A High Regard for the David Cameron Staff

On Thursday and Friday of last week Dale and I had the pleasure of listening to Chris Kelly once again.  Chris is the retired superintendent of Vancouver School District.  He is an amazing and insightful speaker, who shares his passion and understanding of the education system in a truly inspiring manner.  Chris' focus for our sessions was "What Matters".  Together we explored this concept in a variety of settings, eg within our District, within our administrators group, and within our schools.  One key message that resonated for me was the need for people to feel genuinely regarded by others for the work they do.  This got me thinking about the great things that happen in our school everyday.

I was watching a group of students heading towards the gym the other day.  Nothing unusual about that, other than in the middle of the group, was one of our students with special needs.  This is a student who would not go near the gym, much less line up with class mates, only a few months ago.  It is through the care, understanding and daily commitment of our Education Assistants and our teachers that this learning has occurred.  On another occasion I watched as a teacher masterfully worked with her class on a project.  The project was organized in such a way that students could bring their own interests and talents into it.  The engagement that these students showed because the teacher thought through their needs and interests in structuring, it was amazing.  On another occasion I had a conversation with a teacher on our staff who is in a new assignment this year.  She was talking to me about her concerns for meeting the needs of all of her learners and the work that she had put into planning the learning environment.  I was struck by the depth of understanding and care that she showed for each student.

These are three very small examples of what goes on every day in our school in every one of our classes, because of the care and commitment of our staff.  It wasn't until I began thinking of these (and many more) examples of the work done on a daily basis by our professional and caring staff that I began to truly understand what Chris was referencing.  Our staff doesn't do this for recognition or for accolades, they do it because they care, and for that, I believe they deserve to be genuinely regarded.