Sunday's Words for the Week

I've had the great fortune of working with some amazing administrators, most of them women. Strong, wise women with great insight and vision. When I was a young teacher I taught in Northern VA with one such principal. I think she saw her teachers the way we see our students and worked hard to get to know each of us so she could understand both our strengths and weaknesses. We felt valued and respected by her but like any good teacher, she wanted to see us grow and develop our talents. She was a great mentor to me and loved to push me to do things that I wasn't sure I could. Her most favorite line to use on me was this:

I'm not saying it's going to be

EASY,

I'm saying it's going to be

WORTH IT.

I've thought these words a lot this past week as we are just beginning the process of implementing new programs at our school. I don't expect this to be an easy year and teachers are already feeling stressed and overwhelmed. But I'm hoping that in the end we can all look back and see how what we did helped our children succeed and if that is the case then we can rest assured that it was indeed worth it.