with William D. Parker and Friends
The European Space Agency’s historical comet landing of the space craft Rosetta last week has my head spinning. First of all, imagine organizing a team of scientists and space engineers who design and launch a space craft with the goal…
Last weekend I attended the memorial service for a former student. His family members and friends took turns sharing how he had touched their lives with his kindness, curiosity, and creativity. It was an outside gathering, and the cold November…
When I was a boy, I loved to lay on the front porch at night. With no streetlights or neighbors, our house was enveloped in darkness, surrounded by swampy creeks and woods, accompanied by the sound of crickets and the…
Almost two years ago, I began posting weekly to share ideas for school leaders. That choice opened a lot of opportunities for me to collaborate with great educators, connect with people all over the world, and interview some fascinating leaders.…
Last week I had the opportunity to share with a graduate class of educators studying school leadership. We talked for about an hour about essential roles of school leaders, and then I fielded questions from class members for another half hour. At one point, a…
Across our state, schools have seen shortages in certified teaching applicants. The causes for this dilemma are numerous, but instead of focusing on these challenges, I’d like to celebrate some of the young men and women who have answered the…
I remember my first year of teaching when I walked into a boy’s bathroom that was reeking of smoke. A couple of boys were standing at the urinals when one of them dropped a lit cigarette at his feet. I…
School or work environments are like home environments–it doesn’t take long to figure out if you are in a happy, productive place or not. Last week I was in Oklahoma City for a meeting with OASSP, the Oklahoma Association of…
The other day I was going through my books when I came across a copy of Jim Collins Good To Great. It had been a couple of years since I had read it, but as I flipped the pages, I…
Recently, my junior high daughter began taking clarinet lessons from a private tutor. When I picked her up from her first session, she said, “I have been playing for three years, but I learned today that I wasn’t putting the…
I have a lot of friends who are good golfers. I am not one of them. But I recognize a good golfer when I see one. He or she is usually the one who gets the ball in the hole…
We just welcomed our teachers and students back to school. It was hard work to prepare for all the moving parts that make up master schedules, professional development, and schedule pick-ups. But there is also great satisfaction in having everyone…
Last year I was attending a high school track meet when our school’s 4 x 400-meter-relay team faced a rival team with a runner known as one of the fastest boys in the state. Our four-man-team actually held the lead…
Last year one of my team members suggested I start emailing parents regular updates on our school. I started by using a list exported from our student information system. The effort soon turned into a habit, and I began receiving…
I once knew a teaching couple who told me a funny story. They lived right across the street from a man who never seemed to go to work. During their breaks from school, the neighbor always seemed to be home;…
I remember a story a good friend told me about her first year as an assistant principal. She worked with a teacher who frequently referred the same boy to the office for misbehavior. Although the boy (I’ll call him Billy)…
I was listening to a fascinating show by Pat Flynn, blogger and podcaster who was interviewing Bryan Kelly from What The Speak on the neuroscience behind great presentations. As I thought about the research Kelly had done on what makes…
This has been a busy summer of hiring new teammates and preparing for the school year to come. In one of our recent interviews, I was asked to give some feedback on some of the responsiblity areas in our office…
Another hat a principal must sometimes wear is that of the advocate. I am currently visiting Washington D.C. on the part of the National Association of Secondary Principals as the state coordinator for Oklahoma. But really I am here for…
Sometimes I look back at my days in school, and I am amazed that I ended up becoming a teacher and principal. During eighth grade, my Language Arts teacher, Ms. Owen, told me she wanted to make a deal with…
This week I have spent a lot of time with to-do lists as well as pulling together with my team members to coordinate important end-of-school-year activities. If you are leading a school, organization, or a team, you know the challenges…
: Play in new window | DownloadJust a few days ago, we celebrated graduation. The next day we wrapped up with professional development and teacher check-out. When I arrived home that night, I felt both exhausted and exhilarated. It was…
The following is an interview between Rachel Skerritt and me. Rachel is the Principal of Eastern Senior High School, a D.C. Public School. She was also the Principal Ambassador Fellow for the U.S. Department of Education. My goal in posting…
Our teachers have been preparing our students all year for the testing window we are now in. Many of those strategies included best practices like bench-mark testing, curriculum mapping, or introducing literacy standards across all subject areas–to name a few.…
This is a guest post by Justin Baeder, Director of The Principal Center. He writes about productivity for school leaders at Eduleadership.org. We all want to improve student learning in our schools. We want to achieve better results, create better…
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege to participate in a ten day tour of four cities in China. On one leg of the trip, I sat by a woman who was fluent in English and on her…
Last Saturday I drove my daughter to the local lake dam spillway to meet her teammates for a weekend track workout. After twenty minutes of warm-up running on the grassy path to the spillway and back, they lined up for…
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of hearing Mitchell Curry and his school leadership team present a workshop on how their school became recognized by the National Association of Secondary Principals as a “Breakthrough School”. Mitchell Curry is Principal…
A few years ago, I was talking to a teacher about a student she had volunteered to mentor. The young lady had had a difficult past, and the teacher had confided in me that some of their meetings had been…
This past February, I had the pleasure of hearing Annette Breaux present at the NASSP Ignite Conference. She is by far one of the most engaging, entertaining, and practical education speakers I have heard. She is also an avid writer…
I was talking to an assistant principal friend from a neighboring district who was telling me some funny stories from her middle school experience. She said her own mom and dad like to ask her to tell stories from school.…
Lately, a lot of controversy has arisen over the implementation of Common Core standards in public schools. A recent op-ed by George Will, and a resolution by the Oklahoma Republican Party calling for the end of Common Core demonstrate what…
The other day, I sat in a conversation with a student and a DHS worker who had come to take her into custody. She was no longer able to stay at her host home and would be moving back to…
One of my favorite college education professors would often start class with a provoking question. As we would grapple with how to answer and/or support our positions, he would stand there with his large hands lifted in the air, his…
Recently, I was inspired by the story of Diana Nyad, who made it a personal goal to swim from Cuba to Florida and did so at the age of 64. Her 100-mile feat came with many unsuccessful previous attempts, the…
Recently, I was asked to speak to a group of teachers who are interested in becoming school principals. My task was to summarize some of the principal’s roles and responsibilities. If you are a principal, I am sure you could…
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my son’s battle and recovery from an infectious disease known as Kawasaki. I am happy to report he is back in school and is happy and energetic. He has made a great…
The following is a Q & A between Carol Dweck and me. Carol is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. For many years, she has been doing research on how…
The following is a Q & A between Daniel Wong and me. Daniel Wong is the author of The Happy Student: 5 Steps to Academic Fulfillment and Success. He works with students, educators and parents in the areas of coaching,…
Tobias, a 10 year-old Oklahoma boy, wrote a letter to a local TV station because he had a dream for his 11 year old brother who has Cerebral Palsy. He asked if they could spread the word that he wanted…
The following is a Q & A between James Johnston and me. James Johnston is the Principal of Alice Ott Middle School and the 2013 Oregon Middle School Principal of the Year. My goal in posting interviews with successful leaders…
This year, my two youngest children started walking to and from school. On the first day, they were excited to tell us about their favorite crossing guard: Mr. Charlie, a grandfatherly man who stops each child to introduce himself. He…
The following is a Q & A between Sandra Clement and me. Dr. Sandra Clement is the 2013 Texas Middle School Principal of the Year. I am thrilled she agreed to share her insights on school leadership with us. My…
I heard a great interview with motivational speaker/author Jon Gordon recently where he was asked: What should you do if you find yourself unmotivated to face a day’s work? He responded by saying: You should plant yourself right where you…
The following is a Q & A exchange between James Holifield and me. James “Jim” Holifield is the principal at New Prairie Middle School in New Carlisle, Indiana. As the Indiana Middle School Principal of the Year, he represented his…
Whether for you are leading a team of individuals, or you are a team member who wants to more effective, it is important for everyone to know his or her role. Sometimes our greatest loss of time happens when we…
One of my favorite books to recommend to new teachers is Harry Wong’s First Days of School. In it, he outlines the essentials for establishing, organizing, and implementing good routines and procedures for students. I call it “teaching with both…
A few months ago I was planning to attend a principal’s meeting near the state capital. Since I was going alone, I asked a principal friend from a neighboring district if we could ride together. Little did I know how…
I recently finished listening to the unabridged audio-version of Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit. A biography about a famous racehorse, the story also centers on the lives of three men whom Seabiscuit involves in a network of drama, suspense, defeat, and triumph.…
He met a teacher, and it changed everything. Jim Wingo was fresh out of high school when he started working at the local butcher shop. But his high school agriculture teacher, John Krivokapish, had other plans for him. When he…
School discipline is often a hotly debated topic of discussion. If viewed simply as punishment, it is often ineffective in changing behavior. But if viewed as a way to measure, check, and coach, the results are often more positive. Toward…
We just finished filling a tenth teaching position at my school for next year. As hard as it is to work through the hiring process, nothing is more important to the success of school than finding quality educators. Although I…