It’s almost a new year! During my tenure as a Principal Coach, I looked forward to coming back to work after the winter break, knowing that January was a bus...
For 20 years, Great Oaks Elementary has been the WOW place to learn and teach. How was the vision established? Intentionally, and with intensity. I was the Assistant Principal at Great Oaks...
Happy 100th birthday, Mathews Elementary! Last week, under a big green awning, and beaming proudly despite a passing rain storm, Mathews students and staff celebrated their school's 100th birthday. Their fo...
It's not the new building. It's not the slick hardware.It's not the powerful software.It's not the inspirational speeches.It's not the important new initiative.It's not the innovative p...
This morning I was touched by a story. Not by one I read but by one I had lived and written. It was the story of an incident I experienced p...
I’m not a schmoozer. It’s not in my nature to chit chat idly or drum up conversation where there is none. I have to work intentionally to connect with...
It's an all-too-familiar scene. Picture it with me. You're in the grocery store, or coming out of the doctor’s office, or having dinner at a restaurant with the family, or...
My husband and I took the kids to our community’s First Friday Arts Trail recently, a fun event held at multiple venues around Lubbock to see the work of loc...
Principal Coach. I've worn quite a few hats in school leadership over the years, but this one, the Principal Coach hat, is my favorite. For about nine years, I had the...
Leading Change. This was the topic of one of our recent principal program seminars. One intern put it so poignantly when he openly reflected:
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Early on in my principalship, I was struggling to get a handle on everything and I was talking with one of my mentors. I was explaining how massive the job was and how I just couldn’t keep up with the demands. She said these ...
We all know people who major in the minors. They critique, dissect, cajole, nitpick anything and everything. We also know those people as persistent pains and energy drains. It's even worse when they're in charge.
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I read a blog post by Keith Webb that resonated with me. The post centered on not being attached to the advice you give...
"On a scale of 1-10, what's your homework load tonight?", I asked Aubrey, my high school freshman. "It's a five", he said. "And here's why", he continued. Powerful questioning...
I admit it. As a campus leader, especially in the beginning, I thought I needed to be the Chief Problem Solver and Mediator. When our staff was considering the implementation of a process to use for&n...
I am big on building a positive, trusting, and loving culture in my school. It hurts me when I hear of principals who are micro-managers, dictators, and/or are just focused on the scores. I just don’t believe...
I've read this article a few times since I first saw it a couple of years ago. I like to come back to it because hum...
Back in September, I wrote about the importance of school leaders reflecting upon their own core values and beliefs, as an important first step in leading a school. Why? Because we don't leave our experiences, our philosophie...
There seems to be an unspoken rule in leadership. Somehow the leader is the one who does all the talking. Yet, as leaders, how do we foster the growth and development of others if we possess all the knowledge, all the answers, ...
Through my years of being a principal, I have learned that no one person can be a master...
This past year I had accomplished some big goals and was ready for the next set of challenges in my continued quest for self-improvement. I'd like to tell you about my most recent goals but first let me ask:...
There has been something on my To Do list for seven months now. It kind of became a game to me-to see how long I could move this particular chore to the next, fresh list-and still have a good excuse for not accomplishing the task. Procra...
I recently completed a research study as part of a graduate program in school leadership. My study attempted to identify validity evidence from a standards-based teacher evaluation and compensation system that I oversaw in a Texas school...
For those who choose the demanding but rewarding path of servant leadership, one of the most challenging tasks we face is to understand the concept of interconnectedness. The most effective and influential leaders have developed the abil...
From the AEL team: One of the goals of AEL is to connect educational leaders across the state and even the nation. Our blogs will occasionally feature educators who tell their story AND share their thoughts based on their ex...
It is September.September. How did that happen? In my house, it’s time for football & band season. Evenings and weekends seem to fade all too quickly into the crisper, cooler air. School is in full swing. We are looking ahea...
With a new school year upon us, principals are marking items off the to-do list, making sure the campus is ready to welcome students and teachers. While there are the logistical demands that can dominate your list, as the instructional le...
Currently in education, you hear the term “data” used over and over again. If you look in the education world, you will find mountains and mountains of data. But what do you do with all of this data? How will it help your teachers ...
It’s that time of the year.
You are in the midst of hiring staff, finalizing the master schedule, and planning back-to-school professional development. Often, that professional development plan for your staff includes the creati...
Together, Everyone Achieves More As a campus principal it was always important for me to foster a sense of team. But what exactly is a team, and what exactly was I trying to foster? My school was made up of m...
First impressions set the stage for many different factors that influence the direction of personal and professional interactions. Campus culture is built the moment parents, students, faculty, staff, and any other stakeholders step foot on campus....
In the world of school leadership, there’s a dance we do. It’s the dance along the continuum of supervising, mentoring and coaching. This is a good thing. With our ability to shift our dance moves from one of these to another, we serve...
Instructional Coaching. Leadership Coaching. If you’ve been the “coachee” in any of these situations, you probably know what it feels like to have your coach repeat back to you what you have just said. Because of their clear and conci...
Instructional Coaching. Leadership Coaching. If you’ve been the “coachee” in any of these situations, you probably know what it feels like to have your coach repeat back to you what you have just said. Because of their clear and conci...
As the Advancing Educational Leadership training evolved from an idea to a realized product, the importance of addressing what we are calling the “soft skills” of leadership steadily grew in the hearts and minds of those working...
As the saying goes,without a vision the people perish. I will take that a step further and say without continued reflection the leader will perish...