Leading - The Power of Why

This TedTalk is about 6 years old and many of you have probably seen it before; however, it is one of those talks that I go back to periodically and re-watch because of its powerful message.  It is absolutely worth the 18.5 minutes.  Please take some time to watch it.



I am generally very skeptical of relating to education, books or talks that are business oriented.  This is one of those talks that I connect with as an educator.  Simon Sinek lays out for us the power of "WHY?"  He demonstrates how leaders who are successful understand and use that power to their benefit while those who don't, fail or simply get by.

If you are in a position of leadership or aspire to be, I encourage you to think about why you do what you do and how you share those ideas, as opposed to focusing simply on what you want to do and how you want to do it.

I find this notion very powerful. What are your thoughts?

Reflections - Post #1

Last year on Super Bowl Sunday I decided that the following day was going to be a new start for me. I was
mainly referring to my health, weight and other related things. However, in making that decision last February, I have found that the past year has provided me with an amazing "refreshed" outlook on life, work, and family.

I wrote a post on December 2nd that gives some detail about my decision to make some changes in my health entitled, HATS,Goals, and Me. This post is a reflection upon the ten months or so leading up to running a 5k on Thanksgiving morning, the satisfaction of reaching that goal, and how it fit in with our school theme this year. The process of the last year has truly made me assess my goals and priorities throughout all aspects of my life.

By Everaldo Coelho and YellowIcon  via Wikimedia Commons

I had to sit down and take a look at all of the things that are on my plate and decide what things are vital to me and what things need to fall by the wayside or need to be postponed.  As I reflected upon this and made a list (I love lists, especially digital lists!); here is what I came up with:

Vital (these are not in order after the first two)
Family
Health
Friends
Work/Educator
Personal Learning and Growth
My PLN
Inner Peace/Faith
New Experiences
Time
Change


Postponed/Wayside (these are not in order at all)
Doctoral Work
Some Home Improvements
Toxic People
Sweating the Small Stuff
Stuff, in general - clutter



Please note that these are fairly broad categories and each has more specific subtopics on my personal list. This post is an introduction to a series of posts I am going to write about the items on the lists above. As I have always said, this blog is a place for me to learn with others by reflecting upon my life and work. So, this may get personal, but I hope that working through these topics here will provide greater clarity for me in the year ahead and maybe ignite a spark for someone else to look at things differently or make a change. As I work through these posts over the coming weeks/months I reserve the right to add to or modify the list as any evolving, reflective thinker might.

On some level this post and those that follow are inspired by @DrSpikeCook. This year he committed to writing a post a day for 365 days. I am not ready for that challenge (maybe next year); however, I wanted to commit to at least a series of posts that would provide direction and focus this year. This is my start. I am sure I will have posts about other things in between, but look for the title, "Reflections" and the post number for the ones in this series.

Please join me and comment along the way. I would greatly appreciate it.

So Much to Say…

  

My last post was over one month ago.  I have to say that I have missed writing blog posts during that time, but I also think that it has recharged me for writing more this summer.  Our school year in New Jersey went until June 25th  and the last month was very busy, so I took a break from writing (I don't know that it was a conscious decision).  During that time so much has happened that I will be writing about over the summer in retrospect.

We had our school's 50th anniversary celebration; we had HVAC crews in our school displacing classrooms and installing HVAC; we have begun work in grades K-2 with new Readers and Writers Workshop units and curricula; we have done work on teacher and
principal evaluation systems; we have improved our home/school and community connections; we have had a very positive year and ended strong.

I have begun graduate work again; I have lost 30 pounds; I have started running; I have been reflecting upon my successes and struggles; I have committed to a new digital book club with 5th graders next year; I have worked to schedule greater amounts of PLC time in my school next year; I have started delving deeper into the Danielson Frameworks; and I have committed to writing more this summer.




So, you see, I have so much to say this summer!  I look forward to sharing and reflecting with you over the next two months as I prepare for an amazing 2013-2014 school year.


  Stay tuned!

Bear Tavern staff and students show their age

#edcampphilly 2013 - Simply Wonderful!

Yesterday was a fantastic day of learning and connecting at #edcampphilly!  I went back to my edcamp roots and made sure that I was in attendance at this one.  Last year I went to edcampphilly 2012 and it sparked an interest in becoming more involved in the edcamp movement.  I subsequently attended #edcampleadership 2012 and then helped to organize  #edcampNJ 2012.  Now I am currently working with the same group of amazing educators to plan #edcampNJ 2013 which will take place at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick, NJ on November 23rd.  But, I digress.

As is always the case when I attend an edcamp, I feel reinvigorated and connected by others who are passionate about education and the things that they are doing with children in their classrooms and schools.  Connecting with many of my PLN members from Twitter is also another great benefit of attending.  As @wkrakower tweeted yesterday in response to a tweet about conversations at edcamp:

There were so many amazing sessions to choose from that it was a shame that I could only pick four.  Check out the list of offerings that the participants facilitated throughout the day on the schedule document.  This year the #edcampphilly team added shared Google Docs for each session so that participants could take notes together during and after the sessions.  You can find those on the schedule, as well. (great idea!)  Here are some thoughts about the sessions that I attended.

Session 1: Taking Genius Global - facilitated by Angela Maiers

The conversation in @AngelaMaiers session "Taking Genius Global" was inspirational.  Her passion for giving children a place, a "global refrigerator," to post projects about which they have a passion is powerful.  I am awed by the stories of how the global connection that is afforded us by current technologies allows for students' visions of change in the world to become reality.  As I listened and participated in the conversation with Angela, it became clear to me that we have the opportunity to provide children with the connections that would normally only be found at $1000 a plate cocktail fundraisers.  The ability to connect with people who have the means to make projects and dreams a reality is right there in the palm of our hands (literally)!  Please take a moment to check out the Choose2Matter website and find out how you can get involved.  Here is the link to the Google Doc from the session.  There are a number of great resource links in it.  Thank you Angela, it was inspirational. You Matter!

Session 2: Preventing the Zombie Apocalypse - facilitated by Gerald Aungst

The presentation and conversation led by @geraldaungst was clever and apropos.  While there is a fascination with the fictional Zombie Apocalypse (The Walking Dead, etc.), it is clear that we can foster this same, very real, phenomenon in our schools and classrooms if we do not engage students.  When we as teachers cause/allow them to disengage, we are part of the virus that creates those zombies.  A strong discussion ensued around several key questions:

Should teachers be entertainers?
Who owns the engagement? Students? Teachers? Admins? etc.?

What is the difference between "instructors" and "teachers"?
Are those students engaged who are just chasing GPAs?

Gerald caused us to truly think about so many things surrounding the topic of engagement even beyond those questions.  The room was very lively with discussion.  We also learned about the "diseases" of Elementitis and Aboutitis which are discussed in David Perkins' book Making Learning Whole. If you want some additional insight into this session, check out the Google Doc with shared notes.

Lunch
I mention lunch because it is such a worthwhile time to spend with colleagues discussing the morning sessions and a whole host of other topics.  Enjoying food and conversation is a great way to learn and grow together.

Session 3: PBL in the K-5 Classroom (What does it look like? How does it happen? What are the tech tools to use?) - facilitated by Diana Potts

This discussion led by @pottsedtech helped to highlight the planning and thought processes needed to adapt Project Based Learning to elementary school content and students.  Diana highlighted the need to have a "driving question" to guide the work. Additionally, the discussion touched on Wiggins' UBD concepts and working with a backward design.  What is your desired outcome? --- How do we get there?  She shared a great resource for all things PBL, the Bucks Institute for Education.  One of my big takeaways from this session was the following:

Don't stand in the way of student learning.  Often we limit the students by our expectations. Students learn how to hide their learning for fear of failure, instead of risk-taking.

PBL requires risk-taking and failure is part of the process.  Students don't need to be ashamed if something does not work, they need to learn from it and redesign their project.  This is reality learning!  We also need to keep reminding ourselves and the children that when infusing technology into PBL, technology is anything that solves a problem and had to be designed.  Finally, it was clear the PBL is certainly not easy; however, the "Aha moments" are exciting and it brings out the creativity and the best in our students!  For more see the Google Doc of shared notes.

Session 4: Creating the schools we need vs maintaining the schools we have - A brainstorm on professional learning - facilitated by Mike Ritzius

This discussion was unique in that @mritzius was leading a discussion while working to highlight both the form and content of the session.  We were immediately focused on the participant driven nature of Mike's session and how our personal experience and knowledge made up the "value" of the session.  We wrestled with the ideas of balancing the "have to's" of professional learning (new teacher eval systems, common core, state mandates, technology mandates, etc.) and the "want to's" or participant interest topics.  The questions that we discussed can be found in the Google Doc.  Some of my musings during the session included:

I think it is important to note the fact that I (and many other folks) tweet our ideas and questions and thoughts during the sessions because one of the things this session covered was the different ways that people participate in professional learning.  I am not sure that I could fully benefit from pd anymore if I was not "back channeling" or communicating with others in a focused, related, "side conversation."  However, that is not for everybody.

This session capped off a day of exhausting, rewarding, exciting professional learning.  To top it all off, I learned about some new apps and tools with which I was not familiar during the closing Smackdown!  Before we headed home we also joined the organizers and other participants for a Tweetup afterward at a local restaurant.

Thank you to all of the organizers and attendees this past Saturday for a great experience.  Specifically, thanks to my #njed tweeps for connecting and learning together.  Even more specifically, thanks to @wkrakower, @sirotiak02, and @MissCass22 for two great car rides there and back!

As I have said before, if you have a chance to go to an #edcamp, you should jump at it.   The worst possible thing is that you may spend a Saturday and learn with some great people. The best thing that could happen is you find a whole new model for professional learning that feeds your mind and your passion for teaching and learning!

I hope to see everyone at #edcampNJ on November 23, 2013 in North Brunswick.

Related articles

• My First EdCamp: #edcampPhilly Reflections (drstaub.wordpress.com)
• Hot Pocket Leadership: The Edcamp Movement as a Case Study (educationismylife.com)
• My First EdCamp (primarytechblog.com)
• Knapp Elementary Hosting ParentCamp To Help Parents, Teachers Connect (ptotoday.com)
• EDcamp experience (educatorsforabetterbuffalo.wordpress.com)
• My First EdCamp in Boston! (karenmahon.com)
• My First Edcamp Experience (teachthrutech.com)
• How to Make PD Better (mrerichills.wordpress.com)
• #YouMatter Movement with Angela Maiers (educationismylife.com)

The Power of Crisis

Warning: In order to truly get the full story in this post, you need to click on the links.  I have been disconnected for the past several weeks.  I have not written a blog post and I have only checked my Twitter account sparingly.  This has not been an effort to relax and disconnect as I mention in one of my posts from July.  It has been a break that was dictated by some circumstances outside my control.  As a principal, I always work on what is called the "interrupt schedule;" which basically means that while I have plans for my week, my day, my hour, the universe has different designs and interrupts those plans for more pressing things.  This summer Bear Tavern Elementary School was presented with quite an interruption.  Unfortunately, on Sunday July 29th we sustained some fairly extensive vandalism.  You can learn more about it from CBS News, ABC News, and The Hopewell Sun.

 As principal of this school for 10 years, it was shocking and saddening to walk through the building on the evening that it happened.  I truly realized how much this school has become my home.  It was like getting punched in the gut.  To see our beautiful school in such a state was painful.  Needless to say, the aforementioned interrupt schedule clearly kicked in.  Everything stopped to address the more immediate needs of the building and the community.  Hence, my absence from this blog.

Fortunately, we found out that our insurance company would cover everything, which helped me to focus on the community.  One thing that I have learned about our wonderful community is that when there is a crisis, we pull together and we emerge successful and better than before.  This is the case in this situation.  After several email communications with the community, I scheduled a community update meeting on August 6th.  This meeting was attended by over 150 staff members and community members.  Here is the presentation that I gave and subsequently posted to our district website: We are Bear Tavern: Better Together! Better Than Ever!

It was truly heartwarming to see the show of support for the school. I received numerous messages that demonstrated the character and strength of our community. Here is just a small sampling of those messages that I posted in our virtual backpack: BT Better Together: The Support of an Amazing Community. 

As mentioned in the presentation above, we were not allowed in the building until August 20th due to the toxicity of the chemicals in the fire extinguishers that were discharged.  The reopening/Community Day that was scheduled was a wonderful success and our students, staff members, families, and community members came together to ready the school for our September opening.  Here are some photos of that day.

As we are now about a week away from the start of school, we are continuing to ready the school for the arrival of the children and there is a heightened sense of community among staff members and the community.  We have worked together to navigate a difficult summer and will move into the 2012-2013 school year with a renewed focus on our community through our simple (but powerful) theme of "Better Together!"

I can only hope that every principal has the privilege of leading and participating in a community like the one at Bear Tavern Elementary School!

WE ARE BEAR TAVERN!  BETTER TOGETHER!  BETTER THAN EVER!

Disconnecting to Recharge?

Traditionally in order to recharge a device one must connect it to power.  I find that I am obsessed with recharging now.  My iPhone is always above 40%, my iPad is constantly charged; any device that I have is charged and ready for any important 21st century emergency.  While I realize it may sound a bit excessive, I am fine with it because I find it vital to my professional life that I remain connected.  Additionally, the benefits of being connected for personal reasons are numerous.  But, my question is this:

How does one who is reliant upon recharging using a power cord recharge the professional battery?

The Answer: Disconnect.

I have to say that when I left for Canada this past Friday evening, I was still in full-charge mode.  I had my devices with me and charged for every occasion.  As we neared the campsite, I made peace with the fact that there was no WiFi and that I did not have an international data plan.  Basically, all I was getting was the occasional expensive call or text over the next week unless I headed into town (30 min. drive) to access WiFi at McDonalds.  Honestly, this was rather unsettling to start the trip, but I knew it would become a welcome respite by about day 2.

Sure enough, I was actually enjoying my time away from the connection.  I wasn't constantly checking email, Twitter, blogs, etc, etc. etc....  I was just enjoying being out by the lake, playing board and card games with my family, reading for pleasure, and just generally relaxing.  Now I can't lie to you, during our trip into town, I did stop by Micky D's and check a couple things, but not for long and I didn't make a special trip to do it.  But, I was confronted with a problem.  On about the 5th day of our trip we found out that one of the folks in the campground with whom we are friends had WiFi!!!  I quickly got the password and started to check things, but then I remembered the whole point of the trip: Relax, Recharge, Refresh!

So, I honestly did very little with the WiFi for the last couple days of the trip.

I remembered that this trip was about catching turtles and letting them go.

I remembered that this trip was about snapping a picture of a luna moth at night.

I remembered that this trip was about sleeping in a tent with the family.

I remembered that the best way to recharge is to unplug.  Now that I am back and will be going in to my office tomorrow, I am ready to think about the future and ready the school for the new year.  I look forward to all of the challenges that the months ahead will present!  Oh, by the way, all of the devices are charged again, too.

Feel free to comment if you are so inclined.