Leadership — Page 16

Culture & Leadership Connections: Are you #FutureReady?

February 23, 2015 by Amber 1 Comment

Confession: I’m not that great with technology.

I know, I know…”Technically Teamann” and all that jazz. But really, I’m not great with technology.

I can’t code. I couldn’t reroute an access point. I don’t build computers. I don’t develop software. I don’t build apps. Or teach people how to do ANY of those things. I can troubleshoot (via the Google) any technical problems, but I can’t take apart a machine. I can’t write HTML or Flash. I can’t talk shop with the IT department. I’m just not that great with technology.

You know what I am good at?

I am good at making technology work for me.

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I am able to use tools that are readily available to accomplish my personal and professional goals and to develop relationships. I am good at connecting and seeing how much this benefits all of those around me. If I have a teacher who is struggling, I can connect them with an expert in just the area they need help with. If I have a student with a particular passion, I know how to find amazing resources to help them. If I need my bucket filled, I have made connections, made friends, with like-minded people who lift me up and inspire me from all over the world. I have found a way to share my experiences & my voice with anyone who cares to listen.

If you stop and reflect on our students entering the workplace, becoming grown-ups, and functioning in this world that we live in, we can all agree on a few things. We know being a good test taker is not a sought after characteristic by today’s, and most likely not future, employers. They have to know how to collaborate, how to develop relationships, how to CONNECT with others. They need to know how to be responsible for their digital footprints, how to own the data that is collected from them and about them.

These are the skills our students need, and being future-ready means we as educators have got to figure out a way to add those skills to the already overflowing plate we have in front of us.

One important facet in my role as an administrator is to empower my staff and our students to be the very best versions of themselves, knowing that our future will be about the advantage of the opportunities available. If we are increasingly moving to become a digitally competitive society, we need our students to be able to function, and function well.

Introducing these generations to their digital responsibilities and abilities is crucial!

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Leveraging technologies to partner with parents to help them understand the importance of what their child can do and the GREAT things that are happening with their students each and every day should be always be on our list of best practices. Today there are too many available options to share and connect with our families and stakeholders to not utilize them!

I’m not that good with technology, but I am passionate about using it to accomplish my goals. We only have so many hours in a day to impact the life of a child, and if by intentionally applying what we have available to model the collaboration, communication, and creation, we can get our students off on the #futureready foot!

Click here to learn more about the 2015 Digital Learning Day. I’ll be in Washington on March 13th at #DLDay with my session, “Who’s the Boss: Take Charge When it Comes To Your Professional Learning”. You can also see a complete list of presenters here.

Charge taking,

Amber

Texas Leadership Standard: Hire, retain, support…it’s that easy!

January 5, 2015 by Amber Leave a Comment

While researching standards for my post on leadership, I discovered the tenets of leadership as defined by the state of Texas. Intrigued, I decided to delve a bit deeper into each standard, and see how it truly relates to my role. While these standards could establish what defines a leader on paper, I want to apply them to campuses today. Knowing that reflection is also a key component, there may be some twists and turns that jump out at me as I review each strand. The standards are also under review and going to change, so it will be interesting to see how “leadership” looks when it is redefined. This is post two in a series on “Texas Leadership Standards”, the entire series can be read here.

The leader is responsible for ensuring there are high-quality teachers and staff in every classroom and throughout the school.

I recently blogged about how important a team is. There are many a cliche that supports that line of thinking. “You’re only as strong as your weakest link”, etc etc etc…

This aspect of the Texas Principal Standards can’t be seen as anything less than one of the most important facets of an administrators world. The staff that you surround yourself can make or break you, as we all know. Very rarely, however, do you get to start from scratch and hire an entire staff. What happens when you get traded mid season? (Sports tie in!)

You recognize that you have to make each person on your staff the very best that they can be. The answer isn’t to start looking at the weakest links and getting rid of them! No! What do you do with students in your class that needed extra support? You meet them where they are and help them grow.

Three simple ways to do this….first, set your expectations. Make sure your staff knows what your non negotiables are. Todd Whitaker shares that every student deserves to be treated with dignity and respect every day. Period. Along with that he listed 3 things that have absolutely no place in a school environment:

arguing
yelling
sarcasm

That’s a good place to start. Our students deserve respect!

Second, differentiate the PD that you offer to your staff. There are going to be varying levels of abilities and wants and strengths within your team. Get to know your teachers and find out where they want to be supported/lifted up. As lead learners on their classrooms, they should understand that we want to model for our students that we are ALWAYS willing to learn. How can you help them grow? Are there trainings, conferences, books, resources, etc, that you can share? Take advantage of social media and use it to fine tune your staffs expertise!

Finally, do what you can to make your campus a place people WANT to come too. If there is a strong sense of commitment, of dedication and focus on student success (academically and personally) people will get on board and get behind you. Never underestimate what a “family” can do, together. Help foster that kind of environment. Are you a leader people would want to work for? It’s important to build trust. Listen to them. Have an open-door policy. Make sure they know they can come to you with any problem—personal or professional—and have your ear. It’s also crucial to involve them in decision-making and value their perspective.

Building a team that you are proud of isn’t difficult. It does however take time, energy, and a positive outlook. I heard a great exchange once. Someone asked what do we do if we spend all this time and energy on our teachers and they leave? The response? What if you don’t and they stay!

not taking chances,

Amber

Are you the quarterback of your team?

December 31, 2014 by Amber Leave a Comment

One of the benefits of having two whole weeks off at the holidays is the opportunity to listen to the Troy Aikman weekly call into our local radio station. (side note: what in the world would I have done if I had grownup somewhere other than Dallas??)

He was, of course, talking about the Dallas Cowboys unexpected success this year. (Spike Cook, in case you missed it, the Cowboys are going to the playoffs!) He was asked about the perception, whether correct or incorrect, that Tony Romo, was getting more than his share of the blame for the previous years lack of success. He said, ” Well sure, he’s the quarterback. Anytime there is a weakness of the team, it is revealed through the quarterback, & he’s expected to overcome those weaknesses.”

As the leader (of your building, or of your team), sometimes it can feel like you are the quarterback. If you win, you get the credit, you share the glory. If you lose, you get all of the blame. As a pretty big fan of a quarterback, I know how frustrating it can to have failure attributed squarely on one persons shoulders or feel as if no matter how great YOU play, your success still depends on those around you.

Last Sunday, with a 25-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, Tony Romo became the Dallas Cowboys‘ all-time leader in passing yards, surpassing Hall of Famer Troy Aikman. Romo is already the franchise leader in touchdown passes. His status among fans is polarizing. You either feel like he is an elite quarterback, tops amongst the NFL’s best. Or you point to the absence of success in big games under Romo as a sign he’s not the answer. At the end of the day it comes back to something bigger. It comes down to the system.

You can be the very best player on your team. You can be the hardest worker. You can be the MVP, but if you aren’t surrounded by a supportive and equally giving team, you still aren’t going to win. You can stay the latest every night, you can give everything you have to the “office”, but without a supportive team, the impact won’t be the same.

Find a team where you are ONE of the really great players. Where everyone gives their all, and each person is responsible for the role that they play. Again, part of the secret is teamwork: no matter how good the individual players are, if they don’t operate as a unit, they won’t win as many games.

What’s true in sports can be true on a campus as well. Successful leaders often have good teams behind them. In fact, in many situations, teams can accomplish what individuals can’t. This is a lesson I’ve learned in the past year. It takes more than one person to make a campus successful, more than one school to make a district successful. It takes a system.

(That being said, I still stand behind Romo.)

Always the QB fan,

Amber

Unexpected Expectations for 2015

December 29, 2014 by Amber 1 Comment

Making goals is easy…the challenge comes in actually making them happen.

My goals this year aren’t exciting. They aren’t earth shattering. They are, however, going to be accomplish-able, which to me, is the whole point. Some build on things from the fall semester. Some are in conjunction with accountability from my friends, my peers, my PLN. I like sharing my goals on the blog, it helps hold me accountable and allows me to reflect upon the past years (2104, 2012) to see where I have fallen short, and where I have had success. Both are important pieces to moving forward.

Here are my expectations for 2015:

Complete the Am-centered bucketlist created with Melinda Miller. (She’ll have an MM version!) This bucketlist will be full of activities and challenges that we’ll complete throughout the year that keep our energy and purpose aligned to what will keep us true to who we are. There’ll be just as many leadership tie-ins as there are mommy/wife ones. Balance! No more idle yes’s, or wasted moments. We’re going to be FOCUSED, and have a bucketlist to help keep it all in front of us. (we’ll share that when we are done!)
Read more. I dropped the Goodreads ball late in the year, but am excited to begin afresh with 2015. I expect to read more in 2015…and will document each book in Goodreads. Follow my progress here.
Document. Schedule. Write it down. I expect to STAY on top of things! One of the ways I plan on maintain this semblance of completing expectations is to utilize my Erin Condren planner. I have high aspirations of being a scheduling machine, and bought new colored pens just to make that more fun. Want an Erin Condren of your very own? Here’s a coupon!
Connect with friends, near and far. 2014 was trip and friend filled. I was so lucky to see so many of the PLN people I now consider friends. While I don’t have as many national events on my radar this year, I do expect to cultivate those relationships. Taking a page from one of my Voxer bf’s, surprise happy mail is a great way to make sure those I hold dear know that I am thinking of them.

May your 2015 be filled with your goals, your expectations, and all the things YOU want to accomplish. Anything I can do to help with your expectations?

Mission minded,

Amber

Texas leadership standard: Instructional Leader

December 17, 2014 by Amber 2 Comments

While researching standards for my post on leadership, I discovered the tenets of leadership as defined by the state of Texas. Intrigued, I decided to delve a bit deeper into each standard, and see how it truly relates to my role. While these standards could establish what defines a leader on paper, I want to apply them to campuses today. Knowing that refection is also a key component, there may be some twists and turns that jump out at me as I review each strand. The standards are also under review and going to change, so it will be interesting to see how “leadership” looks when it is redefined. This is post one in a series on “Texas Leadership Standards”, the entire series can be read here.

The leader is responsible for ensuring every student receives high-quality instruction.

How can a leader ensure this is happening? You start by building an incredible team. You hire the very best person for the job. You then retain those excellent teachers! If you don’t feel like the very best person is in that spot, you do what you can to make them better. When you see a need, you provide training, support, and the opportunity for each teacher to become the very best that they can be.

You’re visible. You are in those classrooms at every opportunity. If you became a principal to get out of the classroom, you’ve made a serious mistake! This is one of the most important facets of being a campus leader. I remember when I was a teacher, I would get a scheduled admin visit. I made sure I was wearing my best outfit, had my students perform on command, and did the very best, most creative lesson I had in my tool box. It was a dog and pony show! When it was over, I could breathe a sigh of relief and go back to “normal”. Ideally, instead of waiting until you have to have an “official” observation, you are in classrooms as much as possible. My teachers are so used to seeing me in and out of their rooms, it doesn’t phase them. Being in and out means I have a really good idea of their strengths and maybe can help identify areas they can grow.

You provide constructive feedback. Feedback is what helps your team know they are on the right track. Feedback allows teachers to see how they are doing, and where they could be going. It also shows them that you value the time you are spending in their rooms, and have a vested interest in their growth. Helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and clear; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent.

You model growth through being a lead learner. Whether it be through articles, journals, books, blogs…a synchronous or an asynchronous community…hopefully you are dialed into a way to keep learning. Besides an edcamp or conferences, Twitter is my big go to for learning and sharing. I read a number of teacher blogs and love sharing the great ideas I see happen on my campus too. I never want them to think I think I know it all or am unwilling to learn new tricks.

You are the gatekeeper of distractions. I worked for a principal who deflected hoop jumping, extraneous noise, and miscellaneous tasks like a champ. A teacher’s job is to teach. Whatever I can do to help make that the focus of their world, I am willing to do. If this means providing an opportunity for training, materials, etc…I do my very best. If it means filtering their “todo’s”, I do that too.

Many have replaced the word principal with the term “lead learner”, this standard lends itself to that perfectly. It takes leadership for a principal to question a teacher whose methods of teaching don’t result in the students understanding and knowing the subject. The principal has to ask, “Did you think about doing it this way? Maybe that would help.” A culture of learning starts with all of the points above. If that foundation isn’t in place, it will be hard for teachers to respect you as ….and credibility as an instructional leader is crucial for a campus!

More resources on the importance of being an instructional leader:

Pins

Slides

Videos

LeadN-ly,

Amber

The leader is responsible for ensuring there are high-quality teachers and staff in every classroom and throughout the school.

The leader is responsible for ensuring every student receives high-quality instruction.