Day in the Life of a Jerling Jayhawk

This article was written by Dan Prorok, Jerling Jr High Principal

Background

As educators, we are trained in best practices to keep our students engaged and motivated to learn at high levels. For the past 12 years, I’ve been fortunate to be a principal in the Orland School District, and for the last five years, I’ve served as the principal at Jerling Junior High. The primary role of a principal is to be the instructional leader of a building. Over the summer, while planning for the upcoming year and considering which initiatives were most important for our students and staff, a message from ISTE/ASCD arrived in my inbox. The subject line read, "Shadow a Student Challenge." The message encouraged building leaders to walk a day in their students' shoes. The goal of the exercise was to provide those in charge with a better perspective of what students experience on a daily basis. I loved the idea and signed up for a day in November.

Before the Shadow Challenge
After signing up, I had some "pre-work" to complete. I asked myself several questions: "Which student can give me information to widen my perspective and empathy for all our students?" "How does the day feel?" "Does it drag on?" "Does it go by fast?" "Is the work challenging, easy, or just right?" "How does our staff meet the wide range of needs in their classrooms?" "What is student behavior like throughout the day?" "How do they interact with each other and the adults in the building?"

Selecting a Student
The next step was to select a student. Our building houses 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, so I decided to narrow the field by choosing the middle grade. I then filtered for students who take the bus, are enrolled in music, participate in an after-school activity, and are in general education classes. This narrowed the field to a manageable list. From there, I spoke with a few staff members who had these students in their classes and landed on someone we all felt would enjoy the experience and wouldn’t mind his principal following him around all day.

Shadow a Student Day
Finally, we were ready for the big day!
My assistant principal, Lindsay Fredin, took me to the bus stop, where I was fully dressed in my junior high wardrobe, consisting of sweatpants, a hoodie, sandals with socks, and my backpack. Important note: I couldn’t wear a coat because that’s "cringe," and I had to wear the right sandals to keep up with style. After meeting my student at the stop, we talked about the day and got on the bus. This experience was very fun. I was excited to start the day and had a lot of energy, but the kids who got on the bus had a different demeanor. At first, they looked confused as to why their principal was on the bus dressed like a junior high student, but they quickly settled into their seats, quietly looked out the window, or got on their phones for the ride in. My takeaway from the morning bus ride is that it’s quite uneventful. Most of the kids in a junior high are sleepy as they come in, so there isn’t as much discussion or noise as you might expect on a school bus.
Then it was time to get to my locker. I have to tell you, that took me right back to the anxiety I felt when I was actually in 7th grade. My inner dialogue raced with questions: "Will I know the combination?" "Will kids see me fumble?" "Will I have time to put my things away and get to class?" Luckily for me, I have a lot of practice helping students during locker move-in, so I nailed opening the locker with no issues.

I’m not going to go into detail about all the classes, but I do want to share a few things about the content being taught in our schools. The kids in our school are asked to do challenging work throughout their day. Most classes required reading higher-level texts and writing about what was read. I don’t remember 7th grade being this challenging. The other thing that really stood out to me was how fast each period went. I thought the day would feel long, but it was the opposite. By the time I was settled in and feeling good about what we were learning, I was off to the next class. Speaking of going to the next class, that’s another discovery I made during the day: passing periods. Junior high students struggle with executive functioning—remembering what to bring, planning ahead, and strategizing how to navigate their day. The fact that they are able to remember their classes, supplies, technology, Google Classrooms, due dates, homework, and assignments is truly remarkable. Throughout my eight periods, there were four times when I had to go back to the previous class or my locker because I forgot something.

I want to end this article by reflecting a little on the character of our students and our teachers. Junior high and adolescence is a scary time for our kids. They are learning about who they are and can be very self-conscious. At no point throughout the day did I see anyone say or do anything that made me or anyone else feel uncomfortable. Everyone smiled throughout class. Teachers showed extreme patience for all students. Kids laughed with each other. There weren’t cliques or groups of students that excluded others. In general, everyone showed true kindness to one another.
As a principal, this experience was incredibly helpful. Not only did it give me wonderful insights into our students' and staff's day, but it also gave me a great appreciation for all that they go through. Being a teacher is a difficult job, and our staff tackle it with a smile on their faces. Our kids show up to school, work hard, and are kind to all. This day made me even more proud to be the principal of Jerling.

In closing, I want to thank the student I shadowed. He is a remarkable young man, and I’m very excited to see what the future holds for him.

Dan Prorok
Jerling Principal and 7th Grade Student for a Day

To see Mr. Prorok's day unfold, check out this video.