Wendy Frasier

I attribute my success to passion and grit. Teaching isn't something you just do on a whim - it's something you really have to want to do. There's this thing in education that you've got to give it 5 years because the first five years are rough, and if you can make it past 5 years, then this was something you were always meant to do. For me, passion drives a lot because how do you give up on something that you're passionate about? How do you walk away from something that means so much to you? It's really, truly what I believe I was meant to do. Because I'm so solidified in that, anything that has come my way has just been another challenge to help me grow, another challenge to help refine me as an educator and as a person. That takes a level of grit - I care more about doing the thing that I was meant to do than I care about how one thing is making me feel right now. I think a lot of times people give up on things because their feelings kind of determine their actions, but we don't always feel good, and we keep doing it. I've had really great years, I've had really hard years, but they're all good, and I can look back and see all the kids' faces and the families, and I think, I couldn't do anything else.

The best advice I received when stepping into administration was that you're never going to make everybody happy. When you step into an administrator role on a school campus, you become the decision maker for initiatives, how you're going to include families, how you're going to develop teachers, hiring, firing, and larger discipline issues. There are a lot of decisions that have to be made, and the thing that really helped me was being told that no matter what decision you make, you're never gonna make everybody happy. Just make the decision, stand by it, do the best you can with it. If it was the wrong decision, be willing to change and pivot. Sometimes that can make principals freeze because they want everybody to be happy with the decision and want everybody to feel valued and respected, but that's just not always going to be the case. You just have to be willing to look at all perspectives, look at everything that's in front of you, and make the decision and make the call, and know that some people might not like you for it, and that's okay. As long as you're keeping kids at the forefront and decisions are made with the best interest of kids, then that's all you can do.

I would tell her to make sure she picked her grade level correctly. I think a good thing for new teachers is to sub in classrooms - go to school districts or charter schools and sub in a wide variety of classes to get a feel for age groups. There's a huge difference between teaching a kinder class versus an 8th grade class versus a senior class. I love the middles and I love middle school attitude, but a lot of people look at me with the 'bless your heart' eyes because they could never teach middle school. Subbing was a big part of me finding that out - I used to think I wanted to be a second grade teacher until I subbed a second grade classroom for a week, and when I was done, I was like, this is not for me. Finding your content is important too. I wasn't really passionate about math or science, but when I taught reading for the first time, I was like, oh my gosh, this is what I was supposed to be teaching. For somebody who wanted to eventually go into leadership, I would say take your time. I think a lot of people go into teaching with this thought that they want to be an administrator and they sort of rush that process. There's something to be said about being really great at your craft and being a really great teacher before you try to go coach other people to be teachers. Not all great teachers make great administrators, and not all great administrators made good teachers. I do think if you want to be an administrator, allow yourself time - 5 years is really not enough time to be in the classroom before you step out to be an administrator.

My faith is so important to me - my time with God and my time with other believers who can pour into me and love on me when I'm feeling kind of drained is huge. In my work, keeping kids at the forefront is everything. As long as decisions are made with the best interest of kids, that's all you can do. I also value community and connection. We live in these isolated bubbles, and I think the pandemic made it worse, but being able to come together and support your community, even people that you don't know, is just great. Being able to give back in those ways and having pride in your community is what life is about. I believe in doing what I was meant to do with passion and grit, caring more about my calling than about how any one challenge makes me feel in the moment.