LeaderTalk

The world as we see it?

Recently, I challenged my staff to consider how they view the world and how that impacts their teaching. I told them I was surprised to find a picture of my house on google street view. If you asked me prior that disquieting moment if I thought someone would be allowed to drive by my house, take a picture, and post it on the internet, I would have so no, it is an invasion of my privacy. Clearly, what I think of the world is sometimes at odds with reality. As print newspapers continue to abandon paper in favor of digital, we as educators must continue to consider what we must abandon in our teaching because how we see the world may not be our students' reality. You can still see my house on street view, but hopefully, my lawn is mowed and my truck is washed.

Seen on a Starbucks Cup....

The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough.  On occasion, some may be correct.  But do not do their work for them.  Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal.
- Keith Obermann

After the Conference....

What do you after returning from a leadership conference?  Does anything change in your leadership practice?  As an elementary school principal, I try to attend conferences regularly in order to hear new ideas and network with other school leaders.  I went to a principal's conference recently on how to improve school-family partnerships.  During the conference, I attended several interesting sessions about how to get families more involved in the school.  My assistant principal, who also attended the conference, and I have been discussing the ideas from the conference to see what would improve the parent partnerships in our school.  I know we can improve our partnerships with some of the ideas from the conference.  What advice would you give on how to utilize some of the good ideas from a conference?

Favorite Posts of 2007

I have seen many 'best of' lists as this new year begins.  Here are some of the most meaningful blog posts that I read this past year:

• Michael Watkins' advice for a new CEO

• Chris Lehmann's thoughts on being a principal

• Michael McVey's poignant questions

• Seth Godin daring us not to blink

• Philip Kovacs (at Ed Policy Blog) using important, insightful data

What were your favorite blog posts of the year?

FAPE and LRE

Did you read this important article? 

As a building leader, you are probably a member of many IEP teams.  I am in my capacity as a principal.  It is a valuable role in the education of a special education student.  This article touches on some of the key, and hotly contested, issues of educating special education students.  I thought it was interesting that the article did not touch on LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) as much but the article accurately captured the discussions about FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) that take place all the time in our schools. 

What lessons have you learned in working with these issues?  Who have been your key resources when working with these sometimes challenging issues?

Reading and Fundraising

For the second year in a row, our PTO is sponsoring our Read-A-Thon fundraiser.  We had such a great experience last year with encouraging kids to read and raising money for our school at the same time that we decided to try it again this year.  Check out our website that has a video that our staff and PTO president made to highlight the Read-A-Thon: DeGrazia Elementary School

The students love the video and have a fun time reading and raising money for our school. 

Pass along your own fundraising idea.......

Slowing Down, Pacing Myself

We just finished our third week of school.  School starts early out here in Arizona, which is funny because it is still so darn hot in August.  Our 600 students in grades K-6 and our 60 or so staff members have settled into the routines of another school year.   I find myself worn out after  running full speed for the last 4 or 5 weeks.  It is nice timing to have a  3-day weekend so that I can remind myself to slow down, take care of myself, and play with my wife and kids. 

If you are like me, you find yourself constantly playing catch up with all the work that goes into school administration.  Late night emails?  Sure.  Bring work home that cuts into your down time?  Yup.  Trying to play superhero?  Too often.

So this weekend, I will stay off the email.  I will try not to worry about what I need to do on Tuesday.  I won't check my outlook calendar to preview next week.  Lastly, and this is huge, I will leave my laptop at home when we go visit family for the weekend.  I hardly go anywhere without my laptop.  I like to be connected where ever I go. I am always taking a few minutes here or there to get some work done.  I will slow down.  The work will still be there on Tuesday.  School is off to a terrific start and I need to be fresh throughout the year so that I can effectively lead.  Do you need to slow down and pace yourself?

Once a teacher.....

...always a teacher.   I always wanted to be the very best teacher that I could be.  From the time that I was in the 9th grade, I wanted to be a teacher.  Teaching is a noble calling.  I want to inspire, teach, shape, and lead.  I want to build relationships.  I want to make an impact on the lives of others.  It is my 7th year in being a teacher of teachers.  It is going to be my best year in teaching yet.  I am building on past successes and learnings. 

I have been preparing my best unit lesson plans.  I selected the objectives at the correct level of difficulty.  My unit goal is for our school to be a learning community.  Before teachers left for summer break, I delivered the anticipatory set.  I built on prior learnings and our roads traveled together.  I stated the objective.  Our learning communities objective builds on our work as a staff developing our vision, mission, and school goals.

My unit theme this year is 'Working Together'.  It is drawn from our mission:  DeGrazia Elementary School is a safe, caring community of students, staff, parents, and community members working together as a team to develop lifelong learners who are always striving to achieve high standards.

I have drawn up lesson plans for the year.  I posted our plans for the 1st quarter on our staff blog in the RSS Calendar so teachers can easily download them into their Outlook calendar.  They can also see where we are going and how we are going to get there.  We will work in grade level teams, cross grade level teams (we will call learning community teams), and as a whole faculty.  We will learn new ways to work together.  We will learn new protocols for examining student work.  We will work together on our essential standards and on our common formative assessments. 

I will have formative assessments for the faculty along the way.  I will check for understanding.  I will chart our progress.  I will monitor and adjust.  The teachers will self-assess and reflect on where they have been and where they are going.  We will meet our objectives and be successful learners.  Over 600 students will be the primary beneficiaries of our work together.  I love being a teacher.

 

A Defining Moment

Leadership is tough work.  It is not for the faint of heart.  There are certainly days that make me wonder if the principalship is all it is cracked up to be.  Some days I wonder what compels me to work my guts out to lead a school because it is intensely difficult work.  Some days take more fortitude than I realized that I had.

As I come to the end of this school year, I wonder what leadership experiences have been defining moments in your career.  What decisions have you made that have helped define who you are as a leader?  What did you learn from those experiences?

Musings from NAESP: Seattle

I am writing from Seattle today as I attend the National Association of Elementary School Principals Conference.  As an Arizona principal, I am very happy that it hasn't rained yet.  As I come towards the end of my 4th year as an elementary school principal, I can say that much of my development as a school leader has come through attending national conferences.  The networking, learning, and experiences gained through attending a conference with 3,000 other principals is amazing. 

Yesterday, I felt the joy of teaching in a poignant way.  Dr. Jan and I taught a session on blogging.  Not knowing if anyone would show up, we were pleasantly surprised that every one of the 24 computers was filled with a principal who had never blogged before.  To top it off, 10 others sat in the back to watch and listen.  It was an exhilarating feeling as these 24 principals created a blog by the time we were done.  It was great to have the support of Glenn Malone as he shared some of his experiences and walked around the room with us helping those who had questions.  I left the computer room yesterday imbued with a new sense of teaching other school leaders about Web 2.0.  Yesterday, I was reminded why I got into education to begin with:  I wanted to teach.  And I still do.

naesp2007