I am going to add to my job description, Head of PR!

As I travel along this roller coaster ride of a job, I realized there is a lot I need to do that I am not "trained" to do.  In April, I had to learn really quick about spinning a message and PR.  Our school was one of the first schools to outlaw "leggings as pants" on campus and it was a media storm.  I spoke to ABC, NBC, the local papers, the TV stations, Time, and many more.  I was in Glamour Paris (which makes me laugh because I feel I have no fashion sense) all about leggings.  What I learned from this very trying experience is that we must create the message about our schools and get it out there.  The press only puts out the negative, we need to work harder (and smarter) to get the positive out to the public.

This year I have been on a "PR train".  We have Facebook, twitter, and instagram accounts for our school. We publish on them almost everyday (and usually more then one time per day) to get our message out. We blog weekly about events on campus and information to help parents navigate Middle School.  We are actively bringing community members, parents, and others onto the campus to show them what an awesome place school is.

Besides the social media sites, the other key item on the "PR train" has been using my iPhone.  It goes everywhere with me.  I can take a photo, post it to instagram and keep going.  I also have used ifttt.com to help with only having to post once.  I have set up recipes to have my instagram auto-post to Facebook and twitter.  Saving me more time. (Thanks @digitalroberto and #fallCUE for the tips)  I know there is so much more my phone could do to help me get the message out, I will be learning and experimenting more.

Today the PR train was on overkill!  @frontrowceo came to visit.  He saw our TV station, how we are using his products, helped out with a few issues, and gave us ideas.  Then a Professor from UOP came to tour classrooms and see what learning looks like in a middle school.  Finally, our city's Mayor came with the Public Access Channel crew and filmed a segment about the Woodshop making 175 Toys for Toys for Tots. I came back to my office after this third visit and told my secretary I was exhausted.  This was more exhausting then working with kids and teachers.

We get to do it all over again tomorrow when Chris Angotti, the director of the Young Writers Program of NaNoWriMo comes to visit our English classrooms as our 390 8th graders work on their novels.  I have let the local paper know this is happening.  Hopefully, they will send a reporter, but my iPhone will be with me to take lots of shoots and post them on social media.

The pearl of wisdom for the post is, get your message out there.  Show the world, one person at a time, how awesome schools are.  Use all the social media that is out there to put your message out, meet others who can help you and learn from others.  I went to a SCOE workshop last week by Matt O'Donnell and he share this Google Drive folder with helpful hints about Facebook and blogging. Remember to ask questions to those doing it already and learn from their mistakes too. Jump in feet first, it will be ok.

PD that works!

I  know that I have written about PD before.  It is a passion of mine.  As a educational leader, my job is to help my staff grow and push/pull them along.

I have a great staff!  They all want to grow, but some struggle on where to start.  Others jump in feet first and start swimming.  They all see the future and are jumping on the train (tugboat or jet plane) towards it.  They want to learn and apply their knowledge to the classroom.  They want their students to succeed.

Last night I helped organize a #brewCUE for @NBCUE.  It was great.  @awesomecoachv was a fabulous moderator.  He had a great venue and the group who attended was awesome.  It was the first time I had used Google Moderator ever.  The forum that Google moderator created (with the help of @awesomecoachv) was great.  The participates typed in questions and they everyone voted on what we would talk about.  What was awesome was the discussion the questions created.  It got me thinking about how I could use Google Moderator with my staff.  I have a new plan for a future staff meeting now, and it involved Google Moderator.

The biggest take-away I had from the evening was, teachers need choice and time.  I  know this, but sometimes we need to be reminded about what teachers need.  PD is not one size fits all.  Also, the size of the group participating in the PD is not important.  I had encouraged all on my teachers to attend this event. Six of my teachers did come.  They are at all levels of proficiency.  The conversations were also at all levels.  So, everyone was able to walk away with something.

What a great night! Great food, drinks, people and conversation! I can't wait for the next one!

The pearl of wisdom, leaders need to model for their staff what they want done in the classroom.  We also need to take advantage of the "teachable moments" that staff has as well.  Even through we have 14,000 things to do, we need to take advantage of the "teachable moments" and make that a priority in that moment.