I always love the first few of days of each year when the anticipation for school is palpable. The students are eager to get their schedules, see their friends, and make their Friday night game plans. While their excitement for school makes me remember my teenage dreams, it’s the staff who really inspires me. Restored from the summer, the staff is even more eager than the students to get their classrooms organized, collaborate with colleagues on lesson plans, and fulfill the promise of the new school year. (more…)
School of Thought Blog
How to Keep Staff Motivated Throughout the School Year
Building CultureHuman Capital ManagementLeading LearningOtherRecognitionRelationshipsVision & Mission
Taking a Critical Lens to Instructional Design
No one can deny the fact that we are seeing some pretty exciting changes in teaching, learning, and leadership. Advances in research, brain science, and technology are opening up new and better pathways to reach learners like never before. This excitement, in some cases, effects real change and has supporting evidence of improvement. In other cases, money is being dumped on the latest tool, program, idea, or professional development without ensuring that instructional design is up to par in the first place. Pedagogy trumps technology. It also goes without saying that a solid pedagogical foundation should be in place prior to implementing any innovative idea. (more…)
Four Ways to Fine-Tune Your Leadership Skills
After 18 years of being an assistant principal in various schools, I still love my job. But whether you are a new administrator or a seasoned veteran, it is always a challenge to stay current in the ever-changing educational landscape. How do you master the varied roles you are expected to fulfill? Here are four ways that I have honed my leadership skills in my time as a school administrator: (more…)
Building CultureCollaborative LeadershipCommunicationLeading LearningOtherPrincipal/Teacher PreparationReflection & Growth
The FY 2019 Appropriations Process Continues to Move Along
Earlier this year, congressional leaders in both the House and Senate stated their intent to pass all 12 appropriations bills, a process often referred to as “regular order,” which hasn’t been done since 1996 as to avoid another end of the year budget package. In late June, House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-Ed) both released their spending bills. The Senate acted on their bill and packaged it with the defense spending bill to help pass the two largest spending bills at once. (more…)
How Will You Celebrate National Principals Month?
Principals are educational visionaries who lead us in providing the best possible education for our school communities—so how can we thank them for all they do?
Start by honoring them during National Principals Month. (more…)
NASSP and HRC Lead School Inclusion Efforts for LGBTQ Students
NASSP and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) have partnered to highlight the important role that principals have in striving for educational equity, with a focus on safety and inclusion for LGBTQ students.
The need for culturally responsive practices that promote each student’s academic well-being is especially critical in this politically charged time. HRC’s 2018 LGBTQ Youth Report found that only 26 percent of LGBTQ students feel safe in their classrooms, with only 5 percent stating that they feel their teachers and school staff are supportive of LGBTQ people. This heartfelt video clip spotlights just some of these experiences faced by LGBTQ students. At the same time, according to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 83 percent of educators felt they should provide safe classrooms for LGBTQ students, though only half have actually taken action to do so. (more…)
Eating Your Mistakes
It was the Fourth of July, and I was doing what I love to do in summertime: using my barbeque smoker to make pulled pork sliders for dinner. I woke up at 4:15 a.m. to get it started so that it would be ready in time; after all, you’ve got to get up early in the morning if you’re going to make great food (I went back to sleep for a couple of hours once I got it going). (more…)
Are You the “Connector in Chief” at Your School?
When I was awarded the honor of being named the Assistant Principal of the Year in the state of Illinois, my local newspaper did a story on me. When they asked my principal about what made me a worthy recipient of this award, he responded, “[Tim] has a great ability to make connections with people, to relate to people.” His words caused me to reflect. Making connections with others always seemed natural to me, and I never really gave it much thought. But then the teacher in me kicked in and I started to wonder, can people learn to be better at making connections? How would we teach it? (more…)
The Art of Giving (and Receiving): Why I Became an Adviser
Through NHS, my students learned that the more you give to the world, the more you get back.
By teaching upper level students, I’m able to get to know them inside the classroom. When the chance came for me to work with them outside the classroom as a National Honor Society (NHS) adviser, it was a no-brainer. (more…)
10 Things Great Principals Do Well
As we get ready to welcome students back to school, it seems like there is never enough time to get everything done. When I’m running around nonstop, sometimes it helps to have a quick checklist to help guide me through the day. Here are some of the key things I always try to remember as I strive to be the best principal I can be:
Four Ways to Reenergize Your Next In-Service Opportunity
If your staff didn’t have to attend your next in-service training, would they?
If the training covers the 54-slide overview of ESSA changes or a new literacy initiative, I’m sure we can all guess the answer. There’s never a shortage of initiatives, mandates, or policy changes to review—I used to be the guy who had all my ducks in a row, with my all-important PowerPoints and handouts ready for in-service day. In retrospect, I know my teachers would rather have been somewhere else than “listening” to me give them information that I could have relayed at another time and in another way. (more…)
How to Help Students Make the “Right” Choices for Their Future
The students at Graham High School in St. Paris, OH, participate in our Career Gears program. As I shared in a previous post, Career Gears aims to create relevant experiences that help students identify career interests and build professional skills and relationships for the future. (more…)
New School Year, New Energy: Setting Realistic Goals
New Beginnings
Once upon a time, I had the greatest summer job ever: working at Seven Ranges Scout Reservation in east central Ohio. We were a bunch of teenagers and 20-somethings who got to exercise almost total creative control for the camp and its programming. Before the campers or full staff arrived on the reservation, leadership would sit down in front of a whiteboard and simply list all the needs, wants, and dreams for the year—and then go make it happen. (more…)
Transforming School Culture: Know It, Feel It, Live It
When I first arrived, Lake Shore Middle School (LSMS) was on the verge of a state takeover. With an F grade for two straight years on the state report card, LSMS was plagued with a host of problems including discipline issues, an unclear academic focus, a discouraged staff, and students who had embraced a failing attitude. Where was I to begin, and how was I going to turn this school around? (more…)
Building CultureCommunicationEthicsGlobal-mindednessLeading LearningReflection & GrowthRelationships
Leading Schools in Disruptive Times: How to Survive Hyper Change
You would be hard-pressed to talk to a teacher, secretary, or school administrator who would say we are not experiencing some disruptive times in education.
Since 2008, public perception of educators, in general, has been less than favorable. Expectations have increased exponentially, but funding education initiatives has not grown at the same pace. We face one disruption after another, yet we continue to find ways to meet the needs of our students, engage parents, respond to community desires, and do what is best for all stakeholders.
We recently co-authored a book titled, Leading Schools in Disruptive Times: How to Survive Hyper Change. As the political and social climate in our nation has changed, the release of this book could not have come at a better time. (more…)
Enter the Student Video Contest and #ThankAPrincipal
October is National Principals Month (NPM), a celebration of school leaders and the work that they do all year to ensure school and student success. To show their appreciation, students are invited to send their principals e-cards, plan celebrations for them, and post about them on social media using #ThankAPrincipal. (more…)
When Going to the Principal’s Office is a Good Thing
As a child of the 1980s, I cheered on Ferris Bueller as he played hooky to hang out with his pals on his day off and rooted for John Bender as he snuck out of detention with the Breakfast Club. In both of these films, the school administrator served as the villain. Both Dean Edward Rooney and Assistant Principal Richard Vernon had the same goal: Take down the problem student and make his life miserable.
While I have to admit that these preposterous characterizations are often hilarious, they perpetuate a damaging stereotype that school administrators are ruthless disciplinarians who are out of touch with students. (more…)
Student Voice and Choice Through Personalized Learning Time
Each year I invite our teachers at Montour High School to participate in the Shadow a Student Challenge. For one week, a group of teachers spends time following students around the building, attending their classes, and joining them in lunch, activities, and more. Afterward, the teachers and I get together and talk about their shadowing experiences. It was during one of these afternoon conversations that changed the direction of our school community for the better.
How to Provide Meaningful Teacher Feedback by Observing the “Unobservables”
One of the ways I like to provide meaningful feedback to teachers is by observing the “unobservables” outside of the classroom. A classroom observation is just a glimmer of the real work that teachers do behind the scenes to prepare for each daily lesson. In order to obtain valuable insights into how a teacher approaches lesson planning, evaluates student performance, and collaborates with colleagues, I routinely conduct observations during professional learning team (PLT) meetings. In this environment, I am able to truly understand how a teacher plans a lesson, supports the achievement goals necessary for each student, and contributes to the school’s overall success. (more…)
Building CultureCommunicationHuman Capital ManagementLeading LearningOtherPrincipal/Teacher PreparationReflection & Growth
Five Simple Ways to Boost Social Capital in Schools
Guest post by Nathan Boyd, director, African American Student and Parent Services for South Bend Community School Corporation
Whether it’s Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram, or the app du jour, our kids are digitally connected to one another in more ways than I can count. Despite their virtual connectedness, kids seem to be more isolated and alone these days. Their sense of belonging and esteem is lacking, which has detrimental effects on their personal and academic success. How can school leaders help students connect to one another in the real world? (more…)