More Time #SAVMP

I have a problem.  I am inattentive, unfocused and easily (VERY) distractable.  It is one of the more major roadblocks in life, not just job, that I tackle everyday.  I've learned over time that this is a good thing, job wise, because I can and do exercise some control over myself!  HA!  Now, being and elementary school administrator, this problem is sometimes compounded by being at a school of near 800 students, 60+ staff members that need time and attention various ways throughout the day.  It has the possibility to become something quite like a perfect storm of inefficiency  without some specific supports and strategies in place (this is now sounding like an RtI meeting, is it not...you might say I'm a tier 3 for time management!)

Often an easy go-to answer (wishful thought more like) is to say I need "more time".  But the truth of the matter is that even if we had more time, we would always have the same issue, With more time

#APrincipalsDay Reflection

Emergency drills with Kindergarten!

31 degrees and windy!  Brrr!

Wednesday, EdWeek, asked principals to share glimpses of their day with the hashtag #APrincipalsDay.  What a beautiful idea to help inform an upcoming highlight of principals that will be coming out.  I, being active on Twitter, even though I'm not a principal yet, jumped in and shared.
The day was highlighted with freezing my face off at morning duty, ARD/IEP meetings, some informal classroom visits, working with students during emergency drills, phone calls with parents, some assessment prep (joy!) and of course shuffling some paper!

TELPAS & 504s!

It reminded me:

I work with an amazing team!

• I love so many aspects my job!
• I understand the value & importance of the parts I don't love as much!
• Student success is won daily/hourly in the time spent, conversations had, partnerships created!
• Kids & teachers are awesome!
• The journey I'm on toward the principalship goal is worth it!

Hope everyone else found it as motivating and encouraging as I did!  What were some of your highlights!?  Share!

Happy Leading!

B

Why Are We Paying for Voxer!? #SAVMP

I'm super cheap.  Paying for things that I can get for free or less is a "no, no" in my family of penny pinchers and Freddy frugals. I am especially this way when it comes to apps.  In most cases I can work with the free version of apps and if I purchase a "pro" version or a "full" version of an app, that is saying quite a bit about the app (or I got it free...).

I have not purchased the "pro" version of Voxer.  In all honesty, I only talk to Tom Whitford (@twhitford) on it semi-regularly because it is part of the #SAVMP cohort I'm a part of, and I've enjoyed that greatly so far!  But I don't need to pay extra for real walkie-talkie (that's what I though push talk kinda was), larger chats, never miss a vox, message forwarding, etc.  For the record, I will say the "pro" price seems pretty reasonable.

Your Must Reads?

Sure, we all have things that we read regularly.  There are so many amazing tools to help bring us the articles and posts we want and expose us to new and different things.  Two tools I use are Feedly and Zite. Feedly is my RSS reader and brings together the blogs and authors I want to come back to.  It displays them in a pleasing manner and also notifies me when posts are available (probably my favorite part).  Zite is a bit different.  This is my exposure tool.  This amazing tool aggregates reading by topic and then interests.  It is like a Pandora for reading.  It continually learns as you "like" posts and brings similar reading all together in your main feed.  You still have specific topic feeds that you can scroll through.  There are amazing things here.  If you haven't tried either of those tools, you should!

Reader's Survey

I haven't been at this blogging deal too long, but I'd like to know a few things about you, the folks that come by and read and those that maybe interested in reading.  I'd also like to know what you may want to get out of your visits here.  I've written before, my ultimate purpose is sharing thoughts and impact, but also want to grow the reach of the message and I believe that this short survey will help in that venture!  I'm going to leave it open for about two weeks then make some decisions moving forward!

Please take a few moments to complete this survey.  Your input is much appreciated!

Thank you for reading!

B

I'm Sorry

I believe that there are divine signs and leading.  As  I was working on a separate post, a notification from Seth Godin's blog popped up.  Go ahead and click on it and read it.  It will take you 1 minute...I'll wait.

I had this idea sitting in my post page waiting for the right time.  That notification and quick read told me it was time to complete this thought.  Now, add to that my image search, I come across the image to the right and  this post.  Click on that and read.  It's another 2-3 minute read...I'll wait.

I won't hide from it, this post, like others, comes from a recent experience from which I'm still learning and reflecting.  In our work and in life in general, there are times when "I'm sorry" is hard and there are times when "I'm sorry" is a little less hard.  Mr. Patterson covers the nature of apologies very well in his post and Mr. Godin has got the great thoughts on the anatomy of an apology.  I want to focus on the some vocabulary.

I've heard my fair share of apologies, whether on the giving end, receiving end or otherwise, and my greatest observation is the words that come across directly after.

• Too many times, and it makes me sad, I hear "I'm sorry you...".  If I can be so bold to say, this is not an apology at all and a manipulation of the situation.  Yes, "I'm sorry" is in there, but just in the structure of the language, the focus is no longer on you and what you are sorry for, but the focus is now on the action of another.  This is a defense mechanism and a clear indication that you're not ready to make the apology, because there is no ownership in the language.
• In work with students in discipline situation on the restorative end is the language I teach is "I'm sorry for...".  Then there comes those lovely times when I (& we as adults) get to decide to heed my own teaching.  "I'm sorry for..." indicates acknowledgement of the situation and the desire to mend relationship.

I may have a stubborn streak in me, so apologies never come easy (do they for anyone?).  But if we prioritize relationship, as we should, as a key factor in student success, we must become better at apologies.  The word comfortable was the first word that came to mind, but I'm not sure that apologies are anything we may ever get more comfortable with, but we sure can get better at them.  The good of our school community requires and deserves relationships that can be mended for the good of our students!

Sincerely

B