Take time to smell the roses...

Sometimes we forgot in education to open our doors and let people in.  We get so wrapped up in what we need to get done and shorting our "todo lists" that that the world passes us by.  The Elementary Principals in my district have been the example for me of what a good admin team can look like.  They get together, accomplish big goals and have fun.  Those of us in secondary have not "played nicely" like the Elementary Principals.  This changed tonight.

We have a new admin team at the middle school level in the district.  I am the "veteran"(not old)

principal now.  We hired two new principals this school year and they are fabulous.  They are full of ideas, are funny, and care about making a difference.  They also want to collaborate (thank god!) with other Middle School principals and other schools in the district.  Tonight we met at a local brewery and talked for over 2 hours.  We invited our Assistant Principals to join us and it was great.  So many ideas and thoughts came up.  We also got to know each other better.  We told stories, reflected on kids and policies.  What a great time!

As I reflect on, build on my PLN and take personal PD journey, I need to remember to include face-to-face time with my colleagues.  It is so good just to hear that you are on the right track and that others agree.  It is also great to hear other viewpoints and ideas.  We decided to make this a monthly meetings and one member has sent out google invites for the next 3 months to us.  This was a great remember to "take time to smell the roses."

I want to include a "Pearl of wisdom" every post.  I don't know if anyone is reading this, but at least I can go back and reference it in the future.  This blog is suppose to be for my growth, and if others benefit, that is even better.  Here is my Pearl of Wisdom for the day:  follow Richard Byrnes on Twitter, @rmbyrne.  His posts have great resources to share with staff and are full of short bits of information.

It's almost Friday......