Reflections

Winter break is always a good time to catch up in the office. It allows me time to reflect and readjust at my own pace. I have to work hard at being organized. My mind works faster than my body and my thoughts and ideas can take me on tangents.  Keeping a physical space organized and kept up is important to me. In the book, Explicit Instruction (Archer and Hughes), the authors devote an entire chapter to " Organizing for Instruction ". They write: "Have you noticed that when you step into certain classrooms, you get a feel for the "climate" of the room that is mirrored in the teacher's enthusiasm and students' engagement? The climate doesn't occur automatically(109)". I feel the same way about an entire school. I took a walk earlier this morning around the building. I created a quick bulletin board to fill an empty space. (It's one I like to keep up to date with student photos throughout the year.). I fixed posters and student work ...

I really like the "On This Day" memories feature that Facebook has. I enjoy seeing flashbacks to past thoughts and ideas. Mostly, I enjoy the walk back in time through photos of my son. I am guilty of using Facebook as my personal family scrapbook.  I can remember when Sam was little and I'd hear people say things like: Don't blink. Time moves so fast. You're going to miss these days. It will get better. I'd listen and nod to the well meaning speakers of advice but in the back of my mind, I didn't fully believe them. My son hasn't followed the general path of development for a child, much less a boy. He's never fit into boxes and because of that it hasn't been always been a smooth or linear ride.  He's half way through 8th grade as I write this and I've become more and more aware of how much he has grown up over the last few years. I've noticed how much his confidence has bloomed. Fewer of the worries I had before can be f...

It was an especially good day and I was feeling positive about some interactions and steps forward. I had the chance to talk to one of my teachers about one of the events and tried to explain how much I appreciated her hard work and support. I explained: As a teacher, likely your greatest reward is knowing you are making a difference with kids. You want them to remember you as the one that helped. I see my role, as an administrator, the same way except my "kids" are my teachers. Of course, I care about my students and work hard to support and interact with them each day. But, when I began this administration journey, my first "boss" explained to me how each layer of an organization should support and compliment the work of the next layer. One of my main responsibilities is to make sure my teachers have what they need to support students. Think of the phrase "hurt people, hurt people". If we flip that, we can say that supported people support peopl...

He started the workshop by asking us to reflect on a part of our childhood and share that out with strangers. I'm forty five years old but I suddenly didn't feel that old anymore. I was able to remember, in an instant, very specific memories of growing up. Some of those memories were bright and positive and some of them were sad and lonely.  When it became my turn, I spoke about second chances and people believing in me. At my very core, I still bring those experiences to my interactions with others these some 30 plus years later. We can pretend we don't, but we do. There are still words, on a singular level, that can trigger a response from me. Said even in isolation, these words cause an internal reaction. The response isn't even just related to that ONE moment when the word was spoken. Instead the word acts as a key that opens up all the past memories I have associated with that word.  That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.  It could be a good t...

I am a member of #compelledtribe. We've been asked to write a post about our goals for the coming year.  I have many goals but took some time to list the ones that are on my mind this week. These are not in order of importance. Depending on the hat I am wearing, some of these goals will change or become more specific. I have additional goals I need to focus on within our school but this list is what I need to do about me and for me .  Learn to Sketchnote Write more Re-commit to health Travel with family Forgive Gain confidence Continue to improve my skills as a school administrator Above all else, be a good Mom Throughout this coming year, my main goals are even simpler.  Live fully  Be present  Do my best  Take a few jumps "Hope that you spend your days, but they all add up And when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup Oh, I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain But until my moment comes, I'l...

I am a member of #compelledtribe. This month's blogging assignment asks us to write a reflection for 2015.  As this year comes to a close, I am struck by how much positive I've had shared with me. It's something I hope I don't soon forget and especially as we move into 2016.  A quick scan of my google calendar and I've found a major event for almost every month! This is on top of my work as Mom and Middle School Principal which includes a myriad of blessings as well. Jan. 2015 - I work in an incredible district with an incredible Board of Education.  I made the transition from wearing two hats to wearing just one in the month of January. It had become nearly impossible to juggle both responsibilities well so it became time for me to give up one of them and they supported the creation of an additional administrative position. [Blog post about Changing Paths ] March 2015 - I presented in Lake Placid with my school's PBIS team about our program and s...

During August 2015, I attended a Google Camp for Administrators. One of the sessions was led by an edtech expert in my region, David Ashdown . I've followed David's work for nearly 15 years. He's always been in the front of technology use and I've stolen many a neat idea from him. He offered a session about Google Classroom and I attended thinking I needed to gather more ideas about this app for my teachers. However, in the session, David pushed our thinking in asking us to consider how we could use Google Classroom as administrators . He shared an example of setting up classrooms for different work groups and committees. I loved his idea! Almost immediately, I set up classrooms for committees in my building. This kept all of the information collected for each group (SDM, PBIS, etc.) all in one folder on the back end of Drive. I also created a classroom for my building. This is where I would post my weekly messages. Under the about tab, I also collected resources ...