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“You just never know…when you are making a difference to other people”
Schools and education have been to the forefront this week for me as it’s been N.S.W. Public Education Week:
Recently I read a message on line from someone who was a beginning teacher where I was the Deputy Principal. This person and I remain social media friends and she continues to work in education.
Her comment came up on my Facebook Page for Denyse Whelan Writes Here and was after I’d written this post about my Principal role and how I was (finally) viewing my educational leadership positively.
I loved working under you Denyse. You were supportive which is exactly what a beginning teacher needs. You introduced the staff to Choice Theory and it’s still going strong because my school is training in it at present. I’m still going strongly 30 years later thanks to the great leadership you gave people like me x
I guess you could have knocked me down…with the proverbial feather…because I (we?) really never know through our lives whether we do impact another’s life in terms of relationships and or work.
I gave this some thought, and having been a school leader (as an Assistant Principal, Deputy Principal, Relieving Principal AND Substantive Principal) from 1982 until 2002, I had made differences (for the good) in many peoples’ lives.
Just as I was when I was learning my craft as a teacher then school leader
We help each other where we can
I know I liked doing that
I enjoyed having teachers watch me teach
I liked learning styles of leadership from others via courses and in person
My image graduating as Master of Education is one I treasure because I was doing that ground-breaking NSW Department of Education leadership course with my A.P. who became a principal..and is now someone I meet up with for coffee.
I got a lot of benefit too from being part of large groups of staff from many schools where we met for conferences and learned from each other.
Now that I am back in Sydney’s north west again (where we lived for close to 40 years and I taught for over 30) I am loving the retirement life…and am well following a harrowing time through oral cancer recoveries (and conquering mostly fear, see this post) ….
I am meeting up with some of these friends and we are loving the reconnections.
And we can talk freely of our times together and then at separate and different schools and in roles which took some of us to principal level.
In these conversations I have found a commonality with two women in particular.
Whilst they are not in these photos, they have helped me learn, see and FEEL that I too did a great job in my leadership roles. And because I could not stay on as a principal when my emotional health was affected, I did NOT fail. Me especially.
So, this happened just recently too.
I’d been to our two granddaughters’ K-6 school for open classrooms. I spent 15 minutes with each and it was delightful. B was visiting another granddaughter’s school as each had open classrooms on the same day and time.
I admit as I age…and have no great stamina (ha!) for being in the audience for BIG school assemblies and presentations (I used to host them and tried to keep to time!) I planned to leave the school grounds before the ‘big’ assembly where one grandchild was performing. She knew I couldn’t stay…but when the D.P. who knew me from 20 years ago asked me “are you staying”…..I was torn…and I owned up,
“no, I am going for coffee…”
and she was so kind with her words of understanding saying “I reckon you deserve that”…and I know she was thinking of those years of being in schools and now I am retired I can choose and I felt both cared for and about.
So, back to the topic..we don’t always know when we might be laying down new ideas for other people, and sharing our experiences and skills to help. I know I have been grateful for many in my learning-to-teach and lead years. Sadly some have died.
But I honour their memory by helping others (still) or at least sharing stories here!
How about you?
Have you had this kind of experience?
Perhaps you were the one who let someone know how important they had been in your life.
It’s a second post here in 2 days but this is why I write on Substack…I can and will share.
Denyse.
Just catching up on your posts. I am always so surprised when I tell someone how they touched my life that they seem to have no idea! So glad you're starting to be able to say no when you need to, it's such a big deal.