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Books to Read:
Books to Read:
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
Ruthless Equity by Ken Williams
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
Grace in the Wilderness - By The Daily Grace Co.
Peacekeeping vs. Peacemaking Leadership
Peacekeeping vs. Peacemaking Leadership
Coaching classroom management
Coaching classroom management
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August 18, 2023
As much as I am in love with the notion of creating a school improvement plan that strategically prepares students for college and career readiness, I understand that in our current educational system, we must address the elephant in the room. Our big elephant is supporting teachers with classroom management. Why? Well, friend, have you seen the alarming teacher shortage? If we want amazing educators to stay in the profession, we have to provide support with not only solid instructional and curriculum management, but overall classroom management so teachers and students can experience safety and structure.
Here are a few tips to nibble on as new teachers come into the profession:
Model classroom management techniques.
Partner teacher with another teacher with strong management skills.
Check In frequently with new teacher.
Observe teacher adjust management technique.
Celebrate glows and fold in grows.
Rinse & repeat until confidence exudes.
Because if we can't handle student behavior, it is difficult to move through your school's improvement plan. If you have a large number of teachers who need classroom management coaching, consider delegating coaching assignments to your admin team or outsource coaching to an organization and/or consultant group that can support. We can't afford to ignore this elephant.
Tips to engage the team
Tips to engage the team
August 17, 2023
Many schools in Texas are receiving their state report card grade for the 22-23 school year. I remember the feeling of awe, yet pensiveness, this time last year when our campus received a school report card grade of 99%. While I will tell you that the faith of our team and the way we intentionally addressed our campus improvement plan to move student achievement had a significant impact on the work that we accomplished, it took me 6.5 years to truly engage in the work of building a strong cohesive team would have authentic conversations regarding our strengths and weaknesses when it came to implementing action steps for our target goals.
In 2017, I implemented Strength Finders 2.0 into our beginning of the school year professional development and continued this throughout the years.
In my journey, I learned that my top 5 strengths were:
Connectedness
Futuristic
Intellection
Learner
Responsibility
And as I learned my strengths, I invested time into studying the team's strengths. We celeb rated each other's strengths while forging capacity to build our gap analysis plan throughout the years. We recognized each other's struggles and pitched in to support each other when one of our team members needed to "tap out" the ring for a moment. If I could summarize one of the biggest tips, I would give to educational leaders, leaders and learning strategists, it would be to invest time in the onboarding process of developing your team with Engagement + Assessing strengths/weaknesses + Building the team's gap analysis plan. This strategic relationship building behavior must be embedded throughout the processes to maintain an understanding of each other's humanity.
There are many strength, work and learning style tools one could use with their team. I'm interested in learning what tools do you use and how do you intentionally engage after the initial training?
The upside down requirement of leadership
The upside down requirement of leadership
August 2, 2023
To be a great leader requires that you see the greatness in others by turning a mirror around so that others can see their greatness being reflected back to them in the very mirror you are holding up for them. You are not a great leader by boasting on how great you are. Your leadership intentionally boasts on the greatness of others and challenges others to move in a way where vulnerability and greatness is allowed. As a shepherd, leadership must train, teach, protect, nurture, stretch, challenge and love those entrusted to you. Leadership requires that you eat last and to see the greater reward of others growth as your meal. And as you eat last, you model and show to others that the greatness of any organization rests on the humility and strategic movement of its leaders.
As a school principal, I intentionally celebrated the strengths, commitment and genius of my staff. While I recognized areas of growth, I strategically challenged growth areas by celebrating the goodness and greatness in staff members first before rolling out the opportunity for growth areas. When concerns from the staff, students, parents and community arise, I consistently placed myself in the line of fire and criticism to shelter and protect the energy of my staff so that they could focus on their zone of genius which was to focus on the learning and growth of students. Being fully engaged in our school’s mission day and night required a humility that only my faith could fulfill. It required a shepherd like leadership.
I challenge all of my future and current leaders to view leadership from a good shepherd’s eyes. What habit or pattern will you adopt to protect and care for the people you lead? How will you shepherd your team's zone of genius?
My duty of shepherding my team led to outstanding student achievement results and a sense of community that we loved and trusted. Building a new school to reach a 99% school report card grade was possible moving in faith, shepherding and reinventing student support systems that led to student and staff success.
Anchor Scripture: 1 Peter 5: 1-5
“Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Leadership, College & Career Readiness Gems:
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