I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Leadership is lonely. As I go through the day, I sometimes find myself walking alone. I have discovered that those staff members that seem to be on your side are not always on your side. You might get criticized for not addressing something and then when you do, you get criticized on how you addressed it. Those that you are friendly with, are not really your friends. When staff gets a chance, they will talk about you, and others, behind your back. What's a gal to do?

Well, as four British singers said, "I get by with a little help from my friends." Specifically, my PLN friends. No, I've never most of them. I've never been to dinner with them. I have seen some great pictures of their family, and where they live, thanks to great sites like Flickr and Twitpic. My PLN is my sounding board and my dose of reality. When I need things put into perspective, I log onto Twitter and "listen" to my colleagues. When I need motivation / inspiration, I find it with my PLN.

My PLN is like my dog, always happy to see me. There isn't any judgement. There aren't any harsh words. I have found words of encouragement and thoughts that stimulate my brain. For that, I thank my PLN. I thank them for keeping me going on those nights when I wonder if I'm cut out to be a leader.

And, I thank them for letting me know it's time to stop feeling down in the dumps and that I need to get back in the saddle again.

Hi Ho Silver, Away!

Trouser Snakes and Google Docs

A war has been waged in my district. What web sites do you block? What sites do you allow? We are a mostly conservative community but have a lot of technology in our district. The tech director has been a huge advocate for supplying more and more technology (hardware and software)for the students in the district. The sites that have been monitored and blocked, however, are too numerous to mention.......

When I joined Twitter I had no idea that I would be introduced to such sites as Animoto, wallwisher, glogster, ning, etc. My excitement grew and grew and each day when I went to work, my disappointment clicked in - those sites were blocked.........

When I had CSD come into our school to train teachers how to integrate technology, most of the sites that the trainers wanted to access were blocked. Even after the technology staff tried to unblock, and believe me they did try, we were unsuccessful at bringing those sites up so that the teachers could access what they were learning about.

Even though "security" or as I like to call it, censorship, is tight, things that are inappropriate continue to get through.............

Did you know what the most venomous snake in the world is? According to Google, it is the Trouser snake, which when touched, becomes "aggressive and spits." The website goes on to describe the Trouser snake's habitat and mentions that when bit, a woman's belly grows and grows followed by excruciating pain..........

A few days ago I went to access a Google Doc file that I shared with my staff. Guess what? GOOGLE DOCS WAS BLOCKED! For me, that was the last straw. I immediately emailed my fellow principals, the tech. director, and superintendents. I want a meeting to discuss why these collaborative sites can't be accessed and used to teach our students.

I understand that we live in a conservative community. If we train teachers how to supervise the sites that they access and we are vigilant in supervising those sites, more good than harm will follow.

Wish me luck in my quest. If you have thoughts or words of wisdom, let me know! Until then I will continue to avoid the Trouser snake and look for ways to access Google Docs when people aren't looking..........

Come In Tokyo, Come In!

This year I've got all of the gadgets! I am determined to do several walk-throughs a day. To help with this, I purchased a little Notebook. I loaded my Drop In Observation Form and have been pretty successful to completing several a day. I even created a Google Doc so that the Assistant Principal and I can keep track of where we've been and make sure we are covering all classes evenly!

What's next?

I volunteered to make a video for the district - showing teachers how much inspiration they are and how important they are. I tried Animoto for the first time and loved it! I was so inspired by the video that I ran to Target and purchased a flip cam!

First thing this morning I brought out the flip cam and got my camera (still not trusting that I can export stills from flip cam - I don't trust myself). I headed out and took video and pictures.

When it was time to do my walk-throughs, I grabbed my Notebook, my flip cam, my camera. I must tell you, it was an enjoyable day! I saw some great things and was able to document those things with all of my electronics.

I think I looked pretty goofy carrying around more circuit boards than our district server. The kids were fascinated and teachers didn't know what to expect.

As I sit home tonight, my mind is going a mile a minute. How can I make sure that this enjoyable day turns into learning opportunities for the teachers? What will make the biggest impact?

I want this blog post to be a spring board for ideas. What do you think instructional leaders should do with pictures, videos, and items noted on walk-throughs. Yes, I know the normal things - have conferences, watch video together, self-reflection, inspirational videos, educational videos. Principals - what else do we have to offer? Teachers - what will be helpful to you?

Post your ideas under the comment section and check back in to see what comes up!

Until next time, someone needs to let me know if a lightening storm is coming because I'll need to head for the basement...............

Who Ever Yells The Loudest Gets Their Way

I have been more discouraged this week than ever. In my 19 years as an educator I have never come upon so much controversy as this one little speech is making. President Obama wants to tell our children to work hard, stay in school. He wants to stand in front of them and tell them how important school is and that they should make goals for themselves. FOR SHAME!

I, for one, am thrilled that students will be hearing a positive message from someone other than a sports star or celebrity. If you ask students today who their hero is, 9 out of 10 will say someone famous, or worse yet, not know what a hero is. This is a definite problem we have in today's society, which is why character education programs are running rampant in schools.

I'm sure this speech was not meant to cause such controversy. If President Obama and his staff could have predicted the fiasco it has turned into, I wonder if they would have planned it. Even so, this speech has caused controversy, and now it is up to schools to decide how to deal with it.

It is our job to teach children how to debate. It is our job to introduce various viewpoints and allow children to explore the pros and cons of any controversial issue. I'm sure President Obama is an intelligent person (even his opponents must admit this). He will not make this into a policy forum. He will not mention such things as his way to reform health care. But, let's examine if this worst case scenario would happen to come true........

Shouldn't children be exposed to the problems that are happening in our nation? Should they be able to think about the causes and effects of various issues? I, for one, want my child to think about both sides of an issue. Don't you?

In my school district I have been disappointed in the reaction. I have been called by parents who do not want their child to hear the speech. When asked about it, they do not even know what it is about. I have been asked if the government was having me keep a list of all children that do not participate - asked if I was going to forward such a list to the government. Around the country school districts are succumbing to those who are yelling the loudest, instead of thinking about what is best for children.

To me, I am having flash backs of the past: burning books, and censorship. This reminds me of one of my favorite films Footloose (yes, now you can date me) when the students couldn't have a dance. Ren McCormick didn't stand for that and we educators shouldn't stand for it either! It is our responsibility to respect the wishes of a family but for schools to not allow for any student? That is a crime! Maybe that list should be sent to Washington.

Ten Hours and Counting........

At the beginning of every summer I spend two weeks or so doing absolutely nothing. This summer, I was able to sleep late, stay in my pajamas if I wanted and I forced myself not to work! After two weeks of this, I was fortunate enough to spend two glorious weeks with my son, traveling out west. I saw some beautiful scenery and spent many great moments with my family. When I came home I quickly realized that I only had one week of vacation left! Agghhhh!

It is now Sunday evening, at 8:50 pm and I am counting down..................tomorrow morning I start back to work, ready or not. Before writing this, I read my last blog and realized just how run down I was. Staff was getting to me, the stressors of the job were getting to me. I was exhausted. Am I ready to go back?

YES! This summer I forced myself to spend quality time with my family. I forced myself to relax and do whatever I wanted to do. I am fortunate to love my job and I realized I am ready to go back. I am ready to face what walks through the front door. I am ready to do what is best for the students in my school!

That realization will help me sleep tonight. I will walk through the front door of school tomorrow energized and ready to go. Let's see how long I can keep it up! hahahahhahha

Add 1 Tablespoon Leadership and 1 Teaspoon Friendship

This is my 4Th attempt at writing this blog. I have erased all previous attempts due to privacy issues. This is one of those stories that when told, would be easy to figure out who I am talking about. Sometimes Google isn't a good thing.

So, I won't bore you with the story, but I will bore you with my dilemma...........I have to make a decision that will directly hurt a colleague of mine. I have to make this decision because it is what is best for the students in my school. I have to do this, but it is breaking my heart.

Leadership is lonely. Leadership is hard. I will do what is right by my students - that I have no doubt, but to do that I have to have the co hones to hurt someone in the process. There is no getting around it. It must be done.

I will do so in the most professional way that I can. I will do so with great respect. I will hurt someone I respect and admire because I know that it must be done to ensure that my students get the best experience they can get................

Do you think those that we hurt know how much we hurt too? Do you think they know it isn't easy to do what is right? Do you think they know how stressed I am to think I have to do it?

My only other question is: how long can I do this job?

Help! I've Turned Into Dr. Fieldsman!

In college I had a professor that was big into theory. What was the origin of.....? What were the implications of.......? I hated that class. I wanted practical strategies that would make me a better teacher. I vowed that I would always remember his class and always deal with the practical issues. That is what would make me the best teacher I could be.

Today I had my reality check. I have been doing so much research and learning. I have been inspired by finding out the qualities of the 90/90/90 schools. I want to learn the best way to teach reading. I want to learn about RTI. I could go on and on.

The two Instructional Coaches (thanks to Luby and Laiben - the 2 best IC's around) for the district came in today to do a workshop on implementing small groups with a 90-minute reading block. They came prepared with so many strategies. The staff heard about cooperative group strategies, they learned how to implement center activities that deal with the 5 components of reading. The staff even learned more about implementing lessons for the gifted/advanced student.

Here is what I saw: most of them were eating it up.

I saw note taking. I saw hands in the air. I heard conversations about practical strategies that can be implemented in the classroom.

It wasn't rocket science. It wasn't really anything else that they didn't know.

I haven't seen this reaction from them in a long time..............and, then I realized..............

it's because I turned into Dr Fieldsman! I had been giving them research and theory. I had been helping their budgets because they were able to cancel their sleeping prescriptions. I was putting them asleep.

I had lost my mojo............I must get it back.

This weekend: Austin Powers, here I come.

Principals: even when we think we haven't forgotten what it was like in the classroom, maybe we have...............

Control Freak

Aligning the curriculum, common assessments, pacing guides, national standards...all of these topics are part of every teacher and Principal's daily lives. Unfortunately, it has sparked my internal issues of being an absolute control freak.

Yes, it's true. I like to be in control. I like to tell my husband what to do and how to do it. I like to be able to have my son quiver with fear by just giving him that mom look (although I don't have that down like my mother did). I like when things go exactly as I have planned. I don't fly because I don't have control of the plane. Yes, I am a psychiatrist's nightmare.

Why do I mention this? Well, with all of the accountability issues, researched based ways to improve student achievement, I have been having a hard time keeping things in check! How can I ensure that I organize and "control" what happens in the school while still allowing those creative, artsy fartsy types the freedom they need to thrive. Can we all coexist?

Research tells me to keep doing what I'm doing. Some of my teachers are yelling, "STOP!" Is there a good balance between the two? If you have ideas let me know. I need to save some co-pay money!

A Vision Come True!

Finally, after 3 years of dreaming that the faculty would have a meeting where honest to goodness learning would take place, it happened! This past Thursday, we spent time learning about the stages of effective reading instruction, what our strengths were and what we needed to do better. As I looked around during the meeting, I heard an exchange of ideas, an affirmation that they were so glad they were getting the opportunity to talk about ideas, and only 1 person was falling asleep! On top of that, I saw no eye rolling (maybe it was because the lights were out for the media presentation)! Could it be that we were making progress as a professional learning group?

The true test was the grade level meeting, which took place immediately after the faculty meeting. The groups were to go back and review the reading series. They were to analyze our pacing guide so that we can shape it up for next year.

Grade level meetings = the feeling you get when you know you are going to barf. Grade level meetings = the feeling you got when your mother said, "Wait until your father gets home...." Grade level meetings = not knowing if you are going to make it to the restroom when you have a case of the green apple nasties. This is how I feel immediately before and after grade level meetings....I usually have a number system ready for the people that want to talk to me after a grade level meeting.

As I prepared the red numbering system, and made sure the waiting room was complete with the latest edition of Teacher magazine, I began to notice that it was late. The stampede should have already made its way up to my office already. As it was, my kleenex box remained full and I was able to go home before 5 pm. I was able to cancel my after hours counseling session.

As I was driving home, I was wondering what happened.........did everyone have the green apple nasties? Were they waiting to bombard me on Friday? Or, did they bypass me altogether and stampede central office? Maybe there was a massacre and no one made it out the meeting room.....

I cautiously went home, checked my cell phone and email for messages and went to bed at a decent time. On Friday morning, I doubled my high blood pressure medicine, snuck into my office, and was able to get my first cup of coffee before my first vistor. As she began to speak, I closed my eyes, and got ready...............here it comes..........

"Just wanted to let you know that yesterday's meeting was fantastic. I learned a lot and loved that you gave us so much time to talk. We were able to make some great decisions about the pacing guide and I really think we are on the right track."

I looked around for the camera - not one to be found. Either this was someone's idea of a great joke or it finally happened! We had a meeting without any fights, eye rolling, tears, or hospital visits.

I do not know if it will happen again, but I wanted to let all of you principals out there to know: it can happen! Keep the faith and stay strong! If it can happen to me, it can happen to you!

Shifting To The 90 Minute Reading Block

I am so excited! The Instructional Coaches for the district came over last week to help develop a schedule which will include 2 - 90 minute blocks of instruction. One block is for Communication Arts and one block is for Math. Since I've been a principal at the Elementary level, I continually hear frustration from the teachers about how many times students are pulled out of their class: special education, remedial reading, speech, counseling, etc. By developing these blocks, we can eliminate the pull out system and incorporate more small group instruction in the classroom. The special education teachers and Title 1 teachers will go into the classroom and help the regular education teacher. In addition, we incorporated a 30 minute intervention block which will allow us to give intensive intervention time with struggling students. YEAH!


To Do List:


1) Create a schedule that has large blocks of learning time
2) Talk with teachers about this. Listen to pros and cons
3) Find out who is hesitant to implement and why
4) Determine professional development needs for Guided Reading
5) Continue to shift traditional ways of thinking about instruction

Wait! I need to go back to #3............my district has always implemented Title 1 services via a pull out method (that doesn't sound very good, does it?). I need your help - how does your school implement Remedial Reading? Literacy Specialist? Title 1? How do we make the switch from pull out to push in? What does that look like? Is that what is best for reading instruction? I would appreciate any and all help you can give. In the meantime, I'm Googling my behind off (hopefully)!

Going Up A River With No Paddle!

Aligning curriuculum, Marzano strategies, intervention groups, struggling students, naysayers.............whew! I feel like I'm a salmon swimming upstream trying to find my way home. When I get there, every one of my students will be reading on grade level, have an intrinsic desire to learn, and the parents and teachers will smile everyday. No frowning allowed.

Everyday, I dodge that grizzly bear trying to eat me alive as I jump upstream. You know, the bear that waits at the waterfall snatching the salmon as they jump upriver. The bear is the teacher that refuses to acknowledge that they need to improve the quality of relationships with students, parents and colleagues. It is the naysayer that doesn't want to implement a new way of doing things. The bear is the parent that doesn't agree with the detention you assigned to the boy that scratched profane words on his desk. Will I avoid the bear and make it home?

For now, we are trying to focus on improving reading scores. We have implemented intervention groups and are trying to find that intervention that will magically fix all of those students that have a hard time comprehending what they have just read. Until I make that jump upstream, and dodge the bear I guess I'll just keep researching, keep trying, and keep inspiring!

Time for My Hats

Picture this:

A clown juggling 6 balls, a chimpanzee going 'ape' in his cage at the zoo, the Kracken on Pirates of the Caribbean.

On any given day I feel like these characters. I feel like I need as many arms as the Kracken. I feel like I need limbs and a tail like the wild chimp flying through the rope course at the zoo. And, I usually feel like a clown, sometimes a clown that juggles. This is my life as an Elementary principal.

Please know: this post is not me complaining about my job. When I agreed to the position, I knew exactly what I was getting into and I had come to the conclusion a long time ago that I was insane. So why not take the job?

The purpose of this post is I NEED HELP! I need help juggling all of my hats. My days are crazy as yours are too, I'm sure. Yesterday I had 25 evaluations that I had to complete, meet with staff and get over to CO. I had a student have his daily ED freak out (who needs an exercise regime when you have an ED room in your building?) I had parent phone calls, parent visits, staff complaints, and this was all before lunch.

My doctor doesn't recommend drinking. It goes against my moral code (yes, I do have one) to take drugs. My husband would prefer that I not work 20 hours per day. I have come to the conclusion that I need one of those gizmos that Hermione had in Harry Potter 3 - you know, the one that allows her to be in 12 places at one time. Has this been patented yet?

Can anyone help? Until I find the answer I suppose I'll continue to get up everyday and just do the best I can. I will remind myself to prioritize and save my paperwork for after hours. I will hope that it is true that as you get older you need less sleep...............

Until next time!

Dear President Obama

Mr. President,

I was truly inspired by your education speech the other day. I have been thinking about it since I read it. What I liked most was your awareness that schools should not be the only ones accountable, parents should be held accountable as well. I liked how you mentioned that children should not go home to war zones and that parents should be a child's first and most important teacher. I liked how you promised that you would be talking to educators about how to fix this problem.

The reality is this: we have some really good schools in this country. I work with staff members that spend countless hours planning great lessons for their students. I talk with parents who worry about their children's success. I see excited and motivated children in the classrooms.

On the flip side, I see a huge societal issue. Our society does not value hard work anymore. It is now the American way to take the easy way out. The truth is this: for a child to compete in this global world, it takes hard work. Parents must prioritize school over baseball. Parents must prioritize homework and make children take responsibility instead of arguing over discipline and/or making excuses for their children. Principals must be willing to and allowed to remove an ineffective teacher. It should not take thousands of dollars in legal fees and countless hours to remove an ineffective tenured teacher. When school officials call Children's Division because children are being abused and/or neglected, our society must do something about it!

We have a lot to fix, but many people are willing to help. It is time to make some hard decisions, but you have people willing to make those decisions. We need back up and support. It is time to do what is right for the children in our country.

Thinking About Assessment

Lately I have been thinking about assessment. Traditionally, teachers have given tests because they need grades to put in their grade book. Nowadays, we are much smarter. We know that the true purpose of assessment is to see which student has learned a specific objective, to see their level of performance. When I ask my teachers what the purpose of assessment is, they can give me some great answers, ones that make sense. But, as I look around my school, I see some problems. We can tell you what the purpose of assessment is, but do we practice what we preach?

I have been talking to my teachers about this subject. Some teachers say that they help students with their assessments if the child is struggling. Some say that they do not help because if they do, it will not be a true indication of what the child knows. Some teachers make assessments that do not assess with the rigor of state tests. Authentic assessment, portfolios - What it comes down to is this: all of my teachers have a different viewpoint and they all think they are right. They all think that they know what is best for children. No wonder I am crazy!

As a 3 year principal I have been working on creating a collaborative learning environment for students and staff. Many are on board, some are not. To create this learning environment, some changes have had to be made. I have enlisted the help of some great people and created a leadership team. All staff are welcome to join and voice their opinion. This month's topic is assessment. How can we come up with some guidelines that will ensure high rigor, assessments given with fidelity, but will not stifle creativity and freedom for the teachers? And, how can I get that buy in from those nay-sayers that are resisting the change, those that want to close their door and not let anyone in?

These are the struggles that are ahead..........wish me luck. I'll get by with a little help from my friends (haven't I heard that somewhere before?).

The Dynamics of Staff

As a principal, I deal with people everyday: staff, students and parents. Over the years I have gained wisdom, made mistakes, and learn something new everyday! In my current school the staff dynamics is challenging and mysterious. Is there anyone that can guide me through this maze of craziness?
I work with a group of staff members that spend everyday doing what they think is best for staff. I love to see the great lessons that engage students and motivate them to learn more. For the past 3 years I have been working on getting the staff to make small changes: getting them out of their comfort zone and trying new things. Many of them have embraced this concept. I have seen excitement, heard many success stories and have been amazed by their dedication and hard work. For me, change is welcome, new and exciting. What a surprise to me that there was a smaller group of staff that was resistant to making these changes.
As I realized that not everyone was as gung ho as I was, I read some books, some articles and talked to many people. I learned about the process of change and how different people react to it. I know that staff needs to be a part of the process of change. They need buy-in. I know that some will adapt quickly and some will need support and guidance. I made sure to communicate throughout the process (although this is an area that I can always improve in). I assumed that this small group of resistors would, with support, make the changes that were upon us. These were changes that we learned about together. Some were imposed upon us at the district level, and some changes were discussed, investigated, and decided upon by the staff. Three years later, I feel that I still have a small group of resistors that rock the boat every chance they get.
How can they come to work everyday and complain about everything? Although these teachers may not be bad teachers, they wear me down!
So, who has some pointers for me? How can I get them to get happy or get out? I've tried talking with them, compromising, motivating them. Heck, I've even tried bribery! Who can help?

What Do We Do With Children That Live In Less Than Desirable Environments?

Frustrated. That is the best way to describe what I am feeling today. I am frustrated because I fear for children. As educators, we have knowledge of abuse and neglect. Although we are mandated reporters, not investigators, we see the daily haunts of these children. We see the dirt under the fingernails. We see the tears and hear the stories of how mom and dad "cook" and have friends come over at all times of the night. We see the children that need obvious medical care, but are not provided with it.

Everyday, I do my job of being a mandated reporter, and yet, these abused and neglected children are rarely removed from their homes. We return dozens, hundreds of children to homes with abusive parents, drug users, and neglect. When will the rights of these children outweigh the rights of the parents that do not take care of them? By keeping the children in these environments, will they grow up to be responsible adults?

I am all for helping those that need help. However, when we are told that "as long as the drugs do not interfere with the children," I have to ask myself: what has become of our society? Are these children better off with those who abuse? Or can we not come up with an alternative?

Most schools are safe havens for many children. Most teachers are great role models for children. What would happen if we invested the money that is spent in the foster care system and funded orphanages. There are people that will love these kids and be the role models that are needed. Would it be hard for children to be away from mom and dad? For some, yes, but I know just as many that would thank God everyday that they can go to sleep without being beaten. As a society, we need to wake up and take action.

Staying silent, and complacent will not change the circumstances that these children grow up in. It's time to talk to community leaders. It's time to pay attention to the judges that work in Family Court. We must talk with our legislators. We can no longer sit back and let this abuse continue.................

A New Adventure

It seems as though my husband is right. I am consumed with my job. Last week he asked me why I work so hard. My answer was this, "Right now I work in a good school. I want to work in a great school." Until all of my students, and yes I mean 100% of them, are successful, I will keep working like this.

Every night I come home, spend time with my family and then start working some more. This is when I hit the net, trying to learn from other colleagues, and find new ideas to bring back to school. I must admit, I do not have a creative bone in my body, but I sure do hang around some people that are creative. These great colleagues allow me to learn from them and together we make our schoool better every day.

Right now we are working on making the transition to RTI. If any of you have some great resources to help with scheduling, I would be most grateful. I frequently visit Intervention Central and Curriculum Based Measurement Warehouse. As of now, we have 17 small groups a few times a day. We are working on implementing researched based strategies, without the cost of buying a commercial program. We find most of these researched based strategies on the Florida Reading Research Center webiste. I will post these links below. I hope you find them hopeful!

Seven of the groups focus on phonemic awareness, 4 focus on reading comprehension and the rest focus on fluency. We are looking for a great way to test comprehension on a weekly basis. Any ideas? For fluency, we use Dibels. Students are tested every week and we are charting their progress. We are in week 4 and for some students, we have seen a huge improvement. For others, we hope that the progress will come soon.



Until next time, keep fighting the fight!