Thrivapy: Live, Learn, Have Fun

 Image Source Page: http://www.oup.com/oxed/primary/storiesforwriting/what_it_includes/traction_man/ H ave you ever led an effort to launch a new initiative at your school only to see this idea slowly loose its traction towards implementation?  In an effort to be thorough and prudent, you formed your committee of important stakeholders and set out to discuss and plan it implementation.  As time goes on and discussions uncover new issues that need addressing, you begin to wonder if the idea is still worth the time and effort being put into it. The challenge with many ideas is not coming up with the idea, it is actually launching it.  At some point, you either need to make it operational or scrap it for a new idea. There is a simple test I use to determine if the idea still has some merit.  I look at a calendar and assign a launching date to put the idea into action.  A real date.  Not a reference to "soon."  A day, month, and year.  If I want to be real specific, I p

 Image Source Page: http://icoblog.wordpress.com/page/2/ R ead these three statements.  A variation of each of them can probably be heard in your school as you walk through the hallways. "I want you to take out your notebooks..." "You need to open your book to page..." "We need to continue our discussion of ..." Which of the three sets up the class for a collaborative and inclusive lesson? If you said #3, congratulations.  You are correct. Using "we" in place of "you" or "I" immediately sends the signal that the culture in the class is collaborative. Collaboration as an essential skill.  Few people argue against building collaboration in their class, but many have trouble getting any traction in establishing a culture in the class that supports collaboration.  Trying to use "group work" fails and teachers are left frustrated.  Many times, this causes teachers to abandon collaborative exercises and

It is probably safe to say that few, if any, of you knew Stanley Rauch.  Stanley was a friend, colleague, and mentor of mine.  After a long battle with multiple health issues, I learned today that Mr. Rauch passed away.    Stanley's death was not unexpected.  As a matter of fact, he had been in the hospital and, eventually, in hospice care for about a month.  I spoke to him last two weeks ago.  At that time, we said all there was to say and he ended our final conversation with, "Enjoy life." My last words to him were, "Thank you." Stanley began teaching back in the late 1960's.  After a long stint working at various public schools on the Westbank of New Orleans, he started working at Archbishop Shaw High School.  Stanley worked at Shaw for around 20 years.  It is there that I met him and worked along side him in the Social Studies Department from 1997 - 2000.  Stanley continued to work at Shaw until this past year. I can't say that I learned

This post was submitted by Sarah Fudin who currently works in community relations for the University of Southern California's Master of Arts in Teaching program, which provides aspiring teachers the opportunity to earn an online teaching degree which has proven very helpful in obtaining teaching fellowships .   Outside of work Sarah enjoys running, reading and Pinkberry frozen yogurt. Professional development for teachers can't take place in a vacuum. It requires the support of school leaders and administrators who support instructors and who have the ability to facilitate change. Principals, superintendents and other school administrators who are passionate about professional development create an environment that encourages growth and learning among their staff. Education leaders can also personally benefit from professional development. Creating a network of professional contacts keeps an educator current and opens the door to new opportunities. When education leade

If it isn't broken, don't fix it. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.) E veryone likes their "stuff" to work.  In schools, the "stuff" can be any number of things.  As a classroom teacher, your "stuff" is generally limited to the classroom itself and your lessons.  Once you move into more formal leadership roles as an administrator, the "stuff" begins to grow.  As a department chair, the "stuff" is anything related to your department's curriculum.  As a division head or assistant principal, the "stuff" may include only your division or your building.  As you move further up the chart, as a headmaster or principal, your "stuff" becomes the whole school.  A superintendent's "stuff" is the whole district. One things about having more "stuff" is that as you get more, you still "own" the stuff you already had, but now are sharing it with more people.  Whic

I t is normal for school administrators to examine their leadership as a function of leading and supporting teachers. The logic is simple to follow: School leader supports teacher. Supported teacher is more effective in class. Students learn more (and better). The above logic highlights a reason why some teachers do not make the move to administration. Teachers who consider making a shift into administration sometimes worry about loosing their daily connection with students.   This is natural.  After all, realizing that your daily focus from guiding and teaching students will move more towards leading and managing teachers can be a cause for some anxiety. If you are a teacher who is considering adminstration or if you are an administrator who is finding it difficult to maintain connections with students, here are a few suggestions. Mark off "student time" on your calendar. Make it a goal to visit at least one class a day. Eat lunch in the d

O ne of the more stressful parts of teaching is classroom management.  This is particularly true with newer teachers.  As a school leader, you may be called upon to not only handle the student in question, but to also support the teacher involved. School leaders sometimes fall into the trap of dealing with the incident and moving on.  Doing so leaves out one important piece to handling a difficult situation - making sure the teacher is ready to go back in the class and teach that group again.  In order to best support the teacher, school leaders need to take time shortly after the incident to follow up with the teacher.  This follow up meeting is very similar to a post observation meeting during a cycle of clinical supervision, but in the case of a classroom management issue, the leader did not observe the action. Here are a few tips on how to hold such a meeting. Establish trust Classroom management issues are often emotionally charged.  Passionate teachers may feel hurt by th

A few common practices that educational leaders should avoid. 1.  Using possessive language I am not a big fan of using terms such as "my teachers", "my school", or "my class."  It is not that you shouldn't take ownership of your responsibilities, but you shouldn't want to "own" teachers, class, or schools - you should want to lead them.  Ownership and leadership are not the same thing. 2.  Manipulating the frame to get your way Leaders, for the most part, view their situations from a few frames: structural, political, symbolic, and human resource (for more about these frames check out Reframing Organizations by Bolman and Deal).  Effective leaders use more than one frame to view situations and make decisions.  When the wrong frame is used to evaluate an issue, decisions may be misaligned to the actual problem and the decision is not as effective as it could have been.  Another concern is when leaders manipulate the frame to pr

B eing a father of two young children, husband, dog owner, school administrator, teacher, writer, blogger, social network contributor, voluminous reader, and founder of the American Society of Independent School Educators (ASISE); you may wonder what I do with all my free time.  Well, let me put your curiosity to rest.  This week, I decided to begin teaching myself guitar. Yes, my fingers are sore and I continue to mute the high e when trying to strum the D chord.  On the other hand (figuratively), I'm having fun, my kids enjoy watching me learn, and once in a while I hit the chord right - progress! One of the important lessons this week was the introduction of the eight essential beginner open chords (shown in the picture).  No song is played with only one chord.  Even in beginner songs, at least three chords are used (from what I can tell).  Working through these beginner lessons got me thinking about education and educational leadership. Here's what I like about the

As in many schools, our teachers "wear many hats."  Teachers, obviously, teach their classes.  In addition, most do at least 3 or 4 of the following: monitor study halls coach athletic teams sponsor clubs perform before/after/lunch duties hold tutorial sessions serve as a student advisor assist with theatre performances A number of these teachers also work in more than one division of the school (lower: PS-5th, middle: 6-8, and upper: 9-12), mostly crossing between middle and upper school. In our middle school ,we have various conversations and meetings scheduled each month.  These include division wide meetings, grade level conversations, and advisor meetings.  With all of these moving parts, leading a division and supporting the teachers in that division can become a little hectic at times. As a school leader, one of your top responsibilities is to support the teachers in your area.  When teachers cross divisions and/or are pulled in different directions, scho

Being a responsive educator is an important quality.  It is important because, as much as you may want to be "preventative", you cannot account for every possible scenario.  Thus, a responsive educator is in a great position to provide immediate help and guidance. It is not only a matter of answering questions. Responsive educators... are vigilant in seeking opportunities to help. expect students to ask good questions. are aware of clues that signal lack of understanding. are outstanding listeners. are flexible. serve as "guides" for "lost" students. embrace change as a means to add to their instructional "tool box." reflect on their daily responses and make adjustments as necessary. think themselves successful when they meet the needs of the student rather than finishing a textbook or covering a certain amount of content. is able to lead students in active learning that involves skill building as well as content mastery. An addi

Content above provided by Encarta® World English Dictionary[North American Edition] © & (P) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.   O ne of the more common descriptions of effective educators is that they inspire their students.  Based on the definition above, an educator who inspires her students is certainly going to be effective.  The challenge, though, is that you rarely know how inspirational you are  Are you an inspirational educator?  You are if your students are acting inspired.  Let's examine what it looks like to teach inspired students. The inspired student "makes art."  In other words, she engages in the learning process in a manner that creates something new and makes a difference.  This creation and resulting difference need not be on a global scale; it could simply transform that class, that lesson, that discussion.  Educators are inspiring "art"

Many schools have already started the 2011-2012 year.  Many others, like mine, start tomorrow - the day after Labor Day. Whether your first day has come and gone or your first day begins in about 10 hours, it is important to remember the importance of first impressions.  You set the tone for the year on day one.  When day one ends, guess what?  You get to keep it going on day 2, 3, 4, ... Every day will not work the way you planned.  Some will be better than expected.  That's life.  Some things are outside of our control. Choose to not worry about those things. Rather, be wise enough to determine what you DO control and focus your efforts there. What do you control that will have an impact on how well your day goes? You control... how friendly you are.  Smile.  Greet students at the door. how responsive you are.  Do not ignore the student in front of you because you are fixated on an issue away from the present situation.  Communicate timely.  Provide feedback in a m