The Principal's new clothes

This year I am trying to be in the classrooms more.  I am not just sitting in the classrooms watching, but being a part of the classroom.  In my #leadwild chat group, one of the members, Kathy Melton, (@kathyamelton)  talked about how she reads the book "The Principal's new clothes" to her students and then she had them draw "new clothes" on a picture of her.

So, this year my colleagues and I are trying something new.  We are reading books to our students about the monthly character trait.  The book we picked for the students was not really appropriate for the Kindergarten students.  So, I needed a book... and then I remembered Kathy's conversation.

I got the book that Kathy recommended.  It is so old that I took me looking for it online for a while before I found it.

I prepped for this reading like I did when I was a teacher.  I read the book, created the worksheet (Left), re-read the book, prepped questions to ask while reading, and then was ready.  I sent all my teachers a link to a google calendar sign up to me to come in and read.


My 1st grade teacher agreed to let me come in first.  The students came to the carpet and I began reading the story. The kids were interacting with the story.  They were predicting, noticing detail, reflecting, and seeing the moral of the story. We had a great time.



After the story, they got to color me a new outfit. That was so fun for them!

Apparently, I need more rainbow in my wardrobe based on the drawings.

After teaching all morning and running an assembly in the afternoon, I realized I was out of "teaching" shape.  

This is helping with my new goal from George Couros (@gcouros), get into every classroom, every day.

Plan, Plan and then Plan some more.

Staff meetings... we have all seen these Memes

I remember back to teaching, we all dreaded that Wednesday meeting.  Two hours of being talked to, getting information I could have read in a memo.  Sitting in a chair thinking about all the things we could be doing instead of this.

I also get it, the principal's job is busy.  To organize a staff meeting correctly, you need to plan.  Just like a great teachers plan for amazing lessons.  It is hard work and takes time.

I set a goal for myself this year, to plan awesome (hopefully) staff meetings.  I don't want to waste people times.  I want staff to value the time, learn together, build community and have fun.

I had my first staff meeting last Wednesday.  I spent 3 hours planning for 1 and 1/2 hours.  One thing that works for me is having a presentation to show.  It helps me stay on time and kept us moving.  Here is the one I used at my last staff meeting.

We started the meeting with writing postcards to students.  Each teacher wrote at least 2 students a "great work" postcard.  After the meeting, I spent 30 minutes addressing and stamping all the postcard.

Next was a district presentation.  It was boring, but I could not do anything about it.  So, I followed it up with a game.  I used Popsicle sticks to make groups for my staff.  After grouping the staff and passing out paper, I told them the rules.  "Here are the rules, there is only one.  Figure out the game and you have 5 minutes."  They flipped over the paper and started the YouTube timer video. They were collaborating.  They were using tech to look up things.  They were inferring information based on a picture.  They were laughing and building relationships.

After we played the game, I set the tone with a quote.

Rotations were next.  We had some information to gather and new people for them to meet.  I hit play on the time YouTube video and I was able to move around/listen to conversations.  The video would beep after 5 minutes and the staff would rotate.

Next was some quick announcements by staff for staff.

We end with this amazing Ted Talk by Rita Pierson: Every Kid needs a Champion.  It is a funny and very uplifting video.  

Of course, we needed a new staff picture.  So, we took care of that too.  What a hard working, great looking, fun group of colleagues!!!

Spread kindness like confetti!!!

Glitter and confetti can drive me nuts.  It sticks to you, you find it everywhere and in the weirdest places. When I am around glitter, I always seem to find it on my face, in my shoes, on the steering wheel of my car.  It is crazy how it gets everywhere!

However, I love how shiny, sparkly and fun it is.  I love how kids' faces light up when they see confetti or glitter.   I have a colleague, @Mrsfadeji (Amy Fadeji) is the glitter/confetti queen.  When I see things that have glitter or confetti on them, I always think of her.  Amy's personality can be described by the word, Glitter!!  I wish I had a little more of this in me.

While scanning Pinterest the other night, I came across this picture.

My first thought was to share this with Amy.  Then, I got to thinking that it would be a great poster for my school's office.  I was so excited.

The next day I was directing traffic in front of the school.  A Mom with her 1st grader and Kindergartner pulled up.  I could tell that this Mom did not feel well and it had been a hard morning.  I opened the door and helped get the kids out of the car so she would not have to.  Her Kindergartner  was crying, he wanted to stay with mom.  I held his hand and we walked into the school,  waving goodbye.  As mom drove away, I saw tears coming down her cheek.

Of course, as soon as mom left, the kindergartner was fine.  So, I took a quick video of him reading and sent it to mom.  Here is the text stream. 

Unbeknownst to me, this mom had posted something on Facebook about the morning.  When a parent showed it to me, I started to tear up.  I am so grateful that parents share their students with us every day and that I get the opportunity to learn and grow from of these students.

A few days later, we had a PTA meet and greet.  One of the PTA Mom's came up to me and said she had seen me with the little kindergartner a few days ago.  PTA Mom said that she was watching me patiently walk with the crying student and my words were so sweet.  I was touched by her words.  The PTA mom went on to say that she thought it was so kind of me to send the Mom a video of her son.  I questioned how she knew that.  The PTA Mom said that the Kindergarten Mom posted on Facebook that I had sent her a video.  How sweet is that?

I guess kindness really is like confetti and glitter.  It lands up in the weirdest places, where you are not expecting to find it.  I also have some glitter in me, I just need to work on making it a little more shiny and bright!

THE POWER OF MUSIC

At #CUEROCKSTAR, Jennifer Kloczko, @jkloczko, show us a video of the dancing Assistant Principal.  If you have not seen it, take the 1 minute and 38 seconds to watch this amazing educator. (http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/09/22/dancing-assistant-principal-conway-arkansas-school-pkg.kark)

The look on the student's’ faces of joy and excitement about coming to school with the “dancing Assistant Principal” won me over.  I knew I was going to steal this idea for my school.

As I sat at Skywalker Ranch listening to Jen, I went on amazon and ordered myself a portable sound system (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KRCJMQ4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01).  When it arrived Monday night (I love amazon prime!) I was like a kid in a candy store.  I ripped open the box and started playing with the system.  It has so many features, more than I can handle.  Once I figured out how to hook my phone to the speaker (via Bluetooth) I was set.  I had made a playlist of oldies and kidz bop songs to play and couldn’t wait for Tuesday.  On Tuesday, I rolled the speak out to the front of the school and hit play.  I watched as the students walked into school with an extra bounce in their step.  Parents, students and siblings were dancing and singing.   At first, they would look around to see who was “blasting” the music.  Then, realizing it was the school, the bounce got bigger.  The little siblings were the best, they would run to the speaker and dance as only a 2-4 year old can.  Even my crossing guard said it made people happy and that the people driving by were kinder to her.

Coming off the high of a fun and stress free drop off, I decided to carry this into recess.  The kids danced all of recess and wanted music at lunch too.  It was the best team builder for the students at the school.  They were singing and dancing together.  They were bonding as a group.  After recess, the 1st graders were running laps for PE, they begged me to stay out with the music.  Awe, the power of music.

We have been doing this for almost 2 weeks.  Students still beg for music before school, recess and lunch.  They love the songs that have dances that go with them.  They still love to sing to the songs.  The staff loves to come out a dance.  Parents comes up to me and say “My student comes how and tells me how cool the Principal is. When I ask why, my student says ‘Because she plays music and dances with us.’” Being with the students and “playing with them” is so powerful.  It is amazing how music has changed the culture of the school in such a short time.

“How is Elementary School different than Junior high?”

So, I keep getting asked, “How is Elementary School different than Junior high?”  I have spent the last 17 years in Junior High.  The last 9 years as a Junior High Adminstrator.  Junior High students are amazing.  They are full of energy.  They have the struggles of hormones and peer issues.  They want to be adults and they are not ready to be adults yet.  They want to be serious and goofy at the same time.

So, the biggest difference in my mind is Kindergarten students.  No, this is not because they need you to open their go-gurt (which I am now an expert at opening) or because they need me to tie their shoes.  It is the wonder in their eyes every day they arrive at school.  It is how they run into the school every day with excitement, joy, and amazement.  It is the excitement in their eyes when they share with you the new word they can spell or showing you their writing journal.  It is how the Kindergarten students hold your hand and pull you to something they want to show you they have learned.

It really got me thinking, when do students lose this spark?  How do some of those in Junior High and High school students kept it?  What are we doing in education to help students keep this love of learning alive?  When talking to others about this, the idea of difficulty came up.  “As students get older, the curriculum is harder. They don’t want to work hard.” is what I have heard teachers say.  At the #CUEROCKSTAR Admin conference this weekend, I heard Ramsey Musallam said “Difficulty builds mental muscle and ease builds confidence.”  Difficulty also is more rewarding and sparks curiosity.  It drives us to learn, as long as we are guided through the difficulty towards success.  For the past 15 years we have been told what to teach and how to teach it.  With Common Core we have been given the permission to actually let students learn.

According to google, learning is defined as:

1. the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.

We get to provide experiences for students to discover knowledge.  We get to watch students learn from each other and work together.  We also get to “teach” them.  If we balance “the experiences” with “the teaching”, will that keep the spark alive?  In Kindergarten, students do much of their learning by “discovering new things.”  They get to learn through “fun” experiences.  The teacher also gets to “teach” them sounds, numbers, counting, how to write letters correctly and so much more.  Why wouldn’t you want to come to school when it is fun and your curiosity is sparked?  

When I took the leap to Elementary, Kindergarten was my fear.  They are little, cry, sneeze, and touch everything. They can get lost.  I knew all 54 names within the first week so I could call for their attention.  I had nightmares about losing a student.  Who knew Kindergartners would be one of my favorite changes, besides the biggest change, about moving to Elementary?? Probably all Kindergarten teachers :)

When a staff meeting goes well...

Wednesday was our staff meeting.  I was so nervous that day.  I kept saying to my Assistant Principal, "This is either going to be amazing or it is going to suck!"

A lot of planning went into the 90 minute meeting.  I had three teachers come with me to attend a presentation by David Jakes (@djakes).  He walked us through a design thinking challenge around 21st century learning.

We came back from this experience jazzed!  I had this group meet many times and discuss how we wanted to work the staff through a similar activity to start thinking about what learning needs to look like and how the set-up of the classroom is important to make this happen. We planned, created, thought about and worked out all the details of the meeting.

We began the meeting with assigned groups.  We tried to mix up the staff to break them out of their department groups.  It was interesting watching the walk in and say, "Really?" or make a funny face when they saw the assigned seating. I responded with "Is this how our kids feel when you move them around?"  We had the AC/DC going on the speakers, snacks on the tables, post it notes and sharpies were everywhere.

We started off the meeting with a few slides about mindset for design.  We then presented the guiding question "What constitutes a 21st century learning experience?" Staff worked in pairs to dig deep into what the looks, sounds, feels like for students, staff, parents and community.  They wrote big ideas onto post it notes with sharpies.

After working in pairs, the groups got back together and
looked at all of their post-its.  They found trends within all the data collected.  From there, the groups wrote up 5 statements that reflect the guiding questions.  They wrote these statements on large post-its. Each teacher was given 5 stickers.
 They were directed to move around the room, read their colleagues' ideas, and put a sticker next to their 5 favorite.

They came up with some great phrases that we will use as our guide for next year.

We decided to use post-its, sharpies and poster paper for this meeting and this was an intentional decision.  We did not want this experience to be about the technology.  We are not making these changes to our teaching and classroom environments because we are going 1:1 with iPads.  We are redoing how and what we teach because that is what is good for students.  The technology we are providing is only a tool to help with the learning.  There are lots of tools in our toolbox, and we need to create spaces where students and TEACHERS are inspired to learn and create and use all the tools we have.

Here are all 6 posters:

We ended the presentation with this video.  

Thanks to Eric Saibel (@ecsaibel) for telling me about it. It was the perfect end to our discussion.

I arrived at work today to an email from a teacher that said "By the way, great staff meeting.  Left with some great ideas.  I did create my first floor plan this afternoon and I would not mind sharing it with you. " Another staff member sent me a vox that said "A productive staff meeting!"  That's what you want to hear!

#NASSP15 day 2 reflection

Day 2 was equally as fabulous as day 1.  I started my day with Todd Whitaker talking about What Great Principals Do.  My favorite take aways of his presentation were:

• Treat every student with respect and dignity every day, all the time, 10 out of 10 days. Great principals.
• Great principals know they have to teach the teachers.
• Great principals know that people are the problem and the solution.  Programs will not fix this.
• Great principals don’t let things happen randomly.
• Great principals know to teach all the teachers at once so “They know that THEY ALL KNOW”. This way they hold each other accountable.
• Great principals know that they are responsible for the culture in the school.

Such powerful thoughts about what are role really is as a site principal.

Then, I attended a workshop about online PD. The ideas I got were amazing. Creating teacher written online PD for teachers to participate in an a cohort using sophia.org or google classroom. I am inspired to spend some time working with my district to create this.

There was a makerspace workshop. I saw the potential of what the library could be. I can't wait for my library to be a place for students to collaborative, creative, critical think, and communicate. It is a place for students to tinker, play, relax, think and invest.

The final presentation was by Jason Markey (@JasonMMarkey) and Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy) about Leading Change in School. The big take away was this quote “You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.”-by Maslow. We need to be gentle disruptors to the system. We do this by:

• Be Courageous
• Embrace Failure
• Model Expectations

I also appreciated Jimmy's quote "You can’t let anyone take away our excellence.

You also get it back every morning." No one got into education to just be "good", everyone wants to be "great". As leaders, we need to help everyone get to their great.

Jason also talked about this concept for staff. Concept: Start, STOP, share: Tell me something you are going to start this year, stop this year, and share with your PLN. With everything we are adding to teacher's plate, the need to take items off their plate. This is a good reminder for them.

We need to remember that the only barrier to our own learning is our own willingness to learn. This is what we, as site principal, need to remember