tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22779694110254123872012-01-26T19:16:40.177-08:00Principal Jnoreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-78385597039102526032011-04-04T19:04:00.000-07:002011-04-04T19:04:12.395-07:00

Who knew that Tom Bergeron from Dancing With the Stars would inspire a blog?  As I sit here with my lap top, checking out the news and reading and learning from Twitter, the TV is on.............. Yes, it was on a couple of blogs ago too...........you don't have to rub it in.  I am a couch potato! Poor Kirstie and Max just fell on the dance floor.  Host Tom Bergeron said, "It's not about how

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-46370527164562824062011-04-03T10:46:00.000-07:002011-04-03T10:46:22.253-07:00

Ahhhhh, Sunday morning.  I'm sitting here with my coffee, reading blogs and scanning the news.  In the background the TV is on Primetime:  What Would You Do?  Of course, my visual learning style takes over and I start watching the show.  The show sets up scenarios where someone is treated inhumanly or is in trouble and watches the public as they wander by............more than not, people do

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-44429242258362175262011-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:002011-03-31T19:21:47.059-07:00

Making hard decisions are very difficult for me, especially when I know that those decisions are going to hurt people I care about.  I know in my heart that the decisions I make are because I feel those decisions are what is best for children.  However, when adults take those decisions personally, I feel terrible because that is never the intent.  I never set out to hurt others, make them cry.  I

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-44579808664461565482011-03-29T18:59:00.000-07:002011-03-29T18:59:47.759-07:00

Tonight, as I browse through my tweets, I am listening to HLN Nancy Grace.  They are discussing a horrible fight involving someone from MTV's Teen Mom.  Now, I don't watch Teen Mom, but apparently this particular teen mom hasn't been making the best choices in her life, and now she is involved in a brutal fight with another girl.  This fight comes after the fact that she has already threatened to

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-6837616672995598212010-12-18T11:50:00.000-08:002010-12-18T11:50:37.201-08:00

Each year, my head spins from the complexities of the job:  communication, parents, discipline, instruction, professional development, politics (which shouldn't even rate..........), transportation, food service, custodians, field trips, students with no running water, abusive home environments.  I could go on and on.  Jim, my handy dandy assistant principal told me that sometimes he feels like

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-34563394871060460922010-11-10T19:06:00.000-08:002010-11-10T19:06:09.689-08:00

A few days ago I typed my woes for all to read.  That huge knot of unease stayed in my stomach for dozens of hours with no end on the horizon.  And then, I went into the cafeteria and just sat with students and talked.  I laughed with them, told jokes with them, talked to them about what they should do because they didn't like the new pizza sticks.  Guess what?  Before I knew it the knot was gone

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-72625079823012711092010-11-08T20:04:00.000-08:002010-11-08T20:04:00.455-08:00

Today was one of those days....................meeting about a parent complaint, politics, meeting about curriculum, more politics, conferencing with a frustrated teacher.  The best part of my day was at the end when I was talking to a teacher and making plans to work with her while she formulated her lesson plans for next week.  That got me excited because it has a direct impact on children!

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-64384335347185401182010-11-06T12:31:00.000-07:002010-11-06T12:31:56.199-07:00

It's 1:30 pm on a Saturday and I've just finished watching the video "Sharing:  The Moral Imperative."  Those of you reading this that are on Twitter and have a widespread PLN have probably already viewed this video.  If you haven't, I encourage you to take 25 minutes out of your busy schedule to watch it: http://dotsub.com/view/027a4da1-8be2-4ea7-85e9-2e3be140db1a .  This video came out a few

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-86720645225378889412010-11-04T19:46:00.000-07:002010-11-04T19:46:21.669-07:00

Those that work with me know that I'm not a fan of the worksheet.  Every time I can, I slam the worksheet:  "Boring."  "Let's go green."  "The copy machine is broken." "Quick, look over there (as I hide the stack of papers)." As I hunt through the school and pass by classrooms, I see students hiding papers and teachers shoving piles into the recycle bins.  I know my quest to get rid of the

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-56843135444486697942010-10-17T15:51:00.000-07:002010-10-17T15:51:24.692-07:00

Today fellow educators have been encouraged to blog about the current crisis in American education and what we think would fix the problem.  Everyone in the education field is up in arms about the film, "Waiting For Superman,"  as if teachers and unions were the only problems in our educational system.  We educators know that there are many problems that are out of our control, but no one seems

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-14085157021997638952010-10-11T20:17:00.000-07:002010-10-11T20:17:52.212-07:00

Each week I send staff a Weekend Update, which is a weekly memo for staff explaining upcoming events and information.  This school year I have vowed to devote the majority of the memo to getting staff to think about things.  I try to put information on instructional strategies and ask compelling questions.  Here is a sample of one of my articles: Can We Opt Out of the Weekly Spelling Test? Let’s

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-83002315893034617532009-10-19T19:38:00.000-07:002009-10-19T19:50:35.890-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-48379840675071855162009-09-17T18:35:00.000-07:002009-09-17T19:53:15.692-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-51361049527123814162009-09-14T20:04:00.000-07:002009-09-14T20:34:04.406-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-55427250054063374912009-09-05T17:24:00.000-07:002009-09-05T18:10:43.779-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-60116504120834149992009-07-26T18:47:00.000-07:002009-07-26T19:04:28.396-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-37539615063143857562009-06-05T22:05:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.454-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-41369697833994637212009-05-04T19:48:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.492-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-13416037006586982222009-04-27T19:37:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.505-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-19439396676909247862009-04-18T12:09:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.517-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-22469702336720348082009-04-07T17:43:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.614-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-5006793125952149752009-04-01T17:51:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.633-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-62400989893523492812009-03-18T19:28:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.646-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-88336456400873421482009-03-11T19:46:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.661-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-15825340938739015012009-03-08T15:48:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:47:04.676-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-2975991384651013332009-02-27T20:27:00.000-08:002009-09-05T21:47:04.689-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-79141398067132108872009-02-19T17:35:00.000-08:002009-09-05T21:47:04.701-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277969411025412387.post-34030881089068149722009-02-15T22:41:00.000-08:002009-09-05T21:47:04.714-07:00

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

Principal Jnoreply@blogger.com2