It was November 1, 2002, my first day as a principal, but hardly my first day in the school district of Philadelphia.
Bilo je to 1. studenoga 2002. moj prvi dan na mjestu ravnateljice, ali ne i prvi dan u philadelphijskom školskom okrugu.
I graduated from Philadelphia public schools, and I went on to teach special education for 20 years in a low-income, low-performing school in North Philadelphia, where crime is rampant and deep poverty is among the highest in the nation.
Maturirala sam u jednoj od državnih škola u Philadelphiji, a predavala učenicima s posebnim potrebama idućih dvadeset godina u školama niskih budžeta i slabih rezultata u Sjevernoj Philadelphiji, gdje je stopa kriminala strašno visoka a siromaštvo jedno od najtežih u državi.
Shortly after I walked into my new school, a huge fight broke out among the girls. After things were quickly under control, I immediately called a meeting in the school's auditorium to introduce myself as the school's new principal. (Applause)
Ubrzo nakon što sam ušetala u svoju novu školu, izbila je tuča među djevojčicama. Nakon što smo smirili situaciju, odmah sam sazvala sastanak u školskoj dvorani kako bih se predstavila kao nova ravnateljica škole. (Pljesak)
I walked in angry, a little nervous -- (Laughter) -- but I was determined to set the tone for my new students. I started listing as forcefully as I could my expectations for their behavior and my expectations for what they would learn in school. When, all of a sudden, a girl way in the back of the auditorium, she stood up and she said, "Miss! Miss!" When our eyes locked, she said, "Why do you keep calling this a school? This is not a school."
Ušetala sam ljuta, pomalo nervozna -- (Smijeh) -- ali bila sam odlučna postaviti standarde za svoje nove učenike. Počela sam što sam snažnije mogla nabrajati svoja očekivanja u vezi njihova ponašanja i svoja očekivanja u vezi onoga što će naučiti u školi. Iznenada, djevojčica u stražnjem dijelu dvorane, ustala je i viknula, "Gospođo! Gospođo!" Kad su nam se susreli pogledi, rekla je, "Zašto stalno nazivate ovo školom? Ovo nije škola."
In one outburst, Ashley had expressed what I felt and never quite was able to articulate about my own experience when I attended a low-performing school in the same neighborhood, many, many, many years earlier. That school was definitely not a school.
U jednoj rečenici, Ashley je izrekla ono što sam osjećala a nikad nisam mogla staviti u riječi o svom iskustvu kad sam išla u slabiju školu u istom susjedstvu, puno, puno, puno godina ranije. Ta škola definitivno nije bila škola.
Fast forwarding a decade later to 2012, I was entering my third low-performing school as principal. I was to be Strawberry Mansion's fourth principal in four years. It was labeled "low-performing and persistently dangerous" due to its low test scores and high number of weapons, drugs, assaults and arrests. Shortly as I approached the door of my new school and attempted to enter, and found the door locked with chains, I could hear Ashley's voice in my ears going, "Miss! Miss! This is not a school." The halls were dim and dark from poor lighting. There were tons of piles of broken old furniture and desks in the classrooms, and there were thousands of unused materials and resources. This was not a school. As the year progressed, I noticed that the classrooms were nearly empty. The students were just scared: scared to sit in rows in fear that something would happen; scared because they were often teased in the cafeteria for eating free food. They were scared from all the fighting and all the bullying. This was not a school.
Prebacujem se desetljeće kasnije, u 2012. bila sam ravnateljica u svojoj sad već trećoj slabijoj školi. Trebala sam biti četvrta ravnateljica škole Strawberry Mansion u četiri godine. Bila je označena kao "škola slabih rezultata i dugotrajno opasna" zbog loših rezultata na ispitima i velikoj količini oružja, droge, napada i uhićenja. Ubrzo nakon što sam se približila vratima svoje nove škole i pokušala ući, i vidjela da su vrata zaključana lancima, čula sam Ashleyjin glas u sebi "Gospođo! Gospođo! Ovo nije škola." Hodnici su bili mračni i tamni zbog slabog osvjetljenja. Uokolo su bile hrpe starog, neupotrebljivog namještaja i stolova u učionicama, i bilo je puno neiskorištenih materijala i sredstava. To nije bila škola. Kako je godina odmicala, primijetila sam da su učionice gotovo prazne. Učenici su bili uplašeni, bojali su se sjediti u redovima da se nešto ne bi dogodilo, bojali su se jer su često bili ismijavani u kantini jer jedu besplatnu hranu. Bojali su se zbog tučnjava i zlostavljanja. To nije bila škola.
And then, there were the teachers, who were incredibly afraid for their own safety, so they had low expectations for the students and themselves, and they were totally unaware of their role in the destruction of the school's culture. This was the most troubling of all. You see, Ashley was right, and not just about her school. For far too many schools, for kids who live in poverty, their schools are really not schools at all. But this can change. Let me tell you how it's being done at Strawberry Mansion High School. Anybody who's ever worked with me will tell you I am known for my slogans. (Laughter) So today, I am going to use three that have been paramount in our quest for change.
S druge strane, učitelji koji su bili zabrinuti za svoju sigurnost, pa su imali niska očekivanja i od učenika i od sebe samih, i bili su potpuno nesvjesni svoje uloge u uništenju školske kulture. To je bilo ono najgore. Vidite, Ashley je bila u pravu, i to ne samo u vezi svoje škole. Za previše škola, za djecu koja žive u oskudici, škole uopće nisu škole. No to se može promijeniti. Ispričat ću vam kako se to radi u srednjoj školi Strawberry Mansion. Svi koji su ikada radili samnom reći će vam da sam poznata po svojim sloganima (Smijeh) Danas ću koristiti tri koje su bile vrhovne u našem traganju za promjenom.
My first slogan is: if you're going to lead, lead. I always believed that what happens in a school and what does not happen in a school is up to the principal. I am the principal, and having that title required me to lead. I was not going to stay in my office, I was not going to delegate my work, and I was not going to be afraid to address anything that was not good for children, whether that made me liked or not. I am a leader, so I know I cannot do anything alone. So, I assembled a top-notch leadership team who believed in the possibility of all the children, and together, we tackled the small things, like resetting every single locker combination by hand so that every student could have a secure locker. We decorated every bulletin board in that building with bright, colorful, and positive messages. We took the chains off the front doors of the school. We got the lightbulbs replaced, and we cleaned every classroom to its core, recycling every, every textbook that was not needed, and discarded thousands of old materials and furniture. We used two dumpsters per day.
Prvi slogan je: ako ćeš voditi, vodi. Uvijek sam vjerovala da sve što se dogodi ili ne dogodi u školi ovisi o ravnatelju. Ja sam ravnateljica, i zbog toga se od mene očekuje da vodim. Nisam planirala ostati u uredu, Nije mi palo na pamet proslijediti moj posao, I nisam se plašila baviti stvarima koje nisu bile dobre za djecu, voljeli me zbog toga ili ne. Ja sam vođa, i znam da ne mogu napraviti puno sama. Zbog toga sam sastavila vrhunski tim voditelja koji je vjerovao u mogućnosti sve djece, zajedno smo se bavili malim stvarima, kao što je ponovno, ručno postavljanje svih kombinacija za ormariće kako bi svaki učenik imao siguran ormarić. Ukrasili smo svaki pano u zgradi sa svijetlim, šarenim i pozitivnim porukama. Skinuli smo lance sa ulaza škole. Zamjenili smo žarulje, i očistili smo sve učionice od stropa do poda, reciklirali svaki, ali baš svaki udžbenik koji nam nije trebao, i bacili na tisuće starog materijala i namještaja. Trebalo nam je dva kontejnera dnevno.
And, of course, of course, we tackled the big stuff, like rehauling the entire school budget so that we can reallocate funds to have more teachers and support staff. We rebuilt the entire school day schedule from scratch to add a variety of start and end times, remediation, honors courses, extracurricular activities, and counseling, all during the school day. All during the school day. We created a deployment plan that specified where every single support person and police officer would be every minute of the day, and we monitored at every second of the day, and, our best invention ever, we devised a schoolwide discipline program titled "Non-negotiables." It was a behavior system -- designed to promote positive behavior at all times.
I, naravno, naravno, bavili smo se i velikim stvarima, kao što je ponovno pisanje cijelog školskog proračuna kako bismo mogli preusmjeriti sredstva za zapošljavanje učitelja i pomoćnog osoblja. Napravili smo potpuno novi raspored nastave ubacili različite termine početka i kraja, dopunske, dodatne sate izvannastavne aktvnosti i savjetovanja, sve za vrijeme nastave. Sve za vrijeme nastave. Kreirali smo razvojni plan koji je specificirao gdje ce biti svaka pomocna osoba ili policajac svaku minutu u danu, i pratili smo svaku sekundu dana, a naš najbolji izum ikada, kreirali smo školski disciplinski program i nazvali ga "Bez pregovaranja". To je sustav temeljen na ponašanju kreiran kako bi promicao pozitivno ponašnje u svim situacijama.
The results? Strawberry Mansion was removed from the Persistently Dangerous List our first year after being -- (Applause) -- after being on the Persistently Dangerous List for five consecutive years. Leaders make the impossible possible.
Rezultati? Strawberry Mansion ukonjena je sa popisa opasnih škola prvu godinu nakon -- (Pljesak) -- nakon što smo pet za redom bili na popisu. Vođe ono što je nemoguće čine mogućim.
That brings me to my second slogan: So what? Now what? (Laughter) (Applause)
To me dovodi do mog drugog slogana: Pa što? Što sada? (Smijeh) (Pljesak)
When we looked at the data, and we met with the staff, there were many excuses for why Strawberry Mansion was low-performing and persistently dangerous. They said that only 68 percent of the kids come to school on a regular basis, 100 percent of them live in poverty, only one percent of the parents participate, many of the children come from incarceration and single-parent homes, 39 percent of the students have special needs, and the state data revealed that six percent of the students were proficient in algebra, and 10 were proficient in literature.
Kada smo pogledali podatke, i susreli se sa osobljem, bilo je puno isprika za to što škola ima loše rezultate i za to što je opasna. Rekli su da samo 68% djece redovito dolazi u školu, 100% njih živi u siromaštvu, samo 1% roditelja sudjeluje, puno djece dolazi iz zatvora i iz domova s jednim roditeljom, 39% učenika je s posebnim potrebama, i državni podatci otkrili su da je 6% učenika vješto u matematici, a 10% u književnosti.
After they got through telling us all the stories of how awful the conditions and the children were, I looked at them, and I said, "So what. Now what? What are we gonna do about it?" (Applause)
Kada su nam ispričali sve priče o tome kako su uvijeti i djeca grozni, pogledala sam ih, i rekla "Pa što? Što sada?" Što ćemo učiniti po tom pitanju? (Pljesak)
Eliminating excuses at every turn became my primary responsibility. We addressed every one of those excuses through a mandatory professional development, paving the way for intense focus on teaching and learning. After many observations, what we determined was that teachers knew what to teach but they did not know how to teach so many children with so many vast abilities. So, we developed a lesson delivery model for instruction that focused on small group instruction, making it possible for all the students to get their individual needs met in the classroom.
Uklanjanje isprika na svakom koraku postalo je moja prva zadaća. Odgovorili smo na svaku od tih isprika kroz obvezno profesionalno usavršavanje, praveći put za fokus na poučavanje i učenje. Nakon puno promatranja, utvrdili smo da učitelji znaju što poučavati ali ne i kako to poučavati toliko puno djece sa puno mogućnosti. Zbog toga smo razvili model poučavanja koji se fokusirao na poučavanje manjih grupa, i omogućio da se individualno pobrinemo za potrebe svih učenika u učionici.
The results? After one year, state data revealed that our scores have grown by 171 percent in Algebra and 107 percent in literature. (Applause) We have a very long way to go, a very long way to go, but we now approach every obstacle with a "So What. Now What?" attitude.
Rezultati? Nakon godine, državni podatci otkrili su da su nam rezultati iz matematike bolji za 171%, a iz književnosti za 107%. (Pljesak) Imamo još puno za raditi, jako puno za raditi, ali sada svakoji prepreci prilazimo sa "Pa što? Što sad?" stavom.
And that brings me to my third and final slogan. (Laughter) If nobody told you they loved you today, you remember I do, and I always will.
To me dovodi do trećeg i zadnjeg slogana. (Smijeh) Ako ti danas nitko nije rekao volim te, sjeti se da te ja volim, i voljet ću te uvijek.
My students have problems: social, emotional and economic problems you could never imagine. Some of them are parents themselves, and some are completely alone. If someone asked me my real secret for how I truly keep Strawberry Mansion moving forward, I would have to say that I love my students and I believe in their possibilities unconditionally. When I look at them, I can only see what they can become, and that is because I am one of them. I grew up poor in North Philadelphia too. I know what it feels like to go to a school that's not a school. I know what it feels like to wonder if there's ever going to be any way out of poverty. But because of my amazing mother, I got the ability to dream despite the poverty that surrounded me.
Moji učenici imaju probleme: socijalne, emocionalne i ekonomske probleme kakve ne možete zamisliti. Neki od njih sami su sebi roditelji, neki su potpuno sami. Kad bi me netko pitao moju tajnu kako Strawberry Mansion guram naprijed, morala bih reći da volim svoje učenike i vjerujem u njihove mogućnosti bezuvijetno. Kada ih pogledam vidim samo ono što mogu postati, a to je zbog toga što sam jedna od njih. I ja sam odrasla u siromaštvu u Sjevernoj Philadelphiji. I ja znam kako je ići u školu koja nije škola. I ja znam kako je pitati se postoji li put iz siromaštva. Ali zbog moje nevjerojatne majke, ja sam imala mogućnost sanjati bez obzira na siromaštvo koje me okruživalo.
So -- (Applause) -- if I'm going to push my students toward their dream and their purpose in life, I've got to get to know who they are. So I have to spend time with them, so I manage the lunchroom every day. (Laughter) And while I'm there, I talk to them about deeply personal things, and when it's their birthday, I sing "Happy Birthday" even though I cannot sing at all. (Laughter) I often ask them, "Why do you want me to sing when I cannot sing at all?" (Laughter) And they respond by saying, "Because we like feeling special."
Zbog toga -- (Pljesak) -- ako ću gurati učenike prema njihovom snu i njihovoj svrsi u životu, moram znati tko su oni. Moram provoditi vrijeme s njima, zbog toga vodim ručak svaki dan. (Smijeh) I dok sam tamo, razgovaram s njima o osobnim stvarima, a kada im je rođendan, pjevam "Sretan rođendan" iako uopće ne znam pjevati. (Smijeh) Često ih pitam, "Zašto želite da pjevam, kad ne znam pjevati? " (Smijeh) A oni odgovaraju, "Zato što se volimo osjećati posebno."
We hold monthly town hall meetings to listen to their concerns, to find out what is on their minds. They ask us questions like, "Why do we have to follow rules?" "Why are there so many consequences?" "Why can't we just do what we want to do?" (Laughter) They ask, and I answer each question honestly, and this exchange in listening helps to clear up any misconceptions. Every moment is a teachable moment.
Održavamo mjesečne sastanke kako bi saslušali njihove brige, i saznali što im je na umu. Postavljaju pitanja kao: "Zašto moramo slijediti pravila?" "Zašto je toliko puno poslijedica?" "Zašto ne mošemo raditi što želimo?" (Smijeh) Oni pitaju, a ja iskreno odgovorim na sva pitanja, i ova razmjena pomaže u otklanjanju svih nesporazuma. Iz svakog trenutka se može nešto naučiti.
My reward, my reward for being non-negotiable in my rules and consequences is their earned respect. I insist on it, and because of this, we can accomplish things together. They are clear about my expectations for them, and I repeat those expectations every day over the P.A. system. I remind them -- (Laughter) I remind them of those core values of focus, tradition, excellence, integrity and perseverance, and I remind them every day how education can truly change their lives. And I end every announcement the same: "If nobody told you they loved you today, you remember I do, and I always will."
Moja nagrada, a moja nagrada za to što ne pregovaram o svojim pravilima i posljedicama je njihovo zasluženo poštovanje. Ja inzistiram na tome, i zbog toga postižemo stvari zajedno. Oni shvaćaju što očekujem od njih, a ja ponavljam te stvari svaki dan kroz javno obraćanje. Podsjećam ih -- (Smijeh) Podsjećam ih na osnovne vrijednosti na fokus, tradiciju, izvrsnost, integritet i ustrajnost, i podsjećam ih svaki dan kako im obrazovanje može promjeniti život. I svako obraćanje završavam jednako: "Ako ti danas nitko nije rekao volim te, sjeti se da te ja volim, i voljet ću te uvijek."
Ashley's words of "Miss, Miss, this is not a school," is forever etched in my mind. If we are truly going to make real progress in addressing poverty, then we have to make sure that every school that serves children in poverty is a real school, a school, a school -- (Applause) -- a school that provides them with knowledge and mental training to navigate the world around them.
Ashleyne riječi "Gopođo, gospođo, ovo nije škola" zauvijek su urezane u moje pamćenje. Ako stvarno želimo napraviti pomak kad je u pitanju siromaštvo onda se moramo pobrinuti da je svaka škola koja služi siromašnoj djeci prava škola, škola, škola -- (Pljesak) škola koja im daje znanje, i mentalni trening kako bi plovili svijetom oko sebe.
I do not know all the answers, but what I do know is for those of us who are privileged and have the responsibility of leading a school that serves children in poverty, we must truly lead, and when we are faced with unbelievable challenges, we must stop and ask ourselves, "So what. Now what? What are we going to do about it?" And as we lead, we must never forget that every single one of our students is just a child, often scared by what the world tells them they should be, and no matter what the rest of the world tells them they should be, we should always provide them with hope, our undivided attention, unwavering belief in their potential, consistent expectations, and we must tell them often, if nobody told them they loved them today, remember we do, and we always will.
Ja ne znam sve odgovore, ali znam da mi koji smo privilegirani i imamo odgovornost voditi školu koja služi siromašnoj djeci, mi stvarno moramo voditi, a kada smo suočeni sa nevjerojatnim izazovima, moramo stati i upitati se "Pa što? Što sad? Što ćemo učiniti u vezi toga?" I dok vodimo, ne smijemo zaboraviti da je svaki od naših učenika samo dijete, često uplašeno zbog onoga što mu svijet govori da bi trebalo biti, i bez obzira na to što im svijet govori da trebaju biti, uvijek im trebamo pružati nadu, nepodijeljenu pažnju nepokolebljivu vjeru u njihov potencijal. dosljedna očekivanja, i moramo im često govoriti, ako vam nitko danas nije rekao da vas voli sjetite se mi vas volimo, i uvijek hoćemo.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Thank you, Jesus.
Hvala ti, Isuse.