I DID IT YALL!!!

I’m currently sitting in the final class of my School Building Leader (SBL) and School District Leader (SDL) journey. Honestly, it has been just that, a JOURNEY. It’s funny because prior to this, everyone kept asking me when I was going back to school and what’s next for me. I was very serious about not going back and being done with school. Working as a teacher was enough work. I couldn’t imagine trying to balance the teacher workload, all that came with being a department lead, parenting and school. So how did I end up here?!

Why I did it

I always said I would stay in the classroom for 10 years. I learned so much as a teacher. Not just about myself and who I wanted to be as an educator, but also about kids and how life impacts them and how they show up. With all of the pressures of performance on teachers and the impact of your students’ performance on your livelihood and job security, I was finding that there was too much focus on numbers and not enough on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and building relationships with students. 

As a department lead a big part of my role involved classroom observations and providing teachers with feedback. While you would think that feedback would revolve mostly around lesson planning and implementation, I found myself giving a lot of feedback on behaviors I saw from students and how those behaviors were addressed. I often found teachers spending a lot of time redirecting students which took away from the time they were actually teaching. Working with teachers to structure their classes and build relationships with their students, cleared the path for us to then focus on strengthening their instructional practices.

I found that the teachers who were on my team, at least the ones who were really interested in growing, really appreciated all of the feedback they received. I found some of them coming to me to address concerns or challenges they had and asking for support or guidance. It was a position I definitely felt valued in, at least from my team. But if I’m being honest, the compensation was only $2,500 for the year, which was significantly less than our sports coaches made in the few months of a season. The money just didn’t make sense. And while I enjoyed the coaching aspect way more than I imagined, the reality was I only had one less class than regular teachers. I was finding it hard to really support my team and prepare for my own classes. So I had to ask myself, how can I do what I’m enjoying, which is coaching, and be adequately compensated. I HAD TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL. 🙁

How I did it

Honestly, I’m not even sure. LOL. I started school at the end of May 2024 and started a new position at work, Dean of School Culture, August of 2024. What was I thinking? Clearly, I wasn’t thinking. The courses were once a week on the weekend, so I decided to take the Sunday courses so I would have Saturdays to do work if I needed. And trust me, I needed it. THE WORK-LOAD WAS REAL. I’m talking about a 15-20 page paper for almost every assignment due each week during the beginning. Since my days at work were extremely exhausting, most days when I got home from work I had no brain capacity to even look at an assignment or pick up a computer. 

My Saturday’s looked like work in the morning and schoolwork all afternoon, sometimes into the evening. Then Sunday came and I was in class 8 or 9 am until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. EXHAUSTING. As time was passing, I was finding myself more and more overwhelmed and the end seemed nowhere near. But 18 months, an endless number of assignments and 600 internship hours later, I DID IT!!!

Challenges

Bruhhhhh! Where do I start?! Well clearly, I’ve already mentioned that time and time management was a challenge. There’s just so much to do and simply not enough time in the day to do it all. I had no idea of the time commitment and exhaustion I would face walking into the role as a dean. I also really didn’t realize the emotional impact the job would have on me adjusting my first year. 

The program I chose, as most SBL and SDL programs, was cohort style. That meant the group you started the program with; is the group you end with (unless of course you lose some along the way.) CHALLENGE!!!!! Outside of my crew, we called ourselves the Fab Four, I didn’t really connect with most people in my class. If I’m being honest, which you know I will, the impact of cultural differences and bias really had many of our classes tense. Now don’t get me wrong, we all have bias, me walking into a class full of white men and women and literally only a handful of people of color has my bias antennas tingling. LOL. So many parts of our courses addressed bias, inequity and culture and the privilege was loud!!! Imagine sitting in a class and having to explain to an adult why you can’t address people as “Colored people” or “those people.”  These were our future administrators and I was and still am COMPLETELY CONCERNED. 

Lessons I’ve learned along the way

Dr. Leone, honestly one of my favorite professors, reiterated (because I already knew this) RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS. They are the key to success in any school setting. Whether it’s in the classroom between a teacher and their students or in your office as an administrator with a teacher. It’s important to get to know the people you are working over and with and build with them. Relationships build trust and trust is a necessity in any setting. 

Dr. Testa taught us, if the conversation feels uncomfortable, then it needs to be had. Stepping into the Dean role really solidified this. I’ve had to have a lottttttt of conversations with teachers regarding interactions and reactions to students. Honestly, the adults responded to the feedback worse than the kids. So I had to learn how to be direct but in a way where the message will be received. This was hard because sometimes it felt like I was walking on eggshells to cater to their fragility. But at the end of the day I learned, whatever it takes to get to the end goal. As long as it doesn’t compromise who you are. 

Which leads me to my final and most important lesson to me. BE YOURSELF!! Too often, in many areas of our lives, we cater to others' feelings and thoughts of us. But going into administration, you have to be yourself. You have to stay true to yourself and your beliefs. And if where you are doesn’t align with who you are, you have to find somewhere that does. 

What’s next

I HAVE NO CLUE!!! And honestly, I’m OK with that. Now I definitely have a couple of ideas. But I’m in no rush. Whatever God has for me is for me. IT WILL COME TO PASS IN HIS TIME. 

THANKS FOR CATCHING UP WITH ME. <3