b.y.o.t bring your own thoughts
the latest on all student-centered models, leadership development, strategic planning, teacher retention, and all things innovation in k-12 education. we answer questions before you think to ask them.
innovative leadership | school districts
standing in line at starbucks ready to order my venti black coffee, i pull out my phone and tap on twitter even though i just checked it one minute ago. it’s a bad habit that i have, mindlessly opening the app without thinking, and pulling down the page in hopes that it will refresh with new content. every morning when i wake up, the first thing i do is drink two glasses of water with fresh lemon juice, organic apple cider vinegar, or a pinch of himalayan salt. i’ve been doing this for several years, after reading about the benefits of drinking water in the morning to start the day. at first, it was hard. i started with half a glass. then moved to a full glass. i eventually added apple cider vinegar. and now i’m up to two glasses. these are examples of bad habits and good habits i reinforce every day.
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innovative leadership | professional development | school districts
how does professional development get labeled in your school or organization? too often, i hear: boring, unproductive, compliance-driven, not based on my needs or interests. research on professional development shows that the “drive-by” workshop model does not meet the needs of teachers. no two people learn the same way, though many leaders do not change the way they provide instruction for professional development. just like education should be personalized for students, professional learning should be personalized for adults. effective professional development or learning (semantics to me) needs to improve educators’ professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness. no matter if you are a teacher, school leader or district leader, below you will find ways you can reframe professional learning in your school or district.
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innovative leadership | school districts | teacher retention
teaching, often considered one of the most noble professions one can pursue, has been a consistent driver of the innovation and ideas that progress society forward. great leaders, creators, and thinkers have been fostered in some way by a teacher who engaged, mentored, and motivated them to achieve their goals. yet though the demand for talented, caring educators has never been higher, the pool of applicants continues to dwindle. teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers with complaints of burnout, and young people are deciding to pursue careers in fields that are perceived to be more lucrative and stable.
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classrooms | innovative leadership | personalized learning | school districts
this summer i had the pleasure of working alongside my 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 colleagues to reflect on the incredible work our partner districts have accomplished in the past year. we had the opportunity to interview four districts, survey over 100 district leaders, and analyze thousands of data points. we also got to reflect on our own practices to see how we can improve.
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innovative leadership | school districts | teams & culture
how are you? what is bringing you to this blog post today? what is top of mind for you as you’re reading this? would you rather have the ability to fly or read minds? did those questions interest or engage you? are you now mulling over your current feelings or intentions? or did you stop reading entirely to properly dedicate your attention to choosing between superpowers? regardless of your actions, the questions i posed required you to pause for a moment, consider your thoughts, and engage with your imagination. these abilities are vital to our roles as educators - we are consistently tasked with keeping calm through perceived chaos, being conscientious of the numerous needs of others, and maintaining a level of creativity to capture the attention of students. yet in schools and districts across the country, very little time – our most precious resource as educators – is dedicated to the exploration and development of those skills.
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innovative leadership | school districts | strategic planning
so, you’ve completed a round of stakeholder engagement activities. you clarified your ‘why behind engagement’ and have identified a group of stakeholders to target. maybe you hosted forums, sent out surveys to various stakeholder groups, conducted interviews, and even shadowed students. with the rich data sources at your disposal, you may be wondering – how do i pull trends from my data? how do i elicit feedback and input from my community throughout to ensure i’m making the right data-driven decisions? how do i honor my community’s perspective and my own insider knowledge as i continue to build my strategic plan? keep reading for a few suggestions on how to do just that.
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