At the end of the school year, I found out that there would be a slight change in my assignment for next year. While I’m remaining at my current school for 0.8 of my position (or four days a week), I’m going to be joining a new school for 0.2 of my position (or one day a week). As I’ve noticed a lot over the years, I really started to consider Self-Reg when hearing this news.
How I Found My Calm
While I’ve always been a big champion of the value of change in education, usually the changes have been mine to make. In my role as a Reading Specialist, I’m a system support, so changes are not always in my control. I know that. That said, hearing about these changes can sometimes be stressful. I know that I do better if I have a chance to process this information while also ensuring that I’m surrounded by some genuine positivity. When I got the email that told me about this change, I did a couple of different things.
- I tried to ensure that I was positive when interacting with staff and sharing this news. I knew that the news would be hard to hear. The school that I was at last year has always had full-time support, and now they’re going to be receiving less support. I realized this could cause stress. I decided to approach this challenge as I often do with, “It’s all going to work out.” I spoke about an evolving school plan for literacy support, and how this news would give additional opportunities for many people to be the “champions” of this plan. By attempting to be positive, I also heard less about some possible drawbacks with this change, and I was able to feel better about it faster.
- I connected with some people who would highlight the benefits of this change for me. I suppose this was a little like some Co-Reg in action. I realized though that a few individuals would hear of this change and celebrate how this new school is much closer to home, starts and finishes earlier, and provides some great outdoor learning opportunities for kids. They knew that I would love these points, and that would help with the adjustment.
- I reached out right away to the new principal and shared my excitement with joining her staff. I knew that if I emailed her, I would likely hear back, and this communication would help with adjusting to this change. It did. She sent me the nicest welcome email and made me feel so much better about this upcoming school year. Kind words can have a huge impact on attitude.
By the next day, I was looking forward to a new challenge and an 11th school. đŸ™‚
Self-Reg For Staff
While I don’t begin at this school until September, I started to think more about Self-Reg, change, and some considerations for this new school year. I reached out to the principal of the school, and I asked if I could join the staff briefly for the PA Day meeting on the last day of school. She was happy to let me come and introduce myself, and my other admin team were great with supporting this.
- Self-Reg begins with relationships. I knew that I needed to start forming these relationships with staff, and sometimes even a quick introduction can do that.
- Making Connections – As a few more people found out that I was moving, a couple reached out. A consultant who supported this school last year told me all about the wonderful staff, and I was able to use her positive connections with them to help build some of my connections. A few people that I know also worked with and/or knew teachers on staff, so I made some of these connections when I met the teachers. This was a great talking point and a way to start getting to know people.
- Reconnecting – I found out that a couple of teachers that I’ve worked with in the past, now work at this school. I loved having the opportunity to reconnect with these teachers. Sometimes previous relationships can help with forming new ones.
Now What?
It turns out that I’m at this new school every Day 1, which means that I’ll be there on the first day of school. This information had me thinking about what to do now to continue with building relationships and finding out how I can support staff.
- I emailed staff on the last day of school offering to help with classroom set-up at the end of the summer. I did this last year at my school, and this created a great opportunity for some informal conversations and discussions around literacy. This also helped me find out more about how I could support staff and what they wanted for this support.
- I plan on going into the school during the last week of August. Even if nobody emails me back, I think that I’ll go by a few afternoons during the last week of August. Usually more staff members are in during the afternoons, and I can at least see the school again, offer some classroom support, and connect with teaching staff.
- Reach out to the principal. Since I’m only at this school one day a week, I’m sure that my support will look different here than at my other school. I would love to connect more with the principal about different support options. This last week in the summer might be a good time to do this, since I then show up at this school on the first day. Having a plan for this day — even if it’s a very vague one — will likely reduce some of my stress too.
How do you deal with change? How does Self-Reg support this? Whether your role for next year is the same or different, changes are always present in education. Self-Reg has really helped reduce my stress and change my outlook when it comes to change. Here’s to a great new school year full of wonderful new possibilities!
