#3rdyearisthecharm

Avoid those educational extremes!

October 10, 2017 by Amber 3 Comments

Last week I decided I would give up carbs. It wasn’t a rash decision. It was actually well thought out, prompted in part by the massive amount of snacks I was gifted for my birthday. (Anytime 10 different people are able to buy you fritos, you know you’re in a bad snack choosing place!) I have some friends who love their keto life style, so I thought, I can handle this…high fat, low/no carb. I got this.

Day one went well.

Day two prompted my husband to question my life choices.

Day three I ate a jelly doughnut.

What I’ve learned in my third year as an administrator is the same thing I learned in my carbless adventure last week…you can’t go to the extreme in your decision and choices.

There are a variety of hot sports opinions on “how” we should be doing what we do in education. They tend to fall in the “extreme” category. It’s almost to the point where I can’t check twitter anymore because I am so easily annoyed at the “extreme” ideals of what is being shared, and how very different it is from my reality.

There are very few things that I think I would now take a hard and fast stance against in education. There’s a lot I would stand for…primarily, a focus on the individual people. The relationships. Building connections. Fostering hope. But these are not mutually exclusive against some of the other things that we hear. George Couros just referenced this conversion on FB a book he was reading for perspective, “What I notice in that in this reading it is very either/or for “kids nowadays”. ”

Why does it have to be an OR? Can’t there be an AND?

Every campus, every classroom, every child, every day.

My teen? My AP class taking teen? She knows what her PSAT, ACT, and SAT scores have to be in order to attend Texas Tech University. Taking tests like that do not compare to a hands on, no HW, no testing environment. Yes, we’ve done test prep. She hasn’t had algebra in a year…but you better believe we’re doing algebra HOMEWORK in order to prepare her for what is coming up on the PSAT. I know that she is also taking practice tests at school…are they teaching her to the test? No, but they are preparing her for what lies ahead…these scores will determine her trajectory moving forward. I NEED HER PREPPED!

What a disservice we are doing if we don’t give the help students need, vs the help we think they should be getting.

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I get that our educational system needs a re-haul. I get that we are over testing our students. but I also know that my job isn’t just to play, it’s to prepare them academically. That’s a foundation of reading, of writing, and of mathematical foundations. I can do that in a fun environment, that teaches them to love learning , but when you say things like “Just love your job and everything else will be ok.”, I find that hard to stomach. You’ve got people all across the nation who love their job…but are also working their bottoms off to give their students every possible advantage they can. They have students who are struggling, who are behind, below, every which way. They deserve to have us prepare them for their actual reality, not the one we wish they could have.

Back off the extremes, friends. Let’s do right by each kid, and whatever it takes to make that happen.

all the things,

Amber

Get the basics right..and let the rest follow! Admin goals for 17-18!

August 23, 2017 by Amber 3 Comments

Our Wolves came back to school this week.

Ain’t no tired like first week of school tired…but ya’ll. Today is Wednesday and it was SO smooth. Like kinders could handle lunch today smooth. We spent two days working on names, and hugs, and relationships. We went over the “essentials” of being at Whitt, and I know the teachers took the time to LISTEN to our students. How do I know this? Because I have spent the last three days walking around classrooms, just soaking in all of their awesome. I saw new teammates fitting in. I saw brand new students EXCITED to be a Whitt Wolf. I saw thankful momma’s being shoo’d away because they could handle walking in on their own.

It’s been amazing.

One of our goals this year is to get back to basics, remembering that a best practice is a best practice for a reason. As an admin staff, we’re doing the same. Here are my goals for getting back to the basics! Hopefully sharing these will not only showcase again that transparency I strive for, but also help hold me accountable!

Walk-throughs but with feedback
- District goal of ten per teacher, my goal is one 15 min walk through a week, per 15 under my TTESS assignments
- 15 teachers x 15 mins = 225 min, less than 4 hours)
- Provide one additional 30 min convo of feedback and coaching per observation, 15 x 30 min= 7.5 hours (This could also be in with their planning time!)
- Total hours of my week devoted to teacher observation and feedback, 4 hours of observation + 7.5 hours of feedback and planning time (on what/how to coach!)= 11.5 hours
- Strategy to accomplish this? PUT THEM ON MY CALENDAR IN ADVANCE.

That’s 25% of my work week dedicated to teacher development and improvement. An investment, but a worthy one!

Investment in school culture: 5 happy notes per teacher, per semester
- Using pre-made happy note starters, I commit to sending each T a happy note 5 times a semester. I do plan on counting “whole staff” treats in this count, 🙂 b/c I like a good seasonal treatie treat!
- Strategy: my teacher template will help me track!!

I have everyone’s love languages hanging up in my office. (Chart paper lovers UNITE!!) I will meet these socio-emotional goals!

Using data to GROW students, not just as a way to have teachers complete one more form.
- I’m rereading “Leverage Leadership“, and it’s just SO powerful. The growth conversations it spurs within myself…yeeesh. I made three new anchor charts today for our PLC room, just based on the chapter I read last night. I’ve recommended it before, and will do it again! If you want to create systemic improvement in your school, this is a GREAT book to do it with! It’s heavy…but SO good!

Read and share the profesh greatness on IG. I still can’t handle book snaps. My buddy Matt Arend has denied me basic training, b/c it’s supposed to just be “that” easy. Sigh! So I give up and will simply take a picture. And share it. #oldschool

I’m wanting my list to be manageable and make an impact. What do you think?? What do your principal/admin goals look like??

Ambitiously,

Amber

Principal Pinterest pressure..it’s a thing!

August 12, 2017 by Amber 8 Comments

Have you heard the quote “Comparison is the thief of joy”?

I think that may have come out after the invention of Pinterest and/or social media.

Maybe its just me. Maybe I’m the one scrolls through the FB or the twitters and thinks man, I am so slacking. My outfits weren’t that fun. Each and every sentence outta my mouth isn’t Pictaquote quality. My staff development wasn’t that creative. My day left me in tears, and that chick has never cried a day in her life. (and what wrinkle cream does she use anyway?!?)

As if our educational world wasn’t tough enough, we have the constant exposure to all of the rockstars that we are surrounded by. The ones who obviously don’t sleep, the ones that have a bottomless budget, or the ones to whom everything just comes easier too. The pressure of the pinterest perfect principal…it’s a real thing!!

Don’t fall victim to the pressure, friends. There is always more to the story. I made a comment to a friend recently about how proud I was of her for data I had seen, 100% of her advanced students had scored advanced on our state test. She laughed, and said “Yea, I only had one advanced student though”. That sure wasn’t listed in the footnotes for the data on the screen! Please remember that you are only getting to see the highlight reel.

You’re seeing a snapshot of their day, and that is it.

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That aside, what YOU do is good enough. That where YOU are is where you are supposed to be. I guarantee YOUR staff is appreciative of what YOU do, and is thankful for YOUR efforts. Don’t compare. Let’s be satisfied with what we do, and how we do it. Let’s know that our reality is perfectly acceptable, in fact, our reality is awesome. We strive for perfection and success, and when we fall short, we feel less than and worthless. What we don’t seem to realize is that working toward our goals and being willing to put ourselves out there are accomplishments within themselves, regardless of how many times we fail or feel like

If you can scroll and be inspired, excellent. Tweak and twist, and reinvent for your world. That’s awesome! See something of mine you like? PLEASE reach out and I will share it all with you! Education is not a zero sum game.

But if you find yourself constantly comparing, and worse, not measuring up?

The “unfollow” button is your friend. Use it.

Non-guilty-ly,

Amber

#12: What if there is a conflict among my team? #askanadmin

August 11, 2017 by Amber 1 Comment

Drama, drama, drama…it happens to the best of us! What do you do when you have a conflict with your teams?

How about we let Katie Martin and Jeff Zoul answer this! Both have extensive experience in not only working with education peeps, but have led/managed groups of people, which inevitably? Could lead to conflict!

Katie:

When I was growing up my dad used to “lock” my best friend and I in the car when we were fighting. We later realized that we were not actually locked in but it was more of a place for us to work it out where he didn’t have to hear it. Kind of genius, actually. To this day we are still great friends and have always been able to work through our issues. This has probably influenced how I tend to handle conflict. My tendency is to confront issues head on to resolve them and move on.

When there is conflict on our staff, whether it is people coming to me with problems or tensions that I notice, I try to acknowledge them and work with individuals to move forward rather than sweep it under the rug. I always talk with individuals to first try and encourage them to work it out together. But when that doesn’t work, I bring them together to facilitate some “crucial conversations.” Recently, I had two team members that were equally passionate but they had very different work styles and ways of approaching the problem and weren’t listening to one another. Instead, they took offense every time that one person did something differently than they would have. We focused on these 3 strategies to improve communication and better work together:

Seek to Understand: Let’s be honest, when people are frustrated or there is conflict, most often it is because they feel misunderstood and/or undervalued. It is important to listen to one another, you don’t have to agree but we owe it to our colleagues to listen to them and ensure that people know they are heard and valued.

Identify strengths: You don’t have to like everyone, but as professionals we are better if we work together, not against one another. If we focus on what is right with people rather than what is wrong, we can usually find a way to appreciate others and work together. When individuals are aware of what they are good at and leverage their strengths to do their best work, everyone benefits. To collaborate with others, one first must understand themselves and their own strengths and work to understand and leverage the talents of the group to do their best work.

Find Common Goal– In education, our focus should always be on creating better opportunities and experiences for the learners we serve. With this as the common goal, we worked to figure out how to meet our shared goals. Conflict can be healthy and productive and is necessary to get better but it’s important to be tough on ideas, not on people.

Based on the steps above, we began by seeking to understand and found out that a lot of assumptions had been made about one another that had led to their challenging collaboration. Once each person understood where each was coming from, and felt valued, we discussed work preferences and one another’s strengths. At the end, they were both committed to doing great work and reaching their desired goal. Addressing the challenges and assumptions in the open allowed them to better communicate and they ended up being a very effective team once they figured out how to communicate and leverage each other’s strengths rather than take differences personally.

If that doesn’t work, try locking them in a car.

Jeff:

Anyone serving as a leader must, at times, deal with conflict among team members. All teams encounter conflicts at some point; in fact, I believe that high-performing teams engage in conflict every bit as much as weak teams. The difference lies not in the amount or intensity of conflict such disparate teams experience, the difference lies in the way such conflicts are addressed and resolved. Strong teams, with strong team leaders who embrace conflict as inevitable, view it as a way to grow stronger as a team and make decisions that are best for others in the organization the team serves. In our schools, the most important “others” to keep in mind during times of conflict are the students learning and growing in our schools.

When I am leading a team in conflict, I try to keep several things in mind. First, it is important to simply acknowledge the conflict and not pretend the conflict does not exist. Next, it is important to engage everyone involved in the conflict in conversation about the conflict, ensuring that all voices are heard without interrupting anyone who is speaking. As the leader of the team, it is best–at least initially–to do very little talking, instead focusing on active listening with perhaps follow-up questions of team members. We must establish expectations for the conflict resolution process and gain commitment to the process from all involved. Honestly, it is often the case that by simply taking the time to address the conflict openly and engaging affected members in a conversation about the conflict, the resolution almost takes care of itself, as team members gain a deeper understanding of their colleagues’’ perspectives. However, when team members still disagree about an issue, even after the issue is raised openly and discussed thoroughly, there must still be a resolution. Sometimes, the “resolution” can simply be that we agree to disagree privately but also agree to move forward publicly as a unified team, going in the direction of the team’s consensus.

The conflicts that arise among all teams are inevitable and wide-ranging in type and extent. No two conflicts are identical. Unfortunately, they can stem from emotions and personality differences. To resolve conflicts effectively, it is important, however, to take emotion and personality difference out of the equation and instead focus on how the conflict is impacting the team’s’ cohesiveness and productivity. Remind the affected parties of the team’s “Why?” Why do they exist as a team and what can they agree to collectively to turn the conflict into a positive–or at the very least, a neutral. In our schools, it is likely that the team exists–ultimately–to do what is best for kids and it is powerful to remind team members in times of conflict that we are here to serve our students.

How fortunate are we to learn from such greatness? Trying to balance all the emotions, all the times, can be such a struggle…I appreciate these perspectives SO much!

We have just ONE more questions in this series!

RefereeN,

Amber

Missed my other posts in this series?

Q1: What is your go to strategy for team building?

Q2: What is something you do EVERY year, without fail?

Q3: What is something you wished you knew as a first year administrator?

Q4: What has gotten easier through the years? Harder?

Q5: Where do I even start to build a culture of innovation?

Q6: How do I become the instructional leader?

Q7: How does the leader model RISK TAKING?

Q8: What are you reading to GROW as a leader?

Q9: How do you know who to hire?

Q10: As the leader, what are you MOST proud of at your school?

Q11: Uh oh! How do you work with a combative parent?

Q9: How do you know who to hire? #askanadmin

July 31, 2017 by Amber 1 Comment

Hiring is one of the MOST important things an administrator can do. These are the faces and philosophies that will spend the most time with those who are most important, our students. I tell everysingleperson that I am about to hire that my goal is that our building should reflect more of them, rather than have them conform to our building. Each person is a part of the overall machine, the overall puzzle of what we present to our students and their families. They each represent me in a way, and it is so, so important that we hire those who we will be the very best they can be.

I can’t think of two better people to answers this important question then, than Dr. Joe Sanfelippo and Dr. Tony Sinanis. In addition to being former principals, they are both now forward thinking superintendents. Both are incredible friends and are on the short list of people I can trust whole-heartedly to call when I panic, 🙂 They’ve co-authored a couple of books, most recently “Hacking Leadership“, which is a great one to add to your leadership collection if you haven’t already.

#askanadmin Q9: How do you know who to hire?

Tony:

Although I am generally looking for several things when hiring a new staff member (aka a SUPERSTAR), like someone with passion, knowledge and a drive to continue learning, the main thing I am looking for is someone who will make us better as an organization. This idea of looking for an educator who makes us better, as opposed to just looking for someone who will fit in, was something I learned from reading Todd Whitaker’s work. Thanks to Todd, I am always looking for someone unique who helps raise the entire organization and helps push us on our journey towards excellence.

When interviewing potential future staff members, I am looking for an educator who sees themselves as a learner first, a leader next and teacher third. I am looking for someone who loves children and thrives when faced with the challenge of meeting the needs of every learner in their space. I am looking for someone who takes the work incredibly seriously but doesn’t take themselves too seriously. I am looking for someone who values the partnership between home and school and engages families in the learning. I am looking for someone who makes us better… better educators… better learners… and better people! This is what I am looking for when hiring a new SUPERSTAR educator for our team!

Joe:

It is simply the most important thing we do. We can talk about all the leadership attributes and creating a culture where people want to be part of the school. We can talk about building relationships and creating a process where all learners can achieve. We can talk about how we set the tone for the building with our actions. The bottom line is this…if we don’t hire the right people to inspire those curious minds that walk into our building everyday, the school will not move forward. As leaders it is imperative that we find a way to get the right people connected to our students. The right people connected to our staff. The right people connected to our community. The culture of a school is largely based on trust, and hiring the right people who can enhance the environment of the building breeds trust with every interaction. Here are a few things to ensure you have the right people in the organization…

Who to bring to the table

Many districts have a set of prescreen criteria that eliminate a large group of people before the process even gets started. Though I understand why we have these processes in place, I can’t help but think we are missing a tremendous opportunity to add a high quality person, even if they didn’t meet a criteria that could be outdated. Honestly, the GPA means less to me than what you have done beyond the required workload. Were you invested in the community? Did you vounteer working with kids beyond the required number of hours? Did you do anything to set yourself apart in the application process? Do you have a blog? Do you have a website? Do you have some testimonials from teachers, parents, students, and community members? We want people to start thinking about BEYOND REQUIREMENT before they even apply to be part of our district.

Owning the room

Our team wants to know that you are a self starter. They want to know that you are going to bring something new to our group. We don’t hire who we are…we hire who we want to be. Our group is very intent on how the candidate carries themselves throughout the process. We want people that can own the room. We want people that can perform on their own, but knowing they will never have to do so. They are confident and talk specifically about how they are going to contribute to the team. We don’t want to know that they will bring new ideas to the team…we want to know what they are. When you can make that connection with a group of people you met minutes before the first question, you are someone we want wearing green.

We want you to be part of who we are and who we will become. We want you to take whatever time you have and inspire us, because we need to know that when given the opportunity, you will do the same for kids. We love the day that we bring you into a conference room and tell you that we have a few more questions we would like you to answer. We love the look on your face when the team that has been put together to make us better offers you the job after those questions have been asked. We love the tear in your eye when we give you the Go Crickets shirt and say you are the one. We love the thought that you are going to make a kid feel like they are the only person in the room. We love knowing that it’s the most important thing we do. Go Crickets.

Sigh. Aren’t they great? Literally, two of my favorite people on the planet. Secret: When I got “the” call about being named principal, my first call was to my husband, and my second? To these two people. They make me a better leader and my world is better with them in it…