What if Normal is Incredible?

I must admit, I don’t blog nearly as much as I’d like to. Often times, there are just too many other things I’d like to get done and as a result, blogging gets pushed to the side. Or perhaps sleep simply wins out, and I like my sleep. In the midst of everything we are trying to accomplish every day, sitting down to write a post often becomes yet another task on our mountainous to-do lists. I must also admit that this is something I really would like to get better at, that I really believe in the power of blogging and that I truly value the reflective power of taking the time to write.

But, there’s another reason I sometimes find myself hesitant to post; amongst my colleagues, my PLN and even our students, there are some absolutely incredible and exceptional ideas and reflections posted every day. So, naturally, I often believe that before I write my next blog post, I better have something exceptional and profound to say. I mean, who would want to read something that is just “normal?”

As I have been writing this post in my head throughout the last week, that thought has been playing over and over again. “What incredible thoughts will I share next?” and more over, “I better not post until I have something extraordinary to say.” My guess is that I am not alone in these thoughts.

However, as I was headed home this afternoon, my mind flooded with more thoughts. Sure, sometimes I don’t write because I feel like I don’t have anything powerful to say. But, when it really comes down to it, I began to realize that what we do every single day, what is “normal” to us, really is incredible. Sometimes, it’s all about the simple things.

I started thinking about a workshop we held last week with students from both of our campuses where we began asking them to work towards defining what will ideally become some of our policies regarding social media use and technology. When talking about how social media tends to cause distractions, one of our sophomore students looked right at another teacher and I and said that it’s not the technology that distracts students; we get distracted when we are not engaged. She put is so simply and when I thought about it, I realized just how right she was. One of the biggest issues that teachers have with technology in the classroom was dispelled so eloquently by a student, who was doing what she does every single day; challenging herself.  

Then I thought about this past weekend when I was visiting with my own family and overheard the sadly common dialogue about how easy teaching is, how lazy we are because we get summers and breaks off and how ridiculous teacher pensions are. Honestly, at this point I rarely engage in this conversation because I have learned that it will do no good. However, I look back at this conversation and think yet again, what we do in education every single day, as teachers, support staff and administrators, what we pour our heart and soul into, has become “ordinary” in the minds of so many. If that’s the case though, then what is normal truly is extraordinary.

When it really comes down to it, many of the most exceptional things about schools and education as a whole are what happen every single day in the classroom, in the hallways, on the fields and throughout the building. Teachers teaching and inspiring. Students learning and creating. There is no question that extraordinary things take place, and I am extremely fortunate to be part of a school and community where they happen often, but what is most impressive is how incredible our “normal” is.

It’s normal for our students to be able to express themselves and have a voice. It’s normal that students and adults are kind to one another. It’s normal that we challenge our students academically and socially. On any given day, it would be normal for our students to pursue their passions. I could go on and on with this list. When I think about it, our normal is pretty darn incredible.

I suppose, at the end of the day, I don’t have to come up with anything exceptional to say; all it takes is one look at what’s happening at Leyden to know that it’s normal to be incredible. And I can write about that endlessly.