Tim Creamer, gcLi LL’19, 7th grade Science Teacher, Team Leader, and Coach at Charlotte Latin School, South Charlotte, NC.
I came into the 2019 gcLi Leadership Lab in Colorado Springs raring to go. As a science teacher, 7th Grade Team Leader, and aspiring school leader at a fantastic independent school in Charlotte, N.C., I had high hopes for a great professional development experience.
Then I met my Lab Group, who were all brilliant rock-stars educators. My group consisted of a school nurse, a college admissions counselor, a part time administrator that oversees programming and student council, a division head, and six teachers – two science teachers, an art teacher, a Latin teacher, a humanities teacher, and a history teacher. From the start, our group clicked. While there was not a whole lot of time early in the conference for getting to know anyone very deeply, it seemed that each participant had an openness to see where the week would bring us as a group.
One of the key components of our group’s meshing so early on was our group leader, gcLi faculty member Rishi Raghunathan. Rishi is a gifted leader of people. His self-deprecating humor is one factor, but more than anything – he is authentic. He comes across as very sincere, and I trusted him from the start. Every conversation we had as a group and that I had one-on-one with him was straightforward and heart-felt. Rishi had a way of meeting us at our level while offering a comfortable push to help us take our next step. His enthusiasm for being a leader at gcLi was palpable. Rishi’s positive energy infused our group the whole week long.
On our second day at the Leadership Lab, we were introduced to different aspects of brain research from Dr. JoAnn Deak, gcLi’s Scholar Emerita, who did an amazing job lecturing to the full gcLi group. Following this information session, Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, gcLi’s Institute Scholar, gave us a tangible, practical method of applying what we learned from Dr. Deak. This was a new Advisory protocol called “Open Session.”
In “Open Session” the Advisor acts only as a facilitator. All students in the Advisory are given a note card upon which they write something that they would like to have the group’s help with. This could be an issue at school, at an afterschool activity, at home – really anywhere. Once a note card is chosen by the Advisor, the protocol dictates that the students can respond in three ways to the person with the issue: ask clarifying a question, offer empathy and support, or give direct advice.
After learning about “Open Session,” we went to our Lab Groups to practice. Rishi served as our advisor, and the rest of our group participated as students. We wrote down dilemmas that were on our minds. Rishi chose a card that was not school-related, and it was quite personal.
Rishi gave the floor to the group member who had submitted the chosen card and for about a minute, she laid out her difficult personal situation to the group. She was looking for advice on a medical matter that involved a family member. The doctors would do what they do, but our group mate was looking for guidance on how to proceed from an emotional and cognitive standpoint, both for herself and for her family. I was blown away by this young woman’s courage in offering this out to our group.
From there, we worked to help our new friend. We stayed within the protocol, and offered our thoughts in what turned out to be a very productive manner. Throughout this time, Rishi simply observed. Over that 40-minute time span, we developed a bond that was somehow unbreakable. Eleven strangers from two days ago became old friends. We trusted each other with our goals, our dilemmas, our achievements, and our mistakes, and it felt extremely organic while we were going through it.
Our Lab Group was tight and powerful. However, we were not the only group to have these feelings and achievements. During unstructured time, conversations with other groups and individuals led me to believe that nearly all of the groups had similar experiences. Though the scenarios and experiences were different, to a person – everyone felt very close with their Lab Group. This is a real testament to the thoughtful work put in by the gcLi faculty.
Returning back to my own school, my biggest action item is to bring the “Open Session” Advisory Protocol to my school for implementation this school year. I have approval to pilot the program in 7th grade, and we will be inviting the 6th and 8th grade advisors to observe and see if it fits with their goals also. I found the “Open Session” format to be at the core of what I believe we should be teaching students: to be kind to each other, to help each other in times of need, and to make thoughtful decisions when solving problems.
The gcLi Leadership Lab was, by far, the best professional development I have ever attended in my eighteen years as an educator. I learned a great deal about myself as an educator and a leader, but more importantly about how to empower our students to be leaders themselves. I have a great deal of gratitude for the gcLi and for the people who attended with me that made my experience so fantastic. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]This fall, Tim Creamer will begin his second year at Charlotte Latin School, a TK-12 college preparatory day school located in South Charlotte, NC. Tim is entering his 19th year as an educator and will serve as 7thGrade Science Teacher and the 7th Grade Team Leader for the Charlotte Latin Middle School. Tim is a graduate of the 2019 gcLi Leadership Lab. In addition to his Middle School duties, Tim is an Assistant Coach for the Varsity Baseball Team and for the 8th Grade Boys’ Basketball Team. He is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and Plymouth State University.