Former Superintendent of Year message to teachers: 'You are never 'just' anything,'

MONROE TOWNSHIP − The message was delivered with enthusiasm and spirit, enough to keep the attention of an auditorium full of teachers engrossed to the end.

Dr. Joe Sanfelippo of Fall Creek, Wisconsin, the former National Superintendent of the Year in 2019, was the presenter Thursday at a teacher in-service at West Holmes High School to usher in the holiday break.

He delivered a message of personalized professional growth to the educators, encouraging them to give themselves a chance.

"I could sit up here for hours and tell you that you are incredible. I can tell you that you change the lives of kids," Sanfelippo said. "It doesn't matter that the person next to you doesn't feel that way. I need two things from you over the course of the next hour. The first thing is I need you to know your value. And the second thing is that the person next to you knows theirs."

He made a point to let the educators know what an important position they hold in teaching.

"You are never just anything, " he said, emphasizing the word "just". "When you say, 'I'm just a teacher, or just a principal, just a custodian, just a secretary, just a paraprofessional,' any of that, you devalue your work. But not only do you devalue your work, you give the person you are talking to license to attack you.

"Nobody can change the way we talk about us and the work we do until we change the way we talk about us," Sanfelippo continued. "All I'm asking is give yourself a chance when it comes down to making people know what incredible work you do."

He pointed out everyone has an opinion about schools and how they should be run, because they went to school, maybe 25 years ago.

Sanfelippo says in the absence of knowledge, people make up their own.

"My biggest problem with schools has nothing to do with schools," he said. "My biggest problem is dealing with people who think they know what is happening in schools. But they have no idea what you do."

He talked about the impact of being in a small town community and the opportunity to create something people will talk about for 25 years.

Take time to recognize your impact

"We put ourselves in situations where we go and we go and we go, and we do and we do and we do," Sanfelippo said. "We never take a step back to realize the impact of go, go, go, do, do, do, because there is always something else to do on the list.

"How many things on that list are things you like to do," he continued. "They are just things that need to get done. So many times I walk past something great to get to the next thing on the list."

A variety of team-building exercises

Sanfelippo had the audience participate in a number of activities.

He said a 30-second conversation with anyone can change an impression, and to prove it he had the group stand up, and face the person next to them, standing face-to-face and stare into their eyes for 30 seconds to prove how long 30 seconds actually is.

Another exercise he had the group do, was to take 30 seconds to send a text to someone in their contacts who helped get them to where they are today.

He shared a story about how once during the same exercise at a large conference, a woman started laughing hysterically for no apparent reason.

"She said that her husband had responded to her recent text − and he asked if she had been drinking," Sanfelippo said.

West Holmes Superintendent Eric Jurkovic previously heard Sanfelippo speak at a conference and was compelled to bring him to West Holmes. And based upon the response, it was a good decision.

Sanfelippo has been a featured speaker in multiple states in the areas of Advancing the Use of Social Media for School Leaders, Telling Your School Story, Creating a Culture of Yes, and Personalized Professional Growth for Staff.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Joe Sanfelippo instructs Holmes teachers to embrace their value