Both books helped me find a bit more focus and balance and reset my inner joy and love for my job. If you know me, you know that I am generally pleasant but, man o' man, when my attitude goes south, it is like a plane in freefall at an aerial show. Hang on tight ladies and gentlemen and hold your breath because it is gonna get really close to crashing. Next stop Negativeville! As the plummeting to an inevitable destructive end appears imminent and I am frantically attempting to find a parachute, suddenly the plane pulls up, the clouds part and the sun shines and the watching crowd cheers. They don't see the panic and the anxiety and self-doubt propelling the plane southward. They only see the beautiful outcome as it soars high ahead.
My big AH-HA take away was that it is up to me to create the library's image. I am the single determining factor that can make or break it. While I can't control how everyone responds to my overtures or initiatives, I can control how I respond to their responses. I can also make a conscious effort to be positive and reach out to my families.
So, to that end, my goal this year is to reach out to EACH and EVERY student I teach with a personal GOOD NEWS phone call at some point this year. I set up an Excel spreadsheet with a page for each teacher so I could record who I called. My goal is 1 to 2 students from each class I teach every day.
I started yesterday and called 4 families. I had to leave 2 messages. Today I called 12 families. 2 moms cried. 1 told me I just made her day as she was sitting and struggling to complete payroll at work. 1 mom told me her son can check out books this year (yay-she wouldn't let him after March of last year). I left voicemail messages at a couple of numbers and one called back on the library phone. When I told her why I called, she said, "What a blessing! Thank you so much." I forgot how much I missed reaching out like that as a classroom teacher. I even left a message with a stunned and bewildered older brother of a kindergarten student. I can only imagine what that dinnertime conversation was like!
Did it take some time? You betcha! But not as much as I thought. It really only took a moment to say, "This is Mrs. Bixby and I am the librarian at Edgemere Elementary School. I just wanted to call and let you know that ____ had a great day in library today." Then I added an example or 2 and ended with telling the parent how proud I was of their child and I just wanted to let them know so they could be just as proud tonight.
Everybody said thank you with a smile in their voice. And that made me feel pretty darn good inside.
Maybe you can't/don't want to call everyone. That's ok. But I can promise you that if you get a few minutes and reach out, you won't regret the time you spent.
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