Are you a Bucket Filler?

When I taught at the elementary level we often often used Carol McCloud's book Are You a Bucket Filler with our primary students to teach kindness, respect and understanding.

As I often do, I think about children's books and how they can relate to our jobs as educators. The concept of bucket filling shouldn’t be limited to what we teach our kindergarteners.  Are we, as the teachers and leaders in schools, bucket fillers or bucket dippers?

A healthy school culture is crucial today.  Students are watching and observing everything we do and say from elementary schools to high schools.  Are we supporting each other and our students?  Are we encouraging each other as well as our students?  Are we helping each other grow?  Are we filling each other’s buckets?

The idea of bucket filling is simple.  We help, we encourage, we support.  We make sure those around us are happy and feel needed and included. Bucket dipping happens sometimes without people even knowing they’re doing it.  We have to be more cognizant of this. Our students definitely cannot see this.  Some students go home and have their buckets dipped on a continuous cycle.

As educators and leaders in buildings we need to remember our “why” of entering this field.  I’m sure we all would say it was to help students learn, grow and flourish.  As leaders, it should be to help grow the district, building and staff.  We need to focus on filling buckets, other's buckets, and make this our priority as we head into the next school year.  

Are you a bucket filler?