#344 – Giving Thanks for the Unsung Heroes in Our Schools

If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:

• Who is an unsung hero in your school life?
• How has an unsung hero positively impacted a student at your school?
• How can you personally recognize an unsung hero?
• How might your school recognize its unsung heroes?
• How might you spotlight an unsung hero to your local community?

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#344 — Giving Thanks for the Unsung Heroes in Our Schools

AVID Open Access
29 min

Keywords
unsung heroes, school community, everyday gratitude, district office, technical support, kitchen managers, school secretaries, registrars, para educators, school nurses, extracurricular activities, teacher fatigue, empathy, public recognition, behind-the-scenes work

Rena Clark 0:00
There is so much that happens behind the scenes.

Winston Benjamin 0:03
Sometimes those people put miracles together.

Paul Beckermann 0:07
Somebody needs to tell you that you’re doing really good stuff. The topic of today’s podcast is Giving Thanks for the Unsung Heroes in Our Schools. Unpacking Education is brought to you by avid.org. AVID believes that we can raise the bar for education. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org

Rena Clark 0:31
Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I’m Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann 0:42
I’m Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin 0:44
And I’m Winston Benjamin. We are educators.

Paul Beckermann 0:47
And we’re here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Transition Music 0:52
Education is our passport to the future.

Paul Beckermann 0:57
Our quote today is from Arthur Ashe. He says, “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It’s not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” All right. Words from Arthur Ashe today, Winston. What’s on your mind?

Winston Benjamin 1:17
So every time I think about heroes, I think about the superheroes like comic book heroes, and that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the people who do the the garbage work. During the pandemic, we realized that the people who were so important to our society were the garbage men, the the essential workers, those people who do the everyday things that nobody really acknowledges. And even on our podcast, we got somebody who does the everyday grind that nobody really realizes. My man, Paul. He’s here all the time putting in the work. So, sometimes you got to celebrate those heroes who do the little things that sometimes never get shouted out. And I just want to shout my man out for doing the little things.

Paul Beckermann 1:17
Winston, you are too kind, man.

Rena Clark 1:18
I always think it’s not about the accolades. I think about the people who are doing this, not necessarily behind the scenes, but it’s the everyday. They’re showing up every day. They’re doing it with patience and care and kindness, and there’s a commitment to it. And we’ve talked about it in other episodes with students, that they always have a person in the building. It doesn’t have to be a teacher. It it might be a counselor, it might be a custodian, it might be the kitchen manager, it might be a parent educator, it might be the recess teacher. All of these other people that are part of the school community—and they are a key part of the school community—and I just don’t think we talk about them that much, and they do matter for kids. And I’ll talk about even with my own kids. I have a kid who’s not a huge fan of school, but you know who he talks about as being the main reason, and something he loves is his speech therapist. So he gets to see them twice a week, and they make his week. He goes to school, and they make a huge difference. And I don’t know that they know that little 15-minute one-on-one time is the reason they want to be there.

Paul Beckermann 3:17
That’s awesome. It takes so many people to make sure that the magic of school happens every day in our systems. And like you guys said, many times, those things are either unnoticed or taken for granted. Sometimes we don’t even know that those people exist that are doing those things. As long as things are running smoothly, we don’t pay attention. It’s just when there’s a problem, right? So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, because it is Thanksgiving season, we thought it would be fitting to take some time today to call attention to some of those unsung heroes in our schools and say thank you for that important work that they’re doing. We’re going to take a little time just to have that conversation and say thank you for what you do. Who’d like to go first? Who’s an unsung hero that you think about in our school system?

Winston Benjamin 4:04
I’ll go ahead. I’ll start. Sometimes it feels like we’re calling out the enemy when we go the district versus the building. But also I think the district office staff, the people who process the payroll, who process the hiring, who do all of the little things, who order the things in the building, who disseminate the information to us, those people sometimes get so caught with our visceral rage at some of the policies that come down that they don’t get the love that they deserve for actually putting together how we go to PDs, where we sit, how we set the office, the rooms. It feels like somebody took a second to give two craps about us. So, I just want to shout out all those people who run the things in the background in the district offices.

Paul Beckermann 5:04
It’s always “the district,” right? “The district” is people. It’s not this nebulous thing. There’s real people that are the district. And I knew somebody who worked in one of those positions who was going to make a T-shirt that said “The district,” but that should have said, “I am the district.”

Rena Clark 5:23
I was even thinking of the person refurbishing the science kits that never actually talks to someone, but they’re constantly managing. Some of the stuff they got back, I think people didn’t realize it was going back to a real person. But the things that they did and the efforts they went to and would collaborate with me just to say, “Do you think this material is going to be best for kids?” And they really cared, and it makes a difference. And I don’t think any of the teachers know. They know the kit goes away and they get a new one, and it looks great, and they have all the stuff they need. But what goes on behind the scenes is often forgotten.

Paul Beckermann 6:02
And I mentioned earlier we don’t sometimes notice until something goes wrong. A couple of those areas are our technical things, like our computer networks, our computers, the door on the bathroom. I mean, our custodians and our technicians and our network administrators. Those are thankless jobs, and they are busting their rear ends to make sure that those things work every day. And if you think about it, if they go down, how many people are affected by that? There’s a lot of pressure there.

Winston Benjamin 6:34
So true. We had a little issue in Renton a while ago, and I was real cool with our tech guy, Bob, and just to see him do so much to try to make sure people’s working lives are okay, was really impressive. So, I agree with you.

Rena Clark 6:53
Those Help Desk people! Because the only time people are calling, they’re not calling to say, “Hey, this is working so great.” All they get all day long is “Is this a problem? Fix it.” So a little thank you can go a long way. And we’ll talk a little bit more about that. With my own family, I just think about my mom who worked in a kitchen and I know Paul, you have some relatives…

Paul Beckermann 7:17
My mom, too!

Rena Clark 7:18
Yeah, kitchen manager, and we’ve talked about just how important it is for them to feel like a valued part of the community. But I have a kiddo I think I’ve talked about, diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, and I reached out to the kitchen manager at his school, just because we have to kind of pre-plan meals and know the carbs. And she has been amazing. Come to find out, her own daughter has Type One, but she emails me every week because the menus don’t quite match what’s online, and she lets me know the food, if I need help with carb count. She sets food aside for him. Is super kind to him. That is above and beyond. And she has a personal touch to make sure that my kid feels like he belongs as part of the community and can eat school lunch. I know there’s lots of kitchen managers that do all kinds of things, and cooks, not just kitchen managers, and the support staff in there.

Winston Benjamin 8:13
Absolutely.

Paul Beckermann 8:14
Yeah, my mom was a cook, so she did that. Or she took the meal tickets or whatever at the end, and that’s the face of the lunch program. You know? That’s the person that those students interface with every day, and they need a loving voice and a loving face to meet them.

Winston Benjamin 8:29
And listen, there’s so many kids in my buildings. There are times when they know that this kid isn’t eating, and there’s an extra little thing and extra little love and an extra like, “Oh, this kid is late from class. They haven’t eaten breakfast!” You know what I mean? That true, this is how a family runs. It’s the heart, yo. That’s a really good point.

Paul Beckermann 9:00
And you know who else greets almost every student every day? The secretary at the front desk. Those and every parent that calls in. They become kind of the face of the school. I know people always joke that you need to get to know the school secretary, because they hold the school together.

Rena Clark 9:22
Say office managers. They’re like the glue. They know everything. They know everything that’s going on.

Paul Beckermann 9:28
They really do.

Winston Benjamin 9:30
Absolutely. You know what? I’m gonna throw one in there. I’m gonna even extend it to the backside of the office, the registrars. Because sometimes those people put miracles together to get a schedule, get a kid who’s brand new, put them in a place that feels good, or even a kid who’s struggling in a place, maybe trying to find a class that works for them, or a teacher needs some kid to be moved so that the class functions. That’s a lot of tic-tac-toeing. I don’t think we all recognize the amount of effort that goes into readjusting and moving schedules and trying to make sure that people are where they need to be.

Paul Beckermann 10:16
So I gotta ask you, do you have a person that’s specifically a registrar, that that’s the full time gig?

Winston Benjamin 10:23
Yeah, in our building, yeah.

Paul Beckermann 10:27
In the schools I’ve been part of that has not been the case. In the first district I worked in, it was the school counselor’s job to do all the scheduling. So he would gather in all the registration information, but he would be setting up that schedule literally two months into the summer to get that done just in time for school to start, back when everything was manual, just think about that. And now, even now, I know it’s the assistant principals in the school buildings that I’ve worked in. They’re in charge of the schedule, too, because there’s not a budget to hire somebody just for that. So it’s cool that you have somebody for that, and they do need kudos, but sometimes it’s an extra for people.

Winston Benjamin 11:10
And then even that, throw it to those people. Yo, those who are running the game, where the teachers’ master scheduling. All those things. That’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that we just come into.

Rena Clark 11:23
That game we can jump in. And again, we talked about the district, but let’s talk about admin. And I know, once again, we have some feelings, but I’m telling y’all, I’ve gotten to see both sides of this. There is so much that happens behind the scenes that teachers and families don’t know, don’t see happening, including those schedules, and they’re just dealing with so many things at one time. So I also want to call out the admin and everything that they’re dealing with. And with so many people in this time, I know with us, with budget cuts, more and more things are being put on people’s plates—three jobs going down to one, admin being cut. So the ones that are left have more responsibilities. When you’re an admin, we always say hashtag, other duties set aside. They’re the ones dealing with the bears on the playground, with the snakes. They’re the ones dealing with the traffic and how they’re also traffic flagging on top of, yes, instructional leaders and evaluating and discipline and families and parents, and, and, and, and.

Paul Beckermann 12:27
Lots of ands.

Winston Benjamin 12:30
Too many ands. And so another group that gets the “ands”—paraeducators. So many “ands.”

Paul Beckermann 12:48
And there’s so many different paraeducator positions in a school. We lose track of them sometimes.

Winston Benjamin 12:54
Absolutely. In our building, one of our teachers, our special education teacher, she’s out ill, and I have not seen a group of paraeducators wrap around their kids like I’ve seen. Like getting the schedules, food, helping kids with their IEP planning, going into and finding out that this kid needs this sort of support. Let me reorganize the room so that we can make sure that that’s actually happening. Communicating with families, taking on professional roles and responsibilities that they were never trained to do, but because they’re in there everyday with a kid that they know is the most vulnerable learner, to actually put in that much effort, I think goes unseen by a lot. You see them walking in the hallway, you see them with the kid, the students or the classroom, but sometimes you’re in your own space, and it’s just awesome to always remember to say, “Yo, appreciate you setting the standard for how we behave with love for students.”

Paul Beckermann 14:03
Yeah, when I was a media specialist, this is a different kind of paraprofessional, but I had a paraprofessional who sat at the front desk of the media center and did inventory for me and shelved books and helped students and checked out books and did all that stuff. That was the face of the media center for a lot of kids. There were so many counseling sessions that I witnessed at that front desk, where kids just felt like that was their safe place, where they would come in and they would have that conversation. And you can’t discount those little interactions, because they make a huge difference for some kids.

Winston Benjamin 14:37
With a friend of mine, Tina, we talk about those as the Tuesday activities. The mundane you don’t even remember that it was there, but a kid in three, four years, [says] “You remember the time you said that I could do it?” No, but absolutely, I still believe that you can do it. Those everyday part of the jobs where you don’t realize that it matters, that the Tuesday, the part of the week that’s just another day that you gotta get through. It’s not Monday, it’s not hump day, it’s not Thursday, it’s not Friday, but it’s a Tuesday, right? Like the grind day.

Paul Beckermann 15:21
I love that. And you know what? The same goes for teachers, really too. Because teachers get recognition on Educator Day or something. But in between all the other stuff that they do, my goodness, all the work that they take home, going to the store and buying supplies for their classroom, staying after school, and working with a kid on their math homework until five o’clock and then heading home to their own kids. There’s just so much that the public doesn’t see. They just know a lesson happens in front of a classroom, but not all the other stuff.

Rena Clark 15:56
No! They’re working with families. They’re working to get resources for the families that they know and care about that need resources and there’s a lot more to it.

Winston Benjamin 16:05
There’s a quote. There’s this guy, Charles Schultz, an educational psychologist, and he says, “The only time anyone can understand the difficulties of a teacher is a doctor in an emergency room during a brain surgery during a natural disaster. The amount of choices, responses, like, this kid’s losing their feelings because of this. How do I compare to that child that’s impacting them? The amounts of many choices that a teacher has to make that no one recognizes, I think, is also like a part of the work. That’s why people go home tired.

Paul Beckermann 16:48
I was gonna say, no wonder we’re so tired.

Rena Clark 16:51
Fatigue. Decision fatigue is real and it’s real for educators. It’s real bad. And then I also want to roll into teachers, but then a lot of teachers and other professionals, they are coaches and advisors. So, they don’t just end their day, but then we have all the different coaches. We have athletic coaches. We have also like clubs, so advisors running clubs. And now there’s so many opportunities that I know weren’t around when I was younger, and that’s because people are willing to stay, to run these clubs, or at least be the person there, so students can run all of the different clubs. And that’s just one more support that I think people forget about. And that’s just another added-on bonus to their day.

Paul Beckermann 17:35
And I guarantee you, they’re not doing it for the money.

Rena Clark 17:38
No, no.

Paul Beckermann 17:40
My wife figured out one time what I made coaching swimming, and it was not pretty, like, two and a half dollars an hour or something. I don’t know. But you know, you do it for the love of the kids, but let’s recognize what those folks do, because a lot of times those extracurricular memories are the things that kids take with them and they make life-changing impacts on those kids.

Winston Benjamin 18:04
Yeah! That’s the stuff they write their college application about. I learned this lesson when I lost this competition. I learned how to value myself because of this conversation or this activity, like drama club. Those are the parts where they don’t remember the lessons as much, but that’s what they write about. That’s their memories. You’re so right about that,

Rena Clark 18:31
Yeah, it’s a struggle or how they have to overcome things to get to that final product, the performance, the game, whatever it is, and even if you do end up losing, well, that’s a whole different lesson. Or how do I work with others and navigate all of that? There’s so many things happening.

Paul Beckermann 18:48
Exactly, and there’s so many more that we could talk about, from substitute teachers to instructional coaches to…

Winston Benjamin 18:55
Bus drivers.

Rena Clark 18:57
Transportation is a huge department that we forget about often.

Winston Benjamin 19:01
Getting the kids back and forth.

Paul Beckermann 19:02
Yeah, we could go on and on and and we appreciate all those folks that helped make our school run right. And in this Thanksgiving season, thank you.

Rena Clark 19:13
Okay, I have to give one more shout out Paul, because we didn’t talk about them.

Paul Beckermann 19:16
Okay, do it. What do you got?

Rena Clark 19:18
School nurses!

Paul Beckermann 19:19
Oh, we didn’t talk about the school nurses.

Rena Clark 19:21
And like I said, as a parent of a kid with basically a condition that is life threatening, I very much appreciate the school nurse.

Paul Beckermann 19:33
Oh my. My sister was a school nurse, and she would drive over an hour to get to the school where she was working, and she would tell stories that kids would fake being sick in class because they wanted to go and see her because she was so kind to them. So it wasn’t just the physical wellness, but it was that emotional wellness, too. And school nurses are a big part of that.

Rena Clark 19:57
Absolutely.

Paul Beckermann 19:59
All right? Well, you know what time it is, Rena.

Rena Clark 20:01
It’s that time for ” What’s in the toolkit?”

Transition Music 20:06
Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What’s in the toolkit? What is in the toolkit? So, what’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Rena Clark 20:16
So, let’s just think about all these unsung heroes. What might we have in our toolkit to help us out, to maybe show a little thanks?

Winston Benjamin 20:27
My toolkit is “Look around.” Actually pay attention to people who you don’t actually pay attention to. You know what I mean? That even goes for the kids. Say hello, or talk to the kids that you don’t always talk to who aren’t the big figures. Remember that there’s somebody else that’s in the background that needs to be seen. So open your eyes a little bit. That’s in my toolkit.

Rena Clark 20:53
I know I feel like it goes a long way to, after you look around, you might just actually say, “Thank you or you make a difference, or what you do matters.” And often, even with my own kids, I will force them, but sometimes I’m trying to instill in them, that they should write a note to that person to let them know, or draw a picture, and you know what? Then you see that picture up, because you go into these people’s offices, and you’ll see that is a prized possession. That little picture from a kid. That little note. And, obviously I had worked more with elementary so I see that, but that little thank you that they can put in their little file of “this is why.” And they also can get that from adults as well.

Paul Beckermann 21:38
Absolutely. I was thinking kind of along that same line. You can go into Canva or Adobe Express and make a card really quickly and print it out and give it to somebody, and that physical piece of paper just means so much because somebody took a little extra time to go out of their way to create that to say, “I saw you, and I appreciate you.” I gave a note to a science teacher in my building, because I really appreciated how he was trying to integrate blended learning in his classroom, and how much effort he was putting into it, and the work that he was doing outside of hours. He came back to me and he said, “You know what, Paul? I will never get rid of that thank-you note. That meant more to me than any teacher evaluation I’ve ever received that you took the time to do that.” And I wasn’t doing it to have him come and tell me what a great guy I was because I gave him a note. It’s just like somebody needs to tell you that you’re doing really good stuff. And I think we all need to be seen.

Winston Benjamin 22:36
Oh man, I agree with you, Paul, because that now that leads me to continuing to think about our one thing.

Transition Music 22:43
It’s time for that one thing. One thing. One thing. It’s time for that one thing. It’s that one thing.

Winston Benjamin 22:55
So it’s now time for that one thing. What’s still going in your mind that you’re still trying to think about as we depart this grateful episode? Paul?

Paul Beckermann 23:07
I’m reminded of the time that I went from being an English teacher to a media specialist, and my wife was a media specialist, so I kind of figured I knew what the job was, right? I saw what she was doing. We talked all the time. I figured if there’s any new job that I hadn’t done that I was going into, that would be the one that I kind of had a pretty good idea what it was. I had no idea. And I think it’s just a good reminder that we don’t really know what other people are going through, what their job is like, until we’ve been in their shoes. And I think that just makes it so much more important to have empathy, to have understanding, to give that little benefit of the doubt to the others that are working around us and make their day a little brighter. It doesn’t take that much, and it can be a huge impact.

Winston Benjamin 23:57
Rena, what are you thinking?

Rena Clark 23:58
I’m actually thinking about how we might spotlight or do a bright spot. So, in different capacities, maybe in your parent newsletter, as a classroom teacher, you might need to do a little bright spot. Maybe there’s a paraeducator or a volunteer or somebody, like the janitor did something. Whatever it is, maybe you just give them a little shout out to the community, and maybe use social media or your newsletter, or maybe at a larger scale, but some kind of bright spot, because what I’ve always found, it’s one thing to—y’all, marriage advice—like, it’s one thing to tell my husband “I appreciate you.” But when I’m talking to someone else in front of him, and I say to my friend Christy, “I really appreciated this. Steve was great because he did this.” And he’s standing there. That is a different level of understanding. So the other thing is thinking about maybe in front of, I don’t want to say their supervisor, but somebody else. Giving them accolades in front of others is different than just telling them “thank you” yourself. So, that’s another way.

Paul Beckermann 25:01
You said maybe not in front of the supervisor, but I’ve known people that have emailed the supervisor and CC’d the person they’re talking about. That makes a big impact.

Rena Clark 25:13
Yep.

Winston Benjamin 25:14
That’s a lot, and again, that’s all going out to doing the shout-outs, but one thing that I’m still thinking is, how do I daily do things where I’m a Tuesday? Where I celebrate and I do things for others, where they have no idea? They walk away from me, and they still feel treasured and valued, like all these people? How do I do my job in a way where I can be these individuals that just work well?

Rena Clark 25:47
How would we shirt this, Winston? I need to know that. Be a Tuesday!

Winston Benjamin 26:01
Be a Tuesday.

Paul Beckermann 26:04
I love it. Well, you know what? We have an ending to our show today. Our team has been playing around with Suno, a music generator, like song generator. We threw a bunch of words in about all the people that probably are the unsung heroes in our school and get overlooked. So, this is for you, folks.

AI-Generated Song 26:23
A substitute teacher in the morning light, keeps the class going with a smile that’s bright. Custodian sweeping floors, shiny and new. Heroes behind the scenes no one knew. Cook in the kitchen with a dish to share, slinging mashed potatoes with a tender care. Tech in the corner, fixing broken screens, making sure our bytes and bits are clean.

[Chorus] Unsung heroes in every hall, silent warriors standing tall. Every bus driver, every nurse, serving the kids, giving their all.

Secretaries, taking calls all day long, organizing chaos where it don’t belong. Paraeducator lending a guiding hand, helping every kid to understand. Admins with plans, coaches with dreams, volunteers sewing up the seams. All the teachers shaping futures bright in the classroom, morning, noon, and night.

[Chorus] Unsung heroes in every hall. Silent warriors standing tall. Every bus driver, every nurse, serving the kids, giving their all.

[Bridge. Instrumental music plays.]

Unsung heroes in every hall. Silent warriors standing tall. Every bus driver, every nurse, serving kids, giving their all.

Rena Clark 28:37
Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 28:39
We invite you to visit us at AvidOpenAccess.org, where you can discover resources to support student agency, equity, and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Paul Beckermann 28:54
We’ll be back here next Wednesday for a fresh episode of Unpacking Education.

Rena Clark 28:59
And remember, go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin 29:02
Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann 29:04
You make a difference.