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

Differentiated PD, with a purpose! #taketwo

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This week we have an opportunity to meet with our staff while our Wolves have a day off. One of my goals as an administrator is to not waste my teacher’s time. I’ve written before about how I also recognize I need to always be moving them along their own growth path. By providing differentiated professional development, I can accomplish both! In the same way that we expect our teachers to provide differentiated classroom instruction, my expectation should be to do the same for our teachers. Providing differentiated PD shouldn’t be a choice, but we as administrators do. Model what ya want! Or as Jimmy Casas says, Model what you EXPECT. After reading this post from my buddy, Brad Gustafson, creating a choose your PD adventure came easy!

 

(Flyer!)

Differentiated PD is as easy as allowing teachers to have choice, input, and TIME to think and process the PD they’ve taken part in can allow for deeper implementation and impact student learning, which again, is why we do what we do.

Our plan for Monday is this. Teacher will have breakfast and then have the chance to choose 2 from 6 different choices presented from staff who went to #TCEA17. Choices were based on what most closely aligned with the bulk of our staff’s TTESS goals set in August. They are short sessions, meant to whet their appetite and give easy strategies to add in tools for learning here in the spring.

They then are going to spend time reflecting on their individual goals, and ensure they are moving down that path of a lifelong learner. After lunch, we have time set aside for them to work with their team, analyzing our MOY data and using it to plan for small group instruction. Strategic teaching based on individual student growth is going to be what moves Wolves, in every classroom every day.

And just as fun lil’bonus for reading this far…kicking off our day tomorrow I’ll share one or two of these “fun” testing videos…just to remind us how very humorous our spring season can be. One of my Voxer groups, who bless their hearts still include me, despite my MIA-ness shared these this weekend and they are so apropos!

Hope YOUR adventure is as fun as mine!

Amber

The power of people… #TCEA17 #taketwo

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I think I’ve done a top ten or 5 take-away post or a what to do list for every conference I’ve gone to since I’ve been blogging.

It typically revolved around a couple of great ideas, ways to grow, and ways to move forward.

Post #TCEA17, which was full of great ideas, and even greater people…I find myself this time in a place of reflection and respect for the relationships that are in my world. There is something humbling about being surrounded by AWESOME and realizing how very much more you have to learn, and to see, and to know. 

I hope I am never one of those people who walk away from an opportunity to have the kind of connections that conferences, social media, and tools like Voxer can now provide, and think “Meh. I already know all this stuff. I’m/we’re so ahead of ______. (Insert edtech term here) ” I went to BLC in 2009 and remember asking my then tech director about this crazy tool called twitter. How oh so quickly he dismissed me, saying, “Meh. We don’t need connections like that.” So very short sighted of him, (Literally…what was said. In the airport in Boston I was wearing green converse. THAT’S how much I remember that conversation!!)

Friends who challenge…and push back on status quo.

Ideas you don’t agree with…but appreciate the passion behind.

Having friends help you see that your growth can be in another place…and that is ok.        

( I actually have an entire other post written for just this one statement. If you’re not following Sanee Bell, you should be.)

Ideas that take root…and then branch out to your people.

Conversations that lift you up, make you laugh and help you BE A BETTER YOU. ( Dean, Matt, Tom, Adam, Eric, Aaron, Marlena…I mean. Honestly!)

Man…I hope I never walk away thinking, meh. I don’t need that. Because friends, that’s what we want for our students, isn’t it? To always be learners, who grow, and support, and challenge. Who support, inspire, and motivate.  Who can develop supportive relationships because in this walk of life you never know which twist your road will take and who you might need along the way

If the smartest person in the room is the room…I am thankful for those in my room. Need a bigger room? Let’s talk…no meh’ing allowed!

Amber

Lead like Jimmy, not like Barry…says @TroyAikman & @8amber8

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This past week NFL Films released “Troy Aikman: A Football Life”. Obviously, I’ve watched it a number of times now, and keep finding these gems of greatness.

One of the themes that jumped out at me was Troy’s issues with Barry Switzer’s coaching style. Switzer was older, relaxed, and felt like as the coach of a two-time Superbowl winning team, he didn’t need to be as hard-nosed as Jimmy Johnson, the previous coach, had been. Jimmy was relentless..he was focused, and he was determined. The result, as we know, was the early 90’s dynasty of the Dallas Cowboys. When Switzer took over, and that become more relaxed? Well, Troy attributes that downfall to the  “fun” leadership.

 

Why is that relevant on my “Love, Learn, Lead” blog?

There was a tweet I saw this past week that again referenced that if your leadership isn’t fun, then you’re doing it wrong.

Leadership isn’t always fun, folks. There are parts of our job, just like a teachers, that are hard. That are stressful. That are complicated. That are DIFFICULT. In fact, our assistant superintendent said this year that sometimes HARD LEADERSHIP is the most courageous kind of all.

It takes a courageous leader to make the hard decisions.

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The leader is the one who pushes, and makes your team want to strive to be the best. There is a pressure there and a responsibility. There is an ownership, of all levels of our teams performance, that ultimately comes down to what? Leadership.

The more I do this job, the more I understand this. There has to be a balance.

The main responsibility of a team leader is to guide a team so that it reaches its full potential. The team leader has more responsibility than anyone, because if he does not carry out his responsibilities, the whole team will suffer as a result. A successful team leader should understand the strengths and weaknesses of every team member so there can be a level of support and coaching. I love how in my world sports and leadership are just intertwined, don’t you?

I’m by all means not saying leadership is miserable.

I’m just saying that leadership definitely can’t all be fun. And so is Troy.

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Aikman-esque,

Amber

A leader is a team player or…be more like @tonyromo #taketwo #RTIAW

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We all know I am a football fan and have written about the parallels between leadership and both the quarterback and coach before. This week I had the parallels opportunity to attend an RTI conference by Solution Tree. One session, by Brian Butler spoke to the need for collaboration of philosophy and resources to support your struggling learners, as a member of a strong TEAM.

Our role as administrator SO closely resembles that of a coach or a team leader. Did you see Tony Romo‘s message this week? Primarily delivered for those who wanted to create controversy around the starting quarterback position,  he eliminated any and all talk of his not being a servant leader, and his role as the starting quarterback.

Tony Romo is 15-5 in his last 20 starts. That is pretty darn good. (Just ask Cody Kessler.) Yet he is able to evaluate his own place on this team that is 8-1, and say that he can see he should step back. With uncertainty comes unrest. Romo easily could have tacitly endorsed the quarterback controversy that’s been discussed so much this season.

Instead, he put an end to it.

What this speech helps reiterate for me is that the team as a whole is bigger than any one person, including the leader. It is a campus’ collective responsibility to ensure ALL students are learning. Not mine vs yours…not my way because I’m the principal…not because I read a book that said…but because our students are all of ours. That doesn’t mean teacher autonomy is sacrificed, just that we are all on the same page for “WHAT” is being taught, the “how” can vary.

Also known as…

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Still a Romo fan (but also wearing a DAK ATTACK tee shirt),

Amber

Calm the storm…you’re the principal!

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Last spring we had a pretty ferocious hail storm that decimated many a home in our little Wylie, Texas. Literally, entire neighborhoods were inhabitable for a time and every roof on my street had to be replaced. Softball sized hail will do that! Now, every time we have thunder and rain, I have students who come down to the office crying, worried about their families and homes. It’s a natural by-product. We’ve combatted that as a staff by being overtly calm and reassuring. We’ve lowered lights, we’ve had conversations, and have even pulled up TV reports or radar to help show students exactly what is happening outside when they hear  a storm.

What I have learned, through that example and several others, is that students (or grown-ups!) are going to take their cue from the way others are acting/reacting around them.

When we get data that comes back lower than what we want to see, how I disseminate it impacts how my teachers react& handle it. If I go in, gun a’blazing, there is a defensive tone in the air. It becomes me against them, which is NEVER good for anyone. If I come in ready and willing to discuss and help with a plan of action, the air of willingness and collaboration is practically tangible.

When we thought that the very last minute that we may be adding an 8th (yes, 8th!! section in a grade level, the level of panic was high. When I was able to be outwardly calm and talk my way through what/how we would handle it if came to be, everyone calmed down. My AP literally said, “If Amber’s not stressed about this, then I’m not going to be stressed about it either.”. It was a huge eye-opener for me. People are looking to leadership to see how they should act/react. Luckily, it didn’t happen, but if it had, we were ready.

In any given situation, the principal is the one who is steering the ship. Without a calm steady hand, that ship will straight up crash. Be calm leaders, be calm…be transparent. Over communicate. Talk your campus leaders through what you’re thinking. OVER communicate.

 

Channeling my inner Dahli Lamma,

Amber