My Philosophy

One of the leadership qualities that is most important to me is that of knowing my students. Not just their names, their grade, or their “plans”, but truly knowing them and what drives them. Through this journey, there was a book in which was recommended to me that completely changed my mindset not only in how I interact with other educators, but more so when I am interacting with students. Hope and Wade King wrote the following:

“Children don’t have control over their daily lives and dynamics of “nature” and “nurture” that shape their early experiences. They are dealt a hand that includes their parents- supportive, neglectful, indulgent, or absent- and their socioeconomic status. The luck of the draw determines the neighborhoods they live in and the schools they attend. A roll of the genetic dice shapes the characteristics and personality traits that affect learning: gender, intelligence, attention span, resiliency, self-discipline, and talents. Children who are left holding the weakest possible hands- which may include anything from an unstable home environment to a learning disability- don’t have the option to fold their cards and sit out the round until their odds improve. They have no choice but to play the hands they’re dealt. Essentially, childhood is one randomly dealt hand that can influence everything else in life”

We are responsible for being our students’ aces. We can provide them the tools and opportunities in which they need to be successful and escape any of the situations above in which they are dealt. However, we can only do that as educators if we truly know the students that we teach. We have to make decisions, grounded in research, that are best for our students. Sometimes we are the only constant thing in the lives of our students, it is vital that to ensure their success, we do everything in our power to make sure that they are given the opportunities they deserve in order to succeed, regardless of what randomly dealt hand they have been given.