An Encouraging Word Can Last a Lifetime

As a high school principal in a small town, even getting fast food can be a unique experience. Of course, many of our students are the ones working at these restaurants. Sometimes, when I place an order at the drive through, the voice on the other end will say, "Hello Dr. G!"

This past week a student asked if I'd been to Sonic a day earlier. I replied that I had, and the student said, "Yeah I thought I recognized your voice."

We all have a voice. Every educator speaks hundreds of words every day. Sometimes at school and sometimes outside of school. How we use our voice is so important. It's important to use it in ways that make an impact.

Your words matter and might make a lasting difference far beyond what you expect.

I remember two instances of encouragement I received as a student that had a profound impact on me. Both were during times of transition in my life. The words of support were significant. They were at the right time and in the right moment. And as a result, I have never forgotten those words.

The first instance was shortly after my family moved to a new town, and I was in a new school. Not only was I in a new school, I was also entering high school as a freshmen. I went out for the basketball team, wanting badly to make the team. But in pre-season conditioning I was far behind the other boys. They blew me away, and quite frankly I was embarrassed and wanted to quit. But the head varsity coach approached me and said these words, "Don't give up. You can do it. Just keep working at it each day. I want to see you make this team."

I have never forgotten those words. Later that school year my family moved again. A couple of years after that, I played in a game against my old school and scored 18 points in a varsity game against Coach Radford, the same coach who encouraged me as a struggling freshmen. He created a monster.

The second instance was as a freshmen in college. My first semester didn't go so well because I was not focused academically. I knew I let my parents down, and I wasn't happy with myself either. But in my second semester, I was fully committed to getting good grades. I was studying and staying on top of everything. Psychology was a fun class but the professor was known for really tough tests. I had made a huge stack of note cards to study. I remember I was sitting near the front, and he noticed my stack of note cards. He looked at them and said, "You're working really hard at this aren't you."

It almost seems silly to me now that I still remember that comment so vividly. But it made a big impression on me. I looked up to the professor, and I was proud he noticed my effort.

Both of these examples were not extraordinary circumstances. They were caring educators who probably made a habit of lifting up students and encouraging them to do their best. But for me, the words were extraordinary. Your efforts to encourage can last a lifetime. You never know how your words may create a lasting influence.

What will students remember when they think of your voice?

Can you think of a time you were encouraged by someone in your life? How can you bring that to your work as an educator now? Who will you lift up? I want to hear from you. Leave a comment below or respond on or .

Future Driven: Looking Forward, Giving Back

I'm happy to announce the release of Future Driven: Will Your Students Thrive In An Unpredictable World! Back at the start of summer I made a public commitment that I would have this passion project finished before the start of the new school year (See: Do Something Today to Move In the Direction of Your Dreams).

Well, we've been in school for a couple of weeks now. So I didn't exactly meet my own deadline. But hey, there are still many schools who haven't returned from summer break yet, so technically maybe I did!

The book is now available on Amazon. And for a very limited time, the Kindle version of Future Driven will only be $2.99. I encourage you to download it now. 

Plus, through the end of September, I'm donating all of the proceeds from Future Driven to Care to Learn, an organization in our community that provides for the health, hunger, and hygiene needs of disadvantaged school-age children. It is important to me to give back to our students. It's always about students first. I want to be part of creating a better future through better schools. It starts with us.

Care to Learn was started in Springfield, MO by philanthropist Doug Pitt. You might have heard of his brother, Brad. Yes, the same Hollywood Brad Pitt you see regularly in the grocery checkout line. The organization now has many chapters in our area, including here in Bolivar. 



About half of our students are from low income households and qualify for free/reduced lunches. With Care to Learn, we are able to instantly meet the emergent health, hunger, and hygiene needs of our students. 

If a kid needs shoes, clothes, eyeglasses, groceries, etc., our counselors take him or her shopping and meet the need right away. We know it's impossible for students to learn their best if they have unmet needs. We are so thankful for Care to Learn.

I certainly hope you find Future Driven inspiring and helpful. Your work matters. You are needed as a change maker. Just know that if you get your copy now, you'll also be helping kids have what they need to learn. Your support of Care to Learn will make an impact too.

Let me know if you have any questions about Future Driven or my process of being an independent author. It has been an unbelievable adventure and so many have helped me along the way. Leave a comment below or respond on or .

Be sure to the use the hashtag #FutureDriven as you share your passion for being a future-driven educator.

Future Driven: Will Your Students Thrive In An Unpredictable World?

In Future Driven, David Geurin describes how to conquer the status quo, create authentic learning, and help your students thrive in an unpredictable world. He shares how to simultaneously be more committed to your mission while being more flexible with your methods. You'll discover strategies to ...

Always Reflect, Always Learn: Be Content, but Never Be Satisfied

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sub for one of our classrooms from start to finish. The regular teacher was called away with a sick child. It's not that unusual for me to cover a class temporarily but to teach the whole block doesn't happen that often.

Let me tell you it's tough to be a substitute teacher even when you are the principal in the building. You are coming into a classroom with an established routine and culture that you're not familiar with. You don't know all of the students and their needs. And the subject matter is brand new in that context even if you have some background in that area.

I had the advantage of the kids knowing me, and I knew most of them too. And the teacher left me incredibly detailed plans. He teaches dual credit biology so many of the students are getting high school credit and college credit for this class. They are a sharp group of kids.

I showed up with all the energy and enthusiasm I would want for my own kids. I let them know from the start I would need their help in making this successful. I told them my background is not in biology, but we will work through any challenges and make sure that we do everything possible to accomplish the goals for the day.

We had a successful 83 minutes together. There were some excellent conversations. We explored the questions and topics with active participation. I'm sure my insights and feedback were not to the level of the regular teacher, but we gave it our everything.

As the students were leaving, one of them commented, "Thank you. You did a good job." Of course, that made me feel like a million bucks.

But last night, I was reflecting on the class period and what I wish I would've done differently. I kept thinking of things that I would improve if given the chance.

1. I didn't learn every student's name. I called students by name when I could. That's something we emphasize. And I think I learned a couple of more. But I missed a great opportunity to learn everyone's name.
2. Every student was supposed to share the Google doc for the activity with the regular teacher. I reminded them several times, but I did not go to each table and confirm that they did this. As I reflected, I was concerned that some may not have completed that step. I could've made sure that happened instead of just hoping it happened.
3. They had a jigsaw activity near the end of the class. I wish I would've gotten a better sense about how well they summarized their reading. I don't think I provided very good feedback on that part.

But overall, it was a successful class. We had some really good conversations and lots of participation. The teacher had established that type of learning culture already. That made it easy for me.

The opportunity to teach this class was a fantastic experience. I felt like I was seeing through the eyes of a teacher. I thought about how important reflection is. It's easy to get in the routine and always be thinking only of what's next, but we have to circle around and think about how we can improve. I think that's an essential for growth. It's important to always be thinking, "How could that have been better? What could I do next time to improve?"

We never want to be entirely satisfied with what we've accomplished. But we also don't want to be too hard on ourselves. We want to be content, but not satisfied. I've known teachers who sweated every detail and beat themselves up over every mistake. That's not being content. Do the best you can and be okay with it for today. But never be satisfied. Always try to be better tomorrow than you are today. The only way that will happen is when you honestly reflect and push yourself to improve.

The next time I get a chance to sub, I will try to be better than I was this time. It's important to always keep aiming for excellence.

Question: How do you make reflection part of your routine? Are you able to keep a healthy balance of not being satisfied, while remaining content? I want to hear from you. Leave a comment below or respond on or .