I am fired up about joining the team at Dayton High School. I am incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to serve as Dayton’s next assistant principal.
I’ve long admired Dayton Independent School District’s mission: to Inspire, Engage, and Grow each of our students. In my experience, being able to do these three things is a recipe for student success. What is striking to me though is the fact that I already feel inspired, engaged, and ready to grow from the short time that I have been a member of the district.
There is something special about our small, independent school districts. At Dayton High School, every staff member of the school, including everyone serving in both instructional and non-instructional roles, has the ability to have an impact on every single student in the school. As an educator, this is inspiring. There are few feelings as fulfilling as an educator than, on a graduation night, knowing that you had a part in helping every young person that receives their diploma achieve success.
Assistant Principal Chris Wright (Photo provided)
I cannot wait to engage with the entire Dayton staff. Last week, I had the opportunity to meet our staff at our district’s GROW team meeting. The educators I met were giving up time during their summer to focus on ways to improve their craft. These educators were clearly passionate about what they do and had fantastic ideas. I would give them all the greatest compliment that I could give any educator: they were the type of people that I would want to teach my children. I’m incredibly excited to not only engage with the teachers I met that day but also with what I know will be an amazing staff across the board.
Part of the beauty of the small, independent districts is the way that the school is still one of the focal points of the community. As such, I can’t wait to engage with the community. Dayton is very much a community that has extremely positive forward momentum, with really exciting development and initiatives around town, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of that growth.
And grow we shall.
This week I re-read one of my favorite “education-centered” books, The Pepper Effect by Sean Gaillard.
Among the focuses of the book is the idea that each and every child and educator is capable of a masterpiece on par with The Beatles great album of a similar name. It is critical to note that, before The Beatles made Sergeant Pepper or set off Beatlemania, they experienced a number of failures and had to undergo a great growth. This anecdote is critical in education. I am thrilled to be joining a district that has such a strong dedication to a growth mindset, to helping students overcome their obstacles and their “failures” to grow to a place where they can produce their masterpiece.
It is also important that we, as educators, have a similar mindset. We cannot be worried about taking risks, of failing, as long as we grow out of those failures. In fully embracing growth, we are all more than capable of creating our educational masterpiece.
I’m over the moon to be a Green Devil (a phrase that I, as a school-aged Ludlow Panther, probably would have had serious pause over saying).
If it were up to me, we’d hit the fast forward button and tomorrow would be the first day of school with our students; I am simply that excited for my opportunity to Inspire, Engage, and Grow!
Chris Wright is entering his 12th year in education, having spent the previous 11 years as an English teacher at Ludlow High School. He was the recipient of the 2018 KCTE High School Teacher of the Year award. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation on the effects of adverse childhood experiences on student involvement at Xavier University.
