All The Stuff!!!

Being an educator never gets any easier.

This year, our school system is implementing the following:

• Using Edmodo and Google Drive
• Blended Learning
• Utilizing SMART Goals to measure student growth

In addition, we as a building are implementing:

• Word Generation Vocabulary
• Effective Schoolwide Discipline Lessons
• A new online office referral system

I as a building administrator at least had the months of July and August to wrap my head around all this. The teacers had workweek...

So how do I guide them through all this so that they don't get but so overwhelmed?

Try as hard as I can to keep one step ahead of them!

How???

• Do Your Research - Though you may not have any more experience on an initative than your teachers, they are still going to look to you as the expert. Thankfully, the Internet makes this much easier than it used to be. I spent some serious time this summer researching forms of blended learning, attending SMART goal workshops, and participating in Edmodo webinars. It's really paid off!
• Plan Ahead - How are you going to present all ths stuff to your teachers? Not all at once, that's for sure...at least if you want them to be able to process it properly and be successful with it. Calendars, outlines, and agendas can be your best friends...especially when you are dealing with deadlines, reports, and people holding you accountable .
• Model What You Expect - Make sure you can "walk the talk". Has your leadeship style caught up with the 21st Century? What are your colleagues doing to model their expectations? What do your teachers need to see more of? Have you asked them?
• Celebrate Accomplishments - Your teachers are working hard to make all these things happen. If you see something really cool happening in their classroom as a result, recognize them! Remember the post about the gold stars? It doesn't have to cost anything, but it does have to be sincere.  

None of these things are easy or time-saving; but they are things you need to do in order to help your teachers keep up with all the stuff you are expecting them to do. Remember, anything worth doing is worth doing right.

The Eve of the First Day

School starts tomorrow...for the kids. Teachers have been back a week now, and I've been back since...well, let's just leave it at that.

It's a rainy day here. A good day to go to the gym and then reward myself with a trip to Starbucks to replenish all those calories I just burned off. I started going to the gym again last year. I had just finished my doctorate and was carrying a load of laundry upstairs when I realized I had gotten winded from that simple task. Since walking on a treadmill is as entertaining as watching paint dry, I decided to go for the classes. I've done a pretty good job at it, too. I get to the gym two, sometimes three times a week. It's actually a good reason to leave work at a decent time.

I won't lie. There are some days when I did not want to go to the gym. It may have been too cold, too rainy, or just too crummy a day to imagine stopping at the gym before going home to a nice meal, a comfy couch, and some brain rot on the television. I got there anyways. I can't say it was due to intrinsic motivation either...

It had everything to do with the people who teach those classes. They motivate me when I'm there; and I feel I let them down when I don't show up. They took the time to learn my name...not easy for an introvert. They make me a better person.

What will you do to welcome students into your building in such a way that will make them want to come on a regular basis, and more importantly, want to do their best when they are there?