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

When connecting hurts…

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I woke up today to the heartbreaking news about a former family. There were two years in a row where I only spent one year on each campus. One might think I was there too briefly to make any connections, but of course, any educator knows that isn’t true. Each staff spent a year being a part of my family, and all of those students were who I spent my days with. It’s impossible not to build relationships. We were connected, albeit briefly.

This family, in particular, not only stood out because of her sweet 1st grader, but also b/c of her precious soon to be kindergartener. That baby girl was dressed to the 9’s each and every time I saw her, no jammy days for her! As a girl mom, 🙂 this was always so impressive to me! I left before she became a student, but I ran into the momma every now and then, and we were facebook friends, so ya know, only as far away as a picture comment. I even ordered tee shirts from her for my office staff this past Halloween. We were still connected. 

Hearing that her sweet baby girl was killed in a car accident yesterday has just devastated me. I am sad for her family. I am sad for her school. I am sad for her principal, her teacher, her classmates. I am sad that she won’t be a first grader. I am sad that that mom woke up today having to remember that news. I am sad.

What we do…it’s living life with people. It’s going to baseball games, it’s going to the hospital when they are sick. It’s sending cookies when there’s a broken limb. These are things I do, not because I want to Instagram them, but because I genuinely LOVE these Wolves. I had a parent this year thank me for loving her kids like they were mine…but they kind of are, ya’ll. My role is committing to being there, for not just their academic needs, but also their emotional ones. I want to be remembered because I cared, but more importantly I want them to FEEL that I care, now. I sent a post card last year to all 667 of them. Not because I had to, but because I want them to know I know their name, that I care about each one of them. I recognize my role in preparing students for their future, but we have to remember that our present is pretty darn important too. It fills our days with more joy than a regular “business” person could possibly imagine, but it can also bring us to our knees. I don’t know how to lead without forming these connections…and I don’t think I am supposed to, but today’s like today, hurt.

Value your connections, friends. We are blessed to spend our days seeing the present version of who they are, and dreaming about all that they can become. Of course, we all abide by the notion that once you’ve been “my student”, you’ll always be “my student”. The fragility of our relationships is never felt quite as much as in moments like this. Know that you are spending time with our communities future. You are modeling what a caring, involved, invested adult looks like in the lives of our students. You are connected. 

Hug your babies tonight. Life can change in an instant.

 

Sadly,

Amber

 

Thinking August PD? Ways to innovate for your staff!

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Summer is always a calmer time. It allows for reflection, for refocus, and time to plot your course moving forward. For us, that means thinking about what professional development we are going to offer when our staff comes back in August. Knowing that we don’t want a sit and get kind of offering I’ve been doing research on different ways we can offer what we know has to be done,  but in a manner that sets an example. Here’s what we’re contemplating:

  • Starbucks model: What’s the best part about Starbucks? the laid back, friendly vibe. Set up your room for tables of two or four and have drinks and light snacks available. Provide each table with conversation starters, campus questions, or trends that you want them to think about. Have them record their reflections via tweets with your campus hash tag. Show the tweets to the whole campus via Twitterfall or Tweetbeam.
  • Your own “Idea Smackdown”: While I’ve seen this done at Edcamps statewide sharing apps, how fun would it be to have your teachers stand up and in 30 seconds share their best classroom management idea, small group math station ideas, or guided reading template tip? Whatever your building initiative is, you can tailor this strategy to support it! Time it and go!
  • Breakout Edu: Adam Bellow not only enjoys his steak the RIGHT way, but he is also the CEO of Breakout Edu. Breakout EDU, founded in 2015 by James Sanders and Mark Hammons, provides kits to schools and districts allowing for immersive game play. Specifically, with either a wooden box kit ($119) or a plastic version ($89), a group of individuals has all of the tools required to play one of over 200 games accessed freely on the Breakout EDU website—some developed by the founders, others created by the users themselves. What better way to get your team thinking like a team, than to throw them into Breakout Edu?
  • SpeedGeeking: I’ve used speedgeeking  (similar to speed dating!) as a way to introduce teachers to new technology applications in a short amount of time. What if you took that same concept and applied to different initiatives happening on your campus? You could also use this method for getting out all of the mundane BTS to do’s, like messages from the nurse, secretary, data clerk, etc.
  • a Twitter slow chat: We read “Teach Like a Pirate” several years ago and used this twitter chat model.  Not only did it encourage them to be more active on the Twitterverse, but it allowed connections from across the nation as all kinds of educators jumped into the conversation.
  • FB book study: Create a closed group. Use Adobe Spark to create discussion questions. Schedule them to post using Postcron. Allow your teachers to answer them within a scheduled window of time. Encourage conversations by responding to posts and asking follow-up questions. We used this last year for Couros’s “Innovator’s Mindset”. 
  • Take a cruise: Set up tables (but call them “ports of call!!”) with different ideas, articles, information that you need/want to be shared. Invite your teachers to “take a cruise” and visit however many ports you want the to visit. Create a passport where they can record their thoughts/reflections. I anticipate having “ports” they must visit in addition to “fun” ones as well!

 

The most important thing about whatever you plan is to remember who you are planning it for.

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 I know of a campus that took their team to a swim park last year. Thank goodness I knew better to try something like that, 😉 but now having had my staff for two years,  I am thankful that they are willing to do some of these unconventional PD ideas with me!

 

 

PD planN,

Amber

5 things a principal can do this summer for 17-18 …also, principal checklists! #leadership

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Summer has either already begun for you, or is JUST around the corner. I am sure there are many things a principal can do in the summer, but use your time intentionally to get yourself ready! June is my “close it up month” that I spend wrapping a big red bow around our 16-17 school year, so that in July, after my extremely welcomed week off, I can move forward with all of my 17-18 plans.  I’m also a big fan of checklists…there’s just something that makes me feel that much more accomplished when I can scratch something off of a list. 🙂

There are a few things though that need to happen first. As a leader, it’s important that you determine what you NEED to do, in order to decide WHAT to do. At this point in my principal-ing, I have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen. I know what is going to be stressful at the beginning, I know what I am going to need to get ahead of…and June is my month to get all my plans in place. Working a month ahead this past year was easily the best thing I changed from year one to year two.

  1. Data: From state testing to student independent DRA levels, I can crunch the majority of the data I need to make instructional decisions in the fall. When looking at class placements I want to use DATA to determine which teachers were the most successful with certain student groups and be intentional with student placements. I know, for example, that one of my first grade teachers, showed a 100% increase on her ESL students this year. Each student made at least one years level of growth from August to May in TELPAS. Makes placing certain student pods easier when I have data to support it!
  2. Schedule what you can NOW. I’ve already ordered my life planner for next year.  Some events you just know are going to take place each year and can get on the calendar. I use my Erin Condren from LAST year to help map out events and days for this upcoming 17-18 year. Things that took place in a certain month, but that I am unsure of an exact date for, I write out to the side. This planner has daily pages in addition to monthly “at a glance” pages. However you choose to stay organized, this is the time to get your skeleton in place for the next school year.
  3. I still use this trusty notebook to take notes in throughout the year at all the meetings I attend. It’s really handy to have them all in one place and I can refer back to it during a meeting very easily. I just don’t use/refer back to an electronic system, trust me, I’ve tried. I take advantage of summer down time to flip back through all those notes to reflect. My goal is to be able to plan better for the next time, or just to refresh my memory in general of where we were last August, September, etc. I also use the EC version because of its bulleted lists out to the side. I find those to be really helpful in a meeting to help me discern between notes and things I better get done.
  4. Get a head start on your social media! Our district calendar is set. I know the dates we’ll hold our PLC meetings, I know when report cards are going out. All of the items I can auto schedule now, I do. This allows me a sense of calmness to recognize that my BIG items will be shared automatically, but I can still push out timely content when I’m out and about in classrooms in the fall.
  5. Take. a. vacation. Unconnect. (yes, I made that word up.)  Intentionally disconnect. I’ve taken to un-following the social media accounts that stress me out or make me doubt myself. (No guilt!) Give yourself a refresh. Your campus and staff will be all the better for it. Take the time to remember your “why”. One of our staff development activities in August will be to share our individual “why” and have them hanging in the hallway. I’m really excited about it! (our template!)

Five easy things…but what about the rest of the summer? I’ve been working on checklists for my assistant principal and I to work on. If you work in Canva, let me know and I’ll share an editable copy with you to adjust as you’d like. What would you add?

 

I hope you have a fabulous last few days, or weeks!

 

SummerN,

Amber

No teacher summer slide…FUN summer PD for teachers! #TTESS #PD

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I’m sure the last thing a teacher is thinking about right now is summer professional development, but! Melinda Miller is an amazing principal that I get to call friend, conference roomie, and creative collaborator! We’ve teamed up this week to bring our campuses a fun opportunity for summer professional development This is obviously not required, but some fun alternatives and for my Wolves, a chance to “win” a free day off in the fall for every bingo they complete. I’ve also offered a free PD book of their choice for each bingo! The activities are easy, and hopefully, something they can use to grow and stretch over the summer. The effectiveness of professional development depends on how carefully educators think, plan out, and implement what they are learning. These choices support not only our campus learning initiatives but also support our state evaluation system which asks each year for teachers to develop a professional growth plan. These are launching points for each teacher for their self assessment that we do in August.

I want our school to be a place where both adults and students learn. Staff who routinely develop their own knowledge and skills model for students that learning is important and useful. Their ongoing development creates a culture of learning throughout the school and supports our efforts to engage students in learning. A school that prioritizes staff development demonstrates that it is serious about all educators performing at higher levels. As a result, the entire school is more focused and effective. These activities are more FUN than what we typically see in a PD setting, but this is also a GREAT time of year for teachers to remember that learning can (and should) be fun!

Download here!

 

My teachers are done as of a half day tomorrow, so I hope they use some of these squares to connect with me over the summer, my halls are so lonely without them!

 

Summer planN,

Amber

Math Mysteries for your Students

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Dum da dum dum… duuuuuuum!
And that’s not a lolly pop offer, 🙂
I’m talking mysteries…plus math! Found a fabulous reminder this morning of a site I’ve used with GT students before, although it can also be used whole group. It combines problem solving with their natural mystery loving tendencies.
(Side note: Not a sponsored post, I just thought these were so fun for my third & fourth graders!)
It’s a great site for teachers. It also offers audio support for those who have difficultly reading and has the option to print each mystery out. You can even choose from different levels of mysteries. Challenge your students to write their own via google docs and let their friends solve…a cross curricular activity at its finest!
These would be great centers, a homework alternative for problem solving practice, or a great way to close out a classroom lesson. I know that energy and creativity can start to lag here in May, but this is an easy enough idea that can extend into something you could work into your regular rotation for the fall. I know your writing teachers would appreciate the push!
Enjoy!
Sherlock Amberolmes