Principal Matters: The School Leader's Podcast with William D. Parker

Last month, Justin Baeder, from Principal Center Radio, invited me as a guest on his show to talk to me about my new book Messaging Matters: How to Inspire Teachers, Motivate Students, and Reach Communities. He was gracious enough to allow me to repost the interview here. Here are some takeaways from our conversation: Why is messaging so important? In every setting of school, amazing learning and moments are happening every day that not a lot of people know about. In the humility of our service as educators, we are often hesitant to brag about our schools. On a national scale, this has created a crisis with a political landscape that now assumes most schools are failing. How can we make a commitment to celebrating the positives so often that those moment drown out the negative ones? When you are talking about policies and resources that schools need to matter, then your messaging matters on how elected officials and the general public perceive whether schools are worth supporting. Instead of telling educators to “stay out of the newspaper,” we should do the opposite. How do we increase our messaging with students, teachers, and our communities? We must adopt new habits of looking for moments of celebration and then embedding practices to consistently share that out. You are the astronaut! Messaging first begins with mindset. Just like you can only see one side of the moon from the surface of the earth, others can only see a limited perspective of your school. As a school leader, you often have a wider perspective of what’s happening in school because you have access to so many locations, classrooms, and conversations within the school. Since you can “see more of the moon,” you have a responsibility and a privilege of sharing out that perspective with the rest of the world. 7 Ways to Maximize Messaging * Commit to a daily and weekly broadcast of amazing moments. Encourage teachers and students to adopt that mindset as well. * Practice and schedule messaging so that you build momentum around those messages. Our students took positive messaging farther than anyone when they began a movement of kindness at our school. Their decision to share positive notes on a girls’ bathroom mirror became a story our school shared on Facebook and was shared on TV news. * Be present and mindful when you are with students. Instead of just doing walkthroughs or observations by using a tech tool, force yourself to look into the faces of students and teachers and identify what kind of learning is happening. * Include teachers and students in communicating what learning is taking place in school. Whether that is bringing a team of teachers to board members or students demonstrating what they’re learning, let people hear from the products of our educational environments—students themselves. * Give teachers permission to share out their best ideas. If you have a techy-teacher, include him or her to share with other teachers. * Commit to a weekly newsletter that can be sent to parents and community members so they have an image-rich summary of awesome happenings. Give parents a positive context for your schools so that problems or conflicts are always in the context of positive conversations you’ve already initiated. * Don’t be afraid to oversaturate your audience, parents or community with positive moments. Love Your Schools Would you consider giving yourself permission to love your schools? I know you already do, but show that love by the commitment you will make to celebrated, highlight, and broadcast those student achievements with the rest of the world. Principal Center Radio Thanks to Justin Baeder for allowing me republish this podcast e...

Reflection is such an important part of growth — whether that involves your own growth or the growth of your school or team. Jon Harper from BAM Radio’s podcast “My Bad” is a school leader who explores how our mistakes can teach us important lessons. In this interview, we explore how reflecting on your own mistakes is a powerful way to lead with vulnerability and authenticity. Jon Harper Bio Prior to becoming an administrator, Jon served as a Math Coach and an elementary school teacher. During his ten years as a classroom teacher he taught first, second, fourth and fifth grades. During his sixth year teaching he earned Nationally Board Certification, which he held for ten years. For seven years he ran a Young Gentleman’s Club that was aimed at helping young men reach their full potential.   Jon received a B.A. from Furman University while majoring in Philosophy. He later went on to earn his B.S from Salisbury University while majoring in Elementary Education. Jon was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to student teach in New Zealand. He eventually received his M.A. degree from Salisbury University in Public School Administration.   Jon lives in Cambridge, Maryland with his amazing wife and two awesome children. 6 Powerful Takeaways Here are some topics we explore together: 1. Why #Mybad? What inspired Jon to create a podcast dedicated to the mistakes he and other educators make with students 2. Responding to pushback from teachers, students or parents for sharing mistakes 3. Protecting confidentiality when sharing publicly about student or teacher interaction 4. Combining “right brain” passion with “left-brain” practical steps for doing the day-to-day tasks involved in school leadership. 5. Bringing your passions, loves, gifts, talents into your work as a school leader 6. Jon’s advice for school leaders who feel like they are burning out from the hard work required in school leadership Stay Connected You can connect with Jon via Twitter @jonHarper70bd or via Jon Harper’s Blog. Let’s Wrap This Up None of us ever “arrives” in school leadership. And growth requires you to reflect, learn, and move forward. Don’t ignore the lessons learned during failure. And in the process, give yourself the grace to realize that your challenges or mistakes can be key to growing and improving. Now It’s Your Turn How can you make it a habit to reflect on mistakes so they are lessons for moving forward? In what ways can you help others see you don’t expect perfection while at the same time modeling a desire to improve? Sign-Up For Free Updates and Ebook When you enter your email address below, you will automatically receive my newest posts and a free Ebook, 8 Hats: Essential Roles for School Leaders. Let’s keep learning together! #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Subscribe for free weekly updates and receive free e-book! * indicates required Email Address * First Name Last Name (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNA...

Jethro Jones is principal of Tanana Middle School in Fairbanks, Alaska. He is also the host of Transformative Principal Podcast. As NASSP’s Principal 2017 National Digital Principal of the Year, he was honored this month at the National Principal Conference in Philadelphia. I’ve known Jethro for years from connecting online and have had the privilege of meeting him in person. In this podcast conversation, I ask him some probing questions, and we talk about dreams, passions, and goals for school leadership. We explore: * How school leaders can use a digital toolbox for serving schools * How technology makes a good educator better but a bad educator even worse * Using a Google map overlay, how his team visits the home of every student in his school * How his interviews with over 200 education & cooperate leaders changed his own leadership * Learning to by hyper-personalized for your own school community * How he dreams of reaching over 100 million students by influencing school leaders * How your common-sense understanding can be revolutionary for other school leaders * How the TL virtual summit teaches leaders to connect students to relevant learning Transformative Leadership Summit Jethro is also hosting an amazing virtual summit called Transformative Leadership Summit. Here’s a summary from the TL website: “It’s called Transformative Leadership Summit, and it will bring thousands of teachers, principals, leaders, and key influencers together from July 31-August 8 for an 8-day journey through optimizing every aspect of the school experience. Focusing on the Student Experience, Parent Experience, Teacher Experience and Administrator Experience. Transformative Leadership Summit 2017 will be an immersive weeklong event designed to improve your school, no matter where you are. Each day you learn from engaging interviews and presentations from some of the brightest minds in education and leadership. The conference is designed to give you actionable ideas to guide you on a step-by-step journey through every School Experience—teaching you to increase effectiveness of the Student Experience, Teacher Experience, Parent Experience, and Administrator Experience.” If you want to attend this virtual conference, you can do so right from your computer. Go here for more information and to sign up for free. Let’s Wrap This Up Jethro is one school leader who has reached out to hundreds of other leaders for ideas and then shared those insights with thousands of others. In the process, his own school leadership keeps growing. No matter whether you are a solo-principal or part of a large admin team, we can stay connected with others. Staying connected with people who inspire and challenge us is one of the best ways for us to keep serving schools and students with fresh ideas. You can stay connected with Jethro by phone at 801-7-Jethro or find him via Twitter @jethrojones. Now It’s Your Turn When you think about your own leadership experience, what are steps you taking to enhance the experience of your students, teachers, and community? How can you stay connected with other school leaders to stay inspired and encouraged in your own growth? Thanks for learning together! Sign-Up For Free Updates and Ebook When you enter your email address below, you will automatically receive my newest posts and a free Ebook, 8 Hats: Essential Roles for School Leaders. Let’s keep learning together!

Recently I was speaking to school leaders at Okaloosa County Schools’ Summer Leadership Academy in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. I decided to combine my travels there with an opportunity for my family to stay at the beach. My wife and I loaded up all four kids in a Dodge Caravan, and we hit the road. We had a lot of fun putting our toes in the sand, playing in the waves, and just being together. It takes 13 hours to reach Ft. Walton Beach from our town in Oklahoma. So we also had lots of time for thought, reflection, music and podcasts. We also had much to talk about as a family. My children have always known their dad as either a teacher or school administrator. And this past week after I made the announcement that I will be the new Executive Director for OASSP and OMLEA, there were lots of conversations about how the new job may affect our lives and schedules. Looking at Lessons from the Past As excited as I am about the ability to connect with principals across the state in support, professional development and advocacy, I’m also a little nervous as I think about moving away from the familiar. Leaving my school after ten years is bittersweet. My second daughter, Mattie, is still a junior at Skiatook High School. And after a decade of serving as both assistant principal and principal there, I have developed many meaningful relationships. On the flip side, I am glad to have been a part of a school I still love. Sometimes you see leaders stay in positions longer than they should. Whether it is because they lose the fire and passion for their work or they are simply wearied from the journey, we all run the risk of losing sight of the purpose in our work that keeps us positively motivated. This morning as I was enjoying a run down the trails near Skiatook, I was thinking back to the last twenty-four years I have served in schools. It’s crazy to think that half my career was in the classroom, and half working from the principal’s office. I tried to think about the number of times I have managed discipline scenarios with students or the number of teacher observations, evaluations, meetings, interventions, or parent conferences I managed. I remembered the number of evening games, events, concerts, activities, homecomings, and dances I supervised. And then there are the countless state reports, federal surveys, accreditation documents, budget requests, and paperwork for personnel requests. Just for fun, I did some quick math. On a slow day during my years as an assistant principal, for instance, I may have managed fifteen to twenty discipline scenarios a day. Over ten school years, that is somewhere between 27,000 to 30,000 student discipline assignments. Just student discipline alone requires a lot of conversations, parent phone calls, negotiations, and follow-up conversations with teachers. Of course, our duties as school leaders include more than discipline. Our plates are always full of options. Just like me, I’m sure you have also been told by others, “I could never do your job.” Whether or not that is true, I like to remember that just as exercising for the first time causes you temporary pain, doing new work can be hard at first until you train your mental and emotional muscles for the lifting and stretching. Over time, you find that the day-to-day interactions became easier to manage. At the same time, no matter how much experience you have, you also never stop being challenged or needing to grow. 3 Takeaways for Your Own Journey As I look toward my new responsibilities, I wanted to share some essential lessons from my twenty-four years that I want to take with me. And as you think about the year you are preparing to face, here are some takeaways from my own experience that may help you too: 1. Never stop looking for ways to keep growing. We all need coaching.

Sometimes my left elbow aches. I have a scar there from when I broke it falling from a horse almost twenty years ago. When it starts hurting, I can usually be certain the weather will turn stormy. My aching elbow reminds me of another story. When I was a boy, I often helped on my Granddad’s family farm. His brother was my Uncle Jimmy. One day Uncle Jimmy and I were driving in his pick-up truck. The windows were down, and I was hanging my arm out of it and playing in the breeze as we rumbled down the gravel roadway. As we passed a nearby pond, the cattle were gathering around for watering, and two calves were prancing about the field, butting heads and chasing one another. Uncle Jimmy pulled the truck to a stop and nodded that direction. “See those calves?” he asked. “Yes sir.” “There’s a storm coming.” “What do you mean?” I asked. The skies were blue, the weather warm. (This was long before the days of GPS or Smart-phones.) “Whenever you see calves acting like that, you can be sure there’s bad weather on the way.” I didn’t argue or ask anymore questions. He put the truck back in drive, and we went onto the next job in quiet thought. The next morning I woke up to the crash of lightening and the rumble of a thunderstorm. Uncle Jimmy had spent all his life on the farm, and it should have been no surprise that he could predict the weather by watching the behavior of his cattle. Predicting School Climate Sometimes I like to remind myself that the ups and downs of a school climate are often predictable. Obviously, plenty of unpredictables happen too, but there are “seasons” we face each year that shouldn’t take us by surprise. One of the those seasons is summer hiring. Another is the start of school. As you approach the start of school, you can expect that teachers, students, and parents will want answers to the following questions: * What is my schedule? * What can I expect each day? * What are the ground-rules in school-wide and in my classes? It seems so simple in concept, but sometimes we forget to keep an eye out for the cues of what is coming next. For instance, from the principal’s office, start of school means tasks like: * Updating/printing faculty handbooks and duty rosters * Communicating with teachers dates of new teacher training and professional development * Updating websites and media outlets with dates for schedule pick-up, freshman orientation, and start of school And as we approach day one, the anticipation, nervous energy, dread, and excitement all mix together for the rush we call beginning the school year. Helpful Start-of-School Questions Whatever season you are preparing to face, don’t forget to take time to study your landscape. One way to be prepare is by relying on those who have been down the road ahead of you. For teachers, I like to recommend, Harry Wong’s First Days Of School for a great reminder on the processes, procedures, and ground-rules students need and expect day one of school. In it, he outlines the essentials for establishing, organizing, and implementing good routines and procedures for students. I call it “teaching with both sides of your brain” or “teaching with one hand while managing with the other.” Harry Wong likes to remind teachers of seven things students will want to know on the first day of school: * Am I in the right room? * Where am I supposed to sit? * Who is the teacher as a person? * Will the teacher treat me as a human being? * What are the rules in this classroom? * What will I be doing this year? * How will I be graded? The same common-sense approach works for all areas of school.

This week’s post is an encore episode I shared a year ago. Have you thought why your time away from school can help you better serve your school? Regardless of whether someone is an educator or not, or whether your vacation time is long or short, taking time away from work is healthy for a number of reasons. Also, if you listen to then end, I share one of my creative moments with you from a previous vacation: a song and recorded from a trip to Colorado. Here are the show notes for this encore episode 1. Vacation reminds you of who you really are. Sometimes it is too easy to identify ourselves completely by our work. When we introduce ourselves to someone new, we almost always end up explaining what work we do. That’s not bad, but it also exemplifies how common it is to build our identities around our work. Getting away for personal or family time allows us to come back to some of the priorities motivate us to do good work. For me, it gives me time to see my children play, to explore together, to read books, to have longer conversations with my wife, and to pray. All of these connections help me rediscover what is important and ultimately give more meaning to my work when I return. 2. Vacation allows you mental and emotion detox. There is something healthy about days of not accomplishing work-related projects, reading emails, answering questions, solving problems, attending meetings, etc. Like exercising different muscles in your body helps you discover where you need to gain strength, vacation allows you to exercise different mental and emotional muscles. It gives your brain and psyche a break from its normal “work-out”. 3. Vacation stimulates creativity. For me, I find myself having more time to write, play music, travel, or spend time with friends and family. Suddenly, I am finding time for those areas I love that may often get ignored.  For instance, one morning during a Colorado vacation, I was able to reflect on my surroundings and write the following: This morning the panorama of mountains is breathtaking. Peaks in the distance show ridges still covered with snow. The jagged, gothic, jutting, massive gray of a 14-er hides behind the closer green aspen covered hills. Mountains to my north and east alternate with colors of green and exposed red dirt and bare rock. And meadows below them all are covered with wildflowers: brilliant yellows, whites, and purples.  As I write this, humming birds are alternating between feeders nearby. Shimmering greens, browns, and ruby-throated buzzing back and forth. Yesterday morning, I saw a deer bouncing away in the meadows below. And two nights ago, we watch as a copper colored fox prowled around looking food treasures. These kind of reflective moments are possible outside of vacation too, but getting away is also a great time to experience them. 4. Vacation creates great memories. One of my teammates at work has a great practice of putting his vacation photos on his lap-top computer as a screen saver. He keeps it nearby his desk during the day. When he has time to work at his desk, vacation memories consistently greet him.  Although we should never live simply for the pleasure of playing, vacation is a great way to rediscover your priorities, detox mentally, stimulate creativity, and create new memories.  So as the new school year is about to begin, don’t forget to put some photos of your favorite memories nearby while you are working as a good reminder of the importance of making memories in and out of school. Now It’s Your Turn What are some of your favorite vacation memories this year? How can you use those memories as ways for students or team mates to learn more about what motivates you? Song Lyrics Here’s a copy of the song lyrics: Crested Butte Is Calling by William D. Parker, Copyright 2013,

School leader and podcaster Danny Bauer shared a conversation with me about his education journey as well as how leaders are collaborating together to keep growing personally and professionally. Danny “Sunshine” Bauer is the founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and facilitates weekly mastermind groups to support leadership growth. His podcast has hosted a hundred highly effective school leaders who share best practices for other leaders. Listeners are welcome to grab all his free resources and listen to his podcast at betterleadersbetterschools.com! Takeaways Here are highlights of topics we explored together: • How Daniel’s education journey led him into school leadership, and how his hunger to learn from other leaders launched a podcast where he has now interviewed 100 school leaders on their best practices. • Some of the biggest lessons he’s learned in the challenges an experiences in his leadership and from his interactions with school leaders across the nation and globally. • How ego is our enemy, isolation ruins success, and community saves us from ourselves. • The biggest benefits from Mastermind groups • Danny’s latest ventures into connecting school leaders what has him fired up about in this next season of life or work • An amazing story from his work with students in the Chicago area where he helped over one hundred students compete in their first marathons and change their perspectives on the world • Danny’s encouragement to Go Big or Go Home! Free Resources For free resources from Danny on ways to challenge yourself in school leadership growth: Text: Unlocknow To: 33444 Now It’s Your Turn Danny’s parting advice: You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with, so choose wisely! Thanks for the amazing value, Daniel! You can find him at BetterLeadersBetterSchools.com What ways are you connecting with other leaders to keep learning and growing? How can you go big in your next steps with your teams or students so you provide “wow” moments for those whom you serve? Sign-Up For Free Updates and Ebook When you enter your email address below, you will automatically receive my newest posts and a free Ebook, 8 Hats: Essential Roles for School Leaders. Let’s keep learning together! #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Subscribe for free weekly updates and receive free e-book! * indicates required Email Address * First Name Last Name (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); Principal Matters–The Book! School leaders are very busy, so each of the twenty-four chapters is designed as a quick-read and followed with take-action questions for follow-up or reflection. If you want practical ideas on understanding your purpose, managing school teams, dealing with challenges,

When I was in high school, my dad reenlisted in the Navy and we moved to New York where he was stationed while his ship was in dry-dock. For a country boy from West Tennessee, New York was a culture shock. I remember being so afraid to speak because I didn’t want others making fun of my southern accent. One day I was standing in front of grocery store in Brooklyn when a man stopped to ask me what time it was. I realized I was wearing a watch and he wasn’t. So I just held up the watch without saying a word and let him read the time. With time I began to slowly adjust to my new environment and eventually enjoyed the change and new opportunities. But the changes weren’t over. During high school, as my dad’s ship changed ports, I attended school in three different states. Each move created its own set of new challenges and opportunities. Over the years, I’ve learned to face transition and change with a sense of optimism. But no matter how upbeat I am, new experiences always present some level of stress or anxiety. When I began teaching, for instance, I was simply overwhelmed at times with the new tasks and responsibilities. But over time, I learned to not only survive but to thrive in the calling. I’ve faced the same emotions in school leadership. Why You May Be So Stressed Lately, I have been reading Britt Andreatta’s book Wired to Resist, and I have been reminded why changes are so stressful. Change in any work is inevitable. If we don’t change, we don’t grow. Andreatta’s studies show, however, our biological reactions to change by looking at the different cortexes of the human brain. Understanding how our brain works in change may help us be more patient with ourselves and others. Parts of the Brain Affected by Change 1. Fear Response: The Amygdala is the part of our brain that reacts to change with flight or flight reaction. Even in organizational change, our amygdala kicks into gear when we are asked to do something new, innovative, or disruptive. Educators know that disequilibrium is a powerful force in creating learning opportunities. But as school leaders, we must keep in mind the difference between disruption and destruction. People cannot operate or think clearly when they feel deeply threatened by change; however, when we guide, direct, coach, and anticipate change, we can help relieve some of the stress that naturally takes place when the amygdala floods the brain with danger alerts. 2. Personal GPS: The Entorhinal Cortex of the brain helps us navigate new settings, situations or changes. Sometimes people react new environments with curiosity while others may react with panic. It is important to understand that whether someone is optimistic or resistant, they still have an uphill climb mentally when they are facing a new change. Think about the first time you worked in a new school or classroom. Until you figured out a place for everything and had organized that new environment for habitual use, you burned a lot of brain energy adjusting. The same stress happens with any other changes: email upgrades, website changes for absence requests, curriculum mapping programs…any time we introduce anything new into the daily tasks of our team members or students, expect some resistance as the entorhinal cortex kicks in the navigate the changes, memorize patterns, and establish new habits. 3. New Habits: The Basal Ganglia is the third part of the brain cortex Andreatta describes. This is the part of the brain that helps us move from identifying new patterns to memorizing them and storing them into our brain as newly learned habits. The longer we practice an action, the more engrained it becomes in our muscle memory.

Invisibilia is a fascinating podcast about the invisible forces that affect us without us being aware. In a January 29, 2015 episode, the reporters narrating the episode were talking about a phenomenon known as “entanglement.” They began by describing a physics experiment where scientists have been able to isolate particle atoms in separate locations, change the motion, and cause the two separate atoms to react to the change at the same time in separate locations. That’s right. In one experiment, an atom contained in a box four feet away from itself in another box was demonstrating simultaneous responses in both boxes. These atoms are not mirror images of one another; this research suggests that they are one another. Separate but one: a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Charles Q. Choi from Live Science explains that scientists theorize entangled atoms may stay connected even if a universe a part! Scientists are able to explain how to make this happen, but they are still unable to explain why this is possible. So, why am I fascinated with this idea of entanglement? Well, before I answer that question, let me describe another entanglement phenomenon. This may seem common sense, but Invisibilia reporters also explain how psychologists have proven that a person’s behavior is unconsciously influenced by his or her environment—a kind of social entanglement. In one example, an unsuspecting individual was placed on an elevator with groups of people who had pre-determined certain movements (like facing the wrong direction or taking their hats off at the same time.) Over and over again, and with multiple test cases, individuals would follow the movements of the group—even to the point not just mirroring their movements but following them simultaneously. For instance, an individual wearing a hat would be joined by a group of people wearing hats. Without any advanced notice, the hatted folks would reach up and remove their hats, and the unsuspecting individual would follow suit–often without any hesitation and sometimes simultaneously! Their explanation for this phenomenon? Entanglement. So why is this important to educators or school leaders? In some ways, it confirms what we’ve always known: our surroundings influence us more than we often recognize. We may be connecting with one another in ways more mysterious than we’ve ever imagined. In other ways, it opens our eyes to incredible possibilities. So, here’s a simple application. If you take the idea of entanglement to its logical conclusion, you must seriously grapple with the power of your position as a school leader and ask yourself some questions: * What persons or ideas am I consistently surrounding myself with, and how is this affecting who I am? * How am I purposely and intentionally influencing my home, work, surroundings to bring about the most positive outcomes possible? * In what ways am I taking time to intentionally provide positive feedback to students and teachers? * How am I tailoring messages through lessons, conversations, announcements, newsletters, assemblies, concerts, ceremonies or social media? As school leaders, we cannot ignore how incredibly (and sometimes mysteriously) significant a part we each play in the environments of our schools. This can be done in many ways, but I can’t think of more powerful way than by the messages delivered by the teachers and staff who touch our students for the majority of their day. And as a school leader, it is your responsibility to positively influence the message students are consistently receiving. But you are a small part of a web of entangled messages and influences; how can you keep the part you play meaningful? Why Messaging Matters

One summer when our oldest daughter, Emily, was beginning to run track, she signed up to run her first 5k with her younger sister during the July 4th holiday. Unfortunately, our younger daughter ended up unable to run it with her. When I drove Emily to the race downtown to run her race alone, I could tell she was a little overwhelmed with the crowds, the music, and the loudspeakers. This was her first 5K and she looked at me at nervously. “How about I run it with you?” I asked. “Can you do that? You’re not registered.” “We paid for your sister’s registration,” I explained. “And I have her race number. I’ll use it.” I was already in my running shoes, so I locked all our stuff in the car trunk. I kept my phone in one hand, and held the car key in the other for safekeeping. Soon we were lined up with hundreds, the gun sounded, and we were jostling along city streets, keeping pace with one another. I’m pretty sure she kept a slower pace for me, but the fun part was being together, enjoying the thrill of doing something challenging, running with crowds, and celebrating when we finally crossed the finish line. After picking up our medals, drinking some bottles of water, and cooling down, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have my key in my hand! I must have put it in my pocket. I checked but couldn’t find it. Instead, I felt a small hole where it must have slipped through. Either that or I had dropped it. We began retracing our routes through the crowds and stopped at the lost-and-found counter. No luck. Okay, I thought. I’ll text my ever-enduring wife to drive down in the family van with a spare key. After I sent her a message, she replied that she’d head our way soon. Then she texted again: “My keys are locked in van. Seriously.” To make matters worse, she said it would take at least an hour for road-side-assistance to show up to help her unlock her car doors! Like the morning coolness that was evaporating in the warming sun, the buzz and excitement of our morning had quickly faded. We found a shady curb by a downtown storefront, leaned against a fence railing and waited. I’m usually a talkative person even in bad moments, but this was one of those times where we ran out of things to talk about. I just sat in awkward silence wondering why I had ever volunteered to run this race, dreaming of air-conditioning, and aching for my morning cup of coffee. The gloom was complete two hours later when we were finally reunited with a spare key. Neither my wife nor my daughter even teased me. I think we had resigned ourselves to reality that this was a time we’d someday laugh about, but it wasn’t happening for a while. I suggested Starbucks, but my wife was ready for home, so Emily and I drove to the nearest location in my car. As we made our way into the store, she jokingly said, “It would be really funny if you find that key in the hem of your shorts or somewhere.” “Yeah, right,” I said, reaching down to feel the hem just for fun. And guess what? The hole in my shorts fed into the hem, and the key had worked its way all the way to back of my leg. It had been there the whole time! I pulled it out, and we stared at each other in disbelief, and then we laughed and laughed. “No, way!” she screamed and grabbed her phone to tell her mom all about it. Before long, we were enjoying our favorite drinks in a shady place outside the shop, watching a small flock of finches darting near a fountain. We looked at our silly medals again and chitchatted about the morning. The flock of finches began jostling and flitting our direction, slowly landing in a semi-circle around Emily’s chair. I think they expected her to share her drink. She sighed and took her phone out for photos of them. “Like you’re a little princess, and they’re gathering around you,” I reflected. “Yeah,” she laughed. She took a few more photos. “You know what?” she said,

Occasionally my wife will remind me when it’s been awhile since I’ve cleaned out my closet. So I’ll take time to sort out what I don’t need anymore. I can easily fill a couple of trash bags with items to donate to the local Goodwill store. Summer break is a great time to “clean the closets” of our schools. I’m not talking about literal closets (which can also be helpful), but I’m talking about issues, priorities, goals, and conversations that have been neglected as you have been finishing a school year. We just finished another school year at my high school. We wrapped up curriculum standards, graduated seniors and hired new teachers for next year. Many people ask me what I do with my summer break. The short answer is: I prepare for next school year. I often tell others that leading a school is like landing a cruise ship. When you finish one tour, you spend the break restocking for the next launch. I’m also on a twelve-month contract so when students and teachers check out, my office staff, counselors, and admin team stay on for another ten days to close out school, submit reports, and prepare report cards. After those ten days, we adjust our office hours to one staff person in the office half days Monday-Thursdays and offices closed on Fridays. I will be at school off and on throughout the summer to finish up items on our list of to-do’s, but I will also take some time to travel with my family for vacation. End of School Year To Do’s One of the ways we manage the many tasks for closing out the year and starting the next is by creating a shared Google Doc that I compile with my office staff team. If you want to create one for your team, here are three quick tips: 1. Brainstorm a list of all the to-do’s after teacher checkout, including filing final reports, closing out the books, setting next year’s budget priorities, or mailing report cards. 2. Put your list in a shared Google Doc and share it with your office team. We have a list of approximately forty items that need management as we close out the year. 3. As you complete tasks or reports, mark them off the list. For example, I had ten teacher openings for the new school year. All of them have been filled. So I can happily mark that off my list. Here’s a sample if you want to see a sample of the list we use: 2017 Summer To-Do’s Discipline Stats for Special Ed 26-May Title IV Annual Incidents/SDE report 26-May Hiring Positions Immediate Master Schedule Immediate Attendance/Discipline/4th Quarter/Full Year 26-May Advanced Coursework Report SDE 26-May Credit Checks 26-May Summer vacation schedules 26-May SMART Report SDE–check exit codes 2-Jun Debt List Letters w/ Report Cards 2-Jun Report Card Parent Letters 2-Jun Report Cards 2-Jun Senior Packets 2-Jun Summer office Hours Posted 6-Jun District Student Needs Assessment SDE) 2-Jun Student Handbook final draft  for printing 12-Jun TLE Qualitative Report SDE 12-Jun High School General Budge & Supplemental Textbooks 12-Jun Dropout Report 3rd Quarter 1-Jul Summer P.O. Orders after July 1 P.O. approvals July 1-15 Emergency Drill Booklets 29-Jul Extra Duty Assignments 29-Jul Teacher Handbook w/updates 29-Jul Duty Rosters 3-Aug

One weekend I was having lunch with a friend who works in petroleum engineering. We talked about the kind of research and data that he uses to determine which sites are best for drilling or exploration. Investors are especially interested in the ability of a company to substantiate the reason they should commit to providing resources for research and development–or in drilling and exploration. When the conversation switched to my work as a principal, my friend asked me a probing question. It was so different than any question I had been asked before that I asked him to repeat it. “In a meta-analysis of student data,” he asked, “what would you say are the most significant factors in predicting student success?” After sitting on the question a few moments, I said, “Well, socio-economic backgrounds, parental education, and literacy in the home are some of the most significant indicators for student success—especially in assessments like ACT or SAT.” We talked about why those factors play such a role in the lives of students, but I also mentioned how some schools beat the odds when they find ways to provide these necessary supports and resources to less advantaged students. Better Answers To The Big Question A few days later, I was listening to a presentation by Cris Tovani, who shared a blog post by Grant Wiggins entitled “What works in education—Hattie’s list of greatest effects and why it matters” which is an anlysis of John Hattie’s book Visible Learning–an exhaustive research of almost every instructional strategy used in schools today, and which factors result in the most significant gains to student learning. Wiggin’s article was a brief synopsis of which factors Hattie identified in order of most effective top-down with the asterisk-marks showing an effect of almost a year of academic growth. Wiggins adds commentary on the last two: • Student self-assessment/self-grading* • Response to intervention* • Teacher credibility* • Providing formative assessments* • Classroom discussion* • Teacher clarity* • Feedback* • Reciprocal teaching* • Teacher-student relationships fostered* • Spaced vs. mass practice* • Meta-cognitive strategies taught and used • Acceleration • Classroom behavioral techniques • Vocabulary programs • Repeated reading programs • Creativity programs • Student prior achievement • Self-questioning by students • Study skills • Problem-solving teaching • Not labeling students • Concept mapping • Cooperative vs individualistic learning • Direct instruction • Tactile stimulation programs • Mastery learning • Worked examples • Visual-perception programs • Peer tutoring • Cooperative vs competitive learning • Phonics instruction • Student-centered teaching • Classroom cohesion • Pre-term birth weight • Peer influences • Classroom management techniques • Outdoor-adventure programs Can you guess the next two items on the rank order list? “Home environment” and “socio-economic status.” Did you catch that? “Home environment” and “socio-economic status” ranked AFTER the long list of other strategies that research shows provide greater significant gains in student lear...

Last month I was asked to share a webinar on how to prepare for our state’s accreditation visits. I decided to begin the conversation with the practical steps we take with my school team on sharing, planning, scheduling, and compiling for accountability. Half way through the webinar, however, I switched gears and talked about celebration ideas our students and teachers had embraced for finishing the school year with enthusiasm. One way my school’s student leaders wanted to end the year was by doing something to help others. They designed an amazing idea called BARK week. Our school mascot is the Bulldog, so the theme fit perfectly. BARK Week Here’s an explanation our student council sponsor shared a month in advance: Good morning! Student Council and the Leadership class wanted to start a Philanthropy Week this year, where we have events every day during one week, and all proceeds will go to a designated charity. The week we have chosen is May 1st – 5th. We don’t have all of the events planned yet, but when we do, I’ll pass along the info. The kids came up with the name “BARK Week,” BARK is an acronym for Bulldogs Achieving Real Kindness. We are raising money for Pearl’s Hope in Tulsa, OK. It is a 10 month transition home for homeless women and their children, so they do not have to be separated. While in the home, women take classes on interviewing, teamwork, financial planning, cooking, etc. Pearl’s Hope ensures that the children and mothers have clothing, a car, a job, and a home before they leave. Attached is the t-shirt we will be selling for BARK Week. More Ideas for Celebration In some ways it may seem unrealistic to expect students and teachers to have the same energy and enthusiasm for finishing as they had when beginning a school year. But it is not unrealistic to dream and prepare for ways to encourage high expectations for the last days of school. In June 2016, blogger Vicki Davis shared a great list of tips for teachers who want to finish the year with celebration on her Eduotopia’s website. Check it out here. Her tips included 8 ideas for teachers to wrap up their last day of classroom time with ideas like: * Sharing top-ten lists with students * Celebration final exams * Water-bottle toasts * Complimenting discussions * Surveying for celebration moments * Writing letters to students * Planning an Oscar event Another popular high school idea has been to have seniors don their caps and gowns and walk the halls of elementary schools as a way to inspire and model achievement for younger grades. Our seniors are planning a graduation walk this year as well, and of course, we will end the year with the biggest celebration of all: a rousing graduation ceremony. Let’s Wrap This Up One of the exciting moments from our student BARK week was the response they received from others. Community members participated in clothing swaps, students bought lots of tacos and ice cream, and in one week, our students raised $1,500 and lots of clothes donations to benefit a local shelter. It was another positive way to add to the momentum of positivity our teachers and students had been encouraging all year with their Class Cup and Good Deeds Awards. But most importantly, these are learning moments about helping others that some of our students will remember for years to come. Yes, it may be hard to end with high enthusiasm when the list of to-do’s is long, but don’t forget how you end is as important as how you begin. However you choose to end of school,

During my daughter’s first year in high school, I drove to the local lake dam spillway to meet her teammates for a weekend track workout. After twenty minutes of warm-up running on the grassy path to the spillway and back, they lined up for drills. These included twelve sprints up an intimidatingly steep grassy incline to practice increasing speed. It was a joy to watch all of the students working hard and pushing themselves. As they neared their tenth sprint drill, their legs began shaking, their shirts were lined with sweat, and their chests heaved with every breath. Their movement was a mass of arms pumping, legs kicking up the hill, bending over to catch a breath, standing up tall before making the climb down to run up again. One upperclassman who is known for excelling in running, began talking to himself. He was saying, “I am going to break the school record this year. This is where I come to become great!” The young man’s voice echoed off the grassy hill, and his teammates alternately laughed, gasped for air, or ignored him. He stood at the top of that hill with his hands raised and yelled, “This is where I come to become great! This IS where I come to become GREAT!” Running The Final Stretch This is the time of year where I am reminded that we have almost reached our end of the school year “race”. When you started your new season of school, you were fresh and eager, warmed up and ready to run. That first surge at the starting bell was exhilarating. But as you turn the corners of the school-year track, you begin to feel the strain of muscles being pushed to their limit, you begin to gasp for breath, and if you’re lucky, you glimpse the finish line with a prayer of relief. Our high school track coach told me once that runners often ignore important factors that can make them successful competitors (other than just natural ability): Healthy food choices, solid sleep patterns, smart warm-up and cool-down routines, correct technique, and proper hydration play big roles in helping runners finish strong. If you’re like me, you may be feeling the edge of fatigue as you look down the road to the finish of school. But the same advice that enhances a runner’s ability may also apply to us. So here are a few quick reminders on finishing strong in the last leg of your school race: 1. Maintain solid routines when you may be tempted to begin coasting. Think back to the routines, expectations, and strategies you implemented at the start of the year. How are those still important, relevant, and essential? For me, one of those is being present and visible. It is a small gesture but one that is easy to replace with meetings or other important to-do’s. My students need my visibility now as much as they did at the start of school. As I’m finishing my second semester, I am realizing this is a goal where I have not been as strong as the start of the year. What is an area where you may see yourself losing stride? I am trying to stay focused on those areas where I need to recommit to goals. What is an area where you may need to recommit to the motivation to maintain that goal? 2. Encourage healthy day-to-day choices without ignoring priorities. For me, following up on parent phone calls, filing reports on time, staying up-to-date on signing requisitions, or having those tough conversations I would rather avoid-–these are as important now just as they were at the start of school. Completing those important day-to-day tasks protects the integrity, support, and progress of our school as they were day one of school. Think about your list of to-do’s and don’t ignore important tasks. Take them one at time, but do them with the kind of attitude you would want when others are helping you. 3. Stay the course even as you feel the pull of fatigue calling you to slow down. There are some tough decisions or tasks that must be completed before wrapping up the last leg of...

I was listening to an interview between Daniel Bauer and Jethro Jones the other day on Daniel’s Better Leaders, Better Schools podcast. Daniel asked Jethro, an Alaska principal, “What is one of your regrets from your time at your school?” I really liked Jethro’s response because he focused on how relationships were such an important part of his work, and he wished he had been able to better bridge the gap with some of his colleagues. As important as it is to celebrate our wins with students, it is also a good reality check at times to reflect on where we wish we could improve. Unfortunately, when I think of most of my biggest regrets in school leadership, they are usually the ones I can’t talk about because of confidentiality. Having spent eleven years in the classroom, and nine years as an assistant principal before serving the last four years as a high school principal, the bulk of my conflicts also seem to be ones that involve relationships. When I think about my teaching, I don’t think back with a lot of regret about my curriculum decisions—although I always had room for improvement. And I don’t feel regret for the duties or responsibilities I have managed in school administration—although I always have room for improvement there too. But when I think about regrets in my work, they almost always center on time when differing perspectives caused conflict, misunderstanding, disagreement or let-downs. Here’s a small example: One time when I was still in the classroom, I held a parent conference with a mother who told me that her son came home upset when I refused to give him credit for a test question he said he had marked correctly on a test. When he had brought the test to me, it appeared he had erased and rewritten the answer after I had passed back the test. I told him I couldn’t give him credit at that point because it was too late for me to know whether had corrected it or I had marked it incorrectly after I had passed it back. She said my assumption that he had practiced academic dishonesty was crushing for him; he had great respect for me, and it hurt him that think I did not trust him. This was a situation I can reflect back on now and see both sides. One the hand, this mom had not seen the interactions I had observed where students would attempt to hide notes under desks during assessments, or others who had tried to share copies of tests with classmates via their phones. At the same time, I was young teacher. And I had gone over the answers with students after I passed back the test. This was a good instructional practice, but I didn’t think about asking them to put away writing utensils while we reviewed their answers so that we wouldn’t have any questions about whether or not answers were changed during review. Also, I’m sure I didn’t think about how to address the situation without seeming dismissive. This was likely a twenty-second interaction with a student that frankly I never thought about afterwards until the mother brought it up. And as she explained it to me very politely—not because she wanted his points corrected but because she wanted me to know how much my opinion of her son mattered to him—I began to think I probably missed it with that student. When I think back to that situation now twenty years later, I don’t regret that I made a judgment call with the best information I had at the time. But I do regret that I was unaware of how powerful a 20-second interaction could be with a student. The good news is that I took the mother’s story to heart so that I became more mindful in my interactions with students. The bad news is that I may have made the same mistake a thousand times and not even noticed it. The Power of our Words Last night I was attending a principal advocacy meeting in Washington, D.C.