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Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy One day, my dad came home and said one of his kindergarten teachers came into his office and said she wanted to share a story with him that occurred that morning in her classroom. It was the beginning of the year and Kindergarteners are in a formal school setting for the first time. I love seeing Kinders because everything is new and wonderful! So there are always great stories from Kindergarten teachers, as the kids are so honest and real! On the first day of school, my dad always went on the intercom and welcomed all of the students to school and made sure they knew who he was and he cared how much he about them. It was a small way to wanted to jumpstart a great year. A lot of principals do announcements, but an Award Winning Principal must still demonstrate HUMILITY, even when they're center stage!  So he got on the intercom right after school started. The kindergarten teacher said that her children listened very intently with great interest and wonderment. Like I said earlier...everything is so fascinating to them! The teacher explained that one of the kiddos had wide eyes looking at around obviously listening intently to my dad’s voice. He then yelled out to the class: “It's God...speaking out of the wall!" The kindergarten teacher said that she was about to start laughing but was able to compose herself. She then explained that it was the principal making an announcement and that it was called an intercom system.  In an Award Winning Culture you have a lot of influence in your space but need to show Humility even when you are thought of as a "God-like". What are your first day of school routines? How might you stayed grounded when unexpected praise or attention comes your way? Are you able to laugh at yourself and show HUMILITY in situations? About the AuthorsJennifer Appel is a teacher at Enterprise Middle School. She has been teaching for 20 years. Her passion for education comes from growing up in at education driven family (4th generation) and wanting to help and serve others. She is now driven to create an environment where all students are able to learn and become passionate about serving others. Jennifer can be contacted through email at awardwinningculture@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @jennifermappel. Follow AWC @awculture on instagram @awardwinningculture. Follow Wildcat Nation on instagram @emsleadership. #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
Paul Dowdy is a retired elementary school teacher and principal. Paul was in education for more than 40 years. Paul created cultures of excellence at every school he taught at or lead. Paul was also an adjunct professor at 3 different universities in the state of Washington and a regional director for Heritage University. Paul has shared his stories all around the state of Washington in the form of presentations. He's passionate about children and that reflected in all of his work as a reading specialist and his study of the brain and how that drives instruction. Paul is not on social media...but can be reached near any body of water that's conducive to shadow casting! #FlyFishing
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Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy “No act of KINDNESS...no matter how small is ever wasted.” -Aesop One day my dad was sitting in his office at his desk and he heard a blood curdling scream coming from the lounge area down the hall. He immediately dashed from his office and ran down the hallway to the lounge. It sounded like someone was being attacked or something terrifying was happening in his school. He was worried about his staff members as this was an area that only staff was allowed. As he reached the area, [which was only a few large steps away, but felt like a mile] he discovered a young student, with a garbage can in his hand walking into the hallway to empty it into a larger garbage cart. He could hear a woman sobbing behind the door that the young man had just exited. He quickly realized it was a teacher and she was yelling, “he did this”. He couldn’t figure out what the teacher was saying, but was very concerned with what must have happened. As he stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out what was going on, the young man came back with the empty garbage can and tried to enter the bathroom again, but discovered it was locked. My dad started to put the pieces together and understand what must have happened.  After the teacher was able to compose herself and come out of the bathroom, my dad was very patient and showed KINDNESS toward the teacher and tried to help calm her down and hear her story of what occurred. Only after listening with empathy, did he begin to share with her the student's motivation on entering the bathroom... The young man was a student in the district who was in our self-contained special education program. The special education director and my father had set up a program for this young man to help give him some life skills. My father was a principal who loved to have all students in his building. He enjoyed having the district life skills program and hi-cap in his building. He believed in showing KINDNESS to ALL students and meeting all of their needs. This student came over to my dad’s elementary school every day and was expected to empty all of the trash cans in the building. He was instructed to empty all of the cans in a specific order and be very quiet and polite as to not interrupt any of the classrooms or any areas in the building where teachers would be working, etc.  On this particular day, he was working his way around the school emptying the garbage in rooms until he arrived at the teacher lounge bathrooms. He had already emptied the garbage in the men’s room and then he moved his attention to the women’s restroom. Unfortunately, a female teacher had entered the bathroom a few minutes before he arrived and had neglected to lock the door. The young man, like he did every day, opened the door grabbed the garbage can and walked out to empty it into the large garbage cart in the main hallway. The poor teacher had no idea what was happening and began to scream as though her life was in danger. The young man was totally oblivious to the teacher screaming and was just doing what he had been taught to do for that day. He was not being disrespectful to the teacher or probably even registered the fact that he had just seen someone in the restroom, he was just focused on looking at the trash and emptying it. The teacher was very upset and of course was reacting on emotion like anyone would in that situation. She wanted this young man banned from my dad’s school. My dad was able to show KINDNESS to the teacher just as he had the student and talk to her and help her understand what happened. He explained that the student was just doing as he was told, and had no idea what he had done. He suggested that she make sure and lock the door and that maybe they could keep this wonderful program going. After some time and prospective, she was able to see the incident from the student's perspective and was also able to show KINDNESS toward him and support the student's continued work at the school. Award Winning Cultures set up an environment where EVERYONE can show KINDNESS even in a stressful situation. How have you seen KINDNESS change others perspective on overcoming adversity? How might you stay focused on KINDNESS, during challenging moments? How does your culture support diverse students, programs, and activities? About the AuthorsJennifer Appel is a teacher at Enterprise Middle School. She has been teaching for 20 years. Her passion for education comes from growing up in at education driven family (4th generation) and wanting to help and serve others. She is now driven to create an environment where all students are able to learn and become passionate about serving others. Jennifer can be contacted through email at awardwinningculture@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @jennifermappel. Follow AWC @awculture on instagram @awardwinningculture. Follow Wildcat Nation on instagram @emsleadership. #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
Paul Dowdy is a retired elementary school teacher and principal. Paul was in education for more than 40 years. Paul created cultures of excellence at every school he taught at or lead. Paul was also an adjunct professor at 3 different universities in the state of Washington and a regional director for Heritage University. Paul has shared his stories all around the state of Washington in the form of presentations. He's passionate about children and that reflected in all of his work as a reading specialist and his study of the brain and how that drives instruction. Paul is not on social media...but can be reached near any body of water that's conducive to shadow casting! #FlyFishing Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy During the winter we'd occasionally have extreme cold and snowy mornings. On one icy morning, the wind chill temperature was 20 below freezing and thus the school district decided to cancel school.  As the principal, my dad always made a COMMITMENT to be at school even if the schools were closed. On this particular day he arrived at about 6:30am to make sure everything was ok with the school and so he could greet any school employees or parents in case they had missed the announcement [this was long before the internet...when you had to listen to the radio to hear about delays and closures]. In an Award Winning Culture you you make a COMMITMENT to serve your school community even when the school day has been cancelled. This form of altruism can help provide an igloo of safety in the harsh reality of a frozen campus. Whenever school was cancelled, he would go outside prior to the bell ringing for school to begin and walk the outside perimeter of the school to check and see if any students were arriving who may have missed the announcement about school being cancelled. On this particular morning it was so cold that he had several layers of clothes, a hat, gloves and warm boots.  He always started at the front door to check if parents were dropping their kids off and then moved to the side of the building where the older students would be gathering. He then moved to the side of the building where the lower grades would be waiting for their door to open. As he came around the corner by the 2nd grade doors he noticed a large pile of leaves up against one of the 2nd grade teacher’s door. It seemed rather unusual because there was no wind to blow them against the door and it was the only area that had leaves.  He decided he should probably check it out just in case. As he approached the pile of leaves he could see a small pant leg sticking out of the leaves. He quickly approached the leaves, brushed them away and discovered a small second grade boy who had covered himself with leaves to keep warm. Due to the below zero wind chill that day, the tiny frail boy would have been in serious danger had my dad not discovered him. He quickly grabbed the little boy and hurried to find the closest door to get him inside. He was lucky that the little boy wasn’t outside very long, but he was still cold to the bones. My father made him some hot cocoa and got him a blanket to warm up while he called his parents to come and pick him up. How long might the boy have stayed clinging to warmth under the leaf pile had my dad no been committed to ensuring student safety?  Award Winning Cultures makes a COMMITMENT to the students, staff and community even on snow days. Do you always check the perimeter of your school on a snow day? How can you make sure all of your students are safe when they are at school? How might you demonstrate commitment to your school community...even on a day off? About the AuthorsJennifer Appel is a teacher at Enterprise Middle School. She has been teaching for 20 years. Her passion for education comes from growing up in at education driven family (4th generation) and wanting to help and serve others. She is now driven to create an environment where all students are able to learn and become passionate about serving others. Jennifer can be contacted through email at awardwinningculture@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @jennifermappel. Follow AWC @awculture on instagram @awardwinningculture. Follow Wildcat Nation on instagram @emsleadership. #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
Paul Dowdy is a retired elementary school teacher and principal. Paul was in education for more than 40 years. Paul created cultures of excellence at every school he taught at or lead. Paul was also an adjunct professor at 3 different universities in the state of Washington and a regional director for Heritage University. Paul has shared his stories all around the state of Washington in the form of presentations. He's passionate about children and that reflected in all of his work as a reading specialist and his study of the brain and how that drives instruction. Paul is not on social media...but can be reached near any body of water that's conducive to shadow casting! #FlyFishing Written by: Jennifer Appel Based on the stories told by: Paul Dowdy "The Strength of the TEam is each individual Member. The strength of Each Member is the team." |
About AWCAward Winning Culture was created by Hans and Jennifer Appel with the sole purpose of creating an educational mindset of Positive INTENTIONALITY and ACTION; with a daily mantra to make our sphere of influence stronger through Character, Excellence, and Community. Part of AWC's mission is to highlight outstanding educators, companies, and resources that support an Award Winning Culture. Both Jennifer and Hans work at Enterprise Middle School aka Wildcat Nation. Wildcat Nation received the 2018 ASCD Whole Child Award in Washington, for its award winning culture and the 2018 Global "Class Act Award" for Kindness. Archives
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