http://jongordon.com/carpenter/

I’m one month in to my first year as assistant principal.  I’m thankful to have a network of people I can call on for support.  Within my first week, I had several great friends and edu-heroes check in with me to see how things were going.  I actually told my friend, Jodie Pierpoint, yesterday that I feel like I’ve been so busy I haven’t had any inspiration to blog.  I’ve actually entered a stretch here where I feel either so disoriented that I can’t locate my target, or perhaps I don’t have a target.  I imagine it’s a feeling only school administrators can understand.  I typically attack or pursue education activity like a wild dog.  I’m often my own worst enemy because I lose sight of small victories or my zeal pushes people too far.  But recently I have struggled to focus in on one thing.  I feel as if I’m bringing little value to my school.

My advice to other educators that may be in a situation where they feel like they don’t know what to do: just serve.  Serving others is like defense and rebounding.  Those two things don’t require near the amount of skill as scoring, they just require focused effort!  I realized that in the midst of my frustration about not knowing what to do, or deciding how to address this need or that need, I just needed to take a deep breath and go serve people.  It doesn’t require much thought to check in on teachers between classes.  It doesn’t require much preparation to greet teachers in the morning and ask if they need anything.  It doesn’t require any planning for me to write teachers a thank you note.  These may seem like small, menial tasks to some.  You’re right!  Those aren’t the kinds of things I aspire to do after reading the latest blog post from my edu-heroes or listening to a recent podcast on my way to school.  But I think it’s important to note that I won’t get to see the results I’d like to see if I’m not serving others.  I needed the reminder that I didn’t have to be engaged in a furious pursuit of the next staff meeting or professional development session in order to have an impact on my school.  And neither do you.  Just serve.  The relationships you build as a result will yield far more impact in the long run.