Reflections

A day that was 13 months in the making finally arrived -- yesterday. It was an incredible day for me, professionally, due in large part to two groups of people. The first group includes the organizers of the event. Peter  DeWitt, Tim  Dawkins, Patti  Siano, Christina  Luce, and Vicki  Day are people I consider to be more than PLN members. They've become friends and working through this event was what brought us together. We said we were going to do it and we did! It was Peter's idea to start and we all jumped on board to help. We did it! It. Actually. Happened. Were we nervous at the last minute? Yep. (I am pretty sure I am not supposed to admit that.) But, thanks to the collective work of our team and the additional help from Matt Hladun , Doug Manion, and Jon Harper , we pulled it off! This was a day of PD designed for our participants by our participants. As a team, there were no power struggles over who would do what. We just did what we had to do....with ...

I've been practicing connected leadership for over a year now. I've also been reaping the benefits of what becoming connected brings. I've expanded my PLN. I've met some incredible and inspiring educators! I've had new opportunities come my way. It's been such a rewarding and affirming experience. Up until just recently, being connected and using social media as part of my leadership practice was nearly all positive. I hadn't really understood why anyone would be apprehensive about becoming a connected educator. Until recently... When you have a social media presence, it opens you up to scrutiny. It also opens you up to more information and feedback than you likely could ever really digest.  I became aware of a negative post about my work earlier this Fall. That was difficult but I reminded myself that was part of the "price to pay" when you assume a leadership position and also when you actively use social media in your practice. I did not a...

Earlier this year, Eric Sheninger spoke in my district. It wasn't the usual opening day talk  -- listen, go, do, and change nothing. I think his keynote helped plant seeds within many staff to see technology more purposefully and to face some unfounded fears related to digital leadership. We've been moving full steam ahead since his visit. During his keynote, he mentioned his #edscape event. I casually made note of it thinking I would likely never go. But hey, it sure sounded nice. Fast forward two months. In talking with a trusted colleague of mine , and someone who has recently embarked on using social media more in her work (with eyes wide open I might add!), she said she'd go if I wanted to go. That's pretty much all I needed to hear. I can now say I am one of many that have made the trip to #edscape! Chris Casal wrote about his experience at the event yesterday and said it much better than I can hope to do here. It was definitely a trip to Geekville, as he...

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the New York State Middle School Association's Conference . Typically, conferences are about attending a workshop or two and leaving with an idea to use in your practice when/if you can. While I did attend some of the workshops, more of my takeaways were a result of listening to other passionate middle level leaders and teachers talk. For some, middle level schooling and leadership is an unknown. You're either in an elementary school or your're in a secondary school. Middle level teachers and leaders know differently. We recognize we are truly somewhere in between. During a Saturday morning panel, Stephen Zielinski may have said it best... Middle School is every single thing all at once. If you work in a middle school, you'll understand this description. Teaching and leading in a middle school IS really about juggling every single thing at once. It can be both incredibly draining and incredibly rewarding at th...

I have had one of those weeks where obstacle after obstacle presented itself. The feedback I was receiving wasn't necessarily positive. Some of it was personal and I admit I had a hard time seeing beyond it for a bit. I reached out to some people I trust to process through the experiences. Some of this happened face to face and some of it happened online and even via voxer. I'll admit right before I clicked the walkie talkie button in the voxer app, I hesitated about admitting what I was thinking. To myself, I thought " This kind of stuff never happens to these other guys. I just know it ". I assumed what I was working through was something each of them had already mastered.   I assumed what I was working through was akin to my skills (or lack of skills) as a principal. But, that's not what happened. What I learned was completely different. I learned that principals share similar experiences. I learned that many members of my PLN were alike in how we reflected...

Yesterday, I had a crazy idea. I am not sure it will work but I think it is worth trying out. Our district is using many things google this year. One of the applications I have been trying to become familiar with is google community. I've set up a community for our Middle School and am using that as the place to post and share information instead of sending multiple emails. As I was updating that community yesterday, I checked my email and realized I had 5 emails from one MS student. The emails from the student were all about the new makerspace room we are opening. He found out last week at Open House and has been excited ever since. As I checked out his resources (the ones he sent me), I realized they were excellent and I had to find a way to share with other members of our makerspace team. I decided to create another google community just for our makerspace team and invited him to be a part of it. As I developed the page last night and sent invites to members (including him!...

I began blogging on 8/26/13. I blogged at the gentle nudging of an #eduhero of mine. I wasn't sure what I had to say mattered to anyone. But, I had a feeling blogging would help me in my role as Principal. Sixty posts later and we have made it to the 61st post. That's amazing to me. It's amazing to think that someone who sincerely considers herself shy and an introvert at most times, has been able to put together so many entries. Here's a look back at some of the posts: Faculty Meeting Smackdowns: This post gathered over 1200 views. 1200 views?! Who could even imagine 1200 people being interested in the idea? One of my more popular posts over 400 was  Growth Mindset . Meeting the principal who inspired the post has been a highlight of my career so far. She taught me so much in our short exchange. Most of my posts yield just about 200-300 views. That is likely peanuts to what leaders in the big leagues see. I know that and am pretty comfortable being the small...