Monday Moanin Thoughts #173 Begin A New Year Focusing On These Two Areas

Happy Final Monday in August 2015. Many of you are busily preparing for your opening staff meeting or are well into the new year. After meeting with several building and district administrators during the month of August. Two topics were common during our conversations, consistency and quality decision making. As you embark on a new year , these two qualities would be great focus areas. Read more

Monday Moanin Thoughts # 172 Leadership From Your Dinner Server

Happy Monday Moanin to all of you. I am always amazed what you can learn about leadership if you observe, pay attention, and listen. A few weeks ago my wife and I were spending some time in the cool city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. When we looking for a place for dinner one night , we found a neat micro brewery right in the heart of the city. We had a tremendous time and equally fine meal. Why? Besides the outstanding company, our server Chris helped make the experience wonderful. We both thought about the reasons for this and came up with the following examples. As you read them, think about leadership and the role you play in your organizations, teams, classrooms, etc… Read more

Monday Moanin Thoughts #171 Suggestions For A Positive 2015-16 Start

Welcome to a hot, humid Monday Moanin in  August 2015. It  feels like a new school year is right around the corner? What a great time to begin reflecting on your work and practice.  As I prepared for this blog, I thought what would I need to be considering to get the year off to a positive and productive start. Listed below are a few suggestions for you to consider using at the beginning of a new year. Give them a try or use them as a prompt to consider other strategies or areas to focus your attention. Here they are:

  • Plan for your vision or passion. Write a list of three things that are most important and make it a priority to get them done.
  • Implement daily huddles or checkins with your administrative team. They need to be a part of your culture, everyday.
  • Focus your efforts and those of your staff on the 3 L’s for students. Lockers, Lunch, and Lost. No matter what grade level K-12. Learners in some form or another have anxiety over one of the L’s. Help them out!
  • Remember that leadership is much more about who you are than what you do. Lead!
  • This is a great time to get guidance from someone you trust.

I hope that things are  progressing well as you prepare or if you have already started a new year.  Hopefully some of these will help you out. Have a great week and keep finding the good stuff.

Monday Moanin Thoughts #170 Use This To Guide And Set The Tone For 2015.

A Monday Moanin in  August 2015, what could be better?  For many of you the 2015-16 school year will begin in a few weeks. As a result , many of you are in the planning stages of  your opening staff meeting. Around fifteen years ago I attended a week-long training on William Glasser’s Choice theory. The workshop was very powerful and the learning enhanced my effectiveness  in a positive way. One critical takeaway for me was a template to use as an introduction to my building faculty. It can also be used by teachers with their students. It is a productive way to help set the correct tone, communicate expectations and  provide clarity for the school year. Over the years I used this template to  begin the opening staff meeting with great success. I urge you to give consideration to using it this year. Read more

Monday Moanin Thoughts #169 Get Ready For 2015-16, Begin Learner Centered

Welcome to the first Monday Moanin of August 2015. For many of you , August signals that a new school year is coming fast. For most educators, the summer break is typically used to learn new instructional skills, attend classes, and to enhance content knowledge. This August as you start your preparation try beginning with the student in mind. Focus on being learner centered and have that drive your focus. With the help  of my PLN, I have provided five learner centered posts listed below.  I hope that they assist you as you begin the work of opening a new year. They are:

“Our students are someone else’s heart & soul- be gentle, handle with care & treat them with respect.” Tony Sinanis 

“Teaching goal for 2015-2016: Help my students believe in themselves as much as I believe in them.” Jeff  Charbonneau

” No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” James Comer

” If students know you care, they’ll run through a wall for you. If students don’t think you care they’ll build a wall between you.” @BluntEducator

“Students work hardest for teachers they like and respect. When I’m asked, ” How do I get the students to like and respect me?” my immediate response is, ” Like and respect them first.”  Debbie Silver

Hopefully these posts  and bolded words will help you with your focus for 2015-16.

Have a great week and keep finding the good stuff.