Monday Minute – March 23, 2020

Good evening. I hope this post finds you safe and healthy. As you are aware, schools across the country are being closed for varying amounts of time in order to help curb the spread of Covid-19 or the coronavirus. Here in South Carolina, we are currently closed until March 31, but should get an update soon if that is to be extended. So for several days now, I have been leading my school from my laptop, like many other administrators across the state and nation.

My assistant principal and I prepared for the possibility of a closure before we knew it would officially happen. Now we are both working from our laptops (and cell phones of course). Since last Thursday, my first day of “work from home,” I have done several new things for me including:

1. Faculty Meeting via google hangout. We will most likely have another one this week just to check in on everyone. This is a stressful time for everyone.
2. Held teacher professionalism conferences via hangout and telephone.
3. Posted a video update to the school’s Dojo and Facebook pages.
4. Commented on student work in their digital portfolios, which our staff is using for the first time during this closure. We are truly learning as we go. I frequently give feedback when I am in classrooms, so I wanted to continue during our closure.

This is a new way of leading may be temporary but I will continue to share my experiences with you.

Monday Minute for March 9, 2020

As the end of the third quarter of this school year rapidly approaches, I wanted to share something that I do on a regular basis, and that is reflect on my day. To be honest, sometimes it ends up being a reflection on the week. My reflections are written down in a special book reserved just for that purpose. I date the page and begin writing about things that happened, how the situation was handled, and what could be done differently. My process is not spectacular but for me it is effective. Reflection can lead to continuous growth.

Monday Minute – 3/2/2020

This week many schools are celebrating Read Across America! It’s a special time that some schools use to share the works of Dr. Seuss, which is how the school I am principal of and the local elementary school plan to celebrate. We have a theme for each day based on a book selected by the media specialist. As the principal, I get to dress up each day too. The students enjoy seeing their teachers and administrators be a part of the fun. I hope to read books to the classes this week too.

This year we are ending the week by dressing for our future careers and sharing the book, Oh the Places You’ll Go. This in turn is the kick off for our guidance counselor’s March theme of careers. It should be exciting to see what our students strive to be in the future. I enjoy seeing and talking with students about their future plans. At six, their plans may change but we, as educators, must encourage them to set goals and work to achieve those goals.

Part of being a leader is setting an example for staff and students in fun times and those that aren’t so much fun. Anytime students can see joy in reading, then I want to encourage and support that.

Monday Minute #8

Last week I shared a bit about how I stay organized focusing mainly on the real world. As a school leader, I also have to stay organized in the electronic world. There are three main ways that I do this, Google, my RocketBook, and an external hard drive.

Let’s start with Google, which I use extensively since that is the system used by my district. Of course, there’s gmail where I have folders to keep the important stuff arranged by person or topic. Then there is the Drive, which houses my documents (letters, notes, etc.), spread sheets, and lots of other stuff. I have folders within my Drive for things such as parent communication, teacher information (for the teachers not about them), curriculum, district information and policies, etc. I use Google classroom to share information with my staff as well as items for completion (surveys, required professional development sessions). There’s also Google calendar that I use to invite (or remind) staff to events.

My RocketBook gives me the best of both worlds. I get to handwrite my notes because I remember them better that way, then scan them (through an app) into a google folder. As a bonus, the app can transcribe my notes too!

The third way I stay e-organized is an external hard drive. I can work from any desk top or laptop with it. Certain files and spreadsheets must be done within certain operating systems, so those files go on my hard drive. Plus the storage space is huge, so I have lots of space for what I need.

I’m hoping to stay organized both in the real world and e-world. If you have tips, I’d love to hear from you!

As a building leader, I firmly believe that I must keep learning and growing, not only as a leader, but as an educator. Several ways that I keep growing professionally include reading, taking courses, attending conferences, and being involved with social media. All of these provide me with different ways to grow and learn, which in turn can help my staff and students. After all, this job always comes back to growing children, academically and more.

Typically, I have one professional book that I am reading. Most recently I finished Teach Like Finland by Timothy Walker, which offered insight about having more joy in the classroom. The author offers a unique perspective since he taught in the USA and Finland. You may have seen my recent book recommendation for Grit by Angela Duckworth. If you don’t feel like you have time to read the book at least please take time to watch her TED talk on Grit. It is well worth your time. Of course, books by Ruby Payne, John Hattie, David Sousa, Dave Burgess, and topics such as neuroscience expand our knowledge as leaders and learners. If you have book recommendations, please share. I am always looking for a new one.

Another way to continue growing professionally is to take courses. In all honesty, I do get questioned as to why I am taking another class. Usually the conversation goes something like this:

Me: I have to get some class work done.

Other person: Don’t you have a PhD? Aren’t you done with courses?

Me: Yes I have a PhD, but I have areas I want to know more about.

Other person: Oh, okay.

Currently, I am enrolled at the local university in a graduate level special education course, which I chose because it is a growth area for me. While I understand many aspects of special education as a school leader, I wanted to learn more about it from a teacher’s perspective. This course is providing me with valuable insight into the assessment components of special education. Last school year, I took two courses on Teaching and Assessing Children of Poverty offered through a blended model, and loved them. Both courses were offered by the district that I was working in and were taught by a professor from an in-state university. From these two courses, I gained a much better understanding of how to reach all students. One key take away for me was that poverty is not only financial, but also emotional, cognitive, physical,etc. The courses provided best practices for all students. I am contemplating what type of course to take next year, or if I should try my hand at teaching a course.

Attending conferences is something I do not do very often, mainly due to cost effectiveness. If there is a one day conference or workshop, I am more likely to go. I recently attended my state’s Title I conference, which proved to be helpful to me. I learned quite a bit about federal programs, how money can or can not be spent, creative ways other schools were using funds, etc. Over the summer, I will present at my state’s leadership conference. I am quite excited for my first opportunity to present to other school leaders at this level. I will share my presentation here after the conference.

A final way I continue to grow as a professional is through social media. I follow people or organizations such Ron Clark, Jay McTighe, Michael Fullan, Ruby Payne, FMU Center of Excellence, etc. on multiple social media outlets. There is a constant sharing of ideas, success, and celebrations. They share tips, things that have worked, new book releases, and so much more that can be used in any school setting. Social media, blogs, TED talks, can all be growth tools if we choose to use them as such.

As a building leader, I plan to continue learning and growing as a way to help my students and staff. Continuous growth is an expectation for educators, and as the building leader, I like to set a positive example for my staff.

Monday Minute 2/17/2020

Staying organized is critical in a leadership role. Each leader has his or her organizational methods. We each must find and use what works for us. For me, I prefer a self-created paper calendar along with my Google calendar. Further on my paper calendar, items are color coded and there are some symbols that I use, borrowed from I’ve learned from bullet journaling. For example, IEP & 504 meetings are done in pink, district level meetings in green, observations in blue, etc. This helps me see at a glance meeting times and from the color I know location. Using my two calendars is one way I stay organized.

A second way the I stay organized is Manila file folders. In my file cabinet they are arranged in alphabetical order with one drawer for student files, one for employee and applicant information, and then one drawer has my snacks and emergency lunch. I also use folders at my desk to keep information that I need quickly, such as teacher schedules, maps, etc.

A third organizational strategy I use is three ring binders, which store discipline forms, agendas and notes from meetings, my principal evaluation information and my finance reports. My notebooks are labeled so I can find which one I need quickly and easily.

So calendars, file folders and binders are some ways I stay organized as a school leader. Perhaps a later post will focus on being organized in the e-world.

As a principal, my goal is to be in classrooms daily to observe teaching and learning. Notice I said goal, because some days things just don’t work out that way. I consider classroom observations as a way to provide job embedded professional development for teachers. Observations are frequently required for evaluation purposes but I’m speaking of formative observations.

Observations provide a glimpse into the climate and culture of the classroom. I notice how the teacher interacts with students and vice versa. Depending on the lesson or timing of the observation, I also get to see how students interact with one another. We strive for classrooms where children and adults treat each respectfully and with kindness. This may look different depending on the teacher, subject or even time of year. At the beginning of the school year (and after breaks), teachers often teach children their expectations for classroom and school behavior. After a few weeks, these expectations become part of the class culture. I do my best to note positives for teachers when I share my notes from observations with them.

In addition to classroom culture, these formative observations provide the administrator with an idea of how well standards based instruction is being carried out on a regular basis. I ask that standards be posted and our state evaluation tool does expands that to referred to throughout the lesson. Since our standardized tests (and how we are evaluated and judged) are based on standards, then classroom instruction and assessment should also be standards based. The most efficient way I’ve found to know if know if instruction is standards based is to observe instruction. Then of course to follow up with the teacher to have a coaching discussion.

So formative observations provide some job embedded professional development for teachers. The key is to follow those observations with coaching conversations and teacher reflection.

Showing appreciation takes many forms and goes a long way. The easiest and simplest is to just say thank you, along with the specifics of what you are grateful for the person doing. Just like we praise students for doing certain things, do the same for staff. Things like thank you for arriving to related arts on time, I appreciate that you used a brain based strategy, etc.

Another way I like to show appreciate that is free is with a Jeans pass or GOOSE (get out of school early) pass. Each of my teachers come in early one day each week for early duty, so at the end of each month GOOSE passes are distributed. My staff appreciates both of these.

A third way I try to show appreciation is through little things, such as doughnuts and juice or an elf hunt at Christmas. Right now I’m working on a Cupid hunt for Valentine’s Day. We either have prizes from local donors or sometimes I purchase small gifts for these times.

Showing appreciation goes a long way. Plus it can cost as much or as little as you choose.

For many educators, job embedded professional development is just part of your day or at least your week. There are a myriad of ways to carry out job embedded PD, but I will focus on one here. When researching and writing my dissertation, I found that teachers were more apt to implement professional development if there was on going support for their learning.

Knowing that, one way to grow teachers is to have on site experts model effective strategies. Then that same person can team teach, coach or observe and provide feedback to teachers. Academic coaches or instructional coaches often fulfill this role. This type of support allows one person or maybe a team to be a available for coaching, modeling, team teaching, providing feedback, etc. There can be joint planning sessions with the coach as well.

If your budget does not allow for instructional coaches, teachers can fulfill similar roles for one another. Each teacher has his or her own set of strengths that are often willing to share with others. This helps grow teachers but also allows teachers to take on more leadership roles and responsibilities, if they choose to accept them. As an administrator, my role is to facilitate teachers helping one another by providing adequate planning times, helping provide coverage in a class while the teachers work to learn from one another.

I will be sharing other ways to incorporate job embedded professional development in future posts.