Be a Star Maker

I celebrated this March day by giving myself a gift.  I gave myself a day of learning.  I attended the annual Spring Saturday Reunion hosted by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University in my favorite city of New York.  Twice every year the project gives a full day of conferences to anyone who would like to attend…for FREE.  Yes, you can come to New York to learn from world famous writers, teachers, and educators. It is one powerful community learning experience.

I spent one of my sessions with the Project’s leader, Lucy Calkins.  The session was titled School Leadership in the Spring of the Year: This is the Moment When Your Leadership (for both Principals and Teacher Leaders) Can Matter Most. If you’ve heard Lucy talk, you know that she fills a session with clear vision, thoughtful suggestions, calls to action, and poignant stories that drive her points forward.

The story that stuck with me yesterday was the story of one of Lucy’s son’s failed Mother’s Day attempts.  Her son had called on Mother’s Day to say that the flowers that were supposed to be delivered had not been because no one had been home.  (Of course he was, right now, talking to his mother…at home.) So, he said, the flowers were at Stop and Shop and could be picked up whenever it was convenient for his mom. Lucy said the flowers are still at Stop and Shop. She went on to say that  her husband had then written her a Mother’s Day card (I agree with Lucy here.  This just doesn’t work as cover for your kids.).  But in the card he wrote, “You have made them into the stars they are, and they know it.”  This, she said, is something she could be happy with on her epitaph: Lucy, the Star Maker. She went on to rally us around the idea that this is what leaders need to become: Star Makers.  People who lift up their staff by learning from them and with them.  Leaders who create leaders, not followers.

I have decided that “Star Maker” would be just fine for my epitaph too.  This is my life’s work as a Literacy Coach.  It’s also what I want to do as a parent, friend, family member, teacher, and human being in this world.  It’s what I’m trying to do as a writer too.  Make stars. I want to help people see their value; help people look forward to the great things they can accomplish; help them be optimistic and hopeful, even when things look bleak.  I want to help people see more in themselves than they might have seen if I didn’t help lift them up.

Thank you, Lucy.  You’ve been one of my Star Makers.  I always leave your sessions and your writings feeling a little higher, a little smarter, a little stronger.  That’s why I keep coming back for more!