Tara Grant currently serves as principal of Belle Heth and McHarg Elementary Schools in Radford, Virginia. She was interviewed as part of this Changemaker Series by Dr. Betty Dore, guest blogger for the series using the Blue Roads Changemaker Framework: Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World.
I first met Tara Grant when I was working with my cohort of student teachers and we were invited to Belle Heth to observe activities/presentations taking place in the 6th grade. A former student teacher of mine was teaching and leading the activity. I also had Tara’s daughter in the present cohort. As you will see shortly, Tara is homegrown in Radford where our conversation took place and is presently working on her doctorate in Educational Leadership at Radford University, a step that will equip her to deepen and broaden her already significant impact as a changemaker.
Homegrown Tara
Tara has lived her whole life in Radford. She attended Belle Heth Elementary School (where she now serves as principal) and graduated from Radford High School in 1990. Her parents are Ken and Linda Edwards, and she is married to Mike Grant who graduated from Radford High School in 1987. She and Mike were in Earth Science class together. She says:
I think he wanted to look at my paper!
Tara and Mike have three children together. Their oldest son, Jake, is now 24 and living in nearby Christiansburg after graduating from James Madison University in Bio-Technology. They also have a 22 year old daughter, Haley Smith, who recently finished her degree at Radford University and is in her first teaching placement at Dalton Intermediate School as a seventh grade English teacher. Their youngest son, Thomas, is in his freshman year at Radford High School.
Tara grew up in a family of educators. Growing up, she never said she wanted to be a teacher but she had a lot of traits common among future teachers. She was an avid reader and very organized. Her mother worked at Radford University for nine years supervising student teachers and then went on to be principal at Pulaski Elementary School. Her sister, Dr. Angie Edwards, has been at Concord University, West Virginia, for 22 years; her aunt, Connie Wohlford, taught Home Economics in Pulaski County; another aunt, Janet Whitt, taught at Belle Heth for 30 years, and her grandmother, Sybil Ferrell, graduated from Radford College, taught at McHarg and Radford High School before going to New River Community College where she started the counseling program. This means her daughter, Haley, is a 4th generation Radford teacher. I'd say it runs in the family!
Listen to Tara's Changemaker Story in her own words.
I have seen a lot of determination and persistence helping other people within my own family. I often think of my mom’s stories about how different we are from each other but we are all advocates for children.
My family has been a strong role model for me.
Being a person who has that responsibility, I don’t take it lightly. I want to give every student a chance. I want to give them opportunities…The buck stops with me.
Solution Focused Tara
When asked about her priorities, Tara is swift to focus on the power of relationships.
Creating relationships with students is the most important thing we do. Showing them love by showing them they have value in a place called school. Providing opportunities for them to see opportunities in the world.
Even the “hard” students need to know they are loved and have expectations – even when they mess up. They need to know everyone messes up sometimes. It is not the end of the world. They need to get over it and start over.
Building relationships with the families (is essential). We are an elementary school and school really starts with us..
School is love. Students need to know they are loved through us giving attention to them, calling them by their names, realizing when they are not in school and telling them when they return they were missed.
By the time students are seniors, VDOE mandates they know and can address the 5 Cs: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creative thinking, and citizenship skills. We can’t wait until they are seniors.
This work starts in elementary school.
Tara's Patchwork
Tara is keenly aware of the value of diversity and understanding the unique perspectives of the students and families she serves.
There needs to be an awareness of the differences in people. We need to know our audience. We need to do our homework before we talk to people. When new people come into our school, I always sit down with them for 30 minutes to learn who they are… We need to have a dialogue to learn what is important to them. There is definitely a place for what people value and why.
She reflects on a course she took with Dr. Theresa Burriss of Radford University where various English dialects were discussed.
We grew up making fun of people with different dialects but that is their real language. As we get older we tend to learn more and think broader. We need to pay attention and respect other people’s values.
One way school leaders can show how much they value the diversity of their students comes in the form of representation.
We have few staff members who are African American. It is very important they feel a part of everything and their voices are heard. We need to have extracurricular activities and clubs so all students are included. (To accomplish this) we have many Radford University students representing extracurricular activities, student government, and groups who work with our students.
We love for our students to see people who are in college who look like them, whether they are in sports, student government, or other activities. It is really important to give students hope in their future.
Changemaker Tara
Tara reflects on the changemaker effect (the ripple effect of her work) in this way:
The ripple is two-fold – students and staff. The older I have become, it is most important for staff to be leaders in their classrooms and leaders in their schools.
I want to really light a fire under teachers to grow. Teachers are just like the students – they want the encouragement and a pat on the back. If I see something strong in teachers, I tell them I will set them up for success: professional development, sharing ideas, etc. We don’t necessarily need new ideas. We can work with what we have and make the necessary changes.
We have so many students who live in poverty and have no male role models. I just want kids to see they can have opportunities to make life better. They can do better if they just believe in themselves. They need to develop confidence and understand someone believes in them.
It's not difficult to see Tara Grant's commitment to the Global Goals in her work whether she names them or not. #1 No Poverty, #2 Good Health and Well-Being, #4 Quality Education and #10 Reduced Inequities come easily to mind when reading her story. What about you? Can you find other examples in her work and in yours? Get in touch below and let us know!
Elizabeth Dore, Ed.D. recently retired from Radford University as a full professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership and Coordinator of the Middle Level Teacher Education Program where she served for almost 24 years after teaching middle school in Maine and at the college level in Colorado while earning a Doctor of Education degree. Dr. Dore has written and presented extensively on her research interests including transracially adopted young adolescents, multicultural education, reading and young adolescents, middle school instructional strategies, sexual harassment in middle schools, middle school curriculum development and co-teaching with content area special education pre-service teachers. Her service to the education community is ample evidence of her own work as a CHANGEMAKER for a better world. It is a great honor to include her voice as a Guest Author to our Blue Roads Changemaker series.
