I am self-confessed book junkie. I love to read, in fact, I got in trouble last night for reading in the shower again. (There are only so many moments I am alone in a day, I take what I can get!!) From mindless fiction to young adult series of amazing to professional reads…I will read it, and I will love it. I know I average over 100 books a year, and still try to cram in as many as I can, 🙂 As a leader, I think it is crucial that we continue to build our reading repertoire. It’s an easy way to grow and learn, and there are literally hundreds of resources available now, between books and blogs!

As a leader, I definitely share what I am reading with my staff, both the personal and the professional. Jessica Johnson, who wrote for one of our recent questions, includes her latest book titles in her email signature which I think is super fun!

Answering this week’s questions is a couple of names YOU may have read from, Dr. Bob Dillion and Todd Neslony. Bob wrote  “The Space“, which is to help you think about the learning environment we offer for our students. Todd is the co-writer of the smash hit “Kids Deserve It“. Both worthy of adding to your leadership collection! Being prolific readers and writers, they were happy to help answer this question!

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

Bob:

Todd:

A book that I recently read had I think everyone should read is “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas. Reading builds empathy and as educators we should constantly be reading, especially books with characters that aren’t anything like us. “The Hate U Give” broke my heart and rocked my world. It is one of those books that I recommend in every presentation and with every adult I speak with.

(Todd also wrote a blog post in February about his passion for reading that perfectly aligns here, so I’d suggest reading it as well!)

What about you? What are some of the books that you feel are critical to share? Have any MUST READ blogs that we should all add to our list? I know the principals I’ve been featuring here all have a blog that challenges me regularly…I encourage you to seek them out as well!

All about those books,

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?

When I asked my friends to choose a question to help me answer, the pairings of who answered what was left up to them. The greatness that is these two admins combining below is pretty incredible. Add in that they are both named Jessica, and you too will be amazed at the awesome! One, Jessica Johnson, I’ve known for years and am thankful for introducing me to my favorite Voxer chat group, and the other, Jessica Cabeen, I got to hug for the first time at #NPC17 a couple of weeks ago. Together, they join “J” forces to answer a tricky question…how as the administrator do you model risk taking? There are still campus, district, and state expectations…so where does RISK factor in?

#askanadmin Q7: How do you model risk taking?

Jessica:

Listen….Learn….Lead has become my mantra when modeling risk taking on our campus.  

Before jumping into the next new intervention, tech tool or curriculum  I listen to what teachers, students and other leaders are saying.  Then I take the time to really learn as much as I can about the concept and its application on our campus.  Finally I take any role necessary to make the change successful. Here is a concrete example of this mantra in action:

Computational Thinking, Coding…Kindergarten?  

Listen:  What do students know about robotics?  Are families tuned into the importance of computer science?  How are teachers incorporating computational thinking into instruction?

Learn:  I keyed into leaders like Dr. Brad Gustafson and Adam Welcome.  I read research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Center for Technology in Early Childhood Center at the Erickson Institute.

Lead:  From that point I jumped in and started teaching Coding Club at Woodson (#PackInTrain), we also started offering “play dates” for PreK-4th grade teachers during professional development days and included coding, robotics and makerspace time so we could all grow together with a common goal of amplifying student learning.

Using this framework when jumping in provides me with a structure that grounds me in research, allows me to listen to staff/student/family voice, and gives me an opportunity to support new learning for students (as well as adults).

Jessica Cabeen is a former Middle School administrator and current elementary principal.  She has lead at the Woodson Kindergarten Center since 2012 and enjoys learning in the ‘Happiest Place in Southeastern Minnesota!’.  She is the 2017 National Distinguished Principal in Minnesota and a 2016 NAESP/Vinci Digital Leader for Early Learning Award Winner.  You can connect with her on twitter @JessicaCabeen or her blog:  principalinbalance.wordpress.com

Jessica:

Are you a Lifeguard or a Swimmer?  Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate (2012) asks this great metaphorical question about whether or not you are walking the talk. He explains:

“Lifeguards sit above the action and supervise the pool. Although he or she is focused, there is a distinct sense of separateness both physically and mentally. In contrast, a swimmer is out participating and an integral part of the action.” (pp.14-15)

I connected immediately to this comparison, because with every new initiative in our building, I have fully immersed myself into the learning and actions right alongside my teachers, which models my risk taking for them:

• When we purchased different tech devices to explore with, I volunteered to teach in classrooms so I could use their classrooms as “guinea pigs” to model lessons and learn along with the classes (teachers and students!) before encouraging all to jump in with me. This was foundational for what later turned into a full 1:1 iPad initiative.
• When we implemented a new literacy and math program, I fully immersed myself in the learning with lead teachers to roll out training to all staff, even though each was not an area of expertise for me. I even taught a summer school class using the new literacy model before it was required for all to implement in the fall. This old dog can learn new tricks too!
• When teachers ask me questions that I don’t know the answer to, I don’t pretend that I know. I am honest and tell them I don’t know, but I will seek to find out. My superpower is connecting with other colleagues on Twitter/Voxer to find out!
• I continued to grow from my Professional Learning Network, seeking out others with far more experience to learn from the obstacles they overcame and how they made it successful. I formed a group of those experienced in leading with Math Expressions and we met on several Google Hangouts. I’ve joined in Voxer discussion groups specific to Units of Study for Reading and Writing and joined in the hashtag #tcrwp for further learning. I continue to share from their lessons learned, along with sharing suggestions and other resources with our teachers.

• I have been the voice for my staff to say, “nothing new” in response to potential new initiatives, because I knew how much was on their plates. I believe that administrators are more likely to put too many initiatives in place when they are not swimming with their teachers, because they don’t have a full understanding of all of the hard work teachers are doing. If you swim with them, you get it.

Jessica Johnson just completed her 9th year as the Elementary School Principal and District Assessment Coordinator at Dodgeland School District in Juneau, Wisconsin. She is also an adjunct professor in the Education Leadership Department at Viterbo University. She is the 2014 National Distinguished Principal for Wisconsin and has co-authored the books The Coach Approach to School Leadership (ASCD, 2017) and Breaking Out of Isolation (Corwin, 2015). You can connect with her on Twitter: @PrincipalJ or her blog: www.principalj.net

George Couros also wrote a blog post around this idea, on the importance of taking risks, that is worth a read! For me, this is a skill I want to master. Balancing all the yes’s, while still maintaining a high achieving balance of academic integrity.  What are your thoughts? How do YOU model risk taking?

Riskily,

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?

Two of the nicest, most inspiring principals ever contributed to today’s question. I am honored to call them friend, and ALWAYS able to call on them for great ideas, reassurance, and innovative ideas! Thank you Sanee Bell and Ben Gilpin for an answer to today’s tough question…How do I become the instructional leader? You’ve probably have teaching experience…maybe even in a couple of grades, but as the principal, all grades and all subjects look to YOU to guide the way. Going into year three, this is STILL the area I need to grow in the most, just cause of its vastness!

Here’s what these rockstars suggest…

#askanadmin Q6: How do I become the instructional leader?

Ben:

The terms “Lead Learner” and “Instructional Leader” can sometimes be misinterpreted as ‘experts‘.   My view of instructional leadership is a mission.  It is my mission to help create a building wide culture of learning.  It is my mission to model risk taking, grit, collaboration and continuous learning.  Finally, it is my mission to dream about the possibilities, rather than the barriers.  To me this is what an Instructional Leader is about.

Sanee:

As a principal, or assistant principal, your number one focus should be leading your campus instructionally. We are in the business of learning, and learning means learning for all-including administrators. If you are a an instructional leader, then you are a learner. I have four fundamental practices that I hold to as an instructional leader.

1. Identify and Focus. In order to know what we need to focus on as a campus, we must identify our instructional focus areas of need and design professional learning that will help us grow in those areas. For example, when I was an elementary principal, we were focusing on implementing the workshop model in reading. Although we were working on implementing all of the elements of the workshop model with fidelity, I identified two of the elements to really hone in on as a campus. This helped the instructional coach to identify areas where teachers needed support and resources. Having an instructional focus kept our learning and discussions on topic, which helped us to achieve our learning goals.

1. Coaching and Feedback. An instructional leader should see him or herself as a coach.You don’t have to know the content at the same depth level as the teacher, but you can certainly coach and give teachers feedback that will help inform their instructional practice. Giving teachers specific, targeted feedback will help them make immediate adjustments. Feedback doesn’t always have to be formal. I like to use Voxer to give teachers feedback. Not all of my teachers have Voxer, so I record my message in the my notes section and email it to them if they don’t have the app.Not sure where to begin? Ask your teachers where they would like to grow professionally and in what areas would they like to receive feedback. They will be honest with you about their growth needs and appreciate you asking them for input.

1. Create a Community of Learners. The most important thing you can do as an instructional leader is to learn alongside your teachers. Just because you were a language arts teacher doesn’t mean that you can’t learn about best practices in math instruction. Whatever the teachers are learning, you should be learning as well. Actively participate in the same book studies, trainings, dialogue, learning walks, etc. as the teachers so that you will know how to support them. Last year my math department wanted to real focus on small group instruction and quality learning stations. I arranged for us to visit one of our feeder elementary schools and a middle school located in a nearby town. Not only did I arrange the visit, I also went with the team of teachers to observe. We engaged in rich dialogue over lunch and developed an action plan. By learning with them, I knew where to give specific feedback and support when I visited their classrooms, and it also helped us to grow together as learners. By learning together, there was a sense of accountability to the learners in the group. The team continued to learn from one another throughout the school year.

1. Provide Resources and Time for Reflection. As the instructional leader, I do all that I can to remove barriers that prevent teachers from providing students with optimal learning experiences. It is the responsibility of the leader to ensure that teachers have the resources they need to do their jobs. By identifying and focusing on the instructional needs of the campus, the resources needed to implement new learning will become evident. Lastly, providing teachers with time to reflect on their learning is vital. Independent and group reflection can help teachers and teams see where they are in relation to where they need to be. Modeling reflective practices as a leader shows teachers that the key to deep learning and growth begins with reflection.

The role of administrators is to guide the instructional ship. Chart the vision. Stay the course. Get results!

From veteran to pro…to detailed suggestions to an overview…whatever style you are those two answers have to resonate with you! These two admin are doing incredible things, I encourage you to find their blogs and add them to your list! (Ben’s is here, Sanee’s is here…) Look how easy I made that for you!

Instructionally supporting,

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?

The role in which we play in education is beyond important, we all know and value that. What is even more important is recognizing the balance in learning as much as we can, and knowing we’ll never know it all.

And be ok with that!

Today’s question is exactly along those lines…

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

Bob:

The complexity of school leadership continues to grow in its difficulty. We are managing a more complex community dynamic with fewer funds and in most cases requires a nimble intellect, a deep sense of urgency, and a committed learning leader.

Sara:

(Unlike everysingleotherperson in this series, Sara was an IRL friend of mine before we connected digitally. We taught together, we were AP’s together, and now are principals together. She is awesome and an excellent one to add to your follow list! :))

Let’s face it… being a principal has never been easy!  Each year it seems that the demands put on educators increases and we must find a way to balance, delegate, prioritize, and still have fun while on the job each and every day!

 

Let’s start with what has proved to be harder each year…

1. Financial Constraints: I will not get political on this post, but with the budget cuts, we have to make tough decisions on how to fund certain programs and activities and what might possibly need to be cut.  Sometimes these decisions are made from the top down; however, I am fortunate enough to have a Superintendent who values our input and ideas when programs and activities are concerned.  What helps to remedy these problems: keep the students first and foremost in your decision-making and have a money saving, price negotiating secretary!

Now for some positivity, here are my two “easier” challenges:

2. Difficult conversations: yep, all principals should experience this at some point and many more than once!  While it has become easier, it still does not stop the sick feeling that I get in the pit of my stomach before, during, and after I have the conversation – but it does go away!  I must remind myself why I am having this conversation and more times than not, it always goes back to our students! Our students deserve to have the best of us each and every day and that reminder is what has made the dreaded conversations easier each year.
3. Taking risks! I am an out of the box thinker and at first was a little reluctant to take the risk and cause change in the culture of our school.  My first year as principal, I did a lot of observing and reflecting and did not change much, except for upping the expectation of FUN and ENGAGEMENT in teaching and with our family nights. While building relationships with staff members and gaining their feedback, I was able to start thinking about the next year and what changes could be done to benefit our students.  While I do not encourage change just for the sake of change, I do believe in change when a school has reached a state of being complacent.  I reminded teachers and parents that we would take risks and sometimes fail, but failure is part of the learning cycling. Need some ideas for fun risk taking… as Todd Nesloney said at a recent conference I attended, watch SoulPancake videos on YouTube and be inspired.  I completely agree and if you follow me on twitter, be looking for some ball pit pictures this fall!