EPISODE #310

You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast, episode 310. 

Builders, before we begin, I have a quick question for you. Are we connected on social media? The reason I'm asking is because as much as I love giving you the podcast episode every single week, I'd love to take our relationship deeper. So if we're not connected on on social media, let's connect. I'm on LinkedIn at Robyn_mind steps. I'm on Twitter at Robyn_mind steps. I'm on on Facebook and Robyn Jackson, please let's connect so we can keep the conversation going. Now on with the show.

You're listening to this school Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 310. How do builders like us make a dramatic difference in the lives of our students in spite of all the obstacles we face? How do you keep your vision for your school from being held hostage by resistant teachers, uncooperative parents, ridiculous district policies, or lack of time, money, or resources? If you're facing those challenges right now, here is where you'll find the answers, strategies, and actionable tips you need to overcome any obstacle you face. You don't have to wait to make a difference in the lives of the people you serve. You can turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Let's get started.

Hey, builders, welcome to another episode of the School Leadership Reimagined podcast.

I'm your host, Robyn Jackson. And and next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. So schools everywhere are going to be handing out Donuts and Starbucks gift cards and shout outs to teachers. And everybody has been building Pinterest boards and shopping and looking for ways to appreciate teachers. And they've gone to Starbucks and they're loading up on Starbucks gift cards. And yet, builders know something that most principals don't realize, which is that appreciation is never neutral. Appreciation always reinforces something. And if you are not careful, the way that you plan out your teacher appreciation week can actually hurt your culture or it can help your culture.

So let's talk about that on today's episode. Before I do, I just want to thank all of you who showed up to last week's master class, the one-on-one master class. It was so good. I mean, it seems like such a simple idea to do a strategic one-on-one, but it's really a game changer. And already inside of the 100% collective, people have taken that master class and all the tools and they're starting to have one on ones with teachers and they're having amazing results. Now, if you missed the master class, it's no longer available outside of the 100% collective. But when you join the 100% collective, you get the one-on-one master class, You get the five in, five out master class, you get the master scheduling master class, you get all the playbooks, you get all the tools. Everything is there inside of the collective.

So if you want any of our past master classes, if you want the tools, if you want the playbooks, if you want a supportive community of people who are implementing and doing this work, then join us for the 100% principal collective. And you do not have to be a principal to join the collective. If you are an aspiring principal, if you are in any kind of leadership role, like an instructional coach, if you you are an assistant principal, you are welcome because it's about a mindset, not about a position. So join us at the 100% Principal collective, get all of the master classes, all the playbooks, get the community, get the tools. It's the best place to go if you want to start developing that 100% principal mindset. All right, So listen, every time I talk about Teacher Appreciation Week, people think that I am so anti teacher appreciation because I scoff at, you know, the pancakes that we do for teachers and the gift bags and all of that. Listen, I appreciate a Starbucks gift card as much as the next person. In fact, I still remember the first time that I got a Starbucks gift card as a teacher appreciation gesture.

At the time I was a fairly new teacher and flat broke, and so I got this little gift card. I took my little broke self right to Starbucks. After school, I ordered one of the fancy Starbucks drinks. I think it was a karma macchiato. I couldn't afford it, so I was all excited. I was feeling rich and good looking and I ordered my little drink. I got my car. I put on some Miles Davis. I opened up the sunroof. And honey, you couldn't have told me anything. 

Now, did that gift card make me a better teacher? 

No. Did it make me more committed to my school? No. Did it? Do I remember the person who gave it to me? Now, I'm ashamed to admit this, but I don't. I see her face. I can't recall her name right now. So while I appreciated the gift card, and while the gift card felt like a nice gesture, the gift card alone wasn't enough. You see, the thing about most appreciation things is we make the appreciation about the gift instead of the person. We make the appreciation about the event instead of our culture and our school. And when you do that, you mess up, right? Most appreciation efforts unintentionally reinforce the wrong behaviors.

Do you want to? If you don't believe me, think about this. Think about how a lot of times when we are celebrating teachers, the things we celebrate them for represent the exact dysfunction that's making teaching so tough for them anyway. So we'll say thanks for all of your hard work and how hard you you come in early, you stay late. We are reinforcing busyness. We are reinforcing martyrdom or we reinforce compliance over alignment. We'll say something like, you know, shout out to Misses X for turning everything in on time. I mean, yeah, I want teachers to turn in everything on time.

But if I'm making that, the big shout out is that you got stuff in on time, that I'm sending a message that what gets celebrated around here is compliance, right? Or we treat appreciation as an event rather than something that's ongoing, right? So, and we do something for Teacher Appreciation week, but then the rest of the year we do nothing or we just assemble. They know we appreciate them. Or, you know, thanks, we give them a random thanks. But you know, we make a big deal one week out of the year rather than creating ongoing appreciation for teachers. And so again, appreciation is never neutral. It is always reinforcing something.

And So what I want to challenge you to think about is what is your appreciation reinforcing? All right? What are you reinforcing through your appreciation efforts? Because if you're not careful, you might be going all out creating, you know, this whole Teacher Appreciation Week event. And in the process, you are teaching your teachers what is really valued about them, what's really valued in your culture. And so if your appreciation does not align with your vision, your mission, and your core values, it's undermining them, even though you're doing something super, super nice. OK, so builders do teacher appreciation differently.

Builders do everything differently.

But it's not just the big stuff. It's it's stuff like teacher appreciation too. Because builders know that it matters. And we never waste an opportunity to not only build our culture, but to create more alignment rather than compliance to to to help teachers become more deeply invested in our vision, mission, and core values rather than doing things that keep them disconnected. So the first thing is that if you're going to plan teacher appreciation, you need to make sure that it is anchored in your vision, your mission, and your core values. I know I sound like a broken record. I say it all the time, but it's so true. And we do it for big stuff, but we often don't think about how even the little stuff needs to be anchored in our vision, mission, and core values.

So notice the difference between, you know, we appreciate you so much, we just love you. We're so glad that you're part of our culture versus you showed up for students in a way that bought our core values to life. You are committed to the vision and it showed up in the way that you teach this year. Do you see the difference? 1 is about the person and its personality, and that's why people struggle during teacher appreciation week. Sometimes not. This is the part we don't say out loud, right? There are some people we don't really want to appreciate because they haven't been doing what we've wanted them to do.

And we do these blanket teacher appreciation things, but we're handing out the T-shirts. So some teachers were like the T-shirts, just not enough to show you how much we love you. And then to some people were like, you're lucky because I wouldn't have bought you a T-shirt if it had been my money. And so it's because it becomes about the personality versus about alignment. But when you focus on the alignment piece, then you can overcome personality and you can still find ways to reinforce what's really, really important, right? The other thing that builders do is that when we're appreciating people, we highlight progress, right? Because it's about what we are building together, not what we built only, but what we are in the process of building.

So we'll say things like you move the needle on something that matters.

You didn't just finish a task. This is how the task you did move things forward to. Notice the difference between that and hey, you just got everything in on time, helping people understand why they do what they do and how just not just compliance. It's not about compliance, but This is why we ask you to get things done on time. This is why we ask you to do these things because this is the impact that it has on our students and our ability to serve them totally different builders also make sure that when we are appreciating people, we are reinforcing their ownership, right? Not hey, you jump through these hoops and I'm really glad, right? Nobody feels appreciated for that or not even you're a great person because you might be a great person, but that's objective, right? What we want to do is we want to reinforce the things that they own and how we appreciate them helps keep the ownership with them.

So they're not looking to me for me to give them a Gold Star. They are they, I am simply recognizing how they have taken ownership over this work. The ownership always stays with them, right? So we're saying things like you didn't just follow a directive, you built something that's changing the game. That's the kind of difference that Bill just making way that we do appreciation for people, right? It's not just about how well you jump through these hoops this year or, or how little you rock the boat. It's really about how you moved our students towards our vision in a way that aligns with our mission and in a way that embodies our core values. And that will always be better and feel more, more genuine than a lot of the stuff we do end up saying in the notes and the cute things that we do for teachers.

Right? So here I want to talk to you and give you some examples of what this looks like. Because it's not enough to just say here, builders do it differently. But let me show you how this can spark your own creativity. Even if you don't have a big budget or you have no budget at all like a lot of us are dealing with right now, you can still give create a meaningful teacher appreciation experience for teachers. Now here's some things that we typically do, especially when we don't have a budget. We say, oh, we're not going to have a staff meeting this month. What you're doing is you're treating the staff meeting itself like something onerous.

I would never give people the staff meeting off for the month because what message am I sending? I appreciate you so much that I'm going to give you this meeting off. That means that I'm taking something that's terrible away, something off your plate. No, I would never do that because the staff meeting is important. And if we're using the staff meeting the right way, where it's not something that is onerous, it's not something that's taking, that's putting more to their plate, it's something that's getting us more and more in alignment. It's helping move the work forward. It's important. So rewarding them by taking away a staff meeting or saying they don't have to stay in plan or doing those other things.

Remember, appreciation is never neutral. 

It always reinforces something. So you have to be very, very thoughtful and mindful about what you are reinforcing, right? So here's the one way that I love, I love this idea of doing what we call a, this is what we built wall, right? So you take a wall in the hallway, right? And you create a visual timeline of all of the milestones that your teachers have accomplished throughout the year. Doesn't have to be test scores or it's not about program compliance. It's really about real outcomes that are tied to your vision, mission, and core values.

It could be photos, it could be quotes from students. It could be anecdotes. It could be small metrics that you're you're looking at. It could be key milestones that you've created. It could be small moments that embody the vision, mission and core values. And it should be multimodal and multimedia. So pictures and quotes and artifacts and, you know, just make it just this beautiful timeline that shows, you know, you can September, October, November. And it reminds teachers of just how far they've come throughout the year.

And the reason this becomes so powerful is that that it's a, it's a, it's a collective act of the entire building. And it shows that you are building, not just surviving. It reminds teachers of where you've come from and where you are now. And it takes the emphasis off of test scores. They're important. And so if you're seeing a change in test scores, put it up there. But it all, you know, a lot of times we get so caught up in the day-to-day that we don't even remember what was happening in August, in September of last year. So throughout the year, you're collecting things, collecting moments and you creating this, this, this, this is what we built wall that that shows teachers in a very tangible way how much you appreciate their work.

It reinforces their work. It reinforces your vision, mission and core values and it gives them something to feel proud about, right. And So what you could do then is you can even walk them through the wall and talk stuff. You're having a meeting that week. What have the meeting in the hallway where the wall is and, and, and walk them through that timeline. And then you can even talk about, you know, 7th grade team. You know, you all really have come a long way and this is what you've done in the end of first grade teachers. Here's how you've contributed to it.

Here's what we've accomplished. 

And bonus points throughout the week. You can put the wall up, but you can leave blank spots there and then invite teachers to put other things that they remember that may not be on the wall. And so they're adding to it throughout the weekend. So you're building this thing. And again, this is what we built together, right? I love that. Hey builders, real quick, before we get on with the rest of the episode, I want to talk to you about the 100% Collective.

If you are interested in becoming a builder and developing that 100% mindset, then the 100% Collective is for you. Not only do we have monthly master classes, live master classes where I show you how to take some work that you are already doing, but do it like a builder. Do it in a way that is more effective, more efficient, in a way that makes the work and stops it from being drudgery and makes it actually something that feels meaningful, that moves you forward. We also have done for you tool boxes with all the tools you need to be able to implement. And we have step by step playbooks that layout the entire process for you so you don't even think about it. You just take the playbook and you can implement it right away in your schools. And we have a supportive community. So this is a safe place where you can bring your challenges and there are other people, other builders just like you who are encouraging you, who are applauding you when you win, and who are giving you their experiences as well so that you can learn from each other.

If you are tired of just kind of going through and doing the work the way you've always been doing it, and you're ready to stop being a leader and to start building something amazing, the 100% Collective is where you need to be. Join us at buildershipuniversity.com/community. Now, back with the program. Here's another idea. You can do a 100% Vision premiere, right? So you give people movie tickets, you pop popcorn, soda, snacks. Make sure there's some Twizzlers and some Milk Duds. Those are my favorite movie snacks.

And you create a short video or a narrated slideshow that shows the vision and shows what's what your school will become and then makes it real, right? You want to use real footage in interviews with kids, parents, quotes that talk about the progress for the year. So it's kind of like the wall but in video format, right? So you, you this takes a little bit more time, but if you have older students, they can start putting it together. You can do this on your phone, right? And, and if you don't do it this year, you can think about it for next year and start collecting that stuff now. So from now until this time next year, you can just be collecting and archiving the video and then putting it all together, stitching it all together to create this, this, this, this movie premiere, right? And then it's, it talks about not just the the tough times, but it talks about the fun things that you've done.

It's a highlight reel of your progress and it's also a future facing reflection, right? 

So you start with a vision, you start showing all the things that they've been doing to build to the vision you then if you all are in BU, you all know the vision story is so powerful. You can even structure it so that it follows the vision story format, but in video form. And so you can use the vision story format if you're in BU and and just structure it that way. If you're not in BU, don't worry about the vision story format, but you can just format it throughout the year. And what it does is it reinforces your vision and it makes them feel proud. And then you tell them, you know, at the end you can, you can talk about where the school is headed and how they are building that with you. So think about that now.

And then at the end, if you want to give out Starbucks cards or put cupcakes in the lounge, do that too, right? But they walk away with this sense of not only feeling appreciated, but feeling proud because of what they do. And again, teachers are so busy focused on the work in front of them that it's often hard for them to take time to reflect, think about all the things that they've accomplished, spend time being truly celebrated for the real genuine work that they're doing. So I love the movie premiere. You know, you can set up the library, put a screen, you know, really go all in on this whole idea of a movie premiere. And then when they're finished, then you could even hand out like go right into like an Oscar style awards show where everybody gets an award for something and you can make up silly awards if you want. And then every teacher feels proud. Every teacher feels proud.

OK, now the next thing that you can do this is the an idea about that I got from Jennifer Hudson, right? So I've been seeing these videos. I don't watch your show but I see these videos online of at the beginning of the Jennifer Hudson show her guest. Before they go out on the show, her entire staff lines both sides of the hallway and they make up a cheer or a song or a chant specific to each person. I'm not telling you to do that because you got a large staff good grief, right? But the idea I love of doing this, this, this this builder tunnel, right? So you can even create a literal tunnel, right. So take a hallway in your school or build a tunnel in front of the school, right?

You can line it with students and and parents and, and, and just and, and yourself and you can create something that they say. And as a teachers are arriving to work in the morning, you can do the Jennifer Hudson style chant with the students and the parents to the teachers. Or if you're doing a teacher appreciation lunch on the way to lunch, you get the hallway done. You get some volunteers, students and families, community members to come in. They do the chant. If you're not good at writing the chant, have the kids. If you have older kids write the chant or have AI write the chant for you. AI will write you a really great chant.

And it's a way that you can do this. 

It can be a generic chant. It could be something that names each teacher if you don't have a large staff, it could be something that that is really about your staff as a whole, But you're just going to you're going to create this wall and this this this tunnel, Sorry. And teachers walk through that tunnel to lunch or when they're coming into school or when they're leaving school on a particular day, and they walk through that tunnel and they're just just flooded with affirmations and those effort that whatever that affirmation is, it's not like you're a great and hope you enjoyed when you ate. You know, it's not like that. It's you know, you teach us how to think bigger. It's a line. The chance that you create is about your vision, your mission and your core values and how the teacher embodies those and how the teachers work is moving the school toward that.

So you know, you can, you can have kids say, you know, we're not afraid of math anymore because you taught us how to add and you taught us how to read. And you and, and, or parents, can you help their kids believe in themselves or whatever it is? That's your vision, mission and core values. You build this into this kind of chant and then they say it as teachers walk through the tunnel. Now, I know it sounds a little corny, but it's a wow moment, right? People? When I first saw it, I thought it was so corny, like, and I was like, I would never want to walk through a hallway of strangers singing about me. I would be so embarrassed, but when I started seeing the different people, these are celebrities.

These are people who are guests on the show and they're already famous and getting a lot of accolades. There's something about walking through that, that tunnel where people are are, are chanting something that's appreciation for you that hits different for those people. And they talk about how it's an experience unlike anything they've ever experienced before because it's very specific appreciation, not just you're great, but it's very specific. And I love the idea of tying it to your vision, mission of core values and making it really specific. So it's corny, but it works. And so if you can pull it together and pull it off, do that. And even if you can't do it for a teacher appreciation week, think about the last day of school.

Think about other opportunities to do this with your staff.

Very cool. And it also if they're also, what would make it even cooler is if they're holding like flags or signs that are talking about your core values. Like if your core values is, you know, confront things with courage, then you put the core values on it. You confront things with courage or if you're, you know, core values to keep it simple. He's like you keep, you kept it simple this year and you're holding up those placards as they're walking through that tunnel of appreciation. So cool. OK, the last moment. I love this one because this one is like a builder idea.

You do a wall of impact. So what you do is that staff members, you can do that. I'm going to be two variations. 1 is that you can do it with staff members and the other one is you can do with students. So with staff members, you have a staff meeting or something like that and you talk about this is what we built this year. This is what you built this year. And you give each person a block. And on that block, they reflect about something that they did that advance the vision forward or embodied the core values or embraced and, and move the mission forward.

And they so rather than you telling them what they did, they reflect on something that they did. And then you take those blocks and you build this wall and you talk about and at the underneath, it's a banner that says you built this. And it's, it's a way for them to to kind of see the collective impact that they've had on students. Now that's a teacher variation. The student variation is that you give students blocks and they write down some impact that they have felt from their teachers, from the school itself. And so it can be about a specific teacher. It could be about their experience in that school. It could be about an encounter that they've had with even you.

And they talk about like, I'm not afraid of math anymore, or I found my voice, or I'm quiet, but somebody sought me out or my teachers don't give up on me. And they write that on each block. And then you take the blocks and you put them into this. You, you make a big wall. You can make the wall something that goes in the main office. Everybody can see it. Or in that front hallway, like in a trophy case, instead of trophies, you put these blocks and show the wall parents can come in if they want to fill out blocks as well. And so it's a, it's a literal building of you, you, so you're building something, right?

So it's literally building something, but it's showing them we built this, right? And so then you put, you know, this, this, this big banner of it, like you built this or what we built in 2025. And then you, then they have this constant reminder of what they've built right now. Again, when you're finished, serve cake throughout the day. When you deliver the block, deliver the block wrapped in your school branded T-shirt.

You know you can still do the other stuff. 

I'm not saying that other stuff doesn't matter. What I am saying though, is that if you just do those things and you don't, you're not intentional about reinforcing what really matters in your school, then your appreciation can in some ways undermine the culture that you're trying to build.

So Teacher Appreciation Week is a wonderful opportunity not just to appreciate the hard work of your teachers, and you absolutely should do that, but to also spend time reinforcing the things that you all are building together. You see, when people say to me, hey, thank you, you're so nice. I mean, it's great. It feels fine, but I soon forget those compliments. What I never forget is when someone says, this is how you helped me. This is the difference you've made in my life. This is this is how you have impacted me and our teachers. That's why they're doing this work.

They want to make a difference. So if your teacher appreciation efforts don't show teachers the difference that they are making, what are you doing? Like I said at the beginning, appreciation is never neutral. It's always reinforcing something. And so as you think through Teacher Appreciation week and you think through the things that you've already planned or the things that you are are thinking about doing, think through this. Is what you are planning designed to reinforce your vision, mission, and core values? Or is it reinforcing stuff that really is going to destroy your culture? Are you reinforcing compliance or are you reinforcing martyrdom?

Are you reinforcing just surviving? 

Are you reinforcing building? You have a wonderful opportunity with Teacher Appreciation Week, not just to show appreciation for your teachers. And you absolutely should should. They've worked hard. But it's not the invent, you know, it's, it's what are you doing to, to reinforce your vision, mission and core values. So if you are intentional, you can do both. You can show teachers appreciation that it's meaningful, that feels good deep down, that that that helps them see the difference that they're making.

And you can reinforce your vision, mission and core values. If you are intentional and deliberate about structuring teacher appreciation week like a builder. I'll talk to you next time. Hey, if you're ready to get started being a builder right away, then I want to invite you to join us at Buildership University. It's our exclusive online community for builders just like you, where you'll be able to get the exact training that you need to turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Inside you'll find our best online courses, live trainings with me, tons of resources, templates and exemplars, and monthly live office hours with me where you can ask me anything and get my help on whatever challenge you're facing right now. If you're tired of hitting obstacle after obstacle and you're sick of tiny little incremental gains each year, if you're ready to make a dramatic difference in your school right now, then you need to join Buildership University. Just go to buildershipuniversity.com and get started writing your school success story today.

Hey, it's Robyn here and I want to thank you for listening to today's episode. Now if you have a question about today's episode or you just want to keep the conversation going, did you know that we had a school Leadership Reimagined Facebook group? All you need to do is go to Facebook, join the School leadership reimagined Facebook group. Now they're going to be a couple of questions that we asked at the beginning because we want to protect this group and make sure that we don't have any trolls come in and that it really is for people who are principals, assistant principals, district administrators. So make sure you answer those questions or you won't get in. But then we can keep the conversation going. Plus, we do a lot of great bonus content. I'm in there every single weekday.

So if you have a question or comment about the episode, let's continue the conversation. Join us at the School Leadership Reimagined Facebook group and I'll talk to you next time.