Illuminating the Future of Christian Education
1 in a 3 Part Series on Self-Discipline 1 – Effective Email 2 – Weekly Plan 3 – Life Planning 1 Week = 168 Hours. Better plan intentionally to make them count. You don’t get them back. Six Step Weekly Planning Process Six Steps to Plan Your Week For Success Seven Steps to Plan You Week The Perils of Step by Step Planning 😉 Weekly Planner Template What are your tips for making the most of your 168 hours each week?
1 in a 3 Part Series on Self-Discipline 1 – Effective Email 2 – Weekly Plan 3 – Life Planning Each year for the past several years, our school has declared a theme. The year of story. The year of design. The year of celebration and innovation. The year of collaboration. I have decided to have my own personal theme this year: the year of self-discipline. I want to be healthier. This includes goals I keep putting off such as going to bed earlier, exercising more consistently in the morning, eating more natural foods, drinking less coke. I need to […]
What would it look like if we applied the concept of customer service to the classroom? The term is more frequently associated with business and sales rather than education. For independent schools, customer experience must be a wildly important goal, though the word ‘customer’ falls short of describing a school’s relationship with students and parents. Partnership is closer. Teachers and their direct communication with students and parents are the front lines of customer experience in a school. There are many other levers that teachers have control over that directly impact customer experience. We will focus on one for now: communication. There […]
Commitment Is Better Than Compliance Adopt this philosophy and you will live long in the land. Great leaders know the difference and how to achieve it. One can apply this philosophy to any team, organization, group, family, etc. Today, let’s apply it to the discipline philosophy of a school. When the goal is simply to get kids to follow the rules in the handbook a specific culture is created. It is a culture of law. Teachers spend their time nagging students to stop chewing gum, tuck in their shirts, get in line, and hush up. The nature of the teacher/student […]
I’m feeling good about my new blog and recent posts. I want to take a minute to clarify a few housekeeping items… 1. I have started several blogs over the years, but most didn’t last longer than a few posts. So far, I feel like this new blog is a win. Thanks for those who have retweeted or given enthusiastic feedback. It keeps me going. Really. 2. I was intending, and even in the process of planning, a relaunch of this blog when Bo Adams (@boadams1) shared the idea of the 60-60-60 Challenge with me. From his own blog, here […]
What Swimming Taught Me About Leadership Be the first one off the blocks “Swimmers take your mark. Bang!” Any swimmer will tell you that in a race, every detail matters. The start, the turn, the position of your body are all critical to keeping the edge you need to win a close one. Swimmers are fanatics. We shave our arms, legs, and heads just to shave one second of our fastest time. Your first and best chance to win a race is to be the first one off the blocks and into the water. It takes a lot of practice, […]
The Team You’re On vs. The Team You Lead Last summer our leadership team read The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni and the quote below has stuck with me ever since. I will confess, I have not been as strongly committed to this ideal as I feel I should be. “The team you belong to must come ahead of the team you lead: this is putting team results (e.g., organizational needs) ahead of individual agendas (e.g., the team or division you lead).” – Patrick Lencioni I love the people I work with. I love my team and my teammates. I feel a […]
Organizing and improving all of the goals, events, reflections, feedback, ideas, touch points, and priorities that occur in the life of a school from year to year is like drinking from a fire hose. I am constantly seeking out new ways to be more effective and efficient at managing and leading. This Spring I had a breakthrough. In the summer of 2005, I took a week long course at Oglethorpe University through the College Board for certification to teach AP World History. The instructor was Larry Treadwell. I will never forget him. In one week, my approach to teaching was […]
Several times I have created blogs with gusto and enthusiasm only to neglect my posting duties after a few posts. Here I go again. This time, however, I hope to break the cycle of neglect thanks to the inspiration of my new friend and teammate, Bo Adams. Also, thanks to another friend and teammate, Mikey Canup for setting up this new blog for me and getting it linked to my longstanding singer/songwriter website domain. You can read about Bo’s 60-60-60 Challenge and perhaps dare to take part, too. Follow my progress on twitter #60-60-60Challenge.
One of the most untapped and useful resources available to us is the experience, practice, and expertise of the professional colleagues on our own campus. Learning Walk are a fun, inexpensive way to immediately impact your own educational practice. As lifelong learners, we seek professional and personal growth through many avenues including conferences, webinars, articles, in-service workshops, presentations, twitter, blogs, etc. These are all elements of our PLNs (Professional Learning Networks). Learning Walks are another powerful, yet underutilized element. This practice is one key towards establishing a professional learning community. Each teacher is expected to complete one learning walk per […]