Leadership — Page 23

Three ways to keep your head above water! & an Erin Condren Giveaway

November 17, 2013 by Amber 29 Comments

Have you ever felt like things were moving too fast? Like things weren’t getting your full attention? Like you were overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start?

Three “strategies” I’ve employed this year to help me “manage” the workload have made a difference in keeping up with my whirlwind of a world.

The first mental saver has been placed email efficacy. My email in box is my todo list. If I have 30 emails in there, that means there are 30 items that require some kind of action, which will stress me out completely. I’ve doubled the amount of folders I have, because I am now sorting them into clearly named folders, as soon as I read them. It makes it so much easier for me to find things if I’ve filed them appropriately. I’ve added sub folders to help! As an example, within my 4th grade folder, I’ve got a field trip folder & a parent contact folder. No more “missing” or “where I’d put that” searching! I’ve also started making items that require a follow up within my inbox. Things I may have sent out but need to make sure we’re taken care of, I change to a different color using the “categories” feature within our email system. At a glance, my inbox is kept current and color coded so I can immediately evaluate what needs to be done.

The second mental saver was the adding an Erin Condren planner to my plate. Rather than try to articulate the greatness that is this planner, just watch this.

While it may seem contradictory to “add” something to help me simplify, this planner has made a huge difference. Our campus calendar can get so crammed, sometimes with activities that don’t involve me, so I needed a place where my responsibilities were clear & detailed. Even the items that did require effort on my part on the campus calendar didn’t have “all” the details I needed. This planner solved that problem.

post its Last but not least, prioritize a to-do list. I keep a stack of the longer lined post it pads on my desk at all times. As I’m asked to do something or have a project in place, I add it to a list I have going. Task completed? Cross it off. Decide there are multiple steps/tasks to a project? Create a new page. One of my mental stressors is that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I have something that needs to be completed. Writing it down, identifying what needs to be done to get it completed, and keeping track of my progress takes the stress level way down. When my list gets ragged, I transfer it over to a fresh new page and seriously, it takes away my feelings of things being unmanageable.

Education is hard enough these days. Not letting our organization get out of control is an easy way to regroup, refocus, and recommit.

Here’s your chance to win a $50 Erin Condren gift card to get YOU on the path to be fabulously organized!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keep calm & organize on,

Amber

Campus level…gamification!

November 14, 2013 by Amber 1 Comment

Gamification is all the rage within edu circles. It has tremendous potential in the education space. How can we use it to deliver truly meaningful experiences to students? The inforgraphic at the bottom can provide background, some how’s and some why’s educators might want to think about gameifying.

At it’s core, gamification is simply adding the element of applying game design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. It doesn’t mean to play games on the computer, which believe it or not, may be how it’s interpreted.

So how could an administrator turn this into an opportunity for the staff? Take the greatness of Luna Elementary and their can food drive. They’ve turned it into a CAN-dy Land competition between all the classes. Every ten cans the class brings, the players get to move a “space”. The markers? Those lovely classroom picture negatives that you get after school pictures. Along the candy path there are “prizes” that can be earned, maybe even some pitfalls!

Another idea?

What if you turned your staff development into a GAME? Bucket lists and punch lists are found on Pinterest for every holiday and season. Create one for your staff (or class!) expectations! Incorporate what is relevant to your course and vision and make it more interesting than a bullet pointed list! Here’s an example I came up with. Was thinking that once it was completed they could be treated to a cup of hot chocolate with a peppermint stir stick. Something small but something that shows I appreciate their effort…

These resources and couple of more will also be shared in my upcoming Leadership 3.0 webinar. This program is a professional learning community that will help school principals use Web 2.0 tools to be an innovative leader, help teachers grow professionally, improve student learning, and improve communications with all stakeholders. My session is called “Become a PD pro! Best Practices for Administrators”.What

What can you do in your building or classroom to increase engagement through gamification?

Game on,

Amber

Parents & your vision…

November 11, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

One of the challenges, regardless of your population, is figuring out a way to get all of your families involved at school. We sometimes have the mentality that the parents that we NEED to see are the ones we have a hard time reaching, but as Matt Gomez recently posted, we may need to step back and see what else we can do to make connections. I’ve seen three different ways that campuses have successfully built relationships within all types of families.

Recognizing cultures- Campuses that are able to celebrate the diversity of their building show their students and families that they value their history and past. Dr. Brown, our keynote speaker this year had a through provoking point about schools and their wheelbarrows. If some one looks at your wheelbarrow (all the people that you interact/work/develop ) and they don’t see anything that looks like “them”, they are going to have a hard time connecting with you. What kind of programs do you offer at your school/classroom? Is there diversity present? We had a multicultural night that our music teacher headed up that was incredible! Different families sponsored tables and provided background information about their culture. Some even handed out different food samples that represented their heritage. There were egg rolls, jerky, ravioli, and even apple pie! This free night really showed our families that we cared about the history and perspective they brought to our campus.

Meeting them where they are- Many of our parents have more than one child, and some are working more than one job. One of the great things about technology is that it can allow for no traditional communication to take place. Tools like twitter and remind101 allow teachers to send information through text messages for parents. These timely reminders can help keep parents informed and involved, regardless of whether or not they’ve had time to go through the weekly stack of papers that have come home. I chose to have different students record videos with our weekly goals and upcoming plans. I was strategic in who I chose to film some weeks, knowing that even there wasn’t a computer at home, if certain voices were present, parents would find a way to watch.

Open door policy- Having a friendly, accommodating office staff is crucial. These faces are the flagship of your campus. The way parents, grand parents, and visitors are greeted will set the tone for their expectations while there. Smiles, helpful tones, and a “anything for you” attitude reassures them that we care about their most precious asset that they are leaving with us each day. As a mother, I would not feel comfortable leaving my girls at a place where I felt rebuffed, ignored, or chastised. I want to feel welcome and know that is how my girls would feel too. From start to finish, while they are in that front office, we should do our best to represent what our school stands for. It was a vey big deal for me for our front office to look like we worked in an elementary school…not a doctor’s office. Cold, clinical, sterile? No thank you! We added bright colors, encouraging messages, and most importantly, student work! The brag wall solicited many a compliment from our visitors. It also included frames that stated what each grade level would be learning about throughout the year. Parents walked out knowing that we were all about our students & learning.

November is parent engagement month. What are you doing to bring in your families?

Family friendly,
Amber

Short on Time? an ASCD arias

November 2, 2013 by Amber 1 Comment

While preparing for my upcoming edWeb.net webinar, (which is free and open for registration!) “Become a PD Pro! Best Practices for Administrators” I decided to tackle a couple of books in my ever growing stack of “must reads” I came across William Sterrett’s “Short on Time” and thought it seemed applicable. These new publications are GENIUS. (Now, I’ve only read this one, but I am hooked!) Why?

These Arias are billed as “providing concise answers to challenging questions that you need solved today”. I read it during one setting, just 40 pages, but it was chock full of information and the research to back up what it was offering. It wasn’t overrun with references and heavy facts, but VERY practical. It also referenced Lyn Hilt and Dwight Carter. There are some powerful tips from those two heavy hitters.

The book discussed time management, tackling your calendar, staff meetings, and communication. Each hot topic was explained, evaluated and then provided a couple of excellent “management” tips. My favorite? When Mr. Sterritt discusses teacher growth he quotes Maya Angelou, ” I’ve learned that you can’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands, you need to be able to throw something back.”. We we have to be willing to catch (identify areas where we need to grow) and throw (share our strengths) with colleagues. As an administrator, I have to model this as well as build time for my teachers to be able to DO it.

I like this kinda book reading!

always short on time,

Amber

Feeling defeated or tired already?

October 10, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

I was listening to a webinar last week discussing the benefit of effective teachers in the classroom and was blown away by what was being shared. The average effect of one teacher on a single student is modest. All else the same, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain about $4,600 in lifetime income. The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college.

That’s not too shocking, right?

What about this? Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000. Multiply that by a career’s worth of classrooms.

Students with top teachers are less likely to become pregnant as teenagers, more likely to enroll in college, and more likely to earn more money as adults, the study found.

How can you ever doubt the importance of what you do, every single day?

The webinar really solidified for me that teachers are the most important part of a child’s education. Not a program, a strategy, or a test. Great teachers make a great difference; poor teachers hurt a child’s life chances. LIFE chances.

You. Matter.

Remindingly,
Amber