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

It’s spring…how can you support teachers when they’re tired?

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This is the time of year I struggle more than any other. Spring in Texas is just hard. The weather is wonky. It’s testing season. My teachers are exhausted. My students are spring fever-ing. Spring break is past, and there’s much to do before we can call it summer.

I can’t fix all the things.

I can buy more chocolate, but I can’t add hours to the day. I can bring in food, but I can’t take away testing stress. I can give you a break from a particular friend, but I can’t guarantee excellent behavior. I can smile and give high fives, but at this point that may actually be more annoying than helpful. Recognizing that everyone is tired is hard for me to handle. I am thankful we have a 4 day weekend coming up because I just want my people to be able to take a break. To refresh and renew. To pause and to reflect. Their commitment level is so intense, I recognize how exhausting that is…and I can’t take that away. But it’s in my very nature to WANT to!

What I can do is be supportive, be visible in my support. Keep buying that chocolate. Keep voicing my appreciation and encouraging them to finish.  I can show kindness…if that’s in the form of a pizza or a protein cookie, I can (and should!) know my  people well enough to be able to offer it up. I can be by their side, in the trenches, in whatever that looks like for them. The call to support and mentor my teachers is always important, but even more so when they are tired. I can maintain the calm, lessening the noise from outside that impacts their crucial final weeks. Provide opportunities to vent or to cry or to pause…and make sure they know that it is OK. It’s OK for passionate, committed people to be tired. That doesn’t make you any less awesome. It makes you human. It makes you an educator in the spring.

 

I would love to hear what you do, in particularly, for individual teachers, to support your team/campus this time of year!

 

CheerleadN,

Amber

All about changes? Remember this… #IMMOOC & an @ASCD giveaway

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It’s easy to have great ideas, or energy, or a big grand vision. The hard part is remembering  that it is your experiences that led you to a place where those ideas, or big changes you want to make, is your reality. Making changes is not inherently bad, unless it’s at the expense of damaging relationships or sacrificing the integrity of your campus/classroom. All of what you’ve seen or read, or been exposed to is what helped shape who you are today. From things that you remember or feel from when you were in school, from coworkers or administrators that taught you what you didn’t want to be, to the role and mindset you’re currently in…there are a variety of influences that helped create the educator you are, right now.

But that’s not where everyone else is.

You have to be careful in your passion and zeal to make an impact that you don’t leave your people behind. This is one of the reason they say significant change takes such a long time, there has to be a level of trust in place before people can take risks. I met an amazing educator at #EMPOWER17 who took a risk in opening up to a mentor, one who also happened to be his evaluative supervisor. At the end of the year, when his sharing and risk taking led to some evaluative push back, he choose to take a demotion and move to another district. That trust had been shattered and he knew he wouldn’t be able to ever feel safe taking those risks again. That district lost out on someone who wanted and was willing to be innovative and take risks.

I also think that it’s hard to drill holes in the boat, if you’re busy paddling. If you’re the only person moving your ship forward, for whatever reason, means there’s going to be plenty of time & room for people to be drilling. Keeping your team involved and feeling that they have a voice or say in what is happening will help keep them invested and feel as if they are a part of the change, instead of change being done to them.

 

What do you do to ensure your whole ship is helping you paddle? I have a copy of “Bold Moves for Schools” to give to some fabulous reader who comments below. I would love to hear how YOU are keeping your ship afloat!

 

Captain Amber

Reflection is personal power… & other people might grow too! #LeadLAP #IMMOOC, week 5

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I started blogging in 2005. It was something new, something different to engage my 4th graders. I didn’t even contemplate the power that using it for reflection would do later in my career. Permission from my parents was the easy part. More difficult was convincing the technology powers that be that it was safe and also purposeful. I had to present the whats and whys to the district’s technology department and convince them….awkward is an understatement.  At the time, literally, they told me, “We don’t think anyone will actually read it, but as long as you don’t mention our district/your school, it should be fine.”

Can you even?

Thankfully, I did it anyway. And whether anyone read it then or not, is irrelevant. I used my blog with my students, through David Warlick’s hosting tool, and it was amazing. I had to upload pictures to separate hosting site, and then code the HTML to get the picture to share to the blog. My fourth graders loved it…we used it for our version of homework and I tricked them into writing the best lab reports ever by promising to share the best ones with the whole wide world.

While much has changed, including the transition of my blog to being a tool used to teach/guide teachers while I was in the tech department, or administratively through my leadership roles, I still use it to share, to reflect, and to connect. The ability to chronicle my growth through the posts and experiences is irreplaceable. The comments and people I have met through this space has made me better.

Reflection allows continuous improvement, with both personal and professional implications.

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 It’s what I want for our staff, and our students. Of course I should expect no less for myself. By putting it out there, in a space that allows for feedback, and or criticism, it allows me to process in a completely different way than just talking to my peers when we have time. (ha!) Life is busy, and the days are long…I don’t see many of the people who push my thinking on a regular basis, but through blogging, I can definitely feel more connected, and vice versa. It’s where I genuinely hold fast to that the things I tweet or share, are aligned to my true thoughts. I never want to share something that isn’t aligned with my philosophy or vision…and my experiences via my blog back that all up. That matters to me. It’s why I don’t mind writing as casually as I do, because my favorite thing ever is when I interact with someone and they say that I am just like they thought I would be from reading my blog…(hopefully, that’s a good thing!)

How does that connect to #LeadLAP? I bought “Lead like a Pirate”  while at #EMPOWER17 last week. (To say I read it quickly is an understatement. I devoured it.) I so wish I’d had it my first year as an administrator and think there were so many valuable nuggets that resonated with me on a professional level. I highlighted and tabbed so many places…again makes me wish I could figure out the darn #booksnap wave! How this connects to this blog are the powerful words Burgess and Houf used in talking about reflection,  “…as leaders, we often rob ourselves of this much-needed time to stop, slow down, and improve our own practice.”

Just b/c we’re in the roles that we are in doesn’t mean we should be satisfied in staying where we are.

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If I want our teachers to move past “proficient” in TTESS (our state evaluative system), my word, shouldn’t I also have growth expectations for myself? I use my blog to set those goals, and to hold my self accountable. It’s the only way I know how to do this thing we call leadership, and I am thankful that there are others out there that are doing the same.

 

Blog writeN & accountability seekN,

Amber

The recipe for fail proof feedback, #empower17

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One of the benefits of being able to attend #empower17, ASCD’s conference is kinda getting a feel for powerhouse speakers. Ones that you know are going to be dynamic, knowledgeable, and have a proven track record for awesome. Robyn Jackson for me is one of those people. She is calm, she is clear…and she never fails to blow. my. mind.

Her session was on feedback and how to ensure that it was not only delivered The gem from today, amongst the many, was an illustration she gave on why it is SO important to give our master teachers feedback and how powerful it can be. Todd Whitaker is 100% passionate that the only way to get our school system to get better is to make every teacher like the best teacher, and how can you do that? By giving feedback that allows growth…but even your BEST teacher deserves quality feedback.

So imagine you spend the entire day in the kitchen, working on a recipe. Working so hard, giving it your best. You present the dish to your spouse, and what feedback do you get? Typically an “It was great.” or a “Don’t make that again.” Super helpful, right? So same recipe, and you give it to your nephews…and what do they say? “Can I have some ketchup, please?” They dump it all over the plate, essentially drowning out all those flavors and changing the flavor to something different completely. Now think about if you offer that same meal…to your best friend. She savors every bite…she moans and groans, “Is that rosemary? Do I taste lemon?” Her comments validate your efforts, drawing out every flavor. Then she says, “Ohhhhh….girl. You know what? What would happen if you added a dash of cayenne? That would be just a little kick!” So what do you do? You’re so excited, you remake that recipe, adding in what she suggested, just to see how it goes.

Think about the power in how to harness that to give feedback to your teachers. Do you give them all or nothing? Super generic, that deflates their energy? “I loved that lesson, you were awesome!”

Do you negate all their efforts, covering their energy and efforts with a different flavor? “I saw that you did this, yadda yadda,  but have you ever thought about assessing with this instead?”

Or do you dial down, identify the greatness, pointing out the facets that made it SO powerful…and then offer one lil’tweak that ENHANCES what you saw?

If feedback is going to be what moves our teachers along their own path of excellence, being able to offer specific, genuine suggestions is going to be what you as the LEADER, not the manager, can add to the equation! Your effectiveness will then be measured in how far you can bring your staff along, versus their compliance in just doing what you’ve told them to do…and that my friends, is leadership!

 

Recipe followN,

Amber

 

#empower17, step out of your lane! Initiate conversations!

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I have the benefit of being at the annual ASCD conference, #EMPOWER17, this weekend, and as always, there are so many incredible things to learn and to see.

But the best thing that happened today? Completely random and happened because I just have no social fear. We were walking back and forth down one of the hallways deciding where we were going to next and noticed a passionate conversation that I finally just couldn’t help but just jump into. Like literally, stopped and said, “Hey, what are ya’ll talking about because it looks incredibly interesting.”

It was real talk, ya’ll. It was about impacting parents, impacting students…it was about changing the world when the target of change keeps moving. We talked about how very hard leadership is, no matter what your population looks like. We talked about the dangers of vulnerability, in evaluative settings. Of the inherent dangers of having a plan, sharing that plan…and the bravery it takes to make that plan happen. It was intense, and it was amazing. And all because I’m bouncey and random. 

Be brave, edufriends. If you’re at #empower17, step out of the comfort zone of the people who you know. If you’re at a conference, MAKE CONNECTIONS. Be willing to initiate conversations, regardless of the lane you find yourself in today. You never know when you might develop a relationship, learn a lesson, or get a burst of inspiration. Angela was so impressed (Do you know Angela? She is pretty darn amazing.) that she’s going to meet back up with Ms. Hairston this weekend and have her on her “Truth for Teachers” podcast.

I hope you’re following along the hashtag, #empower17, there is greatness being shared! And if you’re feeling brave? Share something too!

 

tweetingly,

Amber