a teacher's soulmate

Okay, so we have covered the what this is about and the who I am parts. I guess its time to delve. Delve into the how of the story, the journey and paint the picture of what leadership means to infants, toddlers and preschoolers. But I can't just tell you. I have to show you and I have to start back at the beginning. The beginning when a teacher meets her teaching soul mate. Because nothing could be made possible by a so-called trailblazer without her partner in trailblazing crime leadership.

Where do I begin?

Everything about my co-teacher was set from the start. We had crossed paths 1 million times before. I knew her brother and we had hung out a bunch of times. Her best guy friend and I worked together at the bar I worked at through college. She and her boyfriend used to come in all the time and frequented a lot of the same night spots. The fact that we didn't met until we were at the same school, was crazy was meant to be.

Meant to be. Peas and Carrots. It felt like that final puzzle piece clicked into place and everything was good again in the world.

We connected from first time we met. Had I been with any other teacher, any other year, any other group of kids, the ball that started rolling never would've gone anywhere.

That is the beauty of a soulmate, a spiritual connection that you never could create and when found, well the rest is history.

Leadership Town

I realize I owe many a post on how we got to where we are, but currently there is a much more pressing issue to report...

We are 5 days from hosting our first Leadership Day. FIVE DAYS! The entire staff of teachers and administrators are pretty nervous, even the kids are nervous. We have over 75 guests attending, families, educators, principals from local elementary schools even a couple of people from FranklinCovey Education. I think it is fear of the unknown. We know the kids are ready. They have practiced and prepared and taken all the steps to get ready. But opening our doors, for the first time, to show the community what we have been up to these last 2 years is a very scary thing. We are vulnerable and open for criticism. Of course, we will all be fine. Each day things come together a little more and everyone gets a little more confidence. These feelings come every time we try something new.

Of course, being the group of overachieving educators we are, we thought it would be an extremely intelligent idea to plan our first ever Leadership Town the week before, too. 

Leadership Town is a spin off of an idea called Busy Town. One of our teachers took a class on Busy Town, an economics project, at the NAEYC Conference in Atlanta, GA last year. She fell in love and upon return, convinced me and our director that this was something we HAD to do. 

We had no idea what we were doing but planned and organized as much as we could (all the while getting ready for our first ever Leadership Day) and had our first every Leadership Town.

Here's how it works.

Each classroom chose some kind of store or shop you would find in a community. We had an art gallery, post office, grocery store, garden center, movie theater, candy store and a cafe. Because of all of the leadership language taking over our school and culture we decided to rename all of our shops with a leadership language tie-in. [Classroom ages are September ages; children did a variety of activities in their classroom to earn money to spend during Leadership Town previous to beginning their town tours.]

Infant Room (ages 0-16months) - D'Win-Win Art Gallery. Their gallery consisted of art tickets for purchase and the entire hallway outside of their hallway was lined with art made by the Infants at eye level to a preschooler. The kids were able to use their earned money to purchase art gallery tickets to view the art.

Red Room (16months-2 years) - The Win-Win Post Office. The post office had a variety of envelopes, stickers and writing utensils where the kids could write letters to the troops (a community service project being sponsored by another class.) There was even a large mailbox for the kids to "mail" their letters.

Orange/Yellow Room (2-3 years) - The Leadership Grocery. The grocery had a variety of grocery bags for shopping as well as tons of empty boxes and bottles to purchase. These were donated by our families and the kids were able to shop for their weekly groceries.

Green Room (3-3.5 years) - The Sharpen Your Saw Flower Shop. The flower shop had various pots, seeds and soil to plant your own seeds to grow in your classrooms. They were able to put their money together to buy supplies for their classrooms.

Blue Room (3.5-4 years) - The Synergy Cinema. The movie theater was a huge hit. They had a place to purchase your tickets, complete with cash register, a ticket taker to take your ticket and direct your to refreshments and a refreshment table complete with popcorn, gold fish and juice. The projector was set up with rows of chairs for the kids to watch various short stories like The Little Red Hen.

Purple Room (4-4.5 years) - The Synergy Sweet Shop. The candy store had bags of oreos, ring pops and varies other sweets for purchase. The also had a cash register and even took credit cards (old gift cards donated) for larger purchases.

Gold Room (4.5-5 years) - The Cup 'o Covey Cafe. The cafe had waiters and waitresses with clipboards to take your order (Juice or Water, Animal Cookies or Veggie Straws). The tables were adorned with table clothes and centerpieces and their was even a person for you to pay for your meal at the end.

The classrooms spent the better part of an hour taking turns working at their shop and enjoying the other shops around Leadership Town. As an observer, the most amazing thing was how little teacher direction was happening. The kids were in charge of the shop they built, the shop they worked for, the shop that they cared about. It was amazing to watch them interact with one another regardless of their age or developmental differences and watch the leadership come alive.

As an administrator, I saw the true meaning of the teacher as the facilitator, reminding the students to greet their guests or offer a refreshment before the movie but never, ever telling them what to do.

We were a little crazy to do a project like this right before Leadership Day, but watching our leaders run their town reminded us that they are ready for Leadership Day. They have done the work and stood up to the challenge and are ready to show their stuff and I am so excited to watch!

Icing on a Leadership Cake

What I do everyday, is what I do everyday. I couldn't possibly sit down and outline all the different things that go into my day, but I know one thing... I love what I do.


Today, I had the pleasure of speaking to someone from Franklin Covey. She is doing a presentation to the early childhood community on The Leader in Me in Massachusetts and wanted to hear how we are implementing the program in our school.


I could feel myself getting beyond excited. I feel like I am usually attempting to explain this to  people outside our program without any frame of reference. Some get it. Some are polite enough to pretend. But for the most part, they have no idea the point of it.


She got it. She understands how amazing The Leader in Me is from her experience with elementary schools. She told me she didn't have much experience with early childhood education but hearing about our 4 year old classroom, who decided to help babies in need in our community and planned every. single. last. aspect of their project, (even earning an award from a local news station) wowed her. WOWED HER.

She was so excited to hear that in 2 short years it has improved our program on all levels. Administrators that work better together, who empower teachers and teachers who invest their blood, sweat and tears into our students and students (even toddlers and infants) who are learning communication skills and ways to be in charge of themselves from birth... it wowed her.


The more and more I told her, the more and more I realized this is so much bigger than I ever imagined, even than what I thought about when I decided to start this blog. I cannot wait to see what our infants and toddlers are going to be like when they finish preK. The preK classes we have had, have already proved to take so much away from what we have taught them. I cannot wait to see how these skills are going to help our youngest students improve their environment, their view of the world and their voice in it. The impact they have on us as educators and parents... is really just icing on the cake.

From the top to the classroom

I can't speak for the woman who started this journey for us, a group of innovative preschools. Although I have heard the story of her journey to The Leader in Me, I can't tell you a story that isn't my story to tell. I can however tell you the inspiration it has given me because she is one amazing lady. She has an innovative, visionary mind and absolutely believes anything is possible. In a few of the presentations she has done around town and beyond, she often quotes Walt Disney, "If you can dream it, you can do it." And after she finishes her sentence she always says, "And we are doing it." No matter how many times I hear it, I believe it more and more each time.


Most of our staff completed the 7 Habits of Highly Effective training by the end of 2010. Those that went into it with an open mind came out a better person, changed and recharged, with a bag of life tools. What this meant to our students, we still weren't sure but the first step was integrating the language and tools into our own lives.


I remember once having a discussion with my peers about "my weather" and feeling so silly!
[Controlling your own weather (Habit 1 - Be Proactive) refers to being able to stay in control of your own emotions, feelings and actions. Just because someone says something nasty, doesn't mean you have to say something nasty back. If you fall down steps, stub your toe and forget your lunch at home, doesn't mean your day is ruined right, Alexander?!]

It was uncomfortable and felt awkward to discuss my feelings in terms of sunny and cloudy and terrible thunderstorms with lightening. But now you would never know, it is just a part of us, all of us. The other day I overheard a conversation between 2 students. Student 1 had just said something mean to another student and student 2 responded, very matter of factly: 


"Haven't you learned?? We are supposed to be bucket FILLERS not bucket DIPPERS and what you said did not help me fill my bucket. For example, I think your picture is beautiful." 


The look on the child's face was sadness, not because she was in trouble but because she didn't realize the affect of her comment until her friend responded. Her friend didn't even respond reactively, but in fact taught her a different way to look at things. The habits in action were amazing. In this one exchange, the students showed their knowledge of being in charge of themselves, being proactive vs. reactive and their concept of emotional bank accounts. It was unreal. (Did I mention, they were 3?)


The more interactions like this that occur, the more and more we believe (WE being the adults) and the less silly we feel. The children are truly teaching us with their ease of absorption (most of them get this better than we do!)


The key to the 7 Habits is that they are a work in progress. We can always improve our abilities to listen with the intent to listen and not respond. We all need constant reminders to take time for ourselves. We absolutely, positively need help remembering that thinking win-win is not always a compromise and everyone can truly be happy. 


But, with a solid foundation and staff ready to take on the silliness of sharpening their saws, we were ready to take on the enormous task of introducing these habits to our students. And what better week than the week we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.! MLK is THE LEADER of being proactive and being in charge of yourself. He is, in fact, the person who taught us, that we can be WHATEVER WE WANT TO BE regardless of our circumstances.


If I believed in coincidences, the timing of all of this would be the epitome of just that! But I don't.  The timing of our implementation day and our class's MLKJ study, was unreal. So unreal, it had to be meant to be this way. There was no stopping our little leaders now. Walt Disney was right, we were doing it. THEY WERE DOING IT. I am just so glad, I got to watch it happen.

About the Author

I suppose before getting into our journey too much, I should tell you a little bit about myself and why I believe so deeply in what I am doing and what my school is creating.


First and foremost, I am a kid at heart. I love playing tag, building with legos and perfecting my coloring-in-the-lines skills. Sometimes when I am out to dinner with my now 21-month old, I find he has moved onto using the forks and knives as drumsticks and I am determined to finish the color-by-number picture.


I found teaching on accident. When asked what I wanted to do when I got big, my response was to change the world. My dad will tell you a story (or two) of a call from the principal when I was in 2nd grade. The principal said I wouldn't stop "cheating". My response (apparently) was that I was just trying to teach my friends. My dad tells me he knew then that I would be a part of something great or perhaps that was him looking at the glass half-full. Either way, he tells the story with pride.


I grew up volunteering in homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Some of my earliest memories are sitting at dingy tables in mismatched chairs explaining to old homeless men about Barbie's family tree (everyone doesn't know who Skipper is??) I remember working at a soup kitchen downtown once a month and my job was always to pass out the rolls. I don't think at the time I really understood what we were doing, but looking back I should've guessed it would lead to great things.


When I got a little older, the question turned to what do you want to be. My response? An artist. I wanted to make beautiful things. Maybe a book or a painting or a sculpture but something beautiful. With the popularity of computers in my generation, slowly artist turned graphic designer and after I began my program in college, I found print advertising and art direction.


I never stopped volunteering. It was a requirement of my household, in fact. My father provided us food, housing, a busy vacation life, etc. Our jobs were to get good grades and volunteer. In high school, I volunteered at a nursing home for 2 hours everyday after school and occasionally I would tutor at the Elementary School down the street.


In college, I used my summers to pay it forward. In 2005, I went to Chicago, Illinois and volunteered in a Head Start program. I still remember being so blown away by the 4 year olds participating in what I now know as family style dining. They were using their manners and passing the bowls of food around the table like adults. I was blown away. 


In 2006, I went to Denver, Colorado with the same program and worked at a summer camp program. Because these children lived in the lowest of economic classes, they were often 2 and 3 grades behind academically. Our job was to support them in smaller ratios in order to catch them up. That summer something happened... I fell in love. I fell in love with the kids, with the program, with teaching. I still remember talking with my supervising teacher and telling her how much I loved my time there and that maybe Marketing/Advertising was not the path for me after all. She asked me what I was waiting for.


I graduated the following summer and got my first job in a preschool. Each week, each day, each interaction with each child proved I was finally on the right path. This was the path I was being guided to in 2nd grade as I tried to help my friends finish their tests. This was my path to creating beautiful things (or people) and to changing the world. And maybe, just maybe one day, I will even write a book to tell about it.

Where it Began...

For me, as a preK teacher at a private preschool, it began from the top. Becoming a Lighthouse School through The Leader In Me wasn't my idea, it wasn't even a welcomed idea at first. To pilot a leadership program to children ages 0-5 had never been done before. This program had only been implemented in elementary schools and less than 20 in the world had achieved this great task... to say the idea of this was overwhelming would be an understatement.


The first step in the process was to get trained. To teach leadership, you must be a leader or at least have all of the tools to be moving toward being a better leader. Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, offers the training that couples with The Leader In Me. The owners of the corporate locations of my preschool as well as the owner of my school were ready to make this pricey investment in us, their teachers.


To say the training is life-altering is also an also understatement. This training moves through the 7 Habits on a very personal level, allowing you to connect with the leader inside you. It teaches you that leaders aren't always the president or the CEO or the boss, but in fact, we are all leaders and we lead ourselves in the direction we choose to go and to meet the goals we wish to achieve. Each habit is a way to shift your thinking or in Dr. Covey's words, your paradigm, to change the lens in which you see things just as the simple old saying "Is the glass half full or half empty?" suggests.


Once your perspective, or lens, or paradigm is shifted to see the leader in yourself and in everyone around you, well that is it, you can't control it, the sky is the limit and there is not stopping where this will take you.


What I found through taking the training were areas in which I needed to grow. I found that I wasn't really listening with my ears, eyes, mind AND heart when a friend had a problem but listening with the intent to reply, which truly isn't listening at all. 


I learned to prioritize, stay focused and live my life staying true to my goals in all the different roles I played.

I discovered a leader in me that I had never seen before. The tools in the training inspired and excited me to be a better educator, wife, daughter, friend, woman and with all those tools in my toolbag for life, I was ready to unleash the leader within.


But that was just the beginning... beyond me, beyond my coworkers, beyond our supervisors... the end in mind was becoming a Leadership School, a Lighthouse School. How were we going to transform these 7 Habits of Happy Kids for kids of 1, 2, 3, and 4 years of age? It seemed crazy at first but Apple said it best, "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."


We were crazy, but we are doing it. We are changing the world, one preschooler at a time.


In this blog, I plan to revisit everything that has happened in the last 2 years, to document our journey to Lighthouse status and hopefully leave my legacy in a way to blaze a trail for others to follow in our footsteps.