FINDING TIME FOR FUN ~ Time Management for School Leaders #SAVMP 2:4

Time Management for School Leaders - Finding Time for Fun!

The topic of Time Management is a critical one for leaders these days as we are being buried under an ever increasing load of paperwork. The paperwork can include appraisals of faculty and staff, school improvement planning, and federal and district requirements. I have previously written about my efforts to organize and manage my days in a post called: Time Management from the Perspective of an Efficiency Freak. This topic has come up again in my focus during the 2014-2015 school year but in a bit of a different way. With a little twist, I have begun to explore how I manage my time at home and continue to be effective in my other jobs: MOM, WIFE, DAUGHTER, FRIEND. 

As I entered into my third year as a school leader, I have been able to turn my gaze back to a "Search for Balance." That first year as Principal was a type of audit and inventory of my new environment. I used a facilitative leadership style where I just facilitated the life of the school while at the same time taking stock and shaping my vision for the future. That first year was very, very busy. It was the year I had to establish credibility, build relationships, and learn everything possible as quickly as possible about my new responsibilities. I felt like I worked ALL THE TIME--like till 1 and 2 A.M. most nights. The second year was a bit better for the total hours I worked per day, but it was at a more intense level as I used a pacesetter leadership style. I showed the faculty the vision and the pace, and I asked them to keep up or to look for a better fit--nothing personal. And, NOW, as I have moved into the winter of my third year, I feel as if the staff and I are unified and working together collectively to increase student achievement and impact student success in the life of our school. This is my favorite style, the visionary leadership style. Most everyone is rowing the boat in the same direction, and no one is trying to sink it! This has been a refreshing year, and it has helped that I have one of the strongest assistant administrators I have ever met working closely with me on all levels. We share the same vision and have similar kindred spirits. These elements have allowed me to work on the necessary balance between home and work life.

EXERCISE: First, I make certain I know what my focus is at home. Rather than coming home from work exhausted and binge eating in front of the TV, I am working to include exercise every day. On my birthday, my husband bought me a fitbit. I love goal setting, and this wearable technology meets my goal-oriented needs. Here is a picture of my progress today from the app. on my SmartPhone which synchronizes various times throughout the day. My daily goal is 10,000 steps every day. Of course, I would show a day when I met my goal! The Dashboard also tracks my meals and my sleep patterns. It synchronizes with my favorite calorie counter app. myfitnesspal. Both of these tools are at my fingertips and help me maintain my focus. 

     

During Christmas, I converted my garage into a mini-gymnasium. It used to be such a pain to get dressed for the gym, drive to the gym, and then work around everyone else on the nautilus equipment or the free weights. Now I have my very own gymnasium heaven! Here is a picture, and I jokingly call it my nightly date with "Gym."  My mini-gym has everything I need, and I especially love the DVD player where I watch my favorite CSI: Las Vegas episodes while walking on the treadmill. My gym is just feet away. I am grateful for a new focus on exercise that is quick and easy. 

FUN & FAMILY:  The next thing I do to keep my focus is I plot out everything on a weekly calendar (my only tracking item using traditional paper) that sits on my desk in my bedroom. I put all appointments like my daughter's upcoming soccer booster club meeting on my Google Calendar, but I put the little things on this calendar. Things like read my spiritual devotional every morning, play my DuoLinguo app., mail a package to my son in college, visit my father during the weekend, date night with the husband, movie night with my #CoffeeClubGirls, etc. etc. I am adverse to any paper calendars and PREFER the digital version in my apps. Google Calendar, G-Tasks, Google Keep, and Sticky Notes, but I still use this old-fashioned calendar when I am at home because when I walk in the door, I truly try to put the phone down and disconnect from the grid temporarily. This visual calendar gives me just a couple of items to focus on every day so that I DO feel accomplished during the week, and I don't succumb to  the hustle and bustle which can drain me at the end of each day. This daily focus allows me to get the important things done as soon as I get home, and then I am not panicking to finish everything during my two days off on the weekend.

And, after I complete the "first things first" I can download and do the fun things like reading a great book or watching my favorite crime drama on Netflix. Here are a stack of books I am working on now:

PAPERLESS: And, lastly, I am moving many things to paperless in our home. I am using Evernote frequently to journal vs. my old way of writing in bulky journals. Also, the digital version is quicker to write/type. I now have all of my papery type things accumulating in EverNote. I have all of my recipe collections, movie ratings, and a journal committed to my wonderful husband all building in Evernote. What would have taken shelves to house and time to write is now all contained in the Cloud and typed up quickly with all sorts of little bells and whistles that can be added with images, fonts, and it is all done within either my SmartPhone or on my laptop. I prefer paperless. 

     

Here is an example of all of the movie ratings I have been collecting in my Evernote app. I can add images of the movie ticket along with my commentary. I can scroll through these or even share them with a link such as this one to my American Sniper review: 

Movies! Review of American Sniper by C. R.

So, with this different twist I have shared how I have increased my focus at home so that I am as good at my night job as I am at my day job! I work very hard to enjoy my down-time and all those times I am able to unplug from the grid. My husband knows when I am trying to get things accomplished, and he calls this my "checklist mode." Just the other day, he told me that we must have switched roles because nowadays he is always the one in checklist mode, and I am the one trying to relax. LOL. I laughed, because he used to refer to me as his work-a-holic or captain of the NFL (No-fun-league).  I have been working hard to relax. Wow-What an oxymoron that is. I guess the better way to say it is, I have been using my time wisely so that there is time left for F-U-N. 

Instructional Leadership -- Establishing Credibility #SAVMP

In my work as a leader, I am often sympathetic to how much responsibility our teachers are carrying. I try and always take things off their plates before adding another initiative or project if it is within my control. Many times, the new responsibilities we all take on are those required due to state or federal obligations. 

I also try and do my very best to learn everything I can about what I am asking our teachers and students to do. When possible I try to provide support or resources or training to assist in aiding smooth implementations.

One recent major implementation our full campus is undergoing is our Writing Action Plan. I happen to be a past district trainer for the Creating Writers (6 Traits) program for our district. I was able to be trained by Vicki Spandel and then was a co-trainer with a great teacher in our district, Beverly Dunaway. It is important for me to share this prior knowledge. To demonstrate Instructional Leadership, I want to not only show my knowledge and understanding of today’s classroom, but I also want to get deep into the work with my staff and students. To walk side-by-side with them as we all travel the long journey to increased writing achievement, I have set out creating writing mini-lessons for each month to match our school-wide Writing Trait of the Month.

I love sharing my enthusiasm for writing, and I also enjoy providing one more resource for our faculty to assist in our Writing Action Plan. The use of videos allows teachers to view the video on their own time and to "pause and play" as they like. They don't have to stay late for a meeting or attend a face-to-face training session. Video is so user-friendly. 

I have added these videos to my collection of videos on my YouTube Channel, and most recently, the teachers have joined in allowing me to film them and send out mini-lessons about many aspects of the school's teaching and learning goals. 

Here are two of the videos I have created thus far. They are so easy to make, and as a recent mentor of mine said, "If you help just one person.......you have been effective." 

I encourage others to not only engage in video mini-lessons but also in developing STREET CRED with your teachers and students by getting busy with the work of teaching and learning at every opportunity.

Setting Professional Goals #SAVMP #15

Goal Setting is my contentment. I love the day-to-day goal setting, the short-term goal setting, and the long-term goal setting. I revel in the sense of accomplishment that I achieve from crossing things off my lists. Being task-oriented always leads me to a sense of jubilation at the end of the day because ..... if I write something down, you can be assured I will get it done.

So what are my professional goals at this time?

The start of the school year yielded the genesis of two long-term goals from last year. The data showed that we had been missing the mark for our lowest and highest performing students. We added an inclusion program this year AND we added a TAG program for our Talented and Gifted students. So far so good. The programs seem to be setting down roots and flourishing. Certainly they have had their share of starts and stalls, but the students are growing and achieving--that is the ultimate goal. That is what makes every day fresh and exciting...to see our students thrive.

Since school began, I set out with several major goals for this year:

1. Move our faculty from data awareness to data interpretation for impact.
2. Develop a writing team and action plan to grow our students' abilities to write proficiently.
3. Work on rigor and engaging instruction within our core reading program.

Again, we seem to be making progress in all three areas. The writing and reading goals are moving along swiftly. We are using a core replacement program to increase our reading scores. Our writing team is a highly effective group of faculty who are sharing the leadership in spreading writing success across our campus. They are peer-rating papers, cross-calibrating scoring, and analyzing the data to attain greater proficiency for our students.

The data goal is the one that is most daunting. My greatest desire and vision for our school is to develop our school into a school where data drives instruction. We need to be watching for the exact moment where a student stops learning so that we can reteach the skill/concept and help them achieve mastery. This can be difficult to do if teachers are not paying clinically close attention to daily and weekly formative assessments as well as analytics provided by online learning progress monitoring data.

This data journey presents challenges as we must look beyond interim assessments and drill down to the data collected minute-by-minute and day-by-day. That data, the data of learning, is the data that should and needs to drive our instruction. We are building this capacity across our campus, and I love hearing the amazing stories of things our teachers learn about their students every single day.

I certainly have long-term goals as well, and the top three are:

1. Student Achievement (OF COURSE)
2. Faculty Family
3. Facility Improvements

Goals 1 and 3 are complementary. One focuses on what is going on inside the classrooms, and the other focuses on the classrooms and the buildings. A great mentor just shared with me this weekend, that at a school....."I should see your fingerprints all over it." Wow. That is a humbling thought. Progress is the goal in both areas.

The challenge lies in the second goal. I truly, truly want to develop a feeling of 'family' among our faculty. I know they are still learning to trust me and to accept the demands of our situation. It is an ever tenuous balance to raise expectations and to also keep morale high. I will leave no stone unturned to keep this harmony.

Goals for the goal setter--I love them. I find elation in the art of achieving, and I look forward to every morning to get started on my latest mission. GO is the first word in GO-a-l. Go for it!

Connected Educators Month

This past month I have been learning about Online Curation. I opened a Scoop It! Curation Account. I have also been involved in a collaborative curation project with several other connected leaders: John - A Superintendent from Ohio, Mark -- A  Chief Information Officer, and Lynn -- An Elementary Technology Integrator/Coach.

Each of us was tasked with attending several different events during the Connected Educators Month of festivities and to synthesize the greater community's discussion of our theme over the course of all four weeks. Our writing is supposed to give participants who were not able to attend an event an understanding of what took place. We were invited to be curators rather than commentators--reporters vs. editorial writers.

This was our first week, and my first curation EVER! It was delightful. Check out the first submission:

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Connected Educators Month is full of ways to get “connected.” One special group of learners is the CONNECTED LEADERS group who most certainly are interested in the Connected Leaders theme and anything and everything about leadership in the connected communities out there.

KICK-OFF EVENT: OCTOBER 1, 2013

The opening panel, Connected Leadership, was hosted by:

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach – author of Connected Educator

Valerie Greenhill – Chief Learning Officer for EdLeader 21

Chris Lehmann – Founding Principal for the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia

Candice Dodson – Director of E-Learning with the Indiana DOE

Scott McLeod – Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Schools

Discussion centered around, “What does it mean to be a connected leader?,” How does connected leadership impact student learning?,”  and “As we become more connected, what challenges do we face in the future?” The panel got off to a great start and immediately tackled the topic of preparing our students for the future. This certainly is an underlying theme of why leaders should be connected.

The way we learn and live is moving beyond isolation. Our local Communities of Practice are becoming GLOBAL Communities of Practice. Reducing isolation is key, and this will change everything we do. For instance, educators will feel affirmed in their learning to take risks because they no longer feel isolated….instead they feel connected.

Topics ranged from issues such as openness, district systems that facilitate openness, transparency, accelerated learning, and the ever critical collaboration. Again and again, the panel members returned to the concept that there is power in learning that is socialized.

Other events throughout the week included:

CELEBRATE PRINCIPALS: OCTOBER 1, 2013

Also, on the 1^st, there began a celebration of connected Leadership. NAESP began their celebration of National Principals Month with their Hats Off to Principals Contest!

§  Step 1: Draw a picture, snap a photo, produce a video, write a song or poem, or create any other work of art that celebrates your principal. Make it cool, make it personal, but most of all, make it fun!

§  Step 2: Upload your tribute to NAESP’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/naesp

§  Step 3: Win great prizes! We’ll recognize a weekly winner. Prizes include: $50 Amazon® Gift Cards, Crayola® Dry Erase Prize Packs, and more!

TECH TIDBITS & FREE SOCIAL MEDIA APPS FOR THE HURRIED ADMINISTRATOR: 

OCTOBER 2, 2013

During this multi-vendor session, administrators were able to review several great educational apps. These apps ranged from organization and time savers for leaders to academic apps for teachers. Dr. Rob Furman, principal of South Park Elementary School new Pittsburgh, PA, shared 25 to 30 apps in all including several social apps. At the conclusion of the event, a small discussion on social media in education was also presented.

SUBMITTING A MANUSCRIPT FOR PUBLICATION: OCTOBER 3, 2013

During this webinar, Kappan Editor-in-Chief Joan Richardson walked leaders through the process of submitting a manuscript for publication. Her advice focused on Kappan but much of what she shared also applies to other professional education publications. She introduced participants to writers’ guidelines, editorial calendars, thematic issues, timelines for decisions and more, all in an effort to help educators navigate the submission process. This was a valuable session for connected leaders who are interested in print publishing as well as following the same sort of guidelines for BLOGing or publishing online.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CONNECTED EDUCATOR CHALLENGE: OCTOBER 3, 2013

Administrator’s days are extremely busy. One theme that comes up across all the topics for Connected Educators Month is the necessity of finding the time to be connected. During this contest kick-off, the event asks the question, “What does a day in the life a Connected Educator look like?” We invite you to show us! There are many possibilities for creating a Day in the Life of a Connected Educator project. It could be as simple as a blog post, a graphic organizer or something along the lines of a podcast or video. We have not created guidelines because we want to allow for creative choice. The only requirement is that your project needs to be accessible online. Share the link to your "project" anytime during October by Tweeting it to @INeLearn with the hashtag #CE13. We will feature Indiana Connected Educators all month long at http://www.doe.in.gov/elearning The purpose for sharing:

1.    Inspire unconnected educators and educational leaders to get connected.

2.    Expand your connections and collaborations.

3.    Motivate other connected educators to create their own project to share as part of the National Connected Educator Month.

LEVERAGING TRIBE AS A MEANS OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION: OCTOBER 5, 2013

This webinar hosted by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach was designed to prepare the next generation to rise to the demands of constant change. Sheryl defined how to meet these expectations enclosed in the silos of our classrooms and offices? Her solution is that we need each other. During this session, Sheryl collaboratively explored the art of collective intelligence building and selfless tribe leadership as a means to transpersonal and professional growth.

#SATCHAT: OCTOBER 5, 2013

#Satchat is an online Twitter discussion for current and emerging school leaders that takes place every Saturday morning at 7:30 AM EST/PST. This Saturday’s #SATCHAT will most definitely be focused on Connected Educators Month; however, tune in every week to learn from the other leaders who are up with a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning to discuss the issues of the day.

REACHING PEAK LEARNING VIA CREATIVE TASKS AND REFLECTIVE WRITING:
OCTOBER 6, 2013

This Moodle MOOC 2 Webinar hosted by Dr. Ludmila Smirnova shared her experience of teaching undergrad and grad courses in a teacher-training program and how she made a change in teacher candidates's attitudes and skills from resisting technology and critical thinking to embracing technology and striving for excellence. Any administrator that works with teachers could benefit from using such strategies to move learners from technology resistance mindsets to technology participation, connection, and collaboration.

Week one was busy with options for connected leaders to continue with connected learning. Connections are transforming learning, and we are no longer dependent on local spaces. Join us each week this month as we continue to add to our personal learning networks and our communities of practice.