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This week on Monday Matters, Jen Schwanke shares a story from her newsletter called “The Dog I Wanted”. The story is about losing her beloved dog, the dog who loved going on runs and who behaved exactly how Jen wanted. After losing her dog, Jen decided to get a new dog, but this dog hates running, loves naps, and does not like to listen to Jen. He is not the dog Jen wanted, and nothing she did could change him to be the dog she wanted. In spite of this, Jen has grown to love him dearly.
Next, Will and Jen spend some time talking about how this story applies to school leadership. Principals and teachers have to navigate expectations versus reality everyday in schools. Teachers have to deal with this in their classrooms. Some years, they get a really quiet class. Other years they get a loud and crazy class, and another year they get a chatty and creative class. Principals also have challenges to deal with each year.
Without fail, something unexpected will happen that you have to deal with. Learning how to navigate these challenges is essential to having a successful school year. School leaders who learn how to accept and adjust to challenges can model for teachers how they should respond and react to their own challenges.
Now it’s your turn:
Think about a time in your career when something did not go as expected. How did you handle it? Would you do anything differently now?
Listen to the full conversation for more takeaways! And, as always, thank you for doing what matters!
