Since I was out on bed rest for a week, I fell pretty far behind on service minutes. And then, last week, we had 3 minimum days due to STEP testing. So it wasn’t the most ideal week to play ‘catch up.’ This week, I’ve been trying to power through each day and squeeze in additional time with my kiddos that need the extra support.

Something happened today that made me stop, step back, and analyze the way I was handling myself. 

I went to go pick up one of my 2nd grade students from her classroom to pull her in for her reading intervention. In education, every minute matters. So, instead of waiting for this student to pack her bag and walk to the office with me, I whispered to her to come meet me in the office and rushed out the door to make it back to my office to greet the other students in the group. I was going to use those extra few minutes to test one of the 3rd graders on her sight words.

As I walked away, the 2nd grader came running after me with papers in her hand and her backpack wide open. She had eagerly been waiting for me to come into her room to show me an essay she had been working on. But, in my attempt to be ‘efficient,’ I hadn’t even acknowledged the hard work that she was so proud to show off. I walked away from it – too focused on my own agenda and what I needed to get done that day.

When I sit down with my students, I expect for them to be receptive to feedback that I am giving them. I expect them to have the self-control to focus on the work in front of them. I expect them to listen when I am explaining something. Yet, in that moment, as I rushed off to take advantage of those extra few minutes, I realized that I was showing them that it wasn’t important for me to do the same.

I firmly believe that one of the most important ways to teach our children is to lead by example. This encompasses so much more than the things that we say and the conversations we have.

Kids are so perceptive. They observe and absorb everything that we do. Each day, when we show up to work, we lay out the building blocks for our students. Let us be wise builders. Let us be wise role models. We need to lead by example. Through our words. And our actions.

Question of the Day:

• How do you lead your child/students by example?