Organization

Ripples of Leadership: who are you encouraging to grow past you?

October 24, 2019 by Amber 2 Comments

When you dip your toe in the lake….say while you’re sitting on a boat…but it’s too cold to get ALL the way in, even in Texas in October…you can see the lil’ripples you make on the surface.

Depending on the size of the body of the water you’re in, you can watch the ripples until they fade away, or as they bounce off the tube and come back to you.

Leadership reminds me daily that there are people watching me, that I want to encourage. That I want to grow. That I want to be whatever it is they want to be when they want to be it. Sometimes it’s an administrative position, sometimes it’s in curriculum. Sometimes its just being stronger at _______ or moving to _________ position. Sometimes they need to hear, “Hey, you’d be FANTASTIC at ________.” Or maybe “I have a skill set in _______, and can help you.” Maybe it’s “My friend Angela is incredible at ______, let me connect you to her.”

I think it’s my responsibility to not just stick my toe in the leadership waters, but to cannonball in and help my people where I can.

I want big ripples. I want ripples that last long after I’ve gone. When you treat every interaction and conversation as one that could have a ripple effect, you start to be more conscious of your word choice.

And that’s a good thing.

I hope you’re cannonball’ing in this week.

Holiday season…keep your head above water with these 3 tips! (And a give away!)

November 30, 2016 by Amber 10 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 marking 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 is the 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. Want one of your very own? This link will get ya $10 bucks off! Merry Christmas to you! You can also sign up for her newsletter right now and get an additional 10% off! #everylittlebit

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.

These stick on my desk next to my keyboard but I can always stick them on a notebook/binder if I am heading into a meeting. It keeps it visible, helps me keep it current, and gives me that oh so goo feeling I get when i get to cross it off! 🙂 It’s the simple things people!

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

What strategies help you stay focused?

Comment below and enter to win your very own multi pack of post its pads courtesy of Office Depot!

Give away giveN,

Amber

Creating and using interactive notebooks…a video series!

July 12, 2016 by Amber 1 Comment

My beast is going into Pre-AP biology next year and her future teacher gave her a summer “preparation” assignment to help get her biology mind right. One of the resources shared was a link to a short video on the interactive notebook that they be using in his class. It walked them through creating the tool that they would be using all year long. As I watched I noticed that there was a whole series available! As I watched all of them in fascination, my mind was spinning with all of its admin/classroom implications. I completely want to make these for my leadership team! What a great way to keep notes, track meetings, etc…basically keep all of our resources in one place!

Do you have PLC leaders? Team leaders? Both? What a fun way to help them stay organized! With back to school specials happenings all over right now, you could score these and have a BTS gift that helps them and makes your crafty heart happy, cheap!

In addition to the “construction of the notebooks” the videos talk you through adding pockets, a bookmark, and a tie to keep it all closed! Content possibilities here are endless. They could be for bell ringers, for labs, or even as a basic content specific portfolio! Adding pockets lets them keep up with handouts, but also ensures a “fun” way to keep them organized and involved in their learning. Never underestimate how a “fun” engaging an activity like this could be for your students. Decorating and creating a piece that they are excited about would hopefully make even dreary note taking a bit more fun!

Craftily organized,

Amber

Tips & tricks to planning as a principal, part 1

June 29, 2016 by Amber 3 Comments

This summer I find myself able to actually THINK ahead…something last summer didn’t allow, as I had NO idea what I was supposed to even be thinking about!

I’m a planning nerd, which is surprising considering how much is always happening in this role. Someone shared via Twitter recently, ”

The principal’s day is spent in hundreds of brief tasks, many lasting under a minute. An hour has upwards of 50-60 separate interactions with students, parents, custodians, and teachers. The flow of interactions is nonstop, hectic, and often unpredictable…”

That so perfectly describes the frantic pace…my goal for 16-17 year is to work ahead, and be ahead enough, that I can stay in the flow of productivity. That flow, if you’re a Covey fan, is in quadrant II.

In order to make that happen, I have a few tricks that I think will make this easier. Starting with, a strong PROACTIVE approach. I was so reactive in 15-16. Planning is essential to keep my mind AHEAD. And while yes, there are cheaper versions out there, investing in a quality planner makes a world of difference. They are of better quality, which means I can put my hands on them daily, and they aren’t going to fall apart and have to be redone mid-year. (Which I definitely don’t have time for!!)

An Erin Condren Life Planner… As techie as I am, I have to have a paper planner. I take this with me to all of my meetings. I make notes on the daily pages if I meet with individual teachers or parents, which can come in handy. (Record keeping as an admin can be extremely helpful.) While I don’t take “notes” per say, documenting dates and timelines are very important. It also allows me to track each year what we’d done the year before. If you’ve never bought an Erin Condren, you can use this link to get $10 off…every little bit helps!
A sturdy notebook. This was probably my favorite “trick” from last year. No matter what meeting I went to, district, parent, team, PLC, etc. I took all the notes in this one notebook. It has my requisite happy quote on the cover. It had everything I needed from week to week, for easy reference, and I was able to mark to do’s with highlights and post its. Next years, 16-17 is ever better, because it has a built-in task list which will make it even easier to keep track of my “must do” items. Being able to design the cover seems so materialistic but all my favorites? Plus more happy quotes? Guaranteed to make me smile and during the year, you need all the smiles you can get!

Convert your to-do list into an accomplishable list. I love lined post-its. They are just the right size for me to jot everything down. And I do, jot EVERYthing down. It becomes a revolving stressor on my desk…. Moving forward I am going to plan on utilizing the 1-3-5 method of daily to-do’s. Feasibly, you can only accomplish one big thing, three medium-ish things, and five smaller things in addition to all the day to day happenings. Making yourself choose a 1-3-5 list means the things you accomplish will be the things you chose to do—rather than what happened to get done. Prioritizing ruthlessly seems to be the only way to actually get done what’s most important in the little time that we have as educators.

Part 2 I will talk about what you can be doing this summer to get yourself ahead for the 16-17 school year! I’ll also be highlighting a Principal/Teacher organizational system from the Principal Principles. I can’t wait to share!!

Summer scheduleN,

Amber

Use your summer to RE-ENERGIZE! #txeduchat

May 26, 2015 by Amber Leave a Comment

I was able to host the Sunday evening #txeduchat, which is just what it sounds like…a chat designed for Texas educators. It takes place on Sunday evenings from 8-9pm, cst.

This Sunday we talked about what summer looks like to educators, regardless of their role in education. The amount of time we all get off varies, and what down time actually looks like varied even more! Time without students can be seen as “free” time, and a chance for teachers, principals, for everyone…to relax, refresh, and hopefully, re-energize!

To some, it meant a complete unplugging. A set amount of time that is spent completely edu-free. To some, being “off” meant time to educationally “play”…explore resources without feeling pressured, to tackle projects that we just don’t have time for in the hustle bustle of the school year.

To me, it’s an opportunity to clear the palette of the previous year and get my head right moving forward. I obviously take some legit time OFF as well, 🙂 but I like being able to plan when I have plenty of time and energy.

Try to get things done that allow you to focus more on being in the moment during the school year.

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I’ve mentioned that I keep a desk calendar where I scribble (literally) the things that we have go on, any appointments I’ve had and school events that we hosted. I keep all the months throughout the year and then during the summer, grab a fresh new pretty calendar for the upcoming year and make notes on each month as a reminder of “things” to not forget. I go back through and make notes of when we had what, as a launching place for what we’d done the previous year.

My other gem is a notebook, preferably an Apple one, (creature of habit) and I write down all of the things that could have gone better throughout the year. If there was a picture day snafu, or a scheduling conflict, I make a note about what happened. If there is an easy solution, I write that down as well. It’s mostly meant to help me reflect, privately, about situations that could have gone better. It can be as easy as “Inform grade levels how they will be leaving the assembly BEFORE the speaker starts next year.” to “Remember to print positive emails to include in personnel files for summative purposes.”

Here is the archive from the chat, lots of really great things were shared. I also highly recommend Angela Watson‘s Truth for Teachers podcast titled, “How to use summer to re-energize your teaching and yourself” as another resource.

Next week’s chat will be hosted by Angela Maier’s developer of the “You matter” movement and manifesto! Sunday may 31st, 8pm, CST! You don’t want to miss it!!

chattingly,

Amber