A Principal's Reflections

JUNE 25, 2023

Leadership embodies consistent qualities and characteristics that remain unchanged while the tools, research, and societal shifts influencing the work have evolved. Leadership combines artistic and scientific elements, aiming to mobilize people toward a shared objective. Leadership is a collaborative endeavor.

Leadership 465

Leadership Cultures Humanities Research 465

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

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 529

Leadership Archiving Lesson Plan Tradition 529

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 495

Leadership Tradition Cultures 495

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 259

Leadership Elementary School Teaching Public School 259

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 356

Leadership Professional Development Tradition Cultures 356

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 391

Leadership Humanities Cultures Education 391

A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 1, 2024

Even events that are not focused on digital have sessions dedicated to the topic. AI, while a powerful tool, can only partially replace the role of human leadership in schools. School leaders must build trust, foster a positive school culture, and make informed decisions based on data and human judgment. Prompt all you want.

Leadership 400

Leadership Pedagogy Humanities Library 400

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 429

Psychology Professional Development Cultures Leadership 429

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 375

Leadership Tradition Cultures Education 375

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 408

Cultures Leadership Teaching Research 408

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

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

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 309

Leadership High School Cultures Teaching 309

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.

Leadership 284

Leadership Professional Development Cultures High School 284

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 362

Leadership Pedagogy Cultures High School 362

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 365

Leadership Professional Development Pedagogy High School 365

A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

21st Century Leadership Shift Happens (must see video for any educator unfamiliar with the tends and impacts associated with technology and social media. Sustainable change relies on understanding people, culture, and processes. Sign up for a personal account, create a page , and add material (news, pictures, videos, events).

Education 345

Education Educational Technology EdTech Professional Development 345

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 12, 2010

So many exciting things have happened recently as a result of my own learning and growth in educational technology and leadership. As a result, I have seen my own knowledge increase in these areas, participated in exciting professional development opportunities, presented at both my school and at other events on web 2.0,

Professional Development 273

Professional Development EdTech Educational Technology Leadership 273

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 292

Leadership Cultures High School Education 292

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

A Principal's Reflections

DECEMBER 21, 2011

With new ideas and strategies in hand, I am now working collaboratively with my staff to transform the teaching and learning culture of my school. tools that could be used to improve my knowledge of educational leadership, effective instructional practices, and technology integration. 21st Century Leadership Social Media'

Leadership 305

Leadership Pedagogy Cultures High School 305

A Principal's Reflections

MARCH 27, 2014

Image credit: ww.aditif.com In fact, in an effort to celebrate much of this work and continue to build our collective learning capacity, we are hosting Long Island Connected Educators'' Conference on April 5th - an event that has attracted over 160 participants ambitious to connect, share and learn together.

Library 267

Library Leadership High School Middle School 267

A Principal's Reflections

MAY 28, 2014

Putting in countless hours developing lessons, grading, providing feedback, observing teachers, providing professional growth activities, constructing a master schedule, formulating a budget, attending events, and writing letters of recommendation are just a few of the myriad of tasks that educators across an array of positions engage in every day.

Leadership 282

Leadership Educational Technology Cultures Education 282

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 6, 2010

Let me begin by saying that I was absolutely honored that various members of my Professional Learning Network (PLN) and the greater educational community reached out to me to address administrators looking to embrace social media, plan an educational technology conference at my school, and discuss leadership in the digital age.

Leadership 265

Leadership EdTech Educational Technology Professional Development 265

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 Professional Development Cultures Tradition 255

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

Sapiens

JANUARY 14, 2025

In a political rally organized for the event, he proudly told a crowd in Bomboiza how they were already exporting the fruit to the United States, Canada, China, and Russia. Kunki wanted the world to know what they are doing in Bomboiza, so I, as a videographer, recorded the event and much of the work that has followed.

Economics 114

Economics Tradition Anthropology Government 114

A Principal's Reflections

JULY 1, 2018

Planning aside, there is another inhibitory element lurking in every organizational culture including education, and that is excuses. It is through this line of thinking that we start viewing these external situations or events as excuses for why we can’t do what we want to do.

Humanities 403

Humanities Cultures Education Leadership 403

ED Surge

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

They do this by mapping courses and activities to institutional competencies: critical thinking, analytical thinking, communication, social awareness and responsibility, creativity and innovation, and leadership and collaboration. “We Communication is vital to creating a successful program.

Civic Engagement 107

Civic Engagement EdTech Civics Leadership 107

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 27, 2013

The maintenance crew trusted building leadership. Edscape was an incredible learning event for me. What we do have is a commitment to build a culture that focuses on our students while providing them with a meaningful learning experience. The staff trusted that the principal was supporting their work. Trust, Trust.

High School 280

High School Leadership Cultures Education 280

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 221

Leadership Tradition Cultures Research 221

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 144

Cultures High School Leadership Teaching 144

Teaching American History

MARCH 11, 2025

As immigrant students from Somalia, Venezuela, and elsewhere have swelled the student population in her district, students attitudes toward racial, religious, and cultural diversity have shifted toward greater openness. I have two masters degrees, one in educational leadership and one from MAHG. Some of them encourage her.

Government 96

Government Controversial Topics American History Civics 96

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 110

Cultures American History Tradition Lesson Plan 110

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 25, 2018

Decades of solid research have laid the foundation for current studies that bring to light how we can improve teaching, learning, and leadership. During my work as a principal, I wanted to transform the learning culture of my school. Pedagogy has been at the forefront of my thinking and work as of late. Ideas shouldn't just seem right.

Pedagogy 266

Pedagogy Professional Development Leadership High School 266

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 110

Community Engagement Cultures Social Justice Leadership 110