Isolation Is the Enemy of Innovation #SAVMP 2.6

Isolation Is the Enemy of Innovation -- #SAVMP 2.6

     Change continues to wipe out existing paradigms in education. Teachers of today have a job that looks VERY different from teaching just 5 years ago. With the advent of data-driven instruction, technology integration, and ever-increasing accountability, teachers are living in a “brave new world.”

     With all of these incredible responsibilities added to an already time-intensive career, the need for teachers to collaborate is stronger than ever! So let’s take a trip back in time when I was a beginning teacher. 20 years ago (yes, I am a D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R), I started teaching. I had a mentor on campus who met with me about once a month. I was a fairly strong new teacher, so we just met after school when we could both find the time. After that year, I continued to fly on my own, and there was no more mentoring. It was part of our district’s plan at that time to provide new teachers a mentor during their first year. Then, each year afterwards, I would have a department chair who guided me and all department members in important calendar events, lesson planning protocols, and other school priorities.

     Fast forward to the future. Teachers now have virtual mentors available to them at a mere click of the mouse or a swipe of the touch screen! There are personal learning networks on Twitter, tutorial videos on how to teach anything on YouTube, and ideas on how to teach anything and everything with access to Pinterest, BLOGs, and many other vast resources on the Web.

     What used to be an isolated profession is now a connected profession. For example, in our district, we have moved to Professional Learning Communities as an amazing impetus for collaboration. It has improved our practices at both the school and the district level.

     Collaboration is also increasing via the Internet. The quickest and most dynamic way we have moved to transform the culture of isolation is by using Twitter at our school.  We are seeing the contagion of innovative practices occurring through the unique and dynamic Twitter window.

     Here are just a few benefits of our use of Twitter @MCherryStreet. We have many teachers tweeting just about daily, and all but a handful of members of our instructional faculty are leveraging Twitter power.

BENEFITS:

1.       Personal Learning Networks

My personal learning network has been the source of about 80% of all learning that occurs in my professional development arena. In the past 6 months, several of our district employees have joined Twitter, and now we are using Twitter to provide a World Wide and a Local Personal Learning Network. Here is a recent Tweet that contains one of my TouchCasts that allowed three administrators to collaborate together. This is sooo exciting!

2.      Excitement by Students

One of our #RockStar teachers, that I will refer to in the rest of this BLOG as Nikki, gets her students all excited about Tweets and the Retweets they have earned by national companies. She recently Tweeted about her students winning the grade level First in Math competition at our school. Her class Tweet was then Retweeted by the company, First in Math. Her kids were so excited, and they feel like they have voice!

3.      Transparency of Practices

Teachers are learning from each other and from others across the globe. We recently had a district Technology Exposition where our teachers learned several new apps. and programs that have caught on like “wild fire”. Several of our teachers are now using Go Noodle. Nikki, tweeted about it, and others all over campus can now see how one teacher could use this program--great ideas spread quickly. This is grass roots professional development from one teacher’s voice to another teacher’s view.

Take a look at these few Tweets where Nikki  credits another teacher on her grade level. These two teachers collaborate frequently! Teacher Kim is @CherryCheetah64.

4.      Classroom Walk-Thrus ~ The Window into a Teacher’s Practices

As an administrator, it is always difficult to get into teacher’s classrooms with the mounting paperwork responsibilities that accompany more and more federal and state accountability. Further, the immediate needs of students in crisis will throw my schedule out the window quicker than anything else. With that being said, Twitter has allowed me to see, sometimes on a daily basis, a snapshot of lessons occurring in the classroom. For my teachers who Tweet regularly, I can without a doubt­ vouch for the practices of that teacher because they provide documentary evidence EVERY SINGLE DAY about what occurs in their classroom. I have virtual CWT’s happening at my school. I feel empowered, but imagine how confident a parent will feel about the practices of this teacher! Twitter has been a tool for positive press for the teacher and the school! I, as the Principal, have access to our school’s FaceBook page, and I have begun cross-posting Tweets to our FaceBook page which gives the teacher twice the impact for those families who don’t have access to both—more bang for the buck!

      

5.      Ed Chats  -- Sharing Practices about Specific Strategies

Our school recently participated in 2 different Ed Chats. We modified the format a smidge by having them last all day so that any teacher could post to the Twitter feed during their planning session. This extended the Ed Chat to an 8 hour window, but the information we gleaned was priceless. Our topics were PBIS strategies shared by all faculty and the integration of technology. The PBIS chat was a positive way for teachers to share their successful strategies with each other while not interrupting their school day. This was organic professional development at its best. The technology integration Ed Chat provided my Technology Team with the diagnostic feedback they needed to help them organize and run a faculty meeting/professional development session focused on integrating the latest technologies. I created a Storify of that very first Ed Chat in a previous BLOG entry: Spreading the EdTech Virus.

Here is a Tweet where Nikki uses the #PBS hash tag to identify this Tweet is specifically about our school's #PBS initiatives.

And, here is a Tweet that shows how much Nikki is loving using Twitter to learn from her colleagues:

     And, just to praise the power of #TwitterTeachers, I observed a tweet from #RockStar Nikki while I was typing this BLOG Entry—she is frequently leveraging the power of Twitter to impact not only her classroom community but also the educational community at large (with Twitter that is a.k.a. THE GLOBE)! To emphasize my points here, I was away from the school today, and I could see—with a visual—what this amazing teacher was working on right then--when the learning occurred!

     Nikki is an educator who has shifted the “norm” of her classroom culture by using social media spaces to connect and learn from educators all over the world. To quote Amber Teamann @8Amber8 who provoked this BLOG entry via the #SAVMP project (I believe she was quoting my hero, @GeorgeCouros,) “Isolation is now a choice educators make.”  The shift really has to happen for educators. Using tools like Twitter allows for educators to connect and share learning that is happening with educators in their own school and with any other school abroad. We need to make this happen, weave this magic for our profession, and continue to create transparency in our own classrooms.

     If you want to follow one of these amazing teachers check out my list on Twitter titled: #Cherry Street Rock Stars. And....Tweet on my friends, Tweet on!

Teacher Leaders - The Wind Beneath My Wings #SAVMP 2:5

So today I am going to talk about MY classroom! Yes, the school and its teachers are MY classroom, and just like a classroom teacher, I get jazzed when my students (my awesome team of teachers) take risks and grow and demonstrate mastery of their learning. 

I have one teacher who took the teacher leadership challenge, and she is helping others grow as well. Since it is appraisal season, I was having one of those sit-down conversations with a strong teacher at our school. I was discussing the topic of teacher leadership with her. I shared that I wanted her to take on more leadership roles. Because she is a quality teacher, she was not afraid to raise questions with me. She shared that she felt she had missed the opportunity to lead in formal ways because grade chairs, school improvement team positions, and other formal leadership roles were already distributed. That is when we got down to some "real talk." I shared with her that my vision for the school was of a collaborative work force, and that I wanted to see leadership formally and informally. SHE WANTED TO KNOW MORE. I explained that teacher leadership should be exhibited by all teachers who have something to offer others. I wanted her to take on leadership roles that were beyond the status quo. I wanted her to be a "go-to" girl for new teachers, for her colleagues, and someone who positively impacts our campus for the greater good of our students. I began to see a gleam in her eyes. This was a paradigm shift for her, but it was one she quickly adopted. Sitting in the chair in front of me and my assistant principal,  she paused for a few seconds, and then she said, "Can you give me some examples?" I was amused by her enthusiasm and energy. I shared that there were a group of new teachers on campus who needed some help with their action research plans. I shared that we needed to be able to assist some of the new teachers with getting activated on Twitter since we were coming up on our second school #EdChat (#CherryElem). She said, "Okay, I will do that." Well, she wasn't kidding. She was SERIOUS and she meant BUSINESS! She walked out of my office, and went directly to the new teachers and asked them how she could help. She called me about an hour later, as it was getting dark on campus, and she said, "Hey, I am helping this new teacher and we have a question about the action research plan requirements." I got a huge smile on my face, and I was speechless! We talked through how to support that teacher. Then, the very next day, she got one of the new teachers on Twitter which is the picture you see above. 

Staff empowerment is such an important gift for our teachers. Teachers should not have to wait for a CEO type Principal to hand down decisions from above. Teachers should be empowered to come up with creative and innovative solutions on their own with collaborative input and monitoring by administration.

This teacher, Tiffany, was empowered, and she used her empowerment to empower others. Her excitement for the opportunity to lead others inspires me and my assistant principal. She has recently helped host our second school Twitter chat, and her leadership example stirs the excellence in others. Just since this school year started, we have seen all but 3 of our faculty members join Twitter. It has become a #BragTag fest where the teachers share the awesomeness of their classrooms. It has become a school-level PLN where we share and learn from each other's practices. AND, it has become an encouragement network for supporting each other's efforts to be #RockStarTeachers.  This same teacher, Tiffany, spontaneously got us all involved in a #TweetMob celebrating #EdJoy a couple of weeks ago. 

I have many others like her on my campus. She, and other teachers like her... are the wind beneath my wings.... 

#FETC Spreading the #EdTech Virus

Well, this year's FETC Conference was another amazing experience. I was exceptionally lucky to add to the richness of the experience this year by bringing three teacher leaders with me. Three of my Cherry Street teachers joined me in Orlando for FETC 2015, and I do believe they came back with the #EdTech Virus!

Valerie, Stefanie, Me, and Tiffany (all pictured here) got our #FETC Mojo going and have been on fire since our return. I am sure that each of these ladies could write their own BLOG entry on the amazing ed. tech. they have been integrating in their classrooms since their return. I hear wonderful stories about their use of Plickers: https://www.plickers.com/ and Kahoot: https://getkahoot.com/ as well as many others. 

Some of the sessions I attended this year were:

• TechShare Live
• Advanced Twitter Tips and Tools
• Give a Kindergartner an Ipad
• Kathy Schrock's Telling the Story
• Augmented Reality and Mind Blowing Student Engagement
• Neurological Benefits of Gaming
• Advanced YouTube

...and as always each of the keynote speakers was fabulous. 

The hottest topics in Ed. Tech. are, of course, the gamification of learning and the maker movements. I, personally, get excited by all the augmented reality that is out there on the market. There were several augmented reality demonstrations I attended, and the Elements 4D app from DAQRI was crazy amazing: Elements

The elements from the periodic table are in wooden blocks. But when you use the app. via your tablet or SmartPhone, it turns the blocks into three dimensional cubes that contain the elements being represented. It is difficult to even describe this sort of technology, but the crowd was "oooo"ing and "awwww"ing constantly. A cube containing oxygen and a cube containing hydrogen, when paired together, became a cube containing water!

Here is a tweet from Tiffany during one of the keynote speaker addresses that shows 3D printing and several augmented reality examples. 

Here is a tweet from Stefanie during one of the sessions she attended.

Part of the greatness of attending the conference is not only what you learn while you are there but also the fun you have trying out the programs you learn about once you get home! I started using TweetDeck at the conference, and I was able to use it during our Inaugural #EdChat at Cherry Street this month. With TweetDeck, you can monitor multiple timelines, topics, lists and accounts. I love it! The multi-tasking fool that I am has three different Twitter accounts. It can get overwhelming without these amazing tools: TweetDeck

AND, most exciting of all, my three teacher leaders hosted our very first #CherryElem #EdChat. We followed the lead of one of my favorite BLOGsters, Amber Teamann, and her suggestion to modify the parameters of a regular Twitter Chat by allowing for 24 hour posting so folks can see the process and get initiated slowly. Here is that BLOG entry: Technically Teamann

I got to use another super cool program, Storify, at https://storify.com/, when we finished the #EdChat. I posted a summary of our #EdChat here: Storify.com/Enrjtk_Educatr/first-twitter-edchat-for-cherry-street-elementary

Lastly, I appreciate the comradery and the fun that I was able to have with my awesome team in Orlando. We created some great memories! I have been attending FETC off and on for twenty years. I have seen Jim Lovell from Apollo 13 and the lauded science fiction author, Ray Bradbury. FETC is the best!

Standing United with Staff #SAVMP 2:2

Participation is Paramount for a Leader's Credibility 

#SAVMP 2:2

When asking your faculty and staff to take a leap of faith and try something new, it is critical that the leader step out in faith as well. I have joined with my amazing staff in hosting a program for our students. I always believe it is critical to be ready to commit to anything that I ask staff to commit to so that we are partners in the rewards AND my presence will continue to provide credibility and solidarity for our team.

This year we have begun a significant initiative to try and provide an after-school network of clubs and extracurricular activities for our students. Simultaneously, several of our teachers are taking the opportunity to tutor students since we have budgeted to provide transportation for these programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The longer we can keep our students on campus, we can be assured they are safe. We provide snacks, and we can be assured they are fed. We provide rich academic opportunities and content exposure, and we are assured they are learning!

Several teachers and staff have chosen to create and participate in rich experiences for our students. I have also chosen to be a member of our after-school activities.

Here is our COMING SOON flyer from last spring for the programs we have begun on campus: Cherry STEMS (STEM project-based learning club), My Brother’s Keeper (a mentoring program partnered with local community leaders to reach out to young boys), Cheetah Harmony (a Music Academy with exposure to instruments and community music programs), and a thriving Chess Club! The emphasis in each of these clubs is expanding the background knowledge of the students through exposure to high-level academic content and experiences.

In addition, this fall, as part of the STEM program, our STEM Teacher has begun a GEMS Club: GEMS is Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science.

I have been able to participate in two of the clubs myself and share in the joy! I attend every My Brother’s Keeper and Chess Club meeting. The experiences have been intensely rich for me.

The My Brother’s Keeper program is led by a local pastor who has scheduled to bring in multiple guest speakers. He first brought in local law enforcement officers to speak with students. He and one of our male staff members teach character lessons, and the pastor is currently developing a lesson for the boys that has an obstacle course in conjunction with our PE Coach. It is so awesome to watch how these developing young men respond to the instruction of these community and school mentors. Here are photos from the last session:

The other club, the Chess Club, has been the club that makes me laugh, and I leave each meeting with a huge smile! I have taught several students how to play Chess. It is very rewarding to turn the fledgling players loose and let them play other students. We have club norms like, “No bragging if you win.” AND….one young lady in 3^rd grade asked me if she could check out a chess board to take it home to teach her family how to play. Now, that was a worthwhile experience for all the time that our team of three adults puts into the club. Here are photos from our first session:

I am grateful for the staff who extend their work day to provide these experiences for our students, and I make certain that I participate because we are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

Action NOT Perfection Is the Goal

     Our school district and our school have embarked upon a new adventure with the advent of Professional Learning Communities. What is a PLC you ask? The Professional Learning Community is a method of working in schools where educators are continuously improving teaching and learning through collaborative practices done in consistent and regular work sessions. Our district is following the research of Richard Dufour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker and Thomas Many in the book, Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work. 

     I feel like our school had a slight advantage in stepping into this initiative because we had been preparing for common assessments for two years. We spent the first year immersing our school in data analysis. The second year we spent reviewing data for student impact. This third year we are investigating and reviewing student AND TEACHER data to determine the differentiation needs and match them to the teacher practices! This is exciting work, and our campus has definitely got some pockets of greatness occurring. Even better, there is a collaborative dynamic all over campus, and it will only make us stronger and better able to serve our students. Everywhere on our campus we are moving forward which follows the greatest premise of the PLC mentality...

The goal is action, not perfection!

     Here is a video of our first grade team sharing their work through the PLC process. The items of brilliance to watch for are:

1. Use of Norms
2. Distribution of Roles
3. Data Analysis of Student Achievement
4. Alignment to the Standards and 8 Mathematical Practices
5. Increased Rigor
6. The use of other resources when the provided resources are insufficient
7. Teacher-developed items formatted to the standardized summative assessment(s)
8. The use of performance items
9. The use of rubrics and progression scales
10. Student self-assessment

     It is our hope to continue improving our practices at every opportunity, and this is definitely a step in the right direction. Click below to see the video on YouTube.

Just Part of the Family

     This past week I had the privilege to work with an amazing group of administrators as we embarked on a challenging new journey. The family of schools that combine to feed into Bay High School, the Bay High Family of Schools, met to start a partnership that will lead to stronger schools to better serve our students. The catalyst for the partnership was a comment made by one of our school board members during the last Principals' Meeting. The partnership might have occurred over time anyway, but it was this comment by board member, Ginger Littleton, that got all of us thinking! To summarize, she said that the high schools should be looking to strengthen the middle schools, and the middle schools should be looking to strengthen the elementary schools... or we were all missing out on opportunities to build stronger families of schools.

     Shortly after the meeting, it might have been a couple of days at the most, Jinks Middle School's new Principal, Britt Smith, sent an email asking all of our feeder schools to join him in a meeting to begin the unification of our school family.

     I was delighted to join in this process as we would all reap the benefits of stronger connections and communication in our pipeline of schools.

     Some of the great ideas that resulted from the meeting were:

• ·       The collaboration of teachers for curriculum and grade level expectations across the full vertical team.
• ·       The integration of student experiences across schools especially to support programs, special projects, and events.
• ·       The formation of student communities/academies such as athletic and arts academies.
• ·       The increase of press and public relations using social media and other outlets to declare the excellence at our schools.
• ·       The promotion and building of relationships for students and their families among schools.

     I look forward to the future where I will see middle and high school students on our campus providing the excellent role models for our elementary students. I look forward to a future where our teachers are comfortable collaborating together to polish our craft and bravely accept all the challenges coming to each of our schools TOGETHER.

     I know of a team of schools who are partnering in Canada, using a Triad model. Here is an image of their Google+ page.

     The Triad DGM Google + Group was created to assist the staffs of St. Gregory, St. Daniel and St. Monica with their collaborative inquiry. Their Google + Group also challenged the Triad schools to use new technologies to keep connected throughout the year. Here is a BLOG entry posted by one of their primary grade teams (grades 1 & 2) of teachers that met, collaborated, and shared their work: 

Team Grade 1 & 2

     I have watched their model on Google +, and I hope that our group will use technology such as Google Hangouts to capture the great work that I am positive is going to happen as we begin this journey! I am proud to be... just part of the family!

Communication is All about Listening! #SAVMP 19

     Week 19 of the #SAVMP Project is about “communication essentials”, and I think most people will take the spin to write about how they're using social media to communicate. I decided to use a different twist for this assignment. I would have to say the greatest communication essential is the art of listening, and I have tried to develop better listening skills over the years. It has been a personal goal of mine to increase my listening capacity and, of course, I am still growing.  I take some solace in that I do believe I have shown improvement in this area. I am often trying to listen for longer than I speak.

     I consider myself a student of leadership, and many times over the years I have observed my Principals. When you are seated before them in the Principal’s office, I can recall having worked for different leaders who, when you would go into speak with them, they would turn away from you and begin working on their computer or clicking through emails. I would describe that feeling as feeling devalued as a human. I felt like they didn't care what I had to say or they were too busy to give me the time I sought from them.

     To be fair, though out the day, I have people who want to pop in my office. There have been times when I might be very, very busy, and their brief visit may keep me from leaving at closing time. BUT… no matter how long it delays my workday, I always keep my door open, and I always turn a watchful eye to my visitors. I sit and listen to what people have to say; it is part of leading. I want to develop the relationships with people.  It is sometimes difficult for me to stop and listen because I am so task oriented. It has been tough for me to develop this skill, but each year I get better and better at it.

     The benefits of listening outweigh the costs. I think the most important thing I gain from listening is that I begin to understand the people that make up our workforce, and they are most definitely people with human needs. For example, if someone is late to work two or three times, and this is not typical behavior, you cannot just attack that behavior. If you listen first and try to understand…you may learn that perhaps they have been late because they are having a rough time, or they are going through a divorce, or they are a single mom and they have got a sick child they are tending to… there so many factors that make up the human condition. You have to value the whole person.

     Let’s be honest.  I'm a really strong employee. Bosses have always loved me because I give my job 110%. But, even I have the need for a reprieve from exemplary work. Being full-on every single day can be exhausting. There are some days that my friend calls “needs improvement days.” AND… we all experience a needs improvement day every once in a while.  SO…. when someone misses a deadline or has a rough week or something just seems off about their performance, it really is very valuable to understand the person and that helps you to support them. Further, when your work relationship is grounded on trust and listening, it is easier to help folks grow through feedback….because they are ALSO willing to listen.

     One of the best books I've ever read that has helped me and shaped me as a leader was Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of Covey’s Habits is to “seek to understand first.” He describes communication as the most important skill in life. Typically, people spend years learning how to read and write and even learning how to speak. However, how much training do we have learning to listen? What training have you had that enables you to listen-- to really deeply understand another human being? We don't have a lot of training in listening. The way most people operate is that they seek first to be understood. Many people are only listening to you so that they can provide their response. They are awaiting their moment to get their point across because for the majority of the human race it's Me, Me, Me, I, Me, and Mine. Successful people, however, take the listening tactic. If you ignore the other person, of if you just pretend that you're listening or only hear certain parts of the conversation, you will miss the meaning entirely.

     Here is a powerful quote from Covey in regards to listening: “People listen with the intent to reply not to understand.”

     Many times you're running your own private thoughts through your brain. You are considering what you will say when it’s your turn, and pretty soon you're not even hearing what people are saying to you. The biggest area where I am growing right now is in my response time. I do get excited, and I do want to reply. I'm learning to bite my lip and listen before I reply.

Also, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to increase relationship building at work and get to know the people behind the faces. So listening is a good growth area for me as I continue to improve.

     Over the summer, our administrators had training by the Studer Group on Instructional Rounding. One of the items that was shared was about Employee Engagement Surveys. The information revealed what employees want when they come to work every day:

1. Tools, equipment, and resources to do their job
2.  A leader who cares about them
3.  Help to be successful
4.  A healthy work environment
5.  Recognition when doing good work

     Numbers 2 - 4 and especially Number 2 are really things that Leaders can provide for employees if they take the first and most important step of….. LISTENING.

     If you listen to your employees, you'll know their needs.

{BLOG prepared using Voice Recognition Technology -- Errors will be worked out as

they are discovered. Thanks for your patience!}

Starting the New Year with Gratitude

     I was recently reading about a couple’s trip to Ghana. The story goes like this…”The couple shared a story about a smart three year old child—taking a soapy bath in a bucket outdoors in a nice rain. She looked at the camera and grinned, laughing about the wonderful little bath she was getting due to the rain. On her face was a confident look of blessed joy. Her humble village had only one deep well. ‘Children walked for miles every day to bring back their family’s water.’ So when the skies opened and poured down rain ‘everybody grabbed buckets and bowls, catching the water.’ Then on cue, the little girl’s mother handed her soap and a towel,” and the child tore off her clothes, scrambled into a bucket, and before you knew it, she was soapy from head to toe.” And…she was laughing about it all.” She didn't even have plumbing, but she had joy!

     As I thought about this story, I reflected on my toasty, warm showers in my own home. I thought about my comfortable bed and my refrigerator that contains all my favorite tasty treats. I was reminded of my precious family and all the amazing gifts that we have and should be grateful for—but often, we forget how much others suffer or how much we REALLY ARE blessed.

     Then, when I was on Twitter this weekend, I came across this Tweet (see below). I liked the Tweet so much that I retweeted it, and then a local reading coach and another principal retweeted my Tweet. This really brought it home to me …the thought of how much of a blessing we are to our students. We are often the only smiling face a child sees, and some of them prefer our classroom to their homes. Please remember, as we begin this school year anew in 2014-- remember that you make the difference for our students. Love them, listen to them, and equip them with the skills they need to create a safe and successful future. Ask them about something they did over the break. Build those relationships. They will love you for it!

                

Critical Conversations #SAVMP

Critical Conversations #SAVMP

This week's #SAVMP assignment is actually a topic that I have BLOGged about in the past! {BIG GRIN} It was a pretty good feeling to dig into to my previous posts and locate a BLOG from a year ago. The first thing I noticed is that this review of a previous post allowed me to do some reflection.

First of all, I noticed that even a full year later, I am still engaged in these critical conversations. I have many times over the course of the last year engaged in uncomfortable conversations that pushed me to grow as a leader. I am still engaged in these conversations on a weekly basis, and that leads me to believe that they are a key element of the effective leader's responsibilities.

To reflect, I pondered how much I had grown in my abilities to have these conversations. I have determined that I have grown, and I realize that I am continuing to grow. Having had one of these conversations just last week with an employee who was considerably more mature than me, I noticed that I swallowed hard and had to steel my mind before I dove into the words that I am certain were difficult to hear. In retrospect, I would say that these talks have become, on the whole, easier to perform.

Click here: Uncomfortable Conversations-- to view my posting from a year ago. This is the first time EVER that I have been able to refer to one of my own posts to discuss my growth as a leader! Hooray for me. This is truly an epiphany as a BLOGger. The blog is a journal of my learning, and for however long it endures or I persevere, it will serve to remind me of how far I have come and how much more I have to learn!

AND....as always I learned something from #SAVMP during this process. Here is the post from Week 16's Assignment: Critical Conversations. At the original posting, @8amber8 posted a video which is quite clever (based on a Harry Potter theme) and had some awesome tips for how to provide effective "critical conversations."

Here is the video:

And here are the three steps the video recommends for providing these growth-minded talks.

1. Describe the gap between the performance and the expected behavior
2. Analyze the gap source as coming from a motivation problem or an ability problem
3. Make a follow-up plan for accountability

From my friend and mentor Paul McGuire, he posted his response for this assignment, and I felt his words were profound. He explained that the conversations we have with our teachers and staff should also be the conversations that are occurring with our teachers and our students. Feedback promotes growth, and I heartily agree that the teachers should be providing growth-minded talks for their students as well. here is Paul's post: Principal Musings.

As a member of #SAVMP, I have--in this one assignment-- reviewed, reflected, learned, connected, and shared. Thanks, #SAVMP!

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.