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

Starting over as a leader… and a Thanksgiving staff freebie!

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This blog has always been a place of reflection and a sharing of my professional growth and struggles. It started as a tool within my 4th-grade classroom, became a place that exploded with my tech integrationist days, and then where I shared all I learned as a campus leader. Adding another change to the pile will allow me (and thereby, you!) to share a different perspective and once again, catalog what a different lens in education can teach us.

When I was named principal in 2015, I was very clear in my 3-5 year plan and knew even then that my next step would be off of a single campus. I thought that 3-5 years would allow me enough time to see if I was any good at it, but also, to be able to create systems that were sturdy enough, and grounded enough, that they would last past my tenure. That being said, I had no idea what the next step would be or how it would come about.

2020 though, seemed the perfect year to not only change jobs, but also districts, homes, and my realm of experiences doesn’t it?

Sheesh, y’all. It’s been a month. Bear with me as I document this, if no other reason than to be able to look back on it later and think, o\h yeah, that ALL happened, 😉

August 23- made a joke to one of my softball momma friends that we were thinking about listing our house

August 30- started packing (it escalated quickly!)

September 11- House goes on the market

September 16- Hey Amber…there’s a position in Crandall ISD, you should apply!

September 25- Interview. 2 pm: house goes under contract; 3 pm offered the position

September 28- Tell the Wolves. (cry, smile, cry some more)

October 6- Say goodbye to Wylie ISD! Say hello to Crandall ISD!

So now this journey has taken me to this new role, the Director of Technology and Innovation, which seems kinda apropos, doesn’t it? It takes all my techie-ness, all the years of supporting and working with teachers on #ALLTHETHINGS that made my lil’tech heart happy, and combines it with my leadership experiences, and ta-da! A whole new district to support, empower, and engage!

In the same way that I felt my teachers were my “students” in my class, this central office role feels similar.

Acclimate. Listen. Learn. Support. Encourage. Empower.

Learning all new systems, verbiage, all while only seeing 1/3 of people’s faces has made for some fast-paced days, but it has been fun! I look forward to supporting campus leaders (and all y’all!) with ways you can support your staff, but on-campus and virtually…in a pandemic and hopefully, out!

 

For those who read this far…yay you! Here’s a FUN & FREE Thanksgiving activity you can use with your staff! A turkey hunt! Get creative and let teams decorate their turkey with feathers found in their classrooms or homes if you are virtual!

 

I’ll still be sharing admin friendly tips, tricks, and of course, make sure I share all the thing that go wrong, 😉 so you can learn from me as we go along!

 

Here’s hoping this Wednesday finds you thankful!

Gooble GobbleN & oh so

Checking in our principal groups…are you hanging in there?

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You have almost made it to the end of 2020!!! I know this is true because we are getting ready to shut down one of our Facebook Groups and re-open the HOLIDAY group.

If you are a principal, assistant principal, director, and or district administrator then this email applies to you! You are getting this email because you might be in one or both of our PRINCIPAL Facebook groups.

Staff Motivation and Appreciation – Click here to ANSWER questions and join if you are a campus administrator.

Principal Productivity – Click here to ANSWER questions and join if you are a campus administrator.

If you are already in one or both of these groups, when you click JOIN GROUP you will automatically be added to the HOLIDAY GROUP without having to answer the questions!

SATURDAY OCT. 31st the Staff Appreciation and Motivation group will be ARCHIVED until Jan. 1st. YES! You will still be able to access it and see it, you just can’t add anything to it. You can only add to the HOLIDAY group.

One Bazillion Holiday Ideas!!!

There are already a bazillion ideas for the holidays in the HOLIDAY group. You don’t even have to think about the holidays! Just scroll the group and BOOM!

I’m confused?

If you are completely confused by this PLEASE reply/comment and ask me!  I am confused most days this year, there has been a lot going on in my world! (at some point I’ll blog and document all those changes, :))

Alrighty then?! Let the holidays begin!!!

 

Appreciatively sharing &

 

 

 

 

*** Are you looking for a COMPREHENSIVE tool to help you tackle ALL your appreciation needs? We wrote a book about it!!

Valuing on (and off!) campus relationships, while #pandemicprincipaling

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Hey there. Remember me?

Goodness, gracious. It’s been a while. Quick update…we’re back at school. All my staff. Half my Wolves are here, half are doing remote learning.

If you’re interested in what our district is doing, peruse our back to school website when ya have time.

It is beyond amazing to have our students back, in either capacity. While we may have felt the stress and definitely had some decision making fatigue during our inservice days, once the kids walked in the door, everything became secondary to what we do here. Which is love and learn up our Wolves. My people have been…beyond amazing.  We’re at the two week mark and all is well.

That being said…

I feel like I am principal-ing two different schools, at the same time. Having to look at every activity, celebration, shout out through both lenses has been a dualing, pervasive thought each day. From walk-throughs to announcements…I’m doing my best to make sure every Whitt Wolf knows they are a part of the pack.

What we’re doing differently, plus what we’ve always done…

  • Announcements are filmed live on FB, but now done early. Each teacher is now “showing” them at 7:30, and virtual teachers are mirroring their screen to show their at-home learners. Protecting instructional time is always important, but I needed to make sure we were SUPER consistent with these this year.
  • Mailouts each month…in addition to all teachers giving me a celebration to write a postcard home about, we’re sending home a monthly “hey, you!” postcard. Here is our August version, and you can download an editable version here!

 

  • Everything we do, we do in two versions. One directed to remote learners, one to on-campus learners. From the brag board to calling home with celebration calls, the number I do for one is the number we do for the other.
  • Spirit days, think college tee-shirt days…we post pics of students on campus and invite families to share theirs from home via email or Facebook. We created a google form where parents can send us pics and ask questions weekly as well.
  • Campus communications are obnoxiously loaded with all the details, for all the things. I want them to hear as much as they can about well things are going here, because, at the nine-week mark, Wolves can change their mind and come back.

 

Last but not least…I created an admin version of a balance checklist. I’ve got a big copy on my desk AND a smaller version in my planner for September. I am determined to model balance and healthy habits for my people. I also shared this with my admin team and fellow principals. As much as we are leaning on each other right now, I feel like we all need the balance! (editable version)

I hope that YOUR start, whether it be in person, or online, has gone as smoothly as ours!

 

Hanging in there with ya &

5 Undeniable Reasons to Join the Secret Princi-Pal Gift Exchange

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It’s back!! One of the most fun things that MM and I have ever done is this principal gift exchange!

I’ve shared her post below. Come play with us!

 

It’s a secret principal gift exchange! What started as a small event between 22 people has grown into a national secret gift exchange. School leaders from all over the United States and Canada exchanged gifts in celebration of principals everywhere.

Since this event has grown to over 400 school leaders, my online principal BFF Amber Teamann decided to put together a blog post on how this gift exchange works. Even with hundreds of players, this is the easiest secret pal event ever. You can even use this with your staff!

Before I share the undeniable reasons you should join, let me be frank. The success of this exchange lies in YOUR hands. We can’t MAKE people send and do. But it sure is fun to watch it happen!!

Let’s get started!!!

Reason #1: All the cool kids are doing it.

Usually, we don’t get caught up in FOMO. However, this is super fun! Is there anything better than gifts? (FYI – My “Language of Appreciation at work is…..GIFTS! Buy me all the things.)

Last year this event received national attention from Elfster. Elfster showcased our exchange in their blog. Obviously, you want to be a part of this epic journey this summer.

Reason #2: Learn a super cool gift exchange app.

I mentioned Elfster. You are not going to believe how easy it is to be a part of this secret pal gift exchange. Our past members have gone on to use Elfster for personal and/or family gift exchanges. Have you ever wondered how to do your annual Christmas gift exchange online? Elfster is the app that’s going to solve all your secret pal problems for life.

Reason #3: Make new friends

Principaling is hard. We could all use more principal friends. What better way to make principal friends than to buy each other presents?

More than likely you’ve never met or heard of the person you will be paired with. Your secret princi-pal is going to fill out an online wishlist and profile so you can get to know them. By joining this event you will be forever connected to a supportive and fun group of school leaders.

Reason #4: You GET presents!!!

Like I mentioned above, my language of appreciation is receiving gifts. For those of you who know me or heard me talk about the survey my staff completed, you know how much I. LOVE. GIFTS. Maybe this is why I started this project. I need gifts.

Finally, as much as I love to receive gifts, I enjoy giving even more. GETTING gifts makes me feel good. GIVING gifts not only makes ME feel good but the person receiving the gift feels great. Win, win!!!

So how does this work? Below are the rules.

Rules/Shmules!

  • Principals, Assistant Principals, Central Office preferred. Other people may sign up. However, we try to stick to school leaders.
  • VOLUNTARY – This is a fun end of the year celebration for principals. Boy, do we need an end of the year celebration this year! Once you sign up you are agreeing to purchase a gift for your secret principal. However, we cannot force anyone to do anything.
  • If you are not able to send a gift, you forget, or you change your mind and do not want to play. YOU need to reach out to your person and let them know.
  • The spending limit is $35 + shipping. You are welcome to spend more or just a bit less. Try to keep in this range. If this is too much please do not sign up.
  • Download the app “Elfster” or sign up online. All sign-ups will happen digitally!
  • Exact exchange title is “2020 Secret Princi-PAL Gift Exchange”
  • The spending limit is $35 + shipping. You are welcome to spend more or just a bit less. Try to keep in this range.
  • Create your wishlist! The app Elfster allows you to create a wishlist that your secret principal can see and order from. We recommend you choose about 20 items they can pick from.
  • The past two years most principals have ordered directly from the Elfster app. It orders straight from Amazon. You do not necessarily have to go out to shop and mail your gift. However, I think sending a fancy package is fun and I usually do it that way:)
  • Mailing gift cards are also an option.
  • This year there is an option to choose if you are willing to ship outside the United States.

Important Dates…

 

  • June 19th is the LAST DAY to enroll. This is a hard stop! The app automatically draws names the next day and we will not add any more participants.
  • July 17th is when your secret principal should receive his/her gift.  In other words, you have about a month after you receive our principal’s name to send your gift.

Hopefully, I have covered all the rules. Use the comments section of this blog to post questions and/or suggestions so everyone can benefit.

 

Hope to see you there, princi-pals!!

Strategies to avoid #PrincipalPanic in the pandemic…it’s a thing.

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One little month away from the blog and literally everything has changed. What are you doing as a principal right now to help your people stay calm in this pandemic, while also taking care of you? I’m about ready for our structured, regularly stressful, typical work world to return. (Remember when STAAR test stress was the worst stress? Ugh. I miss those days!)

I’ve seen much on the Facebook or the twitters about what we “should” be doing or what “actually” matters right now. I’m just trying to not kick my children and husband out of the house, 🙂

That being said…I have seen some really good ideas come across and wanted to share some of what we’re doing with you…it’s definitely helping me stay sane and feel productive. There’s nothing worse than an unproductive enneagram 3!

 

Things I am doing for Amber:

  • waking up and working out, just an hour and a half later than usual
  • watching things I don’t usually have time to watch b/c I go to bed at 9pm like a 7th grader
  • walking the dog twice (TWICE!) a day
  • having a “schedule”…even if it’s a made-up in my head schedule that nobody knows about but me
  • eating snacks

 

Things I am doing for staff:

Taking care of my people is LITERALLY one of my favorite parts of my job, so not being able to get to them has been hard.

  • phone calls. ACTUAL voice calls to check in and say hi. I ask how they ARE, not what they’ve been doing. 
  • Sunday night motivation texts to teams, just an image or a gif
  • Keeping emails brief, supportive, and appreciative
  • Letting go of unreasonable expectations, just being REAL PROUD of a pivot none of us saw coming
  • Respecting that some are parenting, wife-ing/husband-ing, and teaching…all at the same time
  • weekly staff meetings, to see all the faces via google meet–trying to make these short, sweet, and involve something FUN!
  • I’m going to mail, as soon as the OCD fireman allows me to, one of these out to everyone

 

Things I am doing for lil’Wolves and families:

We are lucky enough to have an engaged community via social media, so I am able to utilize Facebook and know we’re getting exposure. Because I’ve read so much about the different ways Facebook links the algorithms of views and their feed, I know that the more engagement a post has, the more it is going to show up in people’s feeds. That means every time we post something, and we get a comment, the page comments back. This has raised the average view of what we’ve been sharing post-pandemic by 150%. Enlisting some of our professional staff who may not be as busy with our online learning has been a win-win for this strategy. 🙂

  • Coach Kyle, our PE coach, jumping in twice a week with fun workouts for Wolves
  • Read aloud each day at 9 am by a surprise guest reader (Alpha Phonics, ESL, Art…all our people want a turn doing this! Even our lunch lady signed up!)
  • Friday we go live with jokes on Facebook with our assistant principal and myself
  • Our music teacher plays the flute, sings, or has her son play the piano as she announces all the day’s birthdays
  • teachers are making posters/signs for us to share in a video, set to some sappy song I haven’t chosen yet 🙂

Anything that we do live, you could also just record and send links out!

 

What are you doing to avoid #PrincipalPanic right now?

I hope that you are modeling what it looks like to be calm in an absolute season of knowing nothing.

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It’s ok not to know. And if I could convey peace and assuredness to my people right now, then I can turn everything else off, and hopefully, communicate what is most important…which is that we’re going to be ok.

 

Thinking of you &

Technically, yours Amber Teamann