Self-Care 101: Resiliency and Health in the World's Most Noble Profession

Presenters: Ray McNulty, Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, Brattleboro, VT; Ellen Harris, Plymouth State College, NH

This session is presented in separate parts. Use the buttons at the end of the transcription to navigate between each part.

I. Introduction

RAY MCNULTY: I hope the session just before this with Stacy Allison built a fire in you. I was sitting behind her and I could see how passionate she is about what she's done and the message that she gives. It was profound and I was really thrilled to be so close and to feel it. Hopefully you did too. Her message was great — staying focused on what's important, filtering out all those other things that get in the way sometimes.

I need you to know that although I am Vermont's Commissioner of Education, I've only been Commissioner for 90 days. When I submitted to present here I was Superintendent of Schools in Wyndham in Southeast Supervisory Union in the southeastern corner of Vermont — a district I'm very proud of. We've done a lot of great things in the past, particularly with early childhood education. Ninety days in the seat of Commissioner, my first task was to go to the legislature and give them my agenda. I went before the House and Senate education committees as a new commissioner — it was very nice, they call you "honorable" — and they said, "What's your agenda?" I said, "I'd like you not to do anything else for our schools while you're here. I would like you just to let what you have done resonate in our system. I would love for you to hold at bay any new initiatives; we've got a lot that we've been doing." Every year people think of more and we never get a chance to implement. That's a strong message that I've been trying to give to many people about lots of things — particularly in education.

I thought I'd start out today with a quick story: I know you all pay attention to popular television shows. They have just started the next "Survivor" episode. And they've started work on the next one: three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped into an elementary school for six weeks. Each business person will be provided with a copy of their school district's curriculum, a class of 28 students. Each class will have five learning disabled children, three with ADHD, one gifted, two who speak limited English, two will be labeled as severe behavior problems. Each business person must complete lesson plans three days in advance — with annotations for curriculum objectives — modify, organize, and create materials accordingly. They will be required to teach their students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents. They must also supervise recess and monitor the hallways and restrooms. In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, shooting attack drills, and assist with fundraising.

They must attend workshops, weekly faculty meetings, school improvement sessions, curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and get their two non-English speaking students proficient to take the SOL and SAT test nine [nine? what does that mean?]. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show. Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline, provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times. The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends. After all teaching and preparation tasks have been completed, on their new salaries they will not be able to afford golf anyway. There will be no access to vendors who will take them out to lunch. Lunch will be limited to 30 minutes.

On days when they do not have recess duty, the business people will be able to use the staff restroom for 15 minutes. While another Survivor candidate is supervising their students, they will be provided with two, 40-minute planning periods per week while their students are having music or art. They will have one, 40-minute planning period while their students are having gym or phys-ed. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of the necessary materials they need. The business people must continually advance their education on their own, preferably during the summer months and pay for staff training themselves. This must be accomplished by either moonlighting or a second job or marrying someone with a lot of money.

The winner will be allowed to return to their corporate job.

I just think that this profession of education is full of so much. More and more people need to be aware of what educators do in the course of their day. Sometimes I hear that we are referred to by business people as "not being in the real world." Have you ever heard that? I don't know what world they're in, but the world I'm in is pretty real. It's real every day. Life is not a dress rehearsal. It is for real. Every day you get up and you live it and you perform at the best you can. That's why this topic "Resiliency and Health," is so important. Ellen is going to share a story with you and then I'll follow.

ELLEN HARRIS: I have another short little story to share with you today. Some of you may have heard this: The boy rode on a donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked that it was a shame that the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and the boy thought maybe the critics are right, so they changed positions. Later they passed some people who remarked, "What a shame. He makes that little boy walk!" Then they decided they both would walk. Soon they passed some other people who thought that they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So they both rode the donkey. Now they passed some people who shamed them by saying it was to put such a load on a poor donkey. The man and the boy concluded that they probably were right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and it fell into the water and drowned. The moral to the story? If you try to please everybody, you might as well kiss your ass goodbye.

I think we've all been there — trying to please everybody all the time: our administrators, the kids, the parents, the legislators, the commissioners. We can't do it. It's an impossibility. It will stress you out to unbelievable heights. We need to focus on what is really important, and that's what we're going to talk to you about today.

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