Conferences are about connections

Recently I had the privilege of attending the 2023 uLead Conference, hosted in Banff by the ATA’s Council of School Leadership. It was a great few days of connecting with colleagues and hearing keynote speakers talk about the value of school leaders, unconscious bias and how we are all essentially imperfect when it comes to leadership. 

Dr. Steve Munby’s comments on imperfect leadership resounded most for me over the course of the weekend. Like many of you, I have strived in my teaching career to be perfect — I had to have the best, most interesting lessons that my students would love and be so entirely intrigued by that they would totally and completely forget they even had a smartphone. Yeah, I know, I laughed just writing that. It was entirely how I felt early in my career, but we all know that is not the reality of teaching. It’s messy, imperfect and challenging. 

It’s that imperfection that makes us authentic to our students, especially when we model that it’s OK to make mistakes and ask for help. It shows we are learning and growing. I learned after several years in the classroom that the idea of perfect doesn’t exist. I can say it was at that point in my career that I eased up on the imposter syndrome I felt (which never truly goes away) and focused on the relationship aspect of my teaching. 

At uLead, it was great to connect and hear about the changes in the lives of colleagues I have not seen in years. It was especially fun to reconnect with a colleague who is also a former student, and his spouse, who had worked at my former school. We reminisced about our time working together, students we had taught and the fact that the one teacher’s mother was an educational assistant in my science class. 

Sure, we can learn a lot from speakers at conferences. They can open our minds about pedagogy, leadership and how to shape the education system into something that is better, but conferences can also remind us of the importance of our connections to each other. Banff delivered stunning views, but the people at uLead provided much needed inspiration. ❚