Because I Lead the Way I Was Led

Moving into my favorite part of the school year. When I was a teacher, interventionist, or instructional coach, it was my favorite because summer was near and my contract was 187 days. Anything in the summer was optional.

Since entering district leadership in May of 2022, my lens is different. This part of the year means absorbing the pressures that begin getting dumped on leaders and teachers and doing all I can to recenter and remind the campuses I support of everything they have done all year within the systems they are under, and even some we partnered to create in order to meet the needs of each campus.

More than anything, it is reminding teachers they have done what many cannot and will not do. They have carried children, content, pressure, expectations, and the weight of everybody’s opinion about their classroom instruction. And they kept showing up. I know because I have seen them. I have stood right there with them, supporting them in the ways they told me they needed. For one campus, that looked like sitting down weekly to internalize, plan, and figure out what part of the lesson could be removed and what part held the weight, while also stepping in wherever I was needed as their AP was out on maternity leave. For another, it looked like the AP and me taking turns teaching while a teacher was out on paternity leave. It meant being joined at the hip with an entire team so I could take each step with them.

I am extremely proud that the campus principals I support smile when I come into their buildings. I think a part of that is because I have been here with them, and I am still here with them. But it is a special type of joy in my heart when I walk into classrooms and the teacher isn't irritated or nervous, but instead they actually might put me to work with same kids I have been sitting next to all year.

I do my best to be the leaders I had. The ones who walked in my room and sat the clipboard down. The ones who left sticky notes before leaving. The ones who did not give up on me when I wanted to quit. The ones who saw Phonisha and not just Mrs. Hawkins.

I never forget the 13 years in the classroom. It built me. I carry that with me all year long, and this time of year especially, as the pressure starts rising, makes me reflect on the kind of presence I am when "admin" or "district" walks into classrooms.

I will never forget in 2024 when I received the most amazing annual review I have ever had. Distinguished. Great, right? Absolutely. But it was the goodbye email from the teacher who challenged me at every turn and gave the most honest feedback who told me the district would have big shoes to fill when I made the decision to take a promotion elsewhere.

That email let me know I was carrying forward what the leaders I was incredibly blessed to have poured into me.