Heart-Filled Moments

As I recall it was my father who first used the phrase “heart moment” in my hearing. He too spent many years (over four decades) teaching and leading our nation’s younger generations. Many of his students rose from humble means to great heights of public and private service. One rose all the way to the office of President of the United States (no, not our current president). When I heard my father speak of heart moments I took note and I started to see them all around in my daily work and out in my community (with my own children too, but that’s always going to be true for parents, right). So what does a heart moment look like?

Heart filled Moment are Priceless

I have said it many times, I love the work that we are privileged to do in education. Teaching (and every adult in a school is a teacher) is full of heart moments. You know, those moments when one enjoys an interaction or is witness to an event, accomplishment, success, or individual triumph, where one’s heart simply fills. It fills instantaneously and completely. Money cannot buy that! Heart moments cannot be forced, they arise from our daily life, unbidden. Heart moments only come through genuine interaction and work. When we do our work well, with our eyes and minds open we get many of these heart moments as we engage in helping our kids to learn and grow.

As a leader in schools we also enjoy many heart moments. Just as every adult in a school is a teacher every adult in a school is a leader, every one of us. More than any other form of compensation it is the heart moments that fill our personal tanks so that we can continue to give our energy to the very demanding work of teaching and leading in our schools, classrooms and communities. And yes, this work is extraordinarily demanding.

Unexpected and Serendipitous

Most often heart moments come about with little fanfare or warning. Tuesday was the largest heart moment that I have experienced in my career. It was unbidden, unheralded, and yet more complete than any that I have ever known. I cannot speak to specifics about this moment other than to say that my thanks, my true and complete thanks, goes out to those who gave so freely of their time, energy and hearts on Tuesday last. You filled my heart to overflowing, truly and completely.

Practicing what you preach

The next day as I was standing at the gate greeting kids arriving at school I saw Maria come in with a group of friends. I asked her if she’d be coming by to finish her DBQ. Her reply was accompanied by a full ear-to-ear smile. She said simply, “I finished it, thank you!”

Confidence Abounds

My heart was filled. Maria clearly had found the inner confidence and the tools to do this work on her own. She owned it! She did it! How well she did it doesn’t matter. What mattered was that she felt personal success. It is these moments that fill our hearts as teachers and leaders in schools. Helping others to learn and grow, and seeing the fruits of that labor, provides true heart moments for those whose eyes and minds are open to seeing them.

Thank you again to those who filled my heart so full last Tuesday. Thank you to all who give daily of your energy, expertise and patience to help our students to learn and grow. There is no better profession in the world!

I wish you many heart moments in your daily lives. I wish you too the ability to see them and to recognize them for what they are.

I wish you many heart moments in your daily lives. I wish you too the ability to see them and to recognize them for what they are.

Stuart Caldwell has been in public education since 1991. After having taught at both the middle school and high school levels for seven years, he then moved into administration, serving as an assistant principal at both middle and high school. Woodworth-Monroe TK-8 in Inglewood is his third principalship. The entirety of his educational experience has been in Title I inner-city schools.

Beyond his site administrative experience, Caldwell has taught in the MAED and Ed.D. programs for Concordia University Irvine since 2006, helping to prepare teachers for leadership and leaders for advanced leadership positions. He believes strongly in the power of education as a way to increase equitable access to all of the benefits of our society for our students and families. He loves the work he does in both his day job as a site leader and as an adjunct professor.