Winter is coming! With the return of Game of Thrones to the airwaves, I was inspired to write an article based on this tremendous series. As I prepared for the new season, I thought about the history of the series and began to draw some parallels to the world of education, specifically working in theContinueContinue reading “5 Ways Education is Like Game of Thrones”
Category Archives: Leadership
5 Ways Leadership is Like Building a Sandcastle
Being a leader is not easy. Leaders must be steadfast during the storm and be able to remain standing through thick and thin. I was lucky enough to spend some time this summer on a beach building sandcastles with my children. As we built our castle, I was reflected upon my own work as anContinueContinue reading “5 Ways Leadership is Like Building a Sandcastle”
5 Pieces of Data Your Leadership Team Should Be Analyzing
Leadership teams spend hours and hours each school year looking at assessment data. Data will help teachers and administrators target individual students and standards for intervention. However, assessment data is only part of the picture. There is a wide variety of data out there that needs to be analyzed in order to truly transform schoolsContinueContinue reading “5 Pieces of Data Your Leadership Team Should Be Analyzing”
Five Ways To Ensure Your Next IEP Meeting Runs Smoothly
IEP meetings are some of the most important facets of an educator’s job. Ensuring that appropriate placement and services are being provided for some our most at-risk students should always be a top priority. It is vital that these meetings are productive, collaborative, and student focused. Sadly, too often these meetings get derailed by emotions,ContinueContinue reading “Five Ways To Ensure Your Next IEP Meeting Runs Smoothly”
5 Ways to Make Classroom Walk-Throughs More Powerful
Conducting classroom walk-throughs (CWTs) is not a new concept. Educators have been walking through classrooms, gauging instructional practices for years. Unfortunately, CWTs are often conducted due to mandates from downtown and not from the internal desire to improve educational practices. Administrators go through the motions of walking through without the school getting the benefits ofContinueContinue reading “5 Ways to Make Classroom Walk-Throughs More Powerful”
5 Educational Concepts We Need To Eliminate In 2017
As we come to the end of another year, it is time once again to think about the changes we will make in the next 12 months. The world of education is changing rapidly. However, there are still many areas that need to be addressed. Here are five educational practices we need to say goodbyeContinueContinue reading “5 Educational Concepts We Need To Eliminate In 2017”
Five Ways to Filter Assessment Data
Assessments are useless unless you do something with the data. It is not enough to administer assessments to students and then create colorful graphs and charts that display the data. Data must be filtered down in order to see trends, outliers, areas of opportunity, and areas of strength. Overall all percentage numbers are just aContinueContinue reading “Five Ways to Filter Assessment Data”
5 Ways To Improve Teacher Retention
A 2015 National Center of Education Statistics survey on teacher attrition found that about 15% of all teachers leave the profession within five years. A 2015 NPR article states that nearly half of all teachers will leave the school they are currently at, with rates being higher in high-poverty schools. This rate of attrition isContinueContinue reading “5 Ways To Improve Teacher Retention”
5 Ways To Increase Attendance Rates
Every year, schools rewrite plans to address attendance concerns. These plans usually include different incentives like attendance awards such as different tangible prizes, recognition assemblies, and students’ names in the monthly newsletter. Every year, we re-word this same plan and attendance rates stay just about the same. Hours are spent on these plans that don’tContinueContinue reading “5 Ways To Increase Attendance Rates”
3 Ways Principals Can Promote Autonomy
Ask teachers what they would consider an optimal working condition and you will get a variety of different answers. However, one answer remains consistent: autonomy. In these days of high stakes testing, schools continue to micro manage instruction as well as the curriculum in hopes of achieving high test scores. However, this is counter-productive andContinueContinue reading “3 Ways Principals Can Promote Autonomy”
THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK 