Welcome to this beautiful November 2015 Monday Moanin. During the past few weeks I have met with several school leaders and a common theme emerged.  Even though it is November , many staffs are feeling like it is April. Educators across the board are operating with low energy  and there is still a long way to go till June 2016. Another comment is that morale is low. Not only low , but it has never been lower. Educator Steven Weber asks; “Is morale determined by one person? Is morale pinned on the superintendent or building principals. Does a superintendent make morale go down across the district?” Read more

Happy October 2015 Monday Moanin to all of you. One of my favorite people to follow on twitter is @BluntEducator. I have chosen my three favorite tweets from the past week. Consider using them as a prompt for your reflection or consider using one of the posts as a focus point for your work this week.  They are: Read more

Happy Monday Moanin to all  of you. This time of  year many school districts are conducting parent teacher conferences. A few years ago, I was attending my kids conferences and when I was leaving I couldn’t help but notice something. Although there were many parking places available in the lot that I was parked in, there were three cars parked  illegally in the circle right outside the school entrance. Read more

Happy Monday Moanin to all of you on this beautiful final September 2015 Monday. Over the weekend I reread a piece written by Debra Auerbach of CareerBuilder. She wrote about certain comments or statements that no one wants to hear around the workplace and should be avoided. Read more

Happy Monday Moanin  to all of  you on this beautiful , crisp Michigan September morning. Today, most schools in the Midwest are in their initial weeks of the  2015-16 school year. Building principals and their staffs have been busy welcoming students and dealing with all of the tasks that go with starting a new year. As I reflect back on my years as a building principal , I remember  experiencing the first  few weeks with students and staff exhausted due to supervising, planning and facilitating the opening. You may be feeling something similar. Read more