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Blog postThe time change is here, and since it’s spring, that means we move our clocks ahead one hour. Sadly that also means we will need go get up one hour earlier. While I don’t like getting up one hour earlier, I love the benefits of having extra daylight in the evening. Springing forward gives me a brand new perspective on my day and its new opportunities. More time is always a good thing.
With this ‘extra’ hour, we can get out more. We can attend more events. Ultimately, we experience more of -
Blog postEveryone wants to be a champion, but only champions do what it takes to become a champion. At the end of the day, what makes a champion is work, but not just the ordinary work that everyone else does. It takes the right work to become a champion.
If you think of transforming a school into the premier school in the same way you think of making a football team a state or national champion, you quickly come to realize that excellent schools do a few things really well. To be more specific, be -
Blog postThe other morning I saw an advertisement where a pastor told the story of 2 raindrops that landed at the top of the Continental Divide. One landed just half an inch to the west of the peak and the other landed just half an inch to the east of the same peak. That inch of separation made all the difference in the final destination of those 2 drops.
The drop that landed to the west followed its path winding through creeks, mountains, rivers, and valleys and eventually wound -
Blog postThis past week, our district had the opportunity to have Ken Williams speak to our district staff. (By the way, if you haven’t heard him, you’re missing out. Click here for an example of what I’m talking about.). His message reminded me of the real reason we do what we do, to create men and women who are not only successful employees, but ultimately influential leaders, mothers, and fathers of future generations.
Think about that for just a second. How much more powerful would our work and -
Blog postThe 2020 New Year and new decade are here, and now is the time to make sure this new year is anything but a So-So year. When it comes to New Years and even new decades it’s easy to just think, “This year is going to be my year!” But it’s not that simple. This year will be your year if and only if you do the work to make intentional plans to make it your year!
10 Tips to Make Sure 2020 is Your Year!1. Set a Health Goal - 2020 wont be good if you don’t feel good. Set a goal for e -
Blog postThe 2010 decade is coming to an end, and boy has it been amazing. I have enjoyed leading amazing schools, and I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you for almost all of this decade. As I reflect, it is hard to believe that I have been sharing my thoughts with you through this blog since 2012. There have been ups, downs, celebrations, and failures throughout this decade and with each event, it prompted a thought that I shared with you.
It is because of you that -
Blog postIn football the 2 minute warning is an intense push from the team to score before going into half-time or the end of the game. When it comes to halftime, success during the 2 minute warning gives the team a huge momentum boost heading into the locker-room. If you think about it, the 2 minute warning can change the trajectory of the rest of the game.
No matter if your team is ahead or behind, you expect them to give everything they've got leading up to half-time. In fact, you w -
Blog postAll great leaders are teaching, and all great teachers are leading. Rick DuFour
Whenever I talk with an educator I’ve just met, I always ask this question, "What do you do?", and invariably I get the usually responses. "I'm a principal." "I'm a teacher", or "I'm a director". You get the point; they answer with the name of their position.
But that's doesn't answer my question.
Your title doesn't tel -
Blog postNo Excuse November is upon us. (click here for original post). It is a time to reflect on goals that we are committed to reaching and reaffirm our commitment to not let anything get in our path so we can accomplish our goal.
Why do we have #NoExcuseNovember? Excuses are the enemy of excellence. They lower our expectations, and therefore, detract our determination and commitment. So how do we ensure that our commitment to excellence does not fall to the almigh -
Blog postAbraham Lincoln said it best when he said, "Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be." If that's the case, then why are some leaders always happy while others seem to never be. The secret may lie not in their ability to choose happiness, but in the mindset they have before they even have to make a choice. There are 5 powerful characteristics that the happiest leaders possess.
5 Facts about the Happiest Leaders Humility - Leaders who -
Blog postThis past week my blog reached its one millionth view. I can’t even begin to describe the feelings that I have. There was some excitement, a sense of satisfaction, and a whole lot of humility. I can’t thank you enough for taking an interest in my thoughts over the past 7 years.
I vividly remember the fear that I had the first time I pressed publish on my first post. Would it be interesting? Would it be even read? What people think I’m an idiot? Those thoughts raced through my m -
Blog postStudent success is an aspiration for everyone of us educators. In some cases students reach excellence, while in other cases they do not. How do we ensure that more students find excellence and fewer students fall through the cracks?
The answer is simple. It is a support system that guarantees all students succeed. So how do we develop a support system that ensures that all students learn, grow, and excel?
The Student Excellence Support System In my new book, “A Tea -
Blog postEntering my 25th year in education, I’m pretty proud of this tremendous milestone. As I reflect, I can’t help but think of all the initiatives I’ve experienced or been a part of, how many changes I have witnessed personally, and how many new things I’ve been asked to undertake. With all that I’ve experienced in my career, it could have been easy to use my age, experience, lack of knowledge, or my personal comfort as the reason why I couldn’t take part in a change initiative.
The benefit of -
Blog postLeaders say a lot of things. Followers hear motivational messages, instructional ideas, strategic speeches, and at time directive diatribes. But the minute a leader’s statement is made, followers know if what is stated will bear fruit. The reason is not because of what is said or how it is said. The reason comes down to a simple proverb.
You reap what you sow.
Notice it does not say “you reap what you say”. Followers learn pretty quickly if their leader is a s -
Blog postWith the start of the school year, schools will be receiving their accountability ratings, and in many states schools will receive an A-F rating. Sadly, winners will be lauded, and losers will labeled based on one simple letter derived from complex and difficult to explain formulas. Basically, this one little letter will be used to rate the entire body of work in a school, much of which has no bearing on the school's rating.
That being said, some leaders will use the letter gr -
Blog postEach year, leaders make their plans for school improvement, and this is typically how it goes. Set goals, determine action steps, find new resources and training everyone before school starts. Have additional meetings to ensure everyone knows everything to make this a great start to the year, and then give teachers time to work.
While every bit of this is extremely important, all of the meetings and trainings can leave teachers with a whole lot of things to do and not a -
Blog postThe school year is upon many of us, and we’re all feverishly working to make our schools the best they can be for all kids. All educators want their schools to be really, really good, but wanting something to be good and taking the critical steps to make it happen are two totally different things. If you really want your school to be great, you have to really want to work hard to make your dreams become your reality.
6 Steps to Becoming a Really Good School.
RelationshipsPe -
Blog postMissions are realized through the actions in the building rather than words plastered on the wall. Visions can become realities, but they can also become nightmares as well. Goals are reached by people who believe in the power of teamwork and are also missed by teams who get cause in traps of selfishness.
We know this to be true, so how can we prevent our organizations from moving backwards?
Dig deeper into the words used in your organization.
Actions often follow our wor -
Blog postIn this fast paced world driven by social media, texting, or instant communication, there is an ever growing urge to be "connected". Finding the latest information, checking your feed, checking your other feed, and then checking your stories can consume us if we're not careful. The dopamine hits increase with every like, love, comment or retweet, and they push us to be evermore connected to the people inside our screens.
There is however an inherent problem that come -
Blog postExit tickets have been proven to elicit formative assessment data that drives instruction. At the end of a lesson, an exit ticket is a quick check to see which students learned and which students are still struggling. Then the data from yielded from the exit ticket is leveraged to make adjustments to the next day’s lesson.
Well, it makes good sense to employ exit tickets as much as possible to strengthen instruction, so wouldn’t it make even better sense if leaders used exit tickets to str -
Blog postLeadership is service. It’s influence. It drives cultural and structural change. If you get down to the heart of leadership, it is the galvanizing force that permanently shapes an organization.
So what is the driving force of leadership? At the end of the day, it is how the leader serves. Now you may be thinking, “Not every leader serves”. Well actually every leader does serve. It’s just that some are self-serving, while others are not. Here’s what I mean.
Weak lead -
Blog postThe other day I was driving the beautiful roads of west Texas, and I came upon a row of silos. During the summertime, silos are busy being filled with the bountiful harvest on their route to the market and eventually into our grocery cart. If you think about it, silos are the final resting place for once thriving, growing seeds.
Are You in a Silo?
In our work, getting stuck in our very own silo is safe. It is comfortable, but we must remember that no growth c -
Blog postAre you a leader or a boss? Immediately the quest to find the answer begins with your own opinion and often never leaves that location. Do you justify your actions, interactions, and behaviors that convince you that you are not a boss, but a leader.
We all want to believe we are leaders and not bosses. But the reality is this. The answer to this important question can only be found in the people you wish to lead.
Are You a Boss or a Leader?Employees avoid th -
Blog postGraduation time is here. Caps, gowns, pomp, circumstance, and lots of celebration. The purpose for graduation is commencement, not completion. For graduates the journey is just beginning, not coming to an end.
As I listened to our salutatorian speech as our school’s commencement exercises, I reflected on how leaders can perceive the end of the year. After all, the completion of a school year is more or less a graduation ceremony in and of iteself. Celebration, appreciation, sending everyon -
Blog postEnd of year assemblies, games, dodgeball tournaments, field days, parties, graduations, awards. These are the fun jobs of a leader at the end of the school year.
Exit interviews, inventory, transition sheets, data rosters, grade submissions, records updated, summative evaluations, last minute meetings, endless to do lists. These are important jobs that sometimes can be more overwhelming than fun.
No matter what the task is, THAT IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB
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