A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 14, 2022

Thriving cultures that produce results make every effort to keep this on the positive side. Pile on the positive feedback Sometimes there is never enough of a good thing when it comes to building up culture. Listening is one of the best tools that can be leveraged to gather crucial information on the pulse of a culture.

Leadership 480

Leadership Cultures Psychology Research 480

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 13, 2024

This vision should be communicated effectively through a multi-faceted approach, something I emphasize in Digital Leadership. Try to avoid drive-by and one-and-done events, as the research is pretty clear that these don’t lead to sustained change. Ensuring everyone understands the "why" behind the change is vital.

Leadership 250

Leadership Cultures Research Education 250

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 22, 2023

It serves as a valuable tool for educators, schools, and districts to refine their skills and improve teaching, learning, and leadership. In schools, feedback should not be merely a one-time event; it is an ongoing process that fosters continuous learning and development. Feedback is a powerful tool for driving professional learning.

Psychology 417

Psychology Professional Development Cultures Leadership 417

A Principal's Reflections

JUNE 19, 2022

While there are many challenging aspects when it comes to leadership, one that typically rises to the top is dealing with difficult personalities. Whatever that might be, discovering the root cause is essential to proactively address the situation so that it doesn’t further impact the culture of your school or district.

Cultures 543

Cultures Leadership Humanities Research 543

Dangerously Irrelevant

JULY 27, 2021

[To celebrate our upcoming book, Leadership for Deeper Learning , I am publishing an excerpt each day for a week before its release. We think that this book makes a unique contribution to what we know about leadership in deeper learning schools. Also, every main chapter concludes with Key Leadership Behaviors and Support Structures.

Leadership 110

Leadership Professional Development Tradition Cultures 110

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

When it comes to leadership, there is no one right way or quick fix. Just like with learning, it's a process, not an event. While it is understood that management is a necessity associated with the position, it should not be something that comes at the expense of improving the learning culture.

Leadership 530

Leadership Archiving Lesson Plan Tradition 530

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 20, 2023

For various reasons, educators are enamored by the keynoting circuit, facilitating presentations at both national and international events, and coaching in school systems. I often get asked both through social media and in person how to become a consultant. Over time I will flesh out concrete practice areas.

Leadership 363

Leadership Pedagogy Cultures High School 363

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 7, 2016

On the other hand, I really want to focus on what my parents taught me about leadership throughout my 41 years of life. It must have been the perfect storm of just finishing talking about leadership and guilt that provided the motivation for this post. Shared sacrifice – Nothing epitomizes servant leadership than shared sacrifice.

Leadership 258

Leadership Elementary School Teaching Cultures 258

A Principal's Reflections

JANUARY 3, 2021

When it comes to leadership, the importance of effective communication skills to engage and empower families moved to the forefront. Any tool with video capacity can be used to push out infomercials that highlight both positive aspects of current school culture or pain points. Consider having students help you create these.

Leadership 496

Leadership Tradition Cultures 496

ED Surge

JUNE 23, 2023

What sports didn’t offer us was the opportunity to develop awareness and appreciation for our cultural identity. When I was nine years old, my mother enrolled my brother and me in folklorico — a traditional cultural dance that emphasizes Mexican folk culture — at our local recreation center. At first, I was annoyed.

Community Engagement 97

Community Engagement Cultures Social Justice Leadership 97

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 30, 2023

Those threats have only increased since last year as schools have become a focal point of the culture wars, contributing to challenges the teaching profession has long faced in recruiting and retaining teachers from underrepresented backgrounds. The post The culture wars are driving teachers from the classroom.

Cultures 134

Cultures High School Leadership Teaching 134

A Principal's Reflections

MAY 16, 2021

There are hundreds of other similar stories about companies that went bankrupt because they couldn’t and wouldn’t create a culture that challenged the status quo. The “ clean slate” moment, as I have called it, saw resilient educators rise to the occasion in response to the most challenging event ever to impact the profession.

Cultures 409

Cultures Leadership Teaching Research 409

ED Surge

APRIL 29, 2022

We saw how having the language to talk about difficult experiences —such as prolonged exposure to intense stress and collective trauma—serves as a critical first step in being able to acknowledge, process and face these widespread events. If I’m referring a student, I should be able to refer myself too, right?”.

Cultures 111

Cultures Education Elementary School High School 111

A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 18, 2018

As a school administrator, I remember always having the best intentions when it came to instructional leadership. These were then followed by back to school nights and athletic events. It also takes an eye off the most critical job of any school leader – improving learning while developing a positive culture.

Leadership 328

Leadership Cultures Teaching Education 328

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 30, 2016

Image credit: Harold Jarche Leadership is a choice and not one that should be made lightly. With this choice comes a great deal of responsibility to initiate and sustain change that will lead to a transformed school culture. Learning is the fuel of leadership. Basically, we get what we model.

Leadership 389

Leadership Humanities Cultures Education 389

The Hechinger Report

OCTOBER 31, 2018

history class this year, she described the American revolution and then expanded on the lesson, making connections to historical events in Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Tapping into students’ cultures in the curriculum fits, logically, into efforts to personalize learning.

Cultures 109

Cultures American History Tradition History 109

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 19, 2014

I attended many of these events just to meet the required hours of professional development. It is uncommon to leave PD sessions with applicable ideas and strategies that we can implement immediately to positively change school culture. The best part of this journey was the tangible results that followed.

Leadership 355

Leadership Professional Development Tradition Cultures 355

A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 8, 2020

It was at this time that I began to shift away from PD and instead embrace a culture of professional learning. In Digital Leadership I emphasized how input from educators is crucial to the success of any professional learning experience, as is time. I was both enlightened and empowered. There is a big difference in my mind.

Professional Development 358

Professional Development Leadership Humanities Cultures 358

Dr. Shannon Doak

OCTOBER 7, 2024

The infographic that highlights the 65 jobs least likely to be automated, taken from The US Career Institute really drives home the importance of skills that only humans can offer—things like emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, and cultural competence. Language and Literature Courses: Explore texts from diverse cultures.

Teaching 58

Teaching Critical Thinking Leadership Cultures 58

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 19, 2018

At the end of each practice, there was a closure activity where we reflected on the events of that day while preparing for a future contest. Leaders need consistent support and feedback on all aspects of the position to continually grown and improve, but the most emphasis should be on issues related to instructional leadership.

Leadership 366

Leadership Professional Development Pedagogy High School 366

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 23, 2015

It was an incredible opportunity to get back to Hawaii for a professional event as opposed to a vacation. This was the fourteenth time the school had put on the event and it was awesome to see and meet so many passionate educators on a Saturday. This is not fair to say the least. The hash tad we will be using is #leaderedHI.

Professional Development 273

Professional Development Leadership Cultures High School 273

Political Science Now

JULY 11, 2024

Event: Teaching the 2024 U.S. Election Webinar Series: Watch the Past Events National campaigns and elections allow citizens to reflect and participate in their democracy. Election Webinar Series showcases how political scientists understand and teach American democracy’s quadrennial event. Engaging the 2024 U.S.

Civic Engagement 68

Civic Engagement Teaching Political Science Civics 68

ED Surge

JULY 18, 2024

Some of the events are also identity based, such as one for Latinx students. Before the pandemic, orientation leaders typically held leadership positions in high school, as a club president, for example, Brister says. They’re also coming in with less background knowledge, Brister says.

Leadership 127

Leadership Cultures Tradition High School 127

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Over the past couple of weeks I have been either keynoting conferences or facilitating workshops focusing on digital leadership and learning. I relish the fact of being able to talk about creating schools that work for kids and leadership in the digital age. It is an honor and privilege to be in a leadership position.

Leadership 372

Leadership Tradition Cultures Education 372

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

As these events demonstrate, our students, faculty, staff and institutions are at severe and sustained risk from the increasingly destabilized climate. With each unprecedented weather event, our systems are being tested and too often fail — even as we welcome students back to our campuses this fall.

Education 118

Education Leadership Government Economics 118

A Psychology Teacher Writes

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

If you’re fortunate and motivated enough to speak at an event like this then, let’s be honest, it’s a pretty good gig. There’s a lot of discourse around why people don’t engage in PD and it is worthwhile investing time exploring literature on teacher learning, culture, theories of motivation, habit formation, behaviour change etc.

Professional Development 124

Professional Development Cultures Leadership Research 124

Digital Promise

JULY 12, 2022

Leaders at these schools spend their summers deliberately planning a device rollout event that achieves three goals: All students receive a device with reliable high-speed internet access. The rollout event itself should be a celebration —not of the devices, but of what students can do with the technology.

K-12 105

K-12 Leadership Cultures High School 105

A Principal's Reflections

JULY 10, 2016

Other elements embedded in school culture cloud our vision as to what is both needed and possible. The ability to initiate, manage, and sustain change relies on a leader’s ability to think of it as a process as opposed to an event. It’s not just advancements in technology that have to be addressed in our schools.

Global Connections 420

Global Connections Leadership Cultures Tradition 420

Education Elements

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

On January 28, 1986, the space program experienced one of its most catastrophic events to date when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just over a minute after launch. If you’re familiar with the event at all, you know the accident was caused by a failed O-ring seal in the solid rocket booster.

Cultures 100

Cultures Leadership 100

A Principal's Reflections

APRIL 16, 2017

Change is a process, not an event. Mandates and top-down directives rarely become embedded and sustained components of school culture because once the focus changes (and it always does) then all the time, energy, and frustration transfers to the new initiative. Taking action to make things better leads to a culture of excellence.

Leadership 255

Leadership Cultures Professional Development Tradition 255

A Principal's Reflections

MARCH 21, 2013

This conference is one of my must attend events of the year and I use it as an opportunity to develop new presentations based on my leadership experiences at New Milford High School. Change Leadership New Milford High School Opinion systems thinking' In your experiences what would you add to this presentation and why?

Leadership 303

Leadership High School Cultures Teaching 303

ED Surge

JANUARY 10, 2024

The event provides leadership development skills, offers a psychologically safe space to process our experiences and nurtures the spirit of brotherhood and community needed to sustain our worth and our work. At this year’s retreat, Lester Young Jr., Is it marked by enthusiasm, love and care, and purposeful focus?

Leadership 95

Leadership Psychology Humanities Public School 95

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 15, 2014

This post is my contribution to Leadership Day 2014. The more I learned in digital spaces the more I began to take risks to improve the culture at NMHS. Over the past few years my work has been aligned to digital leadership and has ultimately defined me as an educator, leader, and person. Some are more meaningful than others.

Leadership 282

Leadership Cultures High School Education 282

ED Surge

OCTOBER 7, 2022

I speak and consult nationally on public education, youth development and child well-being, and since March 2020, I have integrated real-time polling into my speaking events, asking thousands of teachers, counselors and administrators about the well-being of their students, families and school communities. We are a family. We are Liberty.”

Middle School 101

Middle School Cultures Leadership Economics 101

ED Surge

OCTOBER 19, 2022

I say a few affirmative words aloud to center myself, then I reach into a drawer and pull out a small bottle of lavender aromatherapy that my leadership team gave me as a “wellness gift.” Our leadership team knew we were run down so they began planning a strategy to boost morale and prioritize staff well-being. The problem?

Leadership 88

Leadership Professional Development Cultures Middle School 88

A Principal's Reflections

DECEMBER 26, 2016

This was the beginning of my digital leadership journey that started with the simple goal of building better relationships with families in the community. Many parents worked multiple jobs and just didn’t have the time to attend events and meetings on-site or even read an email or memo.

Leadership 220

Leadership Tradition Cultures Research 220

Digital Promise

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Equity work requires a deep, sustained commitment to recognize and dismantle inequitable systems, cultures, policies, mindsets, and behaviors. Equity work requires a deep, sustained commitment to recognize and dismantle inequitable systems, cultures, policies, mindsets, and behaviors. Network Health. Programs and Initiatives.

Education 78

Education Leadership Cultures Research 78