Laughs echo in the hallway. They were coming from the classroom. I open the door to see…..
“Come on in! We are right at the beginning of the story.”
I walk in to find a place to sit. All of the kids, with smiles on their faces, were excited about what this teacher was doing. These were the students who transferred with me to this new school. So we were learning together all of the new faces.
Jerry was their classroom teacher. He was a friendly man who was very experienced. When I first met him, I knew there was something special about him in how he spoke. Today he was dressed in a baseball uniform and had all of the props to go with it.
Tossing the baseball in the air he began, “Now where was I, oh yes. The game had just started and the crowds were excited. They knew Johnny would be coming up to bat. Could he hit a home run to score the winning run to win the game?”
With his sound effects and asking the kids to join in they were all hanging on the edge of their seats. They were making the sounds of the crowd. He tossed the ball up slightly and hit the baseball bat making the sound effect.
“The crowd cheers as Johnny rounds the bases to win the game.” The kids clapped and loved this engaging way of storytelling.
“Now let’s get out our Social Studies books and see how baseball became a part of America’s favorite pastime. We will also look at how it changed over time to include everyone.”
“Thanks everyone for letting me join in your classroom this morning!” I looked at all of them as I shut the door; yes this was transformational leadership in the best way!
Jerry’s classroom was one of my favorite classrooms to visit. When you walked through his doors, you were transformed into an exceptional experience. It was more than just learning; it was creating memories, an experience, and reaching your emotions always to want to grow and learn.
Jerry had one of the girls who had built up a solid break wall around her. I had already worked an entire year with her, so I had made a few chips in the wall. I knew he was going to succeed in reaching her, and he did.
As a leader, do you have transformational skills you use? Do you have others on your team who do? One of the essential parts of transformation is prioritizing people. We are helping to create something memorable, reaching emotions and always continuing to grow. Celebrate those doing this work; most of the time, they do not realize how critical they are to what we do.
Thank you to all of the Jerry’s out there! I know kids still talk about what a Jerry did for them one day in school….twenty, thirty, forty, and more years ago.
Be the solution daily as you are the storyteller who creates the next generation of leaders to impact the world we live in together. You do not have to be in a classroom to help shape the leaders of tomorrow. Volunteer for youth groups, create youth internships, support family activities to strengthen these supports, provide scholarships connected to service, and many other ideas to strengthen youth leadership.
Just like baseball, it is a team working together to win the game. Our world is better when we work together with common goals to reach success.
