Once a Bobcat, Always a Bobcat

A couple of days ago, I attended an IEP meeting at the end of the day.  The beginning of this meeting with parents was typical as present levels of performance were presented, goals set and instructional supports discussed.  IEP meetings are predictable as they follow a particular format, but something out of the ordinary took place near the end that left me thinking about what matters most in our profession. After the family was informed of their son's progress and plans moving forward, they shared how satisfied they are with the support that our school has been able to provide.  It is always great to hear comments like this because there are times when family support is not nearly as prevalent in these types of gatherings.  The mother continued to thank her son's teacher for her commitment and making an intentional effort to connect with him.  She said, "We love our son dearly, but also realize that he is a handful to say the least."  "You understand hi...

We all think of a brighter future and constantly discuss ways to get better.  I think it is human nature to want to improve while looking to increase the quality of our relationships, improve our skill sets, or work more efficiently.  I have given this a great deal of thought in the past few weeks and have come to the conclusion that the decisions and plans we make today will lead to a better tomorrow. I think of this practice as an investment and refer to it as planting seeds.  Within this post, I will share what I plan to do today to lead to a better tomorrow. Image Credit: DeonVsEarth, Inc Take care of the hard stuff now: If you work in education, there are going to be difficult things that you will have to tackle almost daily.  Maybe there is a hard conversation that needs to take place with one of your colleagues.  A procedural change may need to happen that is going to upset a group of people, but is best for your organization.  Or maybe it is...

I have spent a great deal of time in my career thinking about what I stand for, what I believe in, while defining my core values.  All of these things guide my decision making and shape my work as principal, teacher, father, husband, coach, son, brother, and the other roles that I play.  It is very important to define our core values and beliefs; I have talked and written about this in the past. However, I have come to realize this is only the first step in the improvement process.  The next step involves action. Most of us would agree that saving money is a necessity for a productive life, as unexpected circumstances rear their heads.  I believe this is an important practice; however, if I am not intentionally setting money aside in my savings account, there is a disconnect between my beliefs and actions.  I can think about, talk about and even publish my beliefs about saving money, but if my actions are out of alignment with my beliefs, I am not going to ...

Throughout the course of any given day, I have a number of interactions with students, teachers, parents, support staff members, administrators, and community stakeholders about achievement, performance, instructional techniques, strategies to serve students who struggle, events taking place in their lives, among many other topics.  I love these conversations, as I am able to learn about great things taking place in our schools, struggles or areas where I can support, and often times thoughts or plans are generated about how we can become better.  Some of these conversations are exciting, as teachers share how much their students are producing with the Lucy Calkins Writer's Workshop model of instruction.  Other times the conversations are full of frustration, as people are struggling to meet a variety of needs and don't know what to do moving forward.  Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out where the person is coming from within these interactions which forces me ...

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural  What Great Educators Do Differently Conference  in Chicago.  There were so many fantastic educators at this event willing to share their expertise related to teaching, learning, leadership, technology, and making connections.  After attending various sessions facilitated by  Paul Solarz ,  Dwight Carter ,  Amber Teamann ,  Angela Maiers , and having conversations with other participants, I have developed a list of what I feel great educators do differently.  The list and descriptions will not seem mind-boggling in any way; however, I believe that truly great educators do these things consistently within their daily practices.           Great educators know their strengths and where they can grow: I have faced a hard truth over the past four years serving in my role as elementary principal of two schools: I cannot be everything to everyb...

The embedded podcast above features a conversation that I had with Josh Allen , Brent Catlett and Devin Schoening from Dads in Ed; it takes a deeper look at the content within this post. I hope you enjoy it. School started on Thursday, and just like every year, there is excitement and anticipation in the air. Students arrive with new clothing, fresh haircuts, and summer tans ready for new experiences and opportunities to connect with their friends.  Teachers and staff arrive energized with hopes of making differences in the lives of children.  This year has not been any different, as there has definitely been a buzz the first two days. Dismissal time in any school is always somewhat chaotic with many people moving in many different directions in a short amount of time.  It usually takes a good two weeks before the wrinkles are ironed out and the flow at the end of the day becomes smooth.  We experience a number of small issues that work themselves out af...

I recently returned from the National Association of Elementary School Principal's Conference ( #naesp15 ) in Long Beach, California and finally have time to quietly reflect on the week filled with fantastic memories. There is nothing like attending a conference in 2015.  It is truly amazing seeing people from my Personal Learning Network (PLN) face to face after interacting through Twitter, Voxer, and Facebook over the past several months.  I wrote about this very topic last year after attending #naesp14 in Nashville .  I am extremely blessed to be surrounded by incredible people within my network who truly care about students, staff members, families, and making their schools as great as they can be.  Throughout the past couple of years I have been provided with opportunities to present and share my learning with small and large groups of people at the local, state, and national levels.  This would never have been possible if I did not make a conscious effo...