…and ...teach.

As the saying goes, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Administrators eventually learn that you must read and comment on the paperwork you require, so if anything, you’ll be helping them out, right?

You can’t leave teaching without trying to change the things that make you want to leave. Even if it means starting with the little stuff.

 Systematically, I often feel helpless, but on a school level, power to make change is possible. And honestly, if the world insists on calling us superheroes, then shouldn't we be treated that way?

Superman requires plenty of the sun's nourishment not only for his physical strength, but also for his exquisite brain power. Stay nourished teachers!

Power to the teacher!