my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

Leadership book tasting…any book, any role! Build capacity with a book study…

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Educators are tired. Our plates are full and our brains are fried. Providing a book study for professional development doesn’t have to be boring. What if you engage and built leadership capacity via a book study…one that doesn’t look like it usually does?

Knowing this, I still wanted to offer/facilitate an opportunity for leaders in our district to grow, even if it doesn’t look like it has in the past.  A book study is typically an effective form of professional learning because new learning can be immediately applied.  Educators are involved in multiple sessions where there is continuous discussion around a relevant topic that has arisen from school data. Remember, the goal of any professional learning is to have a positive impact on student learning. But finding a book that makes everyone happy? Paying for hardcover books that I may never see again? Ugh. The central office role I serve in now makes it even more important to recognize that one book choice isn’t going to meet all the needs of all our learners.

As a principal, we hosted several out-of-the-box growth opportunities. One year we partnered with Greenwood Elementary in Minnesota and scheduled virtual talks with Brad Gustafson and his team. Then there was the year we did a private Facebook group with George Couros on “Innovators Mindset”. Twitter also was a tool of choice when we read “Teach Like a Pirate”. All that to say…I’m a big believer in professional growth.

Staying still is no longer an option. But growing because “I told you so” is a terrible leadership strategy.

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Enter the CISD Leadership Book Tasting of 2022!

  • open to all leaders in CISD
  • five choices, a leadership variety
  • made available digitally, on a district-provided iPad
  • slow, asynchronous style
  • designed to meet the needs of any role, and can apply to any book

 

Here’s our initial flyer.

Here are our activities.

 

Here’s to a summer of self-paced, self-driven professional development!

 

Readingly yours,

Amber

Set your goals and be happy! the 30 day happy administrator challenge! (and a Ted Lasso give away!)

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If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” —Andrew Carnegie

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Goals without plans are just fancy wishes. Achieving our goals brings a sense of accomplishment and makes us feel more positive about the future. (Who wouldn’t want that?) Science shows that optimistic people tend to be happier, healthier, and cope better in tough times. We all know January is the month where we all commit to being the very best versions of ourselves, isn’t it? Our administrator roles make it that much more important to set and share our goals. I know I’ve documented these challenges each year (ish!) and while I’m still a sucker for a good planner, a pretty pen, and the opportunity to better myself, writing these goals clarifies and solidifies my commitment.

Studies have revealed that when you write down your goals, the motivation to achieve them increases substantially. Subconsciously, you would feel committed to the objectives you’ve written down and as such, take the necessary steps to achieve them. Writing down your goals is just like giving yourself a subconscious command.

Things I’ve written down and now, obviously, HAVE to accomplish:

  • It feels like a year where we should revive the 30 admin challenge! It was several years ago that I worked on this with admin friends and it only needed a couple of tweaks to make it feel fresh and accomplishable. Feel free to download and share! I plan on working through this challenge several times this year. I’ll print and simply mark off each day that I complete. Any 30-day chunk will do!

 

 

  • Read 125 books this year! I met last year’s goal of 120 books (!!!) which I tracked through Goodreads. I loved the accountability. You can also reference the books you’ve completed by using the Goodreads app. It offered me suggestions based on what I had read and allowed me to scan in potential books I wanted to read when I came across a suggestion in a blog or Target aisle. Follow me and let’s share books!

 

  • Focus on long-term goals, instead of short-term successes. This year I have a couple of big projects that aren’t accomplishable in just one sitting. If you know me, you know how patient I can be, wink wink, this goal, in particular, will require remembering the long game. Even just writing that down gives me hope. Hope is as essential of a factor as the time it’s going to ultimately take.I like being a hopeful gal!

 

While having fewer goals this year, this all still pretty much hit all that makes me happy and what will move me forward as a mom, as a wife, and as an administrator in 2022. I challenge you to not just think about what you would like to see the year 2022 bring, actually write it down…take steps to achieve it…& make it happen! May your 2022 be brighter and find you accomplishing #allthethings!

 

(If you didn’t click on the “better yourself” link above, you missed the TED LASSO stickers I am obsessed with…leave a comment below with one of YOUR 2022 goals to win a set for yourself!)

 

Optimistically &

Summer ways to make your leadership life easier! #leadership

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Summer. Longer, sunnier days. Doesn’t mean my to-do list is any shorter but it definitely has a different feel to it, doesn’t it? These are the times I try to “do” a couple of things that make my leadership life somewhat easier.

Not exactly rocket science, but helps bookshelf the end of the previous year while getting me excited about what lies ahead.

 

  1. Sorry gentleman, this one is just for the ladies. Keeping it low-key:  I stop wearing eyeliner. I can’t afford R&F eye lash boot…but this lash booster version on Amazon makes me feel better about just wearing mascara each day in the summer. I apply it in the morning and it has made a real differnce! It’s amazing how much quicker my morning routine can go if I just remove that one step.
  2. I use a spiral notebook to take ALL of my notes in for each meeting I attend. I like being able to date the top and flip back and forth. Yes, I know, you can get a 1.99 notebook from the Walmart but that doesn’t inspire me to take notes OR keep me motivated to keep up with all the time. Easily replaceable. Flimsy. The paper tears easily. Bleech. I need mine to last ALL year. I order an Erin Condren one from Amazon so that if I get REAL tired head, I can also order another cover, & viola! an instant facelift. It’s the little things, y’all.
  3. What can you schedule in your world? I am now “running” our Crandall ISD technology Twitter account. I have scheduled ONE helpful instructional tweet to send out each day through the end of July. If I keep building upon that, I’m creating a steady presence while also taking it off my regular to-do list. I’ve also created a google form where teachers can submit their ideas/suggestions OR questions that we can tweet out starting next year.
  4. Calendar mapping. Sometimes it hards for the people in our world to have a macro view of what we are thinking, usually all at the same time. Micro conversations are easier for people to have if they have a glimpse of what the direction is you’re heading in…whether that’s in campus or in a central office position. That part sure hasn’t changed for me. I added this big ol’calendar to my whiteboard..and have already started mapping out big projects or reminders of “we should start thinking about this” or” last year at this time was when we”…it definitely gives me a strong skeleton to flesh out as we work through the summer.
  5. Read, read, read. While I’m a prolific reader, I make considerable gains here in the summer. My newest favorite read that I think you should get? Think Again, by Adam Grant. It’s SO good!

 

There ya go. Just a little snapshot into ways I am trying to create calm amongst the chaos. I hope the start of your summer has begun and you feel some of that tension already slipping away.

 

beach dreaming &

Where do you earn your validation as a leader?

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Every leadership role has its own unique way of measuring what it meant to be a “success”.  As a principal, one of my biggest struggles was always feeling like success was a moving target.

If I made the teachers happy, was I still challenging and empowering them to grow?

When the students were happy, did that mean the teachers were in a good place?

If test scores were high…were they high enough?

If you’re hitting a leadership bullseye, make sure you are not hitting it on the wrong target.

Making a difference for those you truly serve doesn’t always come with a “yes”, sometimes it is a “yes, and” or a “yes, but”. That macro view of your campus, district, or position speaks to your position. You HAVE to see things differently as a leader and sometimes that means you have to dig deeper into the difference between success and mastery.

Sarah Lewis, author “Rise” says,  

Mastery requires endurance. Mastery, a word we don’t use often, is not the equivalent of what we might consider its cognate — perfectionism — an inhuman aim motivated by a concern with how others view us. Mastery is also not the same as success — an event-based victory based on a peak point, a punctuated moment in time. Mastery is not merely a commitment to a goal, but to a curved-line, constant pursuit.”

I can relate to this personally — this is the urge that drives me on to find new ways to explain things, to understand things, and identify new relationships and concepts. There is no endpoint. There is always someone who comes along to challenge us, nudge us, and let us know that there is always more to know, more to consider. This TED talk makes it OK to feel that there’s so much we don’t know, as long as we keep seeking and exploring. The difference Adam Grant might say is between knowledge and wisdom.

May this Friday find you seeking the next mountain top, friends!

 

Challenging and

March ideas for your staff and a message for you, leader!

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I can’t even mentally process that it’s almost MARCH…it feels like we just tried to do March and it all derailed, right?

Heavens to betsy.

I wanted to share a couple of quick ideas to show your staff that it is fact, March…of 2021, actually! and they are still hanging in there and rocking it! Annnnnnd….so are YOU! It’s hard to realize, introspectively, that I can’t compare my energy, my productivity, my progress the way that I always have…because it’s not like it’s always been. I don’t even mean that just b/c I’m in a new role or b/c I’m in a whole new place.

I mean my inertia, my trajectory, my goal setting…feels pale in comparison to my typical enneagram 3 energy. My Gallup activator-ness is less active. Some days even my woo feels less woo-y.

Guess what?

That’s ok, y’all.

It’s ok to authentically have a different pace, perspective, or plan b/c of all that this year has entailed.

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You deserve to be your true self and to feel however you are feeling. Allow your staff the grace to have space to be their true self.  We can’t preach self-care but not change adjust any of our practices and expectations. There’s shouldn’t be anyone who feels behind, after all, there’s only teaching during a pandemic and for us Texas folks, the Snowpocalypse of 2021.

 

March madness!

Kindness and gratitude!

Use these shamrocks to write a note of affirmation and/or gratitude to a fellow staff member. They already have glue dots for you to hang up, easy peasy! You could also play “hidden shamrocks” for prizes!

 

March doesn’t “succ” with people like you around!

These come in a group pack for you to be able to give to leadership, grade levels, or your whole staff!

 

This past year couldn’t have hap-pen-ed without you! 

Who doesn’t love a good excuse to give out FLAIR PENS?? less than $1 per pen, 🙂

 

 

I hope this email finds you warm, well, and leading through the fire, my friends!

 

fire fightN &