From the AP Lens: Being #Intentional as You Grow

Dr. Dan Peo Assistant Principal Avon High School IASP Assistant Principal Liaison

Mr. Drew Graber Assistant Principal Churubusco Elementary School

You did it! You are reading this, and we have arrived at the end of the 2022-2023 school year! Take a moment to pat yourself on the back for all your time, heart, and hard work as you worked tirelessly to support your students, staff, and families! As we celebrate the “Best of 2022-2023” in this issue of the Indianagram, I am so excited to introduce Mr. Drew Graber, Assistant Principal at Churubusco Elementary School, the creator of #TrenchTalkTuesday that many of us follow and participate in on Twitter. While reflecting on this year, these Twitter chats have been a source of inspiration and affirmation, and if you haven’t had the chance to join the conversation, there’s no time like the present. Searching #TrenchTalkTuesday on Twitter will open up the many conversations that we had this year, and I know you’ll find a rich treasure trove of content. Hats off to you, Drew, on creating this forum for school leaders! Take it away!

“Take pride in how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you can go. But don’t forget to enjoy the journey.”

-Michael Josephson

Cue the music… that’s right, we are at the end of the school year, and by golly, it’s been a great one!

I am confident that the 2022-2023 school year/journey has brought us, school leaders, a variety of great joys, learning experiences, and moments of sheer insanity. This lovely edition of the AP Lens will bring to your awareness just some of the many gems the school year gifted us, but more or less will encompass my journey (Drew’s) of professional development, connections, Twitter, and everything in between.

Why TrenchTalkTuesday?

As with anyone who’s ever ventured into something new, there’s always a learning curve to navigate. As a newer school administrator who enlisted in leadership on the rebound of the COVID shutdown, it’s been a wild ride and curve indeed. The learning curve I wish to expound on was my interest in expanding my professional learning network on Twitter.

Now, before you decide to stop reading this article, because I know that Steve Sherohman brought us some great insights on social media in May’s edition of the AP Lens (Great job, Steve!), let me just acknowledge that I will do my best not to make this article purely about Twitter and social media.

For quite some time, I have been dabbling in Twitter and not really knowing how to use it in meaningful ways. Twitter chats didn’t make a whole lot of sense; you’re limited to only 3 complete sentences, and I found that my grammar & ELA skills take a back seat to the essence of what I want to share or extract from others.

It was on an early August evening, that I had decided that it was time to create a platform that made sense to me that was simpler, low maintenance, and targeted towards what I wanted to talk about (I know, it’s very selfish). This great idea for starting my own chat became a reality with the creation of #TrenchTalkTuesday. Why such a name? I am a previous reading/ELA teacher, so by default I am already a fan of alliteration, but I always found myself talking about how much I missed the classroom as an administrator, but that I wanted to stay rooted and in the trenches with my teachers and staff in my leadership.

So, creating a platform that had trenches infused just made sense to me as a teacher.

From that point on, once a week, I began using a one question/ thinking stem to post to educators/leaders throughout the state of Indiana, but also to other leaders in other states. What came from this leap of great faith and stretching on the curve will remain as one of my favorite professional development endeavors I’ve partaken in as an educator. In the past 9 months since initiating this Twitter platform, I’ve hosted around 40 weeks of discussion centered around various topics. The Twitter chat has field participation from over 200 different educators and leaders throughout the state of Indiana and the nation, with a total accumulation of over 500 responses to prompts and questions since its creation last Fall. It’s not the metrics that provide me with the greatest insight for how this platform has been impactful, but by the content & discussion that’s been spurred by those willing to dive in and share.

#TrenchTalkTuesday Topics?

Again, I am not using the AP Lens as a platform to promote my Twitter cred or following, but to share with you some of the topics I’ve covered this school year on this platform, the great connections and learning I’ve made, and more importantly the synthesized message I have to share with you about the 20222023 school year. For the sake of this section, I have grouped the content of discussion around three sections: (1) school culture topics, (2) responsibilities in leadership, and (3) the intrapersonal landscapes of leaders.

School Culture Topics

Throughout the school year, I tried to be more targeted with my culture-based questions. It seems like in much of the professional literature on leadership, a great emphasis is placed on school leaders cultivating the building’s culture in order to promote student achievement, safety, and the overall wellbeing of staff and students. So by being more targeted with culture-based questions, I wanted to extract and open up from other leaders exactly what they are doing in their trenches to promote their culture.

In October, we dove into the importance of cultivating schoolwide discipline structures that promote healthy cultures. Assistant Principal at Avon High School, and previous author on the AP Lens, Dr. Aaron Willis weighed in and shared that “creating a positive school culture entails all educators and students to understand or be competent of the depth of one another’s culture…and to ensure the processes of student discipline are equitable”. So much beauty and resonance in this response for leaders and educators to grasp. Whether you’re on the culturally-responsive bandwagon or not, the brass tax of cultivating a healthy school culture starts with the cultures of your students and staff. We’ve got to be intentional about creating spaces where students are known, valued, and considered in the disciplinary/learning process. Assistant Principal and Evansville native Shannon Strieter put in plainly that it’s our responsibility as leaders to “build relationships & trust with students, staff, families, and community members… knowing each other”. Shannon is simple and eloquent on this point. You cannot cultivate cultures or environments without the legwork that relationships provide.

And where does the interaction of school culture & safety come into play? DeKalb Jr./Sr. High School assistant principal, Carrie Wisehart, stated previously in January that safety requires “intentional climate and culture emphasis - upstream prevention.” So if leaders are interested in keeping their school’s safer, they will naturally attend to the culture and climate of their buildings? Absolutely. This idea is not new, but was a buzzing idea surrounding many of the culture based questions. Amy Lunsford, previous president of IASP, weighed in that “strong culture is rooted in safe and secure environments.” We cannot disregard the profound impact we have, as leaders and educators, when we ensure that our learning environments are safe. The overarching theme of these conversations is that culture has legs & success leaves clues. If we are serious about cultivating healthy school cultures, then how our students and staff feel,contribute, and belong to the school matters.

Responsibilities in Leadership

I will keep this section more concise than the previous one, because as you know, the responsibilities that weigh heavy on the shoulders of leaders are ever-growing and always important for our buildings. I would like to share just a few underlying themes and discussion points that came about this school year from discussions shared by building leaders throughout our state on this topic.

When it comes to the responsibility that we play in making sure our teachers are at their best, Fayette Central Elementary’s principal, Kirsten Phillips, shared that one of our highest priorities is to “respect… give autonomy to the professionals they’ve trained to be” and that the best leaders “live in the trenches with them and are their biggest fans.” Obviously, you’d have to know that a tweet like this is going to get some love from myself, using a word like trenches, but Kirstin is right.

We, as leaders, have a responsibility to nurture the self-efficacy of our teachers, serve alongside them in the trenches and become their biggest fans. They are the curators of magic and possibility, day in and day out in the classroom. We have such great power and responsibility as leaders and it’s intentionality on our parts, not random chance, that gets the job done in this area of leadership.

When it comes to responsibility that we have as instructional leaders and coaches, especially when we are not blessed with instructional coaches, Kouts Jr./Sr. High principal, Tom Stoner, points out that leaders are “honest in a caring manner when it comes to feedback… careful not to attack but careful to address needs.” The key idea to hold onto here is the addressing of needs of those under your care and supervision. One of the toughest parts in my journey into leadership was losing direct impact on children in a classroom; however, I have found that having a direct impact on the people who make the direct impact on students, matters much more. We, as leaders, have a responsibility to make sure we are caring for our people, coaching them up, and on the tough days, holding them accountable out of love and need for themselves and our students.

Another consistent theme that resonated throughout this school year was the responsibility of school leaders to lead everyone in the building, with a special emphasis on instructional support staff. Oftentimes, these amazing individuals do not get the attention, respect, or due diligence of care they deserve as employees. There was an overabundance of responses by leaders like Tr-Central’s assistant principal,Scott Frye, who emphasized that we “need to spend more time talking with our aides… developing and maximizing their strengths and use their knowledge of students.” Leaders are responsible for everyone in the building and the facts are clear, every adult in the building has influence and the capacity to impact our students. So the catchy term “all means all” should apply to our leadership mindset of what we owe every single adult in our building. Again, this was a trend worth noting and one that I hope we can all be attentionally looking to develop in our buildings.

Intrapersonal Landscapes of Leaders

In short, leaders are people too. We have our faults and we know it. Sure, we have to be the rock and solid foundation for our schools most of the time, but that doesn’t mean there are days where we struggle internally and have vulnerable conversations with ourselves about who we are and what our true “whys” are for enduring such a calling.

One of my favorite topics of discussion centered around internalization was when leaders were asked to articulate three verbs that describe their “why” in the trenches. Anytime we can operationalize ourselves, our values, and what we do, we discover more accurate interpretations of who we truly are (thank you Brene Brown). Union County High School principal, Warren Cook, hit this one on the head when he shared his three verbs were “liveliness… communicating… interacting.” Each of these three are so imperative for leaders, but the term liveliness struck the biggest chord for me. We, as leaders, have to have a strong passion and enthusiasm for what we do. When you study Mr. Cook and the amazing things he’s doing at his school, you won’t be shocked to see him operationalizing this value through his actions and messaging he shares with his students and staff everyday, “leave it better than UC (Union County) it”. As leaders, we need to be intentional and pay attention to our actions, behaviors, and things we are operationalizing in our trenches, because these are the true clues to what guides us in our important work.

The vulnerability it takes for leaders to take on tall tasks or new roles is not new. It’s an ever revolving door in many buildings when it comes to leaders and oftentimes, its our teachers and staff who become the custodians of the building. So when I see consistent outpouring of leaders being vulnerable about this reality and how difficult it can be, it warrants attention. Milford School (K-8) principal, Michael Casey, shares that he celebrates that “I became a building principal for the first time in 2022. The one thing that I am still working through and leaning on daily, is that I am the fourth principal in five years at the building I lead now. I am learning to take it one day at a time.” Becoming the “new” boss is never easy, but when it’s compounded by a high transience rate of leadership, it can be a daunting task. What I appreciate most about Michael’s comments is his keen awareness of his building’s past and what they have gone through, but more importantly, his commitment to becoming the stable and strong leader needed for his building. I have had the added benefit of working with, and learning a great deal from, this amazing leader, and know that great things are in store for Milford School under his leadership. It’s a combination of intentional vulnerability and courage that leaders need to demonstrate when it comes to issues or realities like these that matter and was just one of the ongoing themes in this year’s #TrenchTalkTuesday discussions.

A Synthesis of 22-23 Sprinkled with Some Advice for Leaders

So, what golden nuggets of wisdom did 2022-2023 bestow on us? That’s a great question to ponder. I’m sure as you read my account of different trends and topics that I fielded in my Twitter discussions and connections with other educators, several may have resonated with you and what you came away with this school year. It would be remiss of me to not point out the obvious: our jobs as school leaders ain’t getting any easier - but that’s been a trend from our rearview for quite some time now.

Oftentimes though, I think it does take a more personal and intrapersonal look at things to truly come away with points of emphasis. I think, on a grander scale, many school leaders are starting to see that COVID-19 did have some benefit in exposing potential blindspots that we needed to address: being aware of teacher burnout & mental health, optimizing and rethinking the role of technology in student learning, and knowing that school safety is best cultivated from within the building through the creation of intentionally safe places to work and learn. As school leaders, we may look at this school year as the year we were finally able to take a breath and really get down to business of ensuring high levels of learning for all of our students. The 2022-2023 school year may be the year that the “science of reading” really did take hold in your buildings and showed significant impacts for your students’ reading skills, but also served as a springboard for ongoing growth amongst your teachers and staff. It may be the year that caused you to scratch your head at interesting legislation that came down the pipeline and that you now get to (yes, it’s a privilege) figure out to navigate.

Take your pick!

I have no doubt that this school year had varied and nuanced meanings to whomever is reading this article, but I feel confident in expressing that I believe all who journeyed and survived/thrived this school year have one thing in common: a great feeling of relief that summertime provides as we all unplug and recharge for the coming year.

Secondly, there’s one last truth I wish to bestow in my closing. I believe this underlying truth is best captured by a quote from management guru Curt Kampmeier:

“If you’re going to grow, you’re going to have to be intentional.”

Treading out into the unknown, like I did with Twitter, takes intentionality. For you though, it may not be dabbling in the Twittersphere that gives you the source of growth you are looking for. It may involve being intentional about connecting with your colleagues in new or meaningful ways. It may be pursuing a partnership with others through various PLNs or other organizations like IASP (I really suggest Indiana New Administrators Leadership Academy for the newbies). It may quite possibly be disengaging from your work life and being more intentional at home and with your family, learning more deeply about what centers or anchors you in your why. Whatever decisive action you take to better yourself here in the near future, possibly over the coming summer break, be intentional about it. Be courageous and aim to be better each and every day.

It is my greatest wish that we, as leaders, find peace in the journey we’ve set forth on. As we close shop on this school year of 2022-2023, I hope you can find renewal in this time to find intentional ways to grow, better yourself, and have faith that the next school year will be one you’ll remember and be more intentional about in your important work.

Cheers to you and thank you for all that you do in the trenches of our schools for your staff, students, communities, and the future of our great state. Journey well, friends!

Mr. Drew Graber can be reached at: grabera@sgcs.k12.in.us.

Follow Mr. Drew Graber on Twitter: @_Drew_Graber

#TrenchTalkTuesday

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