Communication / Organization & Time Management Posted on:

# 25 Cracking the ‘Email Code’

For the past few years, I have been experimenting with a variety of approaches to email. My goal has been to respond to every email in a timely fashion and leave with my inbox at zero at the end of the day. I’ve literally gone months without being successful at this goal. The more you respond to emails, the more you generate. As my friend says, “It’s like digging a hole in sand, the hole just keeps getting deeper and collapsing on itself.” Thankfully, persistence pays off. I believe I may have finally cracked the code. For 7 days in […]

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Communication Posted on:

#24 What’s Your Communication Posture?

As teachers, one of our goals is to maximize all of the communication tools at our disposal. There are more tools available than one might think. More importantly, how do teachers utilize these tools to put ourselves in a stronger position of serving our students and parents? Proactive vs. Responsive Communication Postures

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Organization & Time Management / Teamwork Posted on:

#23 The Tension is Good

Notes from Catalyst Conference 2010 The Tension is Good  The Opposable Leader: Why Organizational tension is essential to progress by Andy Stanley Every organization has problems that shouldn’t be solved and tensions that shouldn’t be resolved. For example: What’s more important? If you “resolve” any of those tensions, you will create new tension. If you resolve any of those tensions, you create a barrier to progress. Progress depends not on the resolution of those tensions, but on the successful management of those tensions. i.     Examples of tension between… Fulfilling all responsibilities at work vs home Excellence vs careful stewardship Research […]

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Organization & Time Management Posted on:

Urgent vs. Important: Executing Your Most Important Goals

What do you see? think? wonder? I wrestle with balancing the urgent vs. important items on my ‘to do’ list. I love the image above so much that it is framed and hanging on the wall in my office. The whirlwind is all around is and it is powerful enough to dominate every minute our days. The girl with the camera is focused on what’s important, not what is urgent. It seems illogical and dangerous. What is so important that she is willing to ignore the impending whirlwind? What is so important in your life that you should ignore the […]

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Leadership Posted on:

#20 Bringing My Heart

One of the best books I’ve read this summer is Boundaries for Leaders by Dr. Henry Cloud. In fact, it’s so good, I’m not finished yet. I’m fascinated by the ideas Dr. Cloud writes about leading so brains can work. “In brain terminology, executive functions are needed to achieve any kind of purposeful activity – such as reaching a goal, driving a vision forward, conquering an objective. Whether driving a car or making and selling cars, the brain relies on three essential processes: Attend to important data: the ability to focus on relevant stimuli. Know your speed, what lane you are […]

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Decision-Making Posted on:

#19 Shipping and Wrapping

Reflecting on yesterday’s administrative retreat, my mind is full of good things. Shipping and wrapping is the first to come to mind. Shipping our ideas – Seth Godin has a booklet called “Ship It” designed to help launch your ideas. We all have ideas. Fear keeps us from taking action and implementing them. The goal is to lose the fear of failure and launch them. Learn from them. Wrapping our decisions – The Heath brothers new book “Decisive” was on our team’s summer reading list. The premise revolves around how truly bad we are, as human beings, at making the […]

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Decision-Making / Inspiration / Reflective Practice Posted on:

I Became a Teacher Because…

  I became a teacher because… 1. Growing up in my neighborhood, I was the oldest kid of “our gang.” I enjoyed being the leader. In contrast, in my own grade level, I was a late bloomer and one of the youngest which often meant I felt behind my peers. Comparing these two groups and my status in each one led me to enjoy leading and teaching others. 2. One of my first jobs as a swim coach helped me realize how much I enjoyed teaching others. Swimming was one thing I was really good at and it was fulfilling […]

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Gifted Education / Leadership / Progress Monitoring Posted on:

#14 What Are Your Strengths?

What stands out when you look at this report card…? Math                 A+ Science            A Composition    A- Literature         A History              F Music               A+ If you noticed five “As” then congratulations! Your default is to look for strengths. Why is it that we are drawn to the “F” despite all of the positive? It raises a larger question – is it better to focus on shoring up our weaknesses or exploiting […]

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