9/5/14

THINK WIN-WIN

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

9/8  Leadership
9/9  FFL Board Meeting
9/9  ELD Job-A-Like
9/11 District Strategic Planning
9/11 Board Meeting (Opening of School Update)

SYNERGIZE 

*Our TOSA's are EVERYWHERE!!  It is so fun to see all of the support that they are providing our sites AND all of the shifts that they are facilitating!  Thank you to everyone for letting them film, film, film at your sites.
*Congratulations to Matt and Becky!  Their Site Strategic Planning Pre-Meetings went GREAT!!!
*Thank you to Caroline for all of her efforts working with the Technology Instructors to bring them up to speed on MAPS and Technology Lab instruction.
*Hugs to Monica for being the Curriculum Queen and getting all of your materials in a timely fashion.
*Thank you to Rebecca for modifying the Tardy policy for everyone-we like simple!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

•10 Phrases that will Make You a Better Leader
•25 Ways to Ask Your Kids 'So How Was School Today? (Great Newsletter article...)
•Ted Talk-The Myth of Average- A MUST SEE!!  How do we nurture the potential of every student?
•The Secret-What Great Leaders Know and Do
•6 Things We Need to Stop Saying in Education

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

•A Checklist for Back to School Night

•A Flipped Classroom?  Or Should it be Sideways?

•8 Easy Strategies for Engaging students
•Epic Ice Breakers

Great Teachers refuse to settle for less than their best!  Would YOU want to be a student in your class?

BE PROACTIVE

Who do you want telling the story of your school?  Department?  Classroom?

SHARPEN THE SAW

Notice the Color Scheme...Go Bronco's!!

8/29/14

THINK WIN-WIN

*@casas_Jimmy suggests "a note a day to a staff member will change your attitude and your lens for that teacher and your school."  Imagine what it will do for those receiving the notes?  Are you up for the challenge?

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

9/1  Holiday-YEAH!!! Enjoy your 3-Day Weekend!
9/3  Strategic Pre-Planning Meeting for SSF and SH

9/3  BTSA Mtg
9/4  New Principal Mtg @ 4:00

SYNERGIZE 

•A Big Drop in the Bucket for Stephanie for doing a fabulous job sharing the STREAM Energy Unit with all of the Discovery Lab Teachers/Instructors-Love the Da Vinci analogy! Was Da Vinci a Scientist, Researcher, Engineer, Artist or Mathematician? 
•Congratulations to all of our schools for a smooth and positive opening of the school year!  Everyone seems so Happy!
•Thank You to Terri Davis for always taking such EduAwesome notes for all of us!  Strategic Planning is made easier with your notes!
•TOSA Land is an amazing place to be!  Talk about Synergy!  Room 16 @ Carmel Creek is a major Think Lab!  Our TOSA's are busy, busy preparing for Strategic Planning!  Thank you to everyone for allowing them to video our kiddos doing incredible things!
•Thank you to Caroline and her staff for supporting our Media Centers and Technology Labs with an updated Alexandria and NWEA training.
•WOW!  Did you know that the San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth hosts a planning meeting for ALL of the Solana Beach, Encinitas and San Dieguito Red Ribbon Chairs.  Awesome resources for our Volunteers.  Red Ribbon Week is October 27-31.  Solana Beach City Council Meeting will be October 22 @ 6:00
•Monica Smith is slowly digging her way out of Curriculum ordering Hell!  If you are still awaiting materials, know that Monica is working as hard and as fast as she can!
•Kudos to Katy and Cara for being on top of the Eureka Math needs.  By working closely with the Media Center Teachers, classroom teachers and Terry Decker, we've been able to get the right materials to the right people at the right time!  Not an easy task!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

•A GREAT resource to continue our conversations about Happiness in your life and work place: Work Happy Now with Karl Staib. Karl focuses on unleashing your SuperPower to be the best that you (and your work place can be)  Sign up for his 7 Part E Course-It is Excellent!! The first 2 parts (emails) that he sends are similar to what we did on the retreat.  #3-7 are new information.  Following the 7th course (email) he sends great little reminders to keep you on track!  I've been enjoying his positivity!
•STEM is Everywhere-Lots of Resource Articles
•5 Essentials for Developing Remarkable Leaders

•Become the Storyteller-in-Chief for your school!
•Great Video on how one person and persistence can make a difference-How are you going to make a difference? Unsung Hero Video
•8 Videos to make you think (& laugh) about our obsession with technology

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

•5 Back to School Tips for New Teachers (I would argue Veteran Teachers also!)
•Love this fresh perspective on classroom rules-Does your classroom follow these 9 important rules?

•The 7 Characteristics of a digitally competent teacher
•Excellent Back to School Resources for teachers (and Instructional Leaders)

BE PROACTIVE

*Great Meeting with the Discovery Lab Teachers/Instructors.  Please remember that they will need guidance from you as to how you would like them to implement the School Wide Energy Unit.  We've asked them to go back to the sites and schedule a time to meet with you and your Media Center teachers to ensure that you are all on the same page.

*Please be sure that the Williams Settlement signs are posted in EACH classroom in English and Spanish.  The notice of Public Hearing should also be posted at the entrance to your school.
*Progress Reports are being formated! Parent Info night are on the calendar! (October 15, 16 & 21-Skyline, Solana Pacific, and Solana Ranch respectively)  Video Release in Mid October!  YAHOO!

SHARPEN THE SAW

8/22/14

THINK WIN-WIN

Isn't this the truth!

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

8/25  First day for students-YAHOO!!
8/25  September Board Topics and Updates due (sometimes Principals get a reprieve for this month...Kristie??)
8/27  Strategic Planning pre-meeting for SP, CC, SKY, SV, and SR
8/28  Strategic Planning pre-meeting for CDC
8/28  Job-A-Like for ALL Discovery Lab teachers/instructors 9:00-11:00 (We will be giving an update on the STREAM Summer Task Force work and the Energy Unit.  We will also give each sub group time to work together on strategies of implementation.  Principals are welcome to attend-but not required.

SYNERGIZE 

•A drop in the bucket to Caroline and her staff for their EduAwesome presentations at each staff meeting this week!
•Congratulations to Rebecca for not only surviving, but thriving at her first SPED  Welcome Back!  Rumor has it that the team gave her a Standing Ovation!
•Thank You to Shabir and the Food Service gang for all of their hard work at the Back to School BBQ!  YUM!!
•And we can't forget our chefs-Great job Cabinet members!  From flipping pancakes to flipping burgers-Such talent!
•A big round of applause to Susan Jensen for another well planned and delivered Wellness Faire!
•Kudos to the Site Office Secretaries and Clerks for a job well done-getting the sites ready to go and keeping all of the teachers happy is not an easy job!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

•In honor of our Sports Fans...A great article using the analogy of Basketball Tips for School Leaders
•In keeping with our SuperHero theme:  With great power comes great responsibility!
•Blogs to Follow (aside from Friday Focus-Instructional Leader Style:  A Principal's Reflections; te@chthought; Edudemic; Getting Smart; Free Tech for Teachers; Ed Tech and Mobile Technology; and one of my favorites-Connected Principals

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

•5 Ways to make your learning space more Student-Centered
•By building relationships, teachers can transform the future!
•Personalized Literacy-Tech is making this easier and easier!  (Thank You Ms. Gauthier for tweeting this article!)
•International DOT Day is coming!  Celebrate Creativity, Courage and Collaboration
•13 Ways to make homework more meaningful.  The blog is for grades 4-8, but this article could apply to primary grades as well.
•26 Questions to ask students in the first week of school

BE PROACTIVE

Dear Administrators, Don't forget about the little things...Great Article about Dreaming Big, and the importance of remembering the small stuff too!
10 Organization Tips for Back to School-Scheduling-This is a great way to use the app "Remind"  (which used to be Remind 101) for teachers and principals!

SHARPEN THE SAW

8-15-14

THINK WIN-WIN

"You only get one first day of school-Inspire them!"

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

8/18  Teachers Return-Happy 2014-15 School Year

8/19  Special Ed Certificated Staff Mtg. @11:00-3:30

8/20  Special Ed Classified Staff Mtg. @11:00-12:00

8/21  Mini Open House & District BBQ/Wellness Faire

8/21  Cooperating Teacher Orientation @3:30-5:00

8/22  Work Day for Teachers

8/22  Leadership @1:00

SYNERGIZE 

WOW!!! What can I say-The Professional Symposium Days were Spectacular!  Where do I even start?

*Kudos to Terry Decker for all of his organizational expertise!

*Big Drops in the Bucket for our TOSA's (Angie, Jo, Cara, Katy and Stephanie) for absolutely ROCKIN' their sessions!! What amazing teacher leaders!

*A big round of applause for all of our teacher and outside presenters-Great content and very well delivered!

***Great big Thank You's to***

*Monica and Melani for all of their hard work ensuring that everything was copied, that the classrooms were organized and stocked with everything that they need and the hundreds of other things that they did to make this event run so smoothly and look so professional!

*The Solana Pacific staff for so graciously hosting the event...again!

*The Incredible Tech Team for giving away their best gift ever-Knowledge that we can all use!  Not to mention making sure that all of the tech was ready and working for the PD days!

*Our School Board and Superintendent for supporting these two days and valuing the importance of Staff Development for our teachers!

*Another Drop in the Bucket for Sal Gumina on another very successful New Employee Orientation!  And a big shout out to Casey Choate for all her efforts to get all of our new employees processed!  I think we set a record for new hires this year!

*Positive energy for Nancy and Carlos as they continue to navigate some sensitive issues-they joys of being "at the top!"  We love you!

*Congratulations to all of our Principals as they get ready for the new school year!  I know that the first couple of weeks back are incredibly busy and stressful-but they are also very exciting!  I wish you all a FABULOUS new school year!

*Lastly, Thank You to everyone for their active participation during the Admin Retreat!  We have such an EduAwesome Team!! It is a real honor and privilege to work with all of you!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Principals/School Leaders
*50+ Resources for School Leaders
*Quick Ways to Model "Digital Leadership"

*11 Time Saving Advice that you probably haven't considered
*SAMR Model for Administrators-How to use technology to Redefine the way we lead

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

*Another year begins...(A heartfelt account of what it means to be a teacher)

*5 ways to make your classroom more student-centered
*5 Questions every educator should ask themselves
*Awesome Chart- Alternatives to Traditional Homework
*Bunch of iPads in your class-Need a quick start of ideas?
*Wonderopolis-An EduAwesome Website-Here's how one teacher uses it daily in her class

BE PROACTIVE 

What is your 5 word GPS?  You may remember that I posted a video on the last Friday Focus Blog in June by Dave Burgess-of the Teach Like a Pirate fame.  (He's also great to follow on Twitter) I am reposting this week because I think it is a great way for all educators to start the year.  What is your 5 Word GPS Video?  If we don't know where we are going, how can we set our course?  I challenge ALL of us to determine AND tweet (don't forget #sbsdedu) what your 5 word GPS would be for your school (or department) this coming year-How do your actions support your GPS?  Click here for Video

SHARPEN THE SAW

Included the 7 Habits here, since the graphic may not have been included in the email...

6/20/14

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

Are you making enough requests of the people around you?

LOOKING FORWARD-THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW...

6/23  Summer Intervention/Enrichment/ESY begin!  Good Luck to Lisa Ryder and Tabor Samuelson our two principals!
6/25, 6/26, 6/27  Report Card Committee convenes 1:30-4:30
6/26  June Board Meeting
6/27  Gary's Retirement Celebration 3:00 Board Room
6/27  Mary Ellen's Retirement 5:30 Herons' House 4795 Hillside Drive Carlsbad
6/30, 7/1,  Pre K/TK/ Kinder Task Force convenes 8:30-12:30
6/30, 7/1, 7/2, 7/3 Math Committee convenes 1:30-4:30
6/30  Strategic Planning Drafts due to Terry Decker/Monica Smith
7/1  Summer Break!  Enjoy!

EDUAWESOME DROPS IN OUR BUCKET...

•EduAwesome Drops for Melani, Mary Vaccarino, Tabor and Lisa Ryder for all of their work preparing for our Summer programs.  This work begins back in January-it is quite an undertaking.  We wish both schools-Solana Vista and Carmel Creek much success on their summer programs!
•A great big hug to the Tech Dept. for collecting and re-distributing over 500 iPads to be used in our Summer Programs.  A lot of work for 19 days, but it really speaks to how dependent our teachers are on technology to support their instruction!  A great problem to have!
•A huge Thank You to Lisa Platt and Terri Davis (and their entire staffs) for graciously hosting the Summer Programs!
•Whew!  An EduAwesome Pat on the Back for Monica Smith for sifting and sorting all of the Task Force participants.  We had a record number of teachers volunteering this year!  How EduAwesome is that!!  Love that our teachers are engaged and willing to serve!  Their voice really makes a difference! Check your email on Monday for a final list of who is serving on which committee(s).
•A big hooray for the Site Secretaries and clerks!  The end of the year is a crazy time, with so much to do-and they do it with a smile and grace!
•Congratulations to Becky, Elisa and Lisa D for providing our 6th graders with beautiful and age appropriate Promotions!
•Hip, Hip Hooray for Mary Ellen!  Boy, I wish I was retiring!
•An EduAwesome High 5 for Angie Tremble and Allison McGee for all of their work on the Engage Your Brain-Avoid the Summer Slide program!
•Thank you to Jeanne Vilsack and Isabel Silva for providing our teachers with Staff Development on CELDT Testing and LLI (Leveled Literacy Intervention)!  How fortunate we are to have teachers so competent and willing to support and train our other teachers!
•Congratulation to Stephanie Ferris, who joins the Curriculum Dept. and the world of TOSA's!  Stephanie will be serving as our District STREAM TOSA!  Welcome Aboard!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK BLOGS, TWEETS and PINS-OUR VERY OWN PLC

Austin's Butterfly...  AMAZING Video on how to Build Excellence in Student Work.  Imagine if every teacher showed this video at the beginning of the school year?  Fits  right in with our focus on Growth Mindset and Perseverance!  

What's Your 5 word GPS?  A GREAT video by Dave Burgess.  Dave is the author of Teach Like a Pirate.  He has quite a following of teachers and administrators.  This video would be great at a beginning of the year staff meeting.  I challenge all of us to decide and write down/tweet what your 5 word GPS would be for your school next year-how do your actions support your GPS?

BLOGS, TWEETS and PINS-OUR VERY OWN PLC

Another great person to follow on twitter is: 
>If you do not follow Dave Burgess @burgessdave, you are really missing out!  He is the author of the very popular book-Teach Like a Pirate.  He is inspiring, creative, motivating and crazy!  And he is from San Diego!
>Are you following @Edutopia?  Another GREAT addition to your PLN
>Increase you PLN this summer:  50 Educational Leaders worth following on Twitter

Timely Articles for Principals
•The Paradox of The Modern Teacher (something for your fall meeting, perhaps?)
•Sumer Reading and Rejuvenation  I would add Teach Like a Pirate and Todd Whitaker's Shifting the Monkey to the list.
•Interesting perspective on Avoiding the Summer Slide.  Something to think about...
•Get a Start on Ending your Year Right

FINAL THOUGHTS TO PONDER

•It is almost a year into my new position and I can finally say..."I love what I am doing!"  I want to thank all of you for being a part of my PLN!  I learn from each of you every day!  I love the articles, the quotes, the videos, the conversations and the the questions that you share with me, and most importantly I treasure our ability to work together to provide the very best for the students of Solana Beach!  What a great TEAM!!
•I hope you have enjoyed the Friday Focus and have found it worthwhile and informative.  It has been a great way for me to keep up on my professional reading and my own personal PLN.  I have loved sharing some of the articles and videos that have supported our goals and focus areas.  I hope you have a GREAT summer!  I look forward to the 2014-15 School Year and to our Leadership Retreat on August 5-6.  Enjoy reading The Happiness Advantage and be prepared to discover... What's YOUR Superpower?

5-23-14

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

In Looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities:  integrity, intelligence, and energy."

Warren Buffet

LOOKING FORWARD-THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW...

•5/26  Memorial Day-Enjoy your day off!  Only 13 days of school left!
•5/27  Envision Team meeting-Please bring your Year One Implementation Plans 3:30-5:00
•5/28  Solana Ranch Ribbon Cutting Ceremony @ 3:30
•5/29  Teacher Interviews 
•5/30  DELAC Meeting @ 9:30-Melani will notify the parents, but you may want to remind your reps as well.
•5/30  Tentative date for Math Committee 3:30 Skyline. (We are having a terrible time trying to reschedule this meeting that was cancelled due to the fires.  We have sent out a Survey Monkey to determine if June 10 is a better day.)  We will confirm date, time and location ASAP.  Sorry for the inconvenience!

EDUAWESOME DROPS IN OUR BUCKET...

•Kudos to our EduAwesome Curriculum Resource Teachers for doing an amazing job coordinating the SBAC testing!  Their diligence and pre-planning really allowed for this to be a fairly painless pilot year!
•A great big Thank You to Nancy, Carlos and Caroline for all of their efforts during the fires!  Great team work and communication with all of us!
•A Drop in the Bucket for Terry Decker for his EduAwesome LCAP Community Forum meeting!  Everyone agrees that it was an excellent meeting and that the presentation was clear and comprehensive!
•Congratulations to all of our students who were recognized at our Board Meeting.  Truly Inspirational stories!
•Hooray for Tobie who has been working with Nicole from Casa de Amistad on a joint project providing our 3-5 year olds early intervention 2 afternoons a week next year!  Not to mention the parenting classes that will be offered at the same time!  EduAwesome!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK BLOGS, TWEETS and PINS-OUR VERY OWN PLC

•9 Videos to Explore Blended Learning
•Look Up-A spoken work film for an online generation-Very Powerful and Thought provoking...The importance of being present!
•Great Resource for articles and timely information!  Edutopia.org

BLOGS, TWEETS and PINS-OUR VERY OWN PLC

•5 Ways Administrators Can Use Remind 101  (we could add to communicate with your staff during a wild fire!)

Timely Articles for Principals
•On the Edge of Chaos:  Where Creativity Flourishes
•Reflecting on a Year of Learning It's such a crazy time of the year, and I know that we are all working on our own End of the Year Evaluations for our Supervisors.  This is a great little article-BUT what I love is the link to the document "End Of Year Reflection Questions.docx"  I used these questions to reflect on my year in the Instructional Services dept.  I loved that it connected your actions to the impact that those actions had on people and the organization.
•5 Helpful Strategies for Self Reflection
•What Makes a Great School Leader?

Timely Articles for Teachers

•5 Tools to Help Create a Paperless Book Club
•5 Ways to Get Kids Reading this Summer
•End of Year Burnout:  How to Finish Strong

FINAL THOUGHTS TO PONDER

ARE YOU READY??

5/9/14

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

LOOKING FORWARD-THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW...

5/12  Solana Highlands Staff Appreciation Pancake Breakfast
5/12  Smile!  Leadership Picture @ 1:15
5/12  Leadership-Lyn Perino to join us
5/13  Math Committee @ 4:00-6:30
5/14  Skyline Staff Appreciation Pancake Breakfast
5/14  ACSA Student Stand Out Award Ceremony 4:00 @ Solana Pacific
5/16  Teacher Interviews

EDUAWESOME DROPS IN OUR BUCKET...

•Congratulations to all of you who survived Day 2 of Teacher Interviews!  Two down and one to go!  Such an exhaustive task, but such an important part of what we do!  Thank you to Sal and Casey for always making the day go so smoothly-and for feeding us so well!
•Hooray for the Math Committee!  They spent an entire day listening to Publisher presentations.  Terry and I were so impressed with their focus and their commitment to this process! Trust me, when I say, our district is in good hands with this group!  
•Speaking of the Math Committee...Terry Decker was EduAwesome facilitating this meeting!  I so appreciate our partnership as we work through this process!  (Be sure to ask him about his earring and scarf...)
•And one more big thank you to Monica and Melani for all of their behind the scenes work to prepare for the Math Publication Presentations!  Everything was so well organized and the day went so smoothly-Not an easy accomplishment!  Now it's time to re-pack all of the materials and ship them back to the publishers!  Whew!
•A Great Big Drop in the Bucket for Angie, Jo, Jerry, Caroline and John for working so diligently on updating and revising our Technology Acceptable Use Policy for Students and Staff!  Not to mention the work on the Social Networking Guidelines.   WHEW!  A great group effort that produced some real quality documents!
•How EduAwesome is this...Stephen Vaughn, the speaker that we heard present @ Lead 3.0, on The Happiness Advantage, has agreed to be our Keynote Speaker for our August Professional Symposium Days!  Now, that makes me happy!  

VIDEO OF THE WEEK BLOGS, TWEETS and PINS-OUR VERY OWN PLC

•No time to read??  Check out this EduAwesome Daniel Pink Animation that summarizes the popular book Driven.  What really motivates us...and our staff and students?

BLOGS, TWEETS and PINS-OUR VERY OWN PLC

Another great person to follow on twitter is: Do you know that many of our teachers are now on twitter?  Take a poll-and then follow them!  Here are just a few...
@msFerrisSSF 
@GlobalEdLisaC  
@mtajalle1 
@GlobalEdProgram
@TFarnsworth16
@GlobalEdEstela 
@AnitaAn78741611 
@ShielaCullins 
@tayloralynch 
@MrsDisch 

Timely Articles for Principals
•Work Piling Up?  5 Ways to Eliminate Backlogs
•Uppervention-Meeting the Needs of Gifted and Talented Students
•Why and How should admiinistrators be using Social Media

Timely Articles for Teachers
•10 Ways to End the School Day
•New to Twitter-Cheat Sheet for Teachers
•One Minute "Ask Smithsonian"Videos are good to watch and useful models for student creations

FINAL THOUGHTS TO PONDER

Boy, No wonder this leadership thing is such hard work!

Too Funny...Can you say Common Core Mathematics?