1/30/15

THINK WIN-WIN

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

2/2  Negotiations
2/2  Leadership
2/4  Kindergarten Start Date Task Force
2/7  Foundation Strategic Planning Day

SYNERGIZE 

*Congratulations to Becky, Jerry and Terri on successful Walkthrough days! So many wonderful things happening in our schools-It was great for our teachers who joined us to begin spreading Best Practices across our district!

STREAM-At Any Age!

COMMON CORE MATH STRATEGIES EVERYWHERE!!

We are seeing more and more posting of the objectives...

*Once again our TOSA's knocked it out of the park with the Math PD Days!  The teacher feedback has been outstanding!  Thank you Cara and Katy for supporting our teachers on this Common Core Math Journey!  It was also nice having Angie make a "guest appearance" each day to show Tech Integration!

*Thank you to Lisa D and Jerry for representing the principals on the Parent/Teacher Conference Task Force.  Special Kudos to Terry D and Nancy for taking this on and facilitating such a great process!
*Yeah for all of our schools for participating in The Great Kindness Challenge!  So great for our kids!
*Fun visit to Qualcomm's Thinkabit Lab!  What an inspiriting place!

*Congratulations to Erik Johnson and Tabor Samuelson-they will be our Summer Enrichment Principals!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

•Research Supports Engagement: 5 Reasons to Improve Yours-Excellent article highlighting why it is important to Engage our teachers in our schools!
•OMG!!! If you are not following this Facebook Page/Twitter Feed/Blog, YOU are missing out on something AMAZING! (Thank you Elisa for introducing it to me!)
Humans of New York is so inspiring!  Currently running a story about a boy and his principal.
Facebook-Humans of New York
Brandon Stanton@humansofny 

•Fostering True Teacher Leadership 
•Teacher Leadership-One of the Many Factors that Lead to School Improvement 
•Love this idea:  No Office Day

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

3 Things Great Teachers do with Technology

Beyond SAMR: The Teacher's Journey to Technology Integration

BE PROACTIVE

Great ideas from Twitter this week...
..."If culture is a school's personality, climate is its attitude."
..."You don't have to prove who's in charge, everybody knows who's in charge.  The more you try to prove it, the more people try to prove you wrong."
...If Everyone is happy, then you're not doing it right..."
...What are the characteristics of schools that Students, Teachers and Parents knock down the doors to get into each day?

USING OLD TECH TO TEACH THINKING SKILLS!

WOW!!

SHARPEN THE SAW

1/16/15

THINK WIN-WIN

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

1/19  Holiday!
1/21  Walkthrough @ CC
1/21  P/T Conference Task Force Mtg.
1/22  Walkthrough @ SR
1/23  Walkthrough @ SSF

SYNERGIZE 

*Congratulations to Lisa P, Lisa D, Elisa and Matt!  The Walkthroughs this week were amazing!  The instruction is absolutely "Shifting" in our schools!  Trends so far include: Consistency of instructional content and strategies across grade levels, schools AND across our district; Meaningful use of technology to up level assignments; Actively engaged student doing VERY purposeful work; Happy kids and staff!

*Major kudos to our teachers who have joined us on our walkthroughs!  Their presence has certainly enhanced the Walkthrough experience.  Not to mention, that I have no doubt that each of them will go back and share Best Practices that they saw in other classrooms!  EduAwesome!!

*Hip, Hip, Hooray for Angie, Cara, Ellen Leventhall, Stephanie and Dawn Butler for their absolutely AMAZING presentations at the Board meeting!  WOW!  Our students are so lucky to have these teachers spearheading EduAwesome instruction throughout our district AND then sharing examples with our Board of Education!  We really have innovative and highly engaging instruction happening in our classrooms!
*Speaking of Board Presentations...Elisa hit it out of the park last night!  The Spotlight on Solana Pacific was a highlight of the Board meeting!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

•6 Questions to determine if you're technology rich, innovation poor
• How Organized is Organized Enough?
•Interesting thoughts...Are Schools Prepared for Great Teachers?
•Hearing this man in person, many years ago was life changing for me...

Mark Prensky-These are the Best of Times to be Alive

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

•EduAwesome Rubric for Public Speaking
•6 Principles of Genius Hour in the Classroom

Don't assign homework.  Inspire homework...

10 Ways to Improve Your Homework

BE PROACTIVE

GREAT Ideas from Twitter this week
...Walk your campus and consider:  What do I want this place to look like one year from now? @ MelachiPancoast  Write it down and think about what you need to do to make that happen.
...Is says a lot about a leader who makes the time to learn right along side of their teachers! @Kyle Pace
....Start with where folks are and shine a light on where they should go

SHARPEN THE SAW

1/9/15

THINK WIN-WIN

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

1/12/15  Negotiations-Good Luck to All!  Thank You Carlos, Terry, Sal, Terri and Elisa for serving on this team!
1/13  Tech Job-A-Like
1/13  Walkthrough @ SV Team 3
1/13  ELD Job-A-Like @ Skyline
1/13  Spec. Ed Job-A-Like
1/14  Cal 200 Staff meeting @ SP
1/14  Walkthrough @ SH Team 1
1/14  BTSA
1/15  Walkthrough @ Sky Team 2
1/15  Board Meeting-SP Spotlight
1/16  Walkthrough @ SP Team 3

SYNERGIZE 

*Kudos to Angie for working so closely with Apple to develop two EDU-AWESOME Professional Development days for our teachers!
*Congratulations to Terry Decker for producing yet another award winning video production! Prescreening will be Monday at Leadership!
*Thank you to Elisa for stepping in and agreeing to present (School Spotlight) at the January Board meeting

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

5 Leadership Questions to Finish (And Start) the School Year With
Engaging Your School Community Through Social Media

Kid President Video-For the Heroes!  A great way to start the year-Are you a Hero?  YES!!

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers
3 Strategies for Getting and Keeping the Brain's Attention
3 Tips for a New Year Reboot
Staying Positive in Trying Times
The 8 Minutes that Matter Most

BE PROACTIVE

•Looking forward to attending the USD Spotlight on Education evening featuring Kevin Honecutt with the principals!  Thank You to everyone who responded to Melani, she will register all of us!  Do you follow Kevin on Twitter?@kevinhoneycutt 
•NCPDF is offering a Workshop series on GATE Certification.  Click Here for the flyer.
•Mark the Date:  February 9 is the next Envision Team Meeting.  More information to follow at Leadership.
•We've posted the Summer Enrichment/Intervention Principal positions.  Please encourage teachers who you know are interested in administration to apply.

SHARPEN THE SAW