LEADING [AND WRITING] LIKE A PIRATE:  

Sailing with Principal and new co-author Beth Houf

B is for: Boy mom, Baseball practice, Band performances, Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc., and Beth Houf.  I recently had the privilege to sit down with this outstanding educational leader, principal and [adding another B to her personal and professional resume] Book co-author at ASCD’s annual conference Empower 17.  We talked about [Balancing] the demands of being a mother, dedicated professional, and sailing through uncharted territory this year as she co-authored her first book, Lead Like a PIRATE, with Shelley Burgess.

Thirty minutes into our conversation, it was clear:  You don’t become the 2016 Missouri National Distinguished Principal overnight, nor does it happen without a substantial amount of sacrifice and an unwavering resolve to do what is best for students, families, and staff.  She is committed to personal growth and sharing her experiences, celebrations, failures and challenges with educators across the globe.  She serves as a facilitator for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Leadership Academy, is a co-host of #SatChatWC [a weekly Twitter chat on Saturday mornings], a regular professional development speaker across the United States at schools and educational conferences, all while being a full-time mom and principal at Fulton Middle School in central Missouri.  

Beth has a reputation for leadership that shatters the status quo.  She models and communicates expectations which support her mission to create learning environments that provide uncommon experiences for staff and students.  Her passion for education often surfaces on social media outlets, in press releases, on organizational websites, and now her name is on a newly released educational title.  Yet, in all that she does and is, a striking quality about Beth is her humility. Her unmatched enthusiasm for education and quest for personal growth stem from a genuine place in her heart: her boys.  Beth’s professional passion is deeply rooted in what she wants for her two sons.  She said, “My why: my boys.  I’m driven to help create schools that I’m proud to have them be a part of.”

I caught up with Dave Burgess, author of the New York Times’ best-selling parent title Teach Like a PIRATE and President of Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc., in the ASCD Empower 17 Exhibition Hall.  In a sea of talented and passionate educational leaders, Burgess was quick to say, “Beth is an amazing leader and doing incredible work.  We are honored to have her become a part of the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. family.”  Dave’s wife and Beth’s co-author, Shelley Burgess, said, “In looking for a co-author for Lead Like a PIRATE, Beth was the obvious choice.  She is smart, talented, and an incredible leader who wholeheartedly embraces the PIRATE [Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask & Analyze, Transformation, Enthusiasm] philosophy.  It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with her on this book.”

Beth’s purposeful presence on social media connects her to a global PLN [Professional Learning Network] and accounts for a significant paradigm shift in her own professional growth.  As a connected educator she finds support and encouragement from educators who share her passions for leadership and uncommon learning environments.  Connect with this inspiring educator on Twitter [@BethHouf], her blog http://principalhouf.blogspot.com/, at one of many national education conferences, or in her new book Lead Like a PIRATE.

BAN THE AVERAGE:

Designing school learning environments to the average kills talent.

Designing school learning environments to the average kills talent. Why?  Average simply does not exist.  Todd Rose’s TED talk The Myth of Average parallels the U. S. Air Force’s approach of fighter jet cockpit design to our instructional practices in schools.  Find it here: https://youtu.be/4eBmyttcfU4  

It might seem logical, on the surface, that designing a multi-million dollar aircraft cockpit could be averaged to effectively accommodate a range of pilots.  However, this assumption is not only false, it’s negligent to design a vessel that protects our nation’s borders and freedom based on an average pilot, as the notion of an “average pilot” does not exist.  As Rose points out, pilots [like students] have a jagged profile.  Meaning, that just as Air Force pilots come in an infinite number of shapes and sizes, so do our students. Why, then, is it not negligent to design a one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum and school design for the most valuable resource in our nation: the youth responsible for transforming every industry we have and those yet to be discovered?  

In their session Captivate, Motivate and Invigorate Your Students,

Lisa Allred (@enoughallredy) and Jill Thompson (@edu_thompson) shattered the notion that designing instruction to the average is acceptable or effective. Want to motivate students to take ownership of their learning, make it dimensional.  One-size-fits-all, average learning environments “destroy” potential.  According to Rose, average does not “nurture individual potential,”  yet, it “hurts everyone.”  

Still not convinced?  Think of it like this: Differentiate the cockpit for pilots through minor, less-than-expensive modifications and you have the opportunity to create an ideally suited environment for optimal pilot performance--our borders are protected, critical, split-second decisions are easily accessible in a finger’s reach [regardless if you’re a 5’2” female or a 6’1 male], and our soldiers have the confidence to perform life or death maneuvers with equipment specifically designed for their body.  Differentiate the learning environment [including classroom design and curriculum] for students through practical, less-than-revolutionary adaptations and you have the robust opportunity to not only create an optimal learning environment, but also change the trajectory of a student’s educational path, love for learning, highlight their gifts, and impact the world.  

That’s a nice TED Talk, but teachers and leaders are left asking: “Now what?”  If average is detrimental to all, what do we do?  Shouts from educators across the globe echo “differentiate instruction.”  Sounds good, but good has got to be great for it to impact student achievement. What can teachers and leaders do?  Where do you start?  Jill and Lisa shared a wealth of perspective and resources on how to design our student cockpits.  Check out their Google doc here: https://goo.gl/bPqSam

As cautioned by Rose, we have to consider that the “cockpits of our economy” [i.e. our learning environments] are spending more money than ever, yet we are falling further and further behind in academic gains.  He goes on to pose the question: How much of the problem is just bad design? Like Rose, Jill and Lisa point out that we continue to design learning environments for “average” [disguised as “age appropriate”].  It’s not only improper, it’s detrimental to the wealth of our nation, the future economy, global citizenry, and a culture of innovation.  Designing to the average is not merely an easy way out for educators unwilling to do what is best for students, it’s harmful to our overall advancement in education and as global citizens.  Rose elaborates that students, like fighter pilots, are not one- dimensional.  Each one has a jagged learning profile, composed of unique strengths and weaknesses. As we look to reform and advance an educational system that is continuously under attack by governmental and public naysayers, we must unite and the grassroots level and change our learning environmental design to accurately evoke the peak performance of our elite fighter pilots, our students.

BLUEPRINT FOR AWESOMENESS: Transforming Your School's Culture Through Collaboration

BLUEPRINT FOR AWESOMENESS:  

Transforming Your School’s Culture Through Collaboration

People don’t become awesome by accident. True. Simple. Powerful.  

Awesomeness is intentional.  Was it the title “Blueprint for Awesomeness” that produced a wall-to-wall crowd (partially evacuated mid-session due to fire code) in the ASCD #Empower17 opening breakout session or the unquenched thirst that educational leaders have for positive educational transformation?  I would argue, both.  Co-presenters Jennifer Brown, Alabama Teacher of the Year, and Danny Steele, Alabama Secondary Principal of the Year, made it clear: Collaboration does not happen in a vacuum.

Want to change the culture in the building?  Change the adults.  An undeniable factor on the culture and morale of the the students in a building: the adults in the building.  Toss out titles, every adult in the building needs to know, communicate, and model their why.  What professional values ground you?  What are you relentlessly committed to?  Invest the time to articulate your values and post them.  Yes, display them on your door, instructional boards, framed on the wall.  Sounds reasonable?  Reasonable, yes.  Adequate, no.  Plainly stated: It’s impossible to cultivate a culture of collaboration if it’s not an organizational core value.  Post your values, certainly.  But, every adult in the building has to own and model them for one another and their clients: students, families, and community.

Create a culture of 3Ps: Positive Peer Pressure.  Teachers can’t wait for leaders to change the culture of a campus.  They must channel their inner why(s) and realize that they can single-handedly ignite an uncontained fire of passion in a classroom, throughout a building, and across a district.  It can happen with an unwavering spirit and action steps.  It won’t happen when educators passively rely on their campus leaders to take charge. PLCs aren’t new or tech-savvy by nature but, as Danny Steele stated, they are “the heart of sustainable and fluid innovation” and student growth when they “collaborate on data.”

So [insert “Real Talk”], how does a campus leader influence positive peer pressure?  Have teachers create voluntary, cross-curricular teams, where they visit and observe other classrooms.  Toss out the proverbial titles like “Pedagogical Walks” and hit the target of the activity with a motto like “Leading by Learning.”   Make these visits informal, yet targeted, identifying practices that the observers find useful and providing immediate, relevant, and positive feedback to the teacher being observed.   Vulnerability is high in this type of culture but the payoffs are even more remarkable.  The leader’s role: be the safety net.  Foster an unmatched sense of security that staff members feel and see; remind staff that unless they are willing to fail--awesomeness is an unreachable peak.  Change the mindset of classroom observations from one of judgement to one of transformational growth.  Jennifer Brown reminds us that teachers not being fed [rich and nutritious meals, i.e. relevant PD] will not grow and simply can not anticipate or expect that their students will either.   

Walk into any session at #Empower17, down the halls of a school, or in the teacher’s lounge and you will hear common collaboration barriers for educators: Trust and Time.  Are they barriers or challenges? Is the glass help empty or full? You decide.  Leaders:  It’s time to massage that mindset, get over it, and help your staff figure out a way to collectively collaborate.  Principal Steele bluntly stated:

There is no shortcut for building trust.  It doesn’t happen through  emails, campus-wide memos, or a few fun faculty meetings sprinkled with activities.  Trust happens through building relationships and, relationships take time.

Want change?  Commit to collaboration because it’s worth it! Educators are the experts, not politicians.  Bring back the ownership of the profession to the soldiers, the technicians, the building experts--empower the teachers to empower one another.

          

64 Ways to Start a Monday-- #MondaysStartWithMe

64 Ways to Start a Monday--

The idea for this post began in my small, yet magical classroom on STJ, USVI, two years ago.   It was a Friday afternoon, just after dismissal.  I was alone in my class (well, alone if you don’t count the dozens of thirsty mosquitos waiting in line to take a sip.  That day, the thought crossed my mind that countless students across the U. S. were hearing or about to hear the Friday afternoon dismissal bell(s).  And, for many, then follows the longest stretch of their week--approximately 64 hours until the Monday morning arrival bell.  My heart ached as I thought of how many students find themselves in situations where positive adult contact is terribly limited or altogether obsolete over the more than two-day stretch.  From that moment forward, I made it a personal mission to hug a little harder, speak a little softer, and celebrate the positive and possible--

especially on Monday mornings.  

{Students living in emotional droughts need Monday morning heroes.}

Put on your cape. Make your superpower shine like a beacon of hope.

Never underestimate the inescapable influence that you hold in your heart and hands

when you demonstrate that--

#MondaysStartWithMe     

1. Be positive: The alternative destroys brain cells & relationships.
2. Smile: It’s free and has unlimited potential.
3. Greet someone:Never assume that it won’t make a difference.It does.
4. Hug: Trees, your pillow, your pet--but, mostly people. We need it.
5. High five: Or fistbump--but let someone know “I see you.”
6. Handshake: If #5 is out of your comfort zone, do this.
7. Do: Something outside of your comfort zone; Predictability is overrated.
8. Sing:You don’t have to be Adele or Sinatra. Fuel your soul.
9. Share: Not because it’s nice but because you want to.
10. Compliment: Someone. It feels good to give & receive.
11. Celebrate: The positive & possible.
12. Love: More.
13. Spread: Joy like confetti.
14. Write: Positive words, goals, celebrations.
15. Be kind: This needs no explanation.
16. Forgive: For yourself.
17. Practice: Habit 5 Seek first to Understand. Then be understood.
18. Connect: Somehow, some way, with another human.
19. Play: Music. It’s a timeless way to connect all people.
20. Learn: If you’re not learning, you’re dying.
21. Show: Gratitude. Thank you goes further than you’ll ever know.
22. Create: Something new (to you).
23. Fuel: Your soul with whatever lights your internal fire.
24. Feed: Your body. I love Ding Dongs, but in moderation. Eat well.
25. Hydrate: Healthy & productive brains & bodies need water. Drink.
26. Listen: Many students & adults simply need someone to do this.
27. Laugh: It releases feel-good brain chemicals.
28. Avoid: Energy zappers. People who drain you drag you down.
29. Swallow: The frog.  Tackle your undesirable to-do list first.
30. Breathe: If you don’t, you’ll die.
31. Be: A purple cow. The world is already full of ordinary.
32. Model: Empathy. It’s not a “soft” skill. It’s a life skill.
33. Support: Someone. You never know when you’ll be the bottom spoke.
34. Look: In their eyes.  
35. Immerse:Yourself with your family, friends, and students.
36. Reach: Out. Take the first step. Waiting may be too late.
37. Help: You don’t have to look far to extend a hand or heart.
38. Light: The path for someone experiencing darkness.
39. Lead: Not so others may follow but so others will find the strength to lead.
40. Encourage: Your words are often exactly what someone needs to hear.
41. Stop: The negativity. It’s unhealthy, unflattering, unproductive, and unacceptable.
42. Give: Time.  Kids and adults crave this, even if they don’t know how to express it.
43. Stretch: Be flexible.  Mondays are difficult for many students (and adults).
44. Look: For opportunities to make a life-changing impact.
45. Write: A short note of encouragement to anyone (even yourself).
46. Empower: Anyone that you can so that they rise.
47. Permeate: The wall of sadness and mistrust that so many shoulder daily.
48. Ignite: your S.H.I.N.E.® and help others do the same.
49. Disrupt: The status quo. Students don’t look forward to mundane.
50. Commit: To BRING IT today!
51. Amplify: Your voice. Ideas that rest unheard never impact the world.
52. Customize: The learning experience for every student, not special groups.
53. Champion: The underdogs lurking in your class, building, playgrounds.
54. Unleash: Your passions. Share the real you. Tell a story. Relate to kids as a person, not a figure of authority.
55. Dedicate: Your day to BE with your learners. They deserve 100% of you.
56. Reimagine: Your space. What one small change could make a huge impact?
57. Spark: The wisdom and imagination in all learners.
58. Trust: Build it, nurture it, repeat.
59. Tell: Your story. If you don’t, someone else will and it may not be your version.
60. Tweet: A resource, activity, celebration--use #MondaysStartWithMe hashtag.
61. Influence: All in your path. You will.  Decide if it will be positive or negative.
62. Entice: Your students to eagerly return tomorrow {Mystery, suspense, teaser}.
63. Read: A blog, article, tweets, posts, book, etc. Share it with the world. The smartest person in the room is the room. Make the room a global collaboration.
64. #THRIVE: Surviving is no longer enough.  Sprinkle every Monday with a dash of determination, a healthy heap of hope, and a scoop of serendipity.

#RelationshipsMatter

#RelationshipsMatter
To #HEAL those hurting, it begins with us.

June 7, 2016 - I fell asleep, phone in hand, news app open before the 5th Dallas Police Department officer was declared deceased.  I woke up before 5 a.m. feeling numb and motionless as I read the updates that had transpired in a few short hours.  I’ve driven into Dallas for the last seven months of my life to receive medical care.  Today, many of those streets are closed.  Our state and country are grieving social injustices and being left with aching holes in our hearts when we seek truth to this question: Why?

Social media and news coverage are the cornerstones of my professional duties, but on days like today my personal sadness and disbelief override my educational duties, or do they? For so long, educators were (and often still are) encouraged to separate their professional and personal lives.  Today is a prime example of such, as we see all of the social media hashtags that have emerged in the wake of the heinous Dallas tragedy.  However, I’ve unconsciously done something throughout the day that didn’t resonate with me until now:  I’ve been viewing the national and local events of this week through the lens of an educator (both as a professional and a parent).  And this question continues to roll around in my head: What relationships failed you?

When our students don’t make the academic progress that we desire, we are supposed to evaluate ourselves, as practicing educators, find and design solutions, experiences and environments that help students achieve success.   Evidence of this exists throughout the myriad of program and publication companies, as they design curriculum resources to better meet our current state standards.  Ask any campus-level principal or central office curriculum administrator, someone is constantly soliciting us with the next “big thing.”  Whether it’s curriculum standards or assessment tools, the market and media are flooded with opportunities for change.  What does all of this have to do with #RelationshipsMatter?  New curriculum resources may contribute to improved academic results but I would argue that it’s the relationships between students and teachers that have a greater impact on academic AND life success.  Where is the push, the call for improved relationships, in our school systems?   When our students, current and former, show up in the media for poor life-choices, why aren’t we evaluating our practices and asking not if there is room for improvement but how many ways can we improve our relationships with students? Don’t misinterpret my message--academic success is unquestionably valuable but life success trumps that any day of the week.  Students need as much guidance (if not more) for the life market than the jobs-of-the-future market.  If they can’t successfully live and cope with one another, peacefully embrace differences, and positively approach conflict resolution, our job markets are then apt to fill with adults ill-prepared to live much less meet and exceed company expectations.  Our students need life preparation before skill preparation has a fighting chance to impact their lives.  Acceptance, love, and hope aren’t post-graduation givens--they should be equally (if not more) prevalent in our graduation requirements, just as core content courses. The quadratic equation, though valuable in a number of professions, has yet to advance me as a compassionate citizen.   However, the relationships that influenced me as an impressionable student still impact me and those lives that I touch daily.  We need the influence of strong adults in our students’ lives to prepare them to be the positive pillars of society.  It can’t happen by hope or chance.  Our impact must be intentional.

I spend an abundance of my professional and personal life building a foundation of genuine and positive relationships.  As an educator, I continuously evaluate my relationships with students, families, colleagues and community--each one matters. I speak to audiences, write about it, and live it.  It’s who I am.  The unspeakable events of this week made me think back to the thousands of students that I’ve taught and supervised in my 18 years as an educator...each a name and face of our future, not a notable statistic on a campus data sheet.  What I gave or didn’t give to each one rests on my shoulders.  Before most of our young students encounter service officers, they encounter their families and the most impressionable service profession on this planet: teaching.  We spend more hours on a weekly basis with students than families typically do, yet I’ve seen time and time again our focus on standards, not students--rigor not relationships.  Our influence ripples over the course of time, most of which we will never truly know, as our students touch lives and those lives touch others.  Knowing that the impact of our relationships exponentially influences the adults that our students become, beyond testing results, graduation rates and career choices), why aren’t we all--policy makers, administrators, and teachers, evaluating our far reaching practices and placing relationships at the forefront of everything that we do?

When senseless acts of violence occur, it makes me wonder about the relationships that were present or void in a person’s life.  It makes me ask myself, what can I do differently to impact the world, starting with my own students and community?  We have an infinite amount of opportunity to establish and build positive relationships with students while they are in our care and even beyond.  We will not change the trajectory of our path with humanity unless we take action in our respective professions.  It goes beyond an anti-bullying campaign.  It’s not just a 15 minute block of character education in classrooms each week.  It begins with a culture, before students ever step foot on our campuses, that kindness counts, everyone matters, and that human life is precious.  It’s not merely a set of “soft skills” or a program and it may/may not result in better state assessment scores, but this culture requires the commitment of every single educator that serves our students. Whether they are on your class or campus roster is irrelevant.  The students that mature into the adults that commit violent crimes against freedoms and life belong to all of us.  Every #RelationshipMatters--especially the students and adults that appear hard to love.  They need us the most, for they are filled with unfathomable sadness, hatred, loneliness, and despair.

I chose one word to live by this year, just after my stage III ovarian cancer diagnosis was handed to me:  #HEAL.  It’s been at the core of my recovery, present in my social media posts, on campaign shirts, hanging on my home and office walls, spelled out on my desk, on my car window, and in the countless cards, trinkets, flowers, and gifts that I’ve received in the last seven months.  I never imagined that two weeks ago I would enter “survivorship” after multiple surgeries and four months of chemotherapy.  However, #HEAL has a whole new meaning to me tonight, as so many families are hurting across this nation.  We need to #HEAL from within, not as a reaction to tragedy but as a starting point for the investment that we make in one another. When we #HEAL physically and emotionally, including helping our students and struggling families do the same, we minimize the hate that surrounds us.  I will continue to live my word long after this year passes and pray that others will do the same.

As I end my words, please accept this as an invitation, a call to action to do more than what you already do in the coming school year.  Place relationships at the forefront of all of your planning decisions.  I’m convinced that empathetic students experience higher levels of success (life and academic) than their counterparts.  With a culture that values intentionally teaching and modeling empathy, compassion, and how to rise in the face of adversity, students have the potential to leave us better prepared for life.  Education isn’t solely about academics.  It’s about people.  It’s about relationships.  Please, for the sake of the communities and nation of students that we serve, make a change in your practices.  If we continue to do what we’ve always done, we will continue to get the same results.  We all have room for improvement.   None of us want to see our loved ones and communities turned into a terrifying and trending global hashtag.

"That" Teacher

“That” Teacher

As an educator, I’m often to asked to reflect on my childhood experiences as a student and identify “that” teacher--the one who made a profound impact in my life, “that” teacher who made me want to come to school, “that” teacher who made learning unforgettable, “that” teacher who noticed me, “that” teacher who inspired me, “that” teacher I’ll always remember.  For many of us, we don’t realize who “that” teacher is until we’ve passed through their doors for the final time.  If you happen to be “that” teacher for a student, the notification rarely arises while that student is still in your care.

What happens when the moment hits you and you realize that you ARE “that” teacher for a student?  I’ve thought about this post for over a year and could never bring myself to sit down and express all of the weight and joy that this realization carries, until now.  

It began in my living room floor, summer 2014, two months before I moved to a small Caribbean island.  After 17 years of combined teaching and administrative experience, I accepted an offer to teach first grade in a small private school.  Before packing the last of my moving boxes, I made pirate cards and wrote individual messages to each of my soon-to-be first graders.  I placed my school picture in each card before sealing the envelopes and sending them 2,000 miles away.  Many of you reading this have done similar practices with your incoming students.  It’s not uncommon for such to occur, especially at the elementary level.  However, I had the unique privilege to see something, seven months later, that I’ll never forget.

After being with my “Firsties” (aka Pirates) for the better part of a school year, I was invited to join one family for dinner.  That evening I was my student’s guest of honor, his chosen incentive for participating in a local competition, something that his parents and I collectively encouraged and challenged him to do, despite his fears.  Little did I know, before arriving at his home, that a series of instances would happen that night that made me realize, walking through the moments--I was “that” teacher.  Even more incredible--I was “that” teacher for a 6-year old who had his entire education ahead of him.  

I walked in to find him preparing my dinner.  Yes, he had prepared two types of pizza for me.  I was taken on a tour of the house.  When we reached his bedroom, his mother pointed out something to me that still brings tears to my eyes:  the pirate card, the one that I had written and sent to him in June, was hanging on the wall by his bed with my picture displayed.  It nearly took my breath away.  I wasn’t just his first grade teacher… I was “that” teacher.  A while later we were back downstairs and I noticed three small handwritten notes taped to the kitchen island.  They were numbered and read: #1 I heart (love) you Ms. Stephanie!  #2  You’re the best teacher in history! (Maybe even person!)  #3 You’re the best person in all the other galaxies, including this one!  I was “that” teacher. Needless to say, my seat at dinner was chosen for me--right next to him.  As the dinner plates were being cleared, I was offered an assortment of ice cream flavors to choose from (he knew that I loved and missed ice cream from Texas).  Again, I was “that” teacher.  That night, unquestionably, was a top moment of my career.  It didn’t happen at school or even during school hours. There were no standards taught or assessed.  Instead, I took in every moment and was in awe as I reflected on our year together and every cumulative choice that I had made to connect with him, share my passions, know his happiness and insecurities, challenge his skills, and love him unconditionally.

Fast forward, less than two months later, I was invited back to dinner.  It was my last day as his teacher, two days before I moved back to Texas, and the mood was much more somber.  That card and picture still hung on the wall above his bed, as it had since June.  However, this was the last night that I would see him until our paths crossed again and neither of us knew when that would be.  He celebrated his 7th and 8th birthdays, many holidays came and went, and we Facetimed several times over the course of a year.  With each Facetime, I captured a picture of us on the screen and sent it to his mom.  Those pictures stay in my camera roll just like that card and picture hanging above his bed.  It was an emotional year because I knew what I meant to him, his mother too, and he watched me go through a challenging medical diagnosis and treatment.  Though his conversations through the year were often cautious (he was hiding the worry in his heart), he never stopped being one of my greatest champions.  The pictures that I received of him wearing my cancer shirt made me smile.  Every green (my favorite color and now his too) letter that he wrote and decorated with hearts made my heart happy.  He will never truly understand how he helped me heal.  He’s such a joyous, inquisitive, and thoughtful soul.

I truly believe that it’s no coincidence that his grandmother lives about an hour from my home.  Of all of my former Firsties, his stateside family is practically in my backyard.  Of all of the places on this planet that he could possibly visit this summer, his travels brought him here.  Although his mother and I made arrangements for us to spend a day together, we didn’t reveal that I was going to be at baggage claim when they arrived in Texas.  June 6, 2016, Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport, Delta Flight 0029 from Atlanta: Delayed nearly four hours.  Originally scheduled to land at 8:40 pm, my anticipation and excitement were pushed to 12:40 am, June 7, 2016.  I anxiously stood on the exit side of E15. His mom walked through the doors first and simply smiled.  She moved slightly to her right and just behind her was “that” sleepy-eyed student.  When our eyes met, neither of us spoke a word. The smile on his face said it all.  Thank you, Andrea, for allowing me to live that moment and capturing a simple picture that says it all.  Thank you, Dax, for teaching me what an honor it is to be “that” teacher.  Because of you, I get to experience the remarkable reward of sharing my passions with the world.  

Never underestimate the power of each and every choice that you make with students.  Something as simple as a handwritten note and a picture forever changed my perspective on placing relationships first, everything else second.