Let’s have a hand for Rae!!

True or False? Teachers like hearing administrators make presentations.

True or False? Teachers like being evaluated.

True or False? My family is obsessed with Disney World.

Okay, everyone—school is back in session now, so we need to have quizzes! What are your answers to the above questions? I will give you a hint—one of the three statements above is true!

Early last week I was on the agenda for faculty meetings for a discussion of the professional development calendar and our upcoming pilot program of the new faculty appraisal system (we have tweaked the word to be ‘appraisal’ instead of evaluation since the word ‘evaluation’ tends to make faculty have heart palpitations.) Oh, goodie! One more presentation for people to sit through—and about a topic that is as welcome as say, a cookbook by Hitler! Since I am in charge of both of these initiatives, of course I should make the presentation. In thinking about how to organize my presentation, I decided to use a technique that works well in the classroom: subverting expectations. Here is how I opened my presentation:

“My family is obsessed with Disney World.” [Oh, now you know the answers to the above quiz!!] I then showed a slide of the picture you see above. “A month ago we went to Disney World for the sixth time in 8 years,” I continued. I switched to a slide of the family at a Mickey Mouse Luau breakfast—Mickey had joined our family for a photo shoot. I am not sure what the faculty thought, but I launched into a travelogue about our Disney vacation. They laughed, seemed delighted to change the subject from evaluation, er, I mean, appraisal.

I confessed to my colleagues, “I didn’t tell my family, but I must admit I was less than enthusiastic about another trip to the Happiest Place on Earth." I guess my sister, the Generalissimo of the family trek, sensed this, and she signed me up for a six-hour “Behind-the-Scenes” tour of the Magic Kingdom. I arrived for the tour an hour before the park opened—which in itself is very interesting to see a deserted Main Street USA. As I checked in and got my special nametag I met Rae, our tour guide for the day. Rae gathered us outside of Guest Relations and began her tour. Rae did not spew forth just the history of Disney, or reveal a list of gossipy, backstage sins. Rae subverted our expectations, and launched into the mantra of the decision-making process of the Disney Company. Rae said that in every step of the process to create the Magic Kingdom the designers and execs used the “Four Keys to the Kingdom.” Rae taught us the keys, had us repeat them after her, in the order of Disney priority: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency. Rae had us walking around, scrutinizing and evaluating various things, seeing if we saw the four keys. She had us ponder the design of Main Street USA, we got to go on a ride—no, we call them “attractions” at Disney, she had us listen to an announcement for the waiting hordes beyond the opening gate—just like a brilliant teacher, Rae had us internalize the mission statement of Disney, and evaluate how they had done with the four keys. Where did we see them? What examples did we see? The tour was invigorating! She challenged us to see the “Keys” everywhere. The tour opened my eyes to their thought process and it invigorated me to no end…

Then it came time for what Rae said the employees call, “the running of the bulls,” or the opening of the gate for the day to Magic Kingdom. But instead of mocking all the hundreds of people and their rush into the park, Rae had us stand to the side and watch them. She said with a moving sincerity: “I want you to watch their faces as they come in. Each one of them has a story. Each one of them is somewhere on that continuum trying to embrace wonder.”

Wow…This behind-the-scenes-tour had become a powerful little bit of professional development. I reminded the faculty that just a few days after this presentation hundreds of students would be streaming through our gates. Would we look into their faces? Would we remember that each one has a story? Would we remember that each one of them is somewhere on that wide continuum trying to embrace the wonder of education??? I had gone on that trip to Disney with an attitude that I have seen in veteran teachers—that been there, done that, let’s get the whole goin’ attitude. Instead, Rae exhorted us to revel in those faces, and imagine each story and how they sought wonder. What a great reminder for teachers.

KA has a mission statement. Well, of course, almost every school has a mission statement, but the most powerful piece of the mission statement in my mind is at the end when we vow to “cherish one another.” Rae hit that magical nail on the head—we needed to cherish those stories and that wonder at Disney, and certainly the same should be said about school.

So I morphed into my presentation about our school’s 5 guiding principles (one more bullet point than Disney!). I wondered aloud to my colleagues if when those families streamed through our gates if they could see as transparently our mission statement and guiding principles as I could see the Disney Four Keys. We make a promise in writing about what we aim to do…when people come to our classes, are they able to see our guiding principles and mission statement???

That is surely our goal. That is why we need professional development and that is why we need an appraisal process that keeps us in check. “The Appraisal System will help us thoughtfully make these promises a reality,” I said.

I loved making the presentation—trying to assuage the fears of the faculty and remind them that we do so much on a daily basis what is desired…the process will simply reinvigorate and remind us of our goals.

“Rae said…” became a constant phrase from me in the days after that enlightening tour. But one of the great things Rae said was a quotation from Walt Disney himself about his work and his efforts: “Founder Walt Disney always tried to “plus” whatever the expectation…be it about an attraction, service, look, happiness factor or sense of wonder.” That’s it! That’s the secret to professional development—keep trying to plus yourself! I then quoted our headmaster John Austin, who four times in the previous week had publicly that our appraisal system must be about “continued and sustained improvement.”

I went back and forth from our school expectations and hopes and the family Disney trip and how exhilarating it was to be on this trip.

I concluded the presentation explaining that one of my last questions to the fabulous and wonderful Rae (anyone know how to start a fanpage on facebook????) was asking where the plaque to the late Randy Pausch was in the park. This celebrated teacher, felled by pancreatic cancer, had also been an “Imagineer” at Disney. Rae said the plaque was over by the Tea Cups—Randy had loved to begin his family adventures in the Magic Kingdom with a ride on the Tea Cups. The following day I took my family to see the plaque. Here is a picture with my brother-in-law Steve beside it. It reads simply with a few words from Randy Pausch:

“Be good at something; it makes you valuable...

Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”

What a great reminder about collegiality and professional development—we will help each other grow and bring more to the table.

Oh, Rae, I don’t even know your last name, but you did what my friend Maxine Greene always said a genius teacher does: you made the strange familiar, and you made the familiar strange. We kept unveiling more truths, and our curiosity compelled us with vigor. I am hoping Rae sensed the look of utter wonder and enjoyment on my face during the rour. I will seek that seem exhilaration in my students.