Day 3: Bubble Up with Thanks

Good leaders make a huge different in a school setting. Is there a great administrator from your past or present who has been particularly supportive of your teaching career and professional growth?

It's great to see teachers getting the support they need from Administrators!

Thx Patti @FFXHistorySpeak you are the most helpful, practical, knowledgeable admin/specialist in FCPS! Day 3 #bubbleupthx

— Kara Tichoc (@kctichoc) May 4, 2016

Thankful for the thoughtful and inclusive admin I've worked for @JLSMS_Official @JLS_ksmith @JLS_TTodd @neilslevin @BrooksJML @Katy_Garvey

— Jonathan Bonner (@jbonnerjls) May 4, 2016

For today's #bubbleupthx I give great thanks to Ms Dukes, the AP @GloucesterHS who took a chance on me a decade ago! Miss you, GHS!

— Meghan Bonner (@mbonnerJMLLatin) May 4, 2016

Day 3 #bubbleupthx to @pdando: such a wonderful mentor & an amazing advocate for the school system's library programs. #ThankATeacher

— Gretchen Hazlin (@libraryms) May 4, 2016

I also have to take a moment to thank Elizabeth Lodal. She was the ever cheerful, always present principal of McLean High School back in the day (I graduated in 1992). I know that she couldn't possibly have been everywhere at once, but it seemed like she attended every activity from sporting events to theatrical performances and concerts to awards shows and student government happenings; she was tireless.

Mrs. Lodal made a special impression on me when she decided she needed to reconnect with classroom teaching, taking on a Social Studies elective for upperclassman called "The Holocaust and Human Behavior." As a history nerd, of course I signed up for the class and it was incredibly compelling -- I remember lots of great discussions, interesting readings, and connections with more recent incidents of genocide, In retrospect, I absolutely love the idea of my principal showing how much she really valued the true business of the school, instruction. It meant so much to me as a student that she wanted to come into the classroom and teach us every day, showing her heart and her priorities. And looking back today as an educator myself, understanding how many demands there are are Administrators, her actions seem all the more impressive. I returned to McLean several years ago and was thrilled to see that the library at McLean High School is now officially named The Elizabeth V. Lodal Library.

I am now a librarian at Kilmer Middle School in Fairfax County, the same district in which I went to high school and in a lovely coincidence, I discovered that Elizabeth Lodal was one of Kilmer's early principals. Hopefully, I am able to bring some of Mrs. lodal into my practice as an educator, making it clear to my students that THEY are why I show up each day.

​-Gretchen

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You might also like:

• Day 5: Bubble Up with Thanks (May 6, 2016
• Day 4: Bubble Up with Thanks (May 5, 2016)
• ​Day 2: Bubble Up with Thanks (May 3, 2016)
• Day 1: Bubble Up with Thanks (May 2, 2016)
• Teacher Appreciation Week: Share the Love! (April 29, 2016)