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

Birthday book cart and #principalselfies

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What in the world did principals do years ago without the IG and FB groups of the world?

 

All the great ideas are ideas that people share that you can adapt, tweak, and make your own just make my principal world so happy.

 

For example, the great Jessica Gomez on IG shared her birthday book cart. She gifts every student at her campus, (and every teacher too!) a book on their birthday!

To make this work for my Wolves, I waited until we had our Scholastic book fair, and then used a considerable amount of points to let some of my teacher leaders choose books across a variety of levels and interests. (and yes, I even used points to buy the cart!)

I used book bins to sort and arrange on my cart. I have big vinyl plans to decorate the end to reflect what our goal is…for every student to find a book they WANT to read. I bought picture books, I bought comic books, I bought graphic novels. I bought books Pernille Ripp said I HAD to have and I bought #allthebooks Brad Gustafson said I needed.

I am ready.

My plan is to use our campus master list to announce their birthdays on the announcements, have them come down to the office, check their name off the list, and grab a book! Holiday birthdays will be delivered when we get back, and I’ll do summer birthdays before we leave!

I mean, really! Who wouldn’t want to choose a book from all these choices???

I’m going to add a sticker inside each with a birthday message, like so!

Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 - Instant Film Camera (White)

Now how could one “level up” the birthday cart?? What if you added PRINCIPAL SELFIES, for instance? What better way to let a student celebrate their special day with a mini pic of you and them and their birthday book?? This this mini camera was gifted to me,  Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 – Instant Film Camera (White), to instantly print out a mini pic! I saw this idea shared from the #momsasprincipals group, and as a result, I was hooked! This camera is relatively inexpensive and provides an instant keepsake for my Wolves. Win, win, win…

 

 

 

 

 

Combined, hopefully, all our Wolves will feel celebrated on their special day in addition to getting something new to read! Am thankful for a PLN that not only does great things but shares them out so that we can all celebrate those around us!

 

How do you celebrate your students and staff on their special day??

 

 

Selfies &

Likeable vs Trustworthy Leadership

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We had the opportunity to hear from Anthony Mohammad today as a leadership team. (How very fortunate am I that we have these kinds of opportunities as a district?!) It was a great presentation on the four skills of a transformational leader.

I don’t know anyone who is a principal who wouldn’t want to be thought of a transformational leader…typically, same as our teachers, we WANT to do a good job. We show up, we work hard, we make strong decisions for our students and our staff. We listen, we support, we encourage. I would say the same things about our staff.

One of the pieces today that gave me pause was when we stopped down to parse out likeability versus trustworthiness. He cautioned against doing things that may make us liked, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into trustworthiness. As in confusing the two, in regards to what and how we made decisions. You can like someone you don’t trust, and you can 100% trust someone you don’t actually like. Don’t make decisions to be liked, if it compromises your trustworthiness.

I’m going to ASSUME you can also be liked and trustworthy…but those statements seriously gave me pause on the things I do for our staff…do I do them to be liked? Could that be sacrificing likeability OVER trustworthiness? If the intents are seen as less than genuine (tho as my 2 on the Enneagram will tell you, THEY ARE ALL GENUINE!) could that make me be seen as LESS trustworthy if so?

It made my head spin around for quite a bit. You can like me all day long, but if you don’t trust me, then can I be effective at impacting practice, pedagogy or instruction? If you don’t like me, would you want to commit 100% to be on our team, a team where I, by definition of position, am a cheerleading face for? Can you be open, and vulnerable and grow with someone you don’t LIKE?

 

At the end of the day, I hope that I can answer both. There’s a great line in “A League of Their Own” that says…both? Can’t we do both?” and that’s what I am going to go with. I am going to go with where my heart is…which is trying to accomplish both. Being consistent with a “best for kids” mentality, while supporting a love you where you ARE, but never allowing you to stay there for our team…trying to be trustworthy, but not unlikeable.

 

Are you a “both” kinda leader? Or do you think one is sacrifice-able for the other? Sidenote…do males struggle with this? I need to find a male principal, who is a 2…this would be a fascinating conversation to have!!

 

Ponderingly &

Kick off January with #oneoword2019 and other activities with your class/campus!

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We get back to doing what we get to do on Monday. Our staff has a day of in-service and while the bulk of our day will be spent in planning, both vertically and as grade level teams, we do have a time set aside for us to come together as a staff and do a few fun things.

 

First, Stefanie MConnell over at Principal Principles had a great activity to make a wish for the new year involving glitter, which is always a win! Added fireworks and viola! We’re ready to make a wish as a campus and I literally am so excited about glittermagedon. Stefanie is a great follow and has plenty of inspiration for campus leaders!

 

Second, we’re going to talk about our #oneword2019 as a staff and the power of living life with intention. Darren Hardy wrote an AMAZING book called “The Compound Effect” where he talks about the impact little, inconsequentially, daily choices can have on the rest of our lives. Choosing to focus on one word can help remind us of our path and re-center us as we need it. I made bookmarks that we’ll hand out an hopefully, will become a visual reminder as we go through our semester. Download your copy here!

 

If you’re looking for a great book to kick off your new year with a purpose, his is a great one!

 

Lastly, we’ll have a toast…with ACTUAL TOAST, hahahahaha! I’m bringing all kinds of breads, butters, jams, and jellys! 🙂 We’ll have orange juice and toast to the new year together…I can’t wait! #snackiesnacks

 

 

I hope that your break was full of all your favorite things and you’re as ready to get back to work as I am. I have missed all my Wolves, the small and the tall! 🙂

 

Proud principal &

 

Seasonally supportive..leadership through the ebbs and flows with the Enneagram

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Melinda Miller and I joke about how October and February are the armpits of the school year. By October the newness of the year has worn off, the honeymoon is over and the hard work of growing students stretches out in front of you.

As an administrator, one of the challenges is for you to mentally maintain not only the joy of your staff but also the joy of yourself. It’s easy to forget that old adage of putting your own air mask on first before you try to help others, but its crucial during these critical months that you do think about your own well-being. Knowing what fills your bucket is a great first step.

I’ve become really interested in the Enneagram and how that applies to me, my marriage, and my staff. Determining our personality “type” through the Enneagram can help you see through the different lens from which we experience the world. Our personality is an effective way to express ourselves, but challenges arise when our points of view become rigid and we get stuck in automatic habits.(Unpack that thought…it’s a good one!) By discovering these unconscious patterns, we can lead more fully, more comprehensively, and hopefully, encourage our people to understand the actions and reactions of those who operate around us. (You can take a free enneagram test here!)

There are nine basic types of personalities. Here are, according to the Enneagram Institute are those 9 types. You can click on each type to read more.

1 THE REFORMER

The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic

2 THE HELPER

The Caring, Interpersonal Type: Demonstrative, Generous, People-Pleasing, and Possessive

3 THE ACHIEVER

The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptive, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious

4 THE INDIVIDUALIST

The Sensitive, Withdrawn Type: Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental

5 THE INVESTIGATOR

The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated

6 THE LOYALIST

The Committed, Security-Oriented Type: Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, and Suspicious

7 THE ENTHUSIAST

The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Distractible, and Scattered

8 THE CHALLENGER

The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational

9 THE PEACEMAKER

The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent

 

At the beginning of our school year, our team leaders and PLC leaders all took the test, and it’s been interesting to see those types manifest through the course of the year. I abide by the theory of “If I can predict it, I can prevent it.” and being able to understand on a different level has been very helpful.

Especially in this season, as a 2, I can take on too much and can tend to “feel” too deeply when my attempts to please all, aren’t successful. At least, through the Enneagram, I recognize that as a handicap on MY end, versus those around me.

 

Lead on, my friends through the holiday season…keep your eyes up, your chins up, and your weight down!

 

Joyfully &

I wish you knew… #leadership

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A couple of weeks ago I posted something on the Instagram about how I had a week where I felt like I was underwater the whole time. You’ve had those weeks, right?

The ones where you are giving all that you’ve got but it doesn’t quite seem like enough? When your days are long and your nights are too? When despite feeling like you’ve done #ALLthethings, your husband isn’t happy, your kids aren’t happy, and you just can’t win?

 

Well, that was that week for me. So I had posted a lil’scripture that spoke to my heart, b/c that is what that space is for me. A place for sharing what speaks to me. I think I’ve shared this before, but quite a while ago, I was in a place and position that was not only toxic emotionally, but also professionally. I couldn’t see past the forest for the trees. Sharing a positive “happy” on FB (which then led to IG) made me feel better. It was a good “footprint” to leave but it also was a reminder that there is always something to be positive about.

Anywho, I had a teacher in the hallway who told me that she felt so much better after seeing my post, b/c it made her feel better about also feeling like she was drowning, and that she didn’t know I ever felt that way. 

Ya’ll. It stopped me dead in my tracks!

Those quotes I post each day speak to my heart, and are so directed at me…it just so happens that someone usually also feels impacted by it, but genuinely…I go back to that Zig Zigler quote that says “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” which is OH so true for me!  It then made me think about other things that I wish people knew taht probably isn’t obvious froma quick social media scroll…

  • I cry when I am stressed, it’s the go to emotion…which is super annoying, but doesn’t mean I am weak. 
  • I worry that it actually does mean I am weak.
  • Imposter syndrome…it’s a real thing.
  • I once had a co-worker rebuff my attempt at asking a question b/c “I get paid to speak, why would I be asking her anything?”
  • I can be a great mom, a great wife, and a great principal…but rarely at the same time. 
  • I worry more than I should about what people think.
  • I make really quick decisions.
  • I hate working alone…and am so thankful to always have really great people around me, balancing out those quick decisions.
  • I get ridiculously nervous in front of my district peers but am completely fine in front of an audience of 1000. 
  • I don’t want to be average, ever. in anything.
  •  I have a 5, 10, and 20 year plan. 
  • I have trust issues. Please see #6.
  • George Couros is like my edtech big brother…and without him…eek. I don’t even want to imagine who I’d call when I need, well, #allthethings.
  • I have people I consider BEST friends…that I see every other year-ish. (When I was named principal, I called my husband…then conference called and Joe and Tony. We’d met IRL once.)
  • I regularly can’t fall asleep at night, worrying about what I haven’t yet accomplished. 

 

All that to say…unless you KNOW someone…you don’t actually know them.

Unless you KNOW someone…you don’t actually KNOW them. You only know what you think.

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Making assumptions, or heaven forbid, judging someone if you’re not a part of their circle is not only unfair but also usually inaccurate. Most of us are just trying to be the very best we can be, and to do the very best we can.

Give grace friends…the world could use more grace.

 

Reflectingly &