Wave Pool - August 18, 2019

Wave Pool 

By, Michael Earnshaw 

August 18, 2019 

@mearnshaw158

 

My wife is 1 of 5 girls in her family. Every few years we embark on a large summer vacation with everyone, including family friends! When the kids were younger it usually consisted of renting a house on the beach for a few days. This summer, with many of the kids being older now, we headed off to Cedar Point! Many hear Cedar Point and think of the Roller Coaster Capitol of the World, which it does have an amazing assortment of thrill rides. The kids and I made it on every single one! There is also plenty to do for those that don’t enjoy rides, such as the beach parties and the water park. Needless to say, with a group of 18, there is something for everyone! 

While majority of our time was spent at the amusement park during our trip, I learned the most about our students and education during an afternoon at the water park. Mainly, the wave pool. The three older boys and I had come back from multiple descents on the plunge slides only to find the rest of our party gone. The boys wanted to take a break from the slides and check out the wave pool. I stood on the edge, with just my feet submerged, while the three of them headed out towards the middle. After a few minutes, my wife arose from the crowds with my daughter, our friend’s daughter, and our nephew. I glanced up at the clock, less than 2 minutes before the waves began. Of course, these three wanted to get in on the fun. My wife asked, “Babe, can you go in there with them?” I contemplated a response but knew this wasn’t really a question.  

Before I could catch up to the six kids, the buzzer screamed throughout the area, alerting us all that the waves were coming. I zipped and dodged through people, kids coasting by, nearly missing me on inner tubes. I kept scanning the pool for my six. Nerves starting to build up faster than the waves. Found them! 

Luckily for me, four of the six kids were pretty much together. My son and oldest nephew were a little deeper out, but both are strong swimmers. I was now left with four kids: two decent swimmers and two not so decent and vertically challenged.  

The rush of the waves seemed to last an eternity.  Every few seconds I would look over to the older two, ensuring they were ok. We communicated through head nods and thumbs up. Then my focus would go back to the four near me. The two that could decently swim never held on to me yet stayed close in the event they needed assistance. The other two needed my support. One of them would grab a hold of my arm after a few waves became unbearable. When there was a lull, they’d let go, but stay extremely close. The last, they tried to fight on their own, but quickly grabbed a hold of my arm and never let go, knowing we were too deep, and they needed the support.  

As the "fun” began to calm, I realized the wave pool is like our classrooms. Within them we have many students, all at different levels, strengths, and abilities. As educators, we must know our students and where they’re at to ensure they don’t drown. We will have students that are more advanced and excel, who want to go into the deep end alone. That is fine, if they are ready, but we must still always know where they are at. If they begin to sink, it’s our responsibility to swim to them, pull them up and bring them back close to us. We will have students that are strong swimmers on their own but need our support. Keep them close yet give them independence. These swimmers require a watchful eye. They may have too much pride and be afraid to ask for help. We need to be prepared to offer help when we know they need it. Lastly, we will have those that need our support constantly, or at least think they do. Keep them with you, show them success and some fun, and at the right time, slowly let them go. We may need to grab them back right away, but after time, they’ll be the ones swimming in the deep end, fighting the waves alone.  

Courage - July 23, 2019

Courage 

By, Michael Earnshaw 

July 23, 2019 

@mearnshaw158

Courage is something that every individual holds inside of themselves, yet not all utilize it and showcase it in their lives. The beauty of courage is that displaying it varies from individual to individual, situation to situation. Courage is a necessity for educators to truly reach their students and make a positive change in this world.  

I find courage in anyone that decides to enter the field of education. Teaching is a profession where one holds in the palm of their hands the outcome of all our futures. Educators can use what’s in their power, take risks to bring the best experiences, and build loving relationships with our students to change the course of the world. Educators display courage by knowing they are entering a field where the media focuses on the negative and they are judged by test scores from an assessment created by those far displaced from understanding what truly happens in a classroom. Teachers are courageous by doing what they know is best for a child’s well-being, advocating for them, supporting them and building them up when the rest of the child’s world has thrown their hands in the air and given up. I find teachers who fight for our kids, despite going against popular opinion, to exemplify courage.  

Last school year I had taken a leadership personality test. Hands down I came out as an “Ambassador.” Here’s the description:  

In the age of choice, the Ambassador is a more desirable, more important leadership type than ever before. Ambassadors are the entertainers of the leadership universe, bringing unmatched passion, enthusiasm, and charisma to the table with the goal of telling the best possible stories of their districts, schools, and classrooms.  

Out of the entire District Leadership Team, I was the only “Ambassador”. No one else even fell into this as a sub-category. Reflecting on this description I agree whole-heartedly that I am an “Ambassador.” It has not always been that way.  

Before last school year I was not myself. I was living my role as Principal in the stereo-typical fashion: sit as desk, stare at a computer screen, make phone calls, do a lap around the school to show my face, blah, blah, blah. I was unhappy, unproductive, and not a successful leader. I was fortunate enough the summer of 2018 to get involved in Twitter and build my PLN, realizing the role of Principal does not have to be that bland.  

In my role as an “Ambassador,” I display courage by going against the grain and challenging the status quo of how a Principal operates. I am never in my front office. Instead I’ll be found in the halls with my mobile desk, Adina, or in the classroom on the floor working with students, or reading a favorite picture book to Kindergarteners. I’ve displayed courage by telling my staff that I want them to take risks, design lessons that are out of their comfort zones, and I will support them through the process. I model this by openly taking risks myself and sharing them with our staff. It’s ok if it flops. No true learning or growth will occur inside of our safe little bubbles that we’ve grown comfortable with. It has taken courage to show that I will put relationships, the well-being, and emotional states of our students, staff, and parents first before curriculum and test scores. I display courage by knowing that deep inside my heart a positive relationship with ALL needs to come first, second, and third before true learning and growth happen. Our students will not reach their true potential, take learning into their own hands, discover solutions to problems that aren’t even birthed in our world yet, until they know we are here for them. It takes courage to fight for our students and see them as individuals with so much unlocked potential rather than a State Identification Number. As a leader, it takes courage to admit defeat and failures to our staff but is a necessity. We are all human, and no one of us has all the answers. We need others just as much as they need us to keep moving forward. 

Courage is a unique concept. Educators that fight for our students, lose sleep over what is going on their lives and try to brainstorm how to help them, that will implement relationships first and lessons that are smirked at by co-workers, all in the benefit of helping students, that is true courage.