Joy, love, kindness, and empathy are so important in our school buildings and within our school communities. It's also important to remember that teachers need to be upheld as valuable assets within those communities and that each teacher is an individual on a personal and professional journey. This episode features some real-world school stories from Dr. Lance Forman that focus on "the humanity in educators."

Podcast Program: 
Ayers All Access
Publication Date: 
05/19/2022 - 3:30pm
Duration: 
26:53
PDF icon Download Transcript (228.29 KB)
Show Notes: 

Dr. Lance Forman is the current Director of the Educational Leadership Program at Lipscomb's College of Education. Lance is a former elementary school teacher, assistant principal, and executive principal in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Quotes:

It's important to look at the humanity of teachers, of kids, of educators. I think we have forgotten that. We've become so engrossed and focused on other things that obviously are important and we've forgotten that it's okay to have fun, and laugh, and enjoy school! Leaders need to recognize the humanity in teachers (and teachers in leaders) and to understand what they are going through in their own lives.
–Lance Forman

Followership is the most important thing to being a school leader. Because if you're leading and no one's following, then you're just taking a walk in the park. You've got to have people who will follow you and listen to you. It's really a delicate balance because you're not pushing them to follow you, you're modeling the behaviors that you hope to see out of them and empowering them to make decisions on their own. That will create a followership.
–Lance Forman

Practical Tips:

  1. Keep your focus on student success (rather than teacher recognition).
  2. Recognize the desires and struggles in the lives of your colleagues (teachers and leaders) and simply support and be happy for them.
  3. Change your language to "we" and "our."
  4. Share handwritten notes of encouragement and appreciation.
  5. Provide the opportunity to "tap in / tap out" so that adults can de-escalate.
Credits: 
  • Producer & Host: Karen Marklein
  • Engineer & Editor: Forrest Doddington
Episode Categories: 
School Stories