In the last few years, an attempt to extinguish bullying has taken center stage.  Few disagree with the premise that bullying is harmful and must not be accepted in our schools.  But, a narrow focus on bullying can be a distraction from the bigger value of overall social emotional health. Students' "emotional centers of the brain" have an impact on cognitive learning.  …

The potential for gender bias lies within all of us. There are educators in classrooms who tend to call one gender more frequently, accept a brief answers given by boys and expect and welcome longer answers from girls, throughout the building there are those who greet boys with a pat on the back and girls with a gentle hand on the shoulder. Encouragement is offered, even in the earliest of years, in ways that are gender defining. The long held term "guys" is considered gender neutral,…

Teachers need tools and support to be effective in their work and maintain emotional well-being. Although the rewards can be profound, educators face job stresses that challenge the maintenance of emotional balance. Teachers are tasked with creating a structured learning environment that promotes academic achievement, intellectual curiosity and social-emotional development. Accountability to standardized learning outcomes intensifies the demands of teaching.…

We recently wrote a post on shared values and the important way those shared values, when lived in practice, can help the organization. This is especially true when parents and students trust the invitation to join teachers and school leaders to contribute to student success.  Trust is essential in an efficacious and healthy organization. Stephen Covey described it as the bank account…

So much professional development is focused on skills and methods and so much is necessary to learn and do.  Unless we grow as confident, open hearted, resilient humans, the skills and methods we learn and implement will remain as work to be done...We can find wisdom and knowledge within that speaks to who we are and how we act. How we revere others must not be an act of comparison, but one of celebrating their uniqueness and, therefore, our own. If we can do that, then...and…

Leaders are cognizant of the need to have a strong and positive school culture, built over time among a community with shared values. They are also under pressure to incorporate change to the routines within the school and sometimes to the culture itself.     Read more...

With all the attention being paid to improving student performance and the assessments designed to measure that improvement, trying harder and doing more is the first response. Sometimes, it is the only response. For students and teachers alike, after school sessions, tutoring, and practice are replacing exciting and engaging learning.  The attention paid to what is happening in classrooms, that teachers need to change some practices, and the hyper-focus on the standardized test…

Too often we choose a goal for ourselves or our school and because it isn't achieved quickly, frustration and stress replace passion and energy. Most educators end a school year knowing exactly what went well and what didn't and have a good idea of why they think that is so.  Summer comes and a more relaxed time and a step away from the school year pace allows for stress and angst to slowly wash away.  Yet, while that washing away is a relief, it also a loss.  Buried in that stress and…

Teachers and leaders both are expected to be masters of communication, carry the responsibility of communicating and making sure their listeners understand.  The larger the audience, the greater the possibilities for misunderstandings. Communication is complicated. Very complicated. Any time two people share a conversation there are possibilities for complete understanding and for a plethora of misunderstandings. The range of possibilities multiplies with the number of listeners. So,…

Leaders, the vision keepers, thinkers, and role models have an opportunity to take this tiger by the tail. Their role of enforcing the Common Core has not resulted in anything other than compliance for many.  Now, next steps are needed. For no matter who - teachers, parents, community members, even students - the school environment must remain warm and welcoming, inclusive and safe.  This Common Core business is not faring well and the students who are meant to be the beneficiaries are…

The best of our leaders know how to maintain relationships and respect from both sides of the aisle even when strong differences exist.  It is an imperative if you are a community leader. How does that look in a school?  When decisions are made about whether to reduce class size, or cut an athletic activity, or terminate a popular  teacher, or close a school, there are those who will be pleased and those who will not... always.  …