Category Leadership

The Power of Gratitude (Who Is Packing Your Parachute?)

Last week I found a handwritten card in my box at school. It was from a student who will be a senior this coming school year. In the note, she was telling me thank you for the ways we had…

Interview with Deborah Gist

The following is an interview between Deborah Gist and me. Deborah A. Gist is the Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools. Previously, she was Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. Before coming to Rhode Island, Deborah served as the…

Choose To Run The Race Anyway

This past weekend, our oldest daughter, Emily, had signed up to run her first 5k with her younger sister who ended up unable to run it with her. When I drove Emily to the race downtown, I could tell she…

The Importance of Public Relations: 4 Tips

I know a lot of people who love Chick-fil-A because of the quality of their food and service. If you’ve eaten there, you know how friendly they are to customers, you’ve seen the fresh flowers on the tables, and you…

Transformative Principal Interview, Part 2

Even with the rewarding moments of of being educators, I’m not sure I can imagine an occupation (unless it’s customer service reps or pastoring) that involves the inevitability of dealing with difficult situations or people. In Part 2 of my…

5 Tips On Preparing For Your Next Launch

I’ve never been on a cruise ship, but I have lots of friends who tell me you couldn’t find a better vacation choice. Although I’d love to try one, I’ll have to take their word for it. With my four…

Honoring a Hero At This Year’s Graduation

This week is graduation at my school. Our band will play Pomp And Circumstance, our graduates will line their way into their seats, and thousands of family and friends will fill our activity center for the special event. But one…

Need Some Inspiration?

: Play in new window | DownloadAs we wrap up the last days of our school year, it helps me to keep things in perspective so I wanted to share the following video clip of one of my favorite educators,…

Starting Next School Year Strong

We’re a month away from the end of school (sorry friends not in North America). When I’m asked if I am excited for the end of the school year, I usually say, “Yes!” But the truth is that I don’t…

Principal Matters–The Book!

It’s finally here! I am thrilled to share this collection of insights, motivation, and practical ideas for school leaders. Principal Matters is the advice I would share with anyone who wants to grow as a school leader. School leaders are…

7 Communication To-Do’s For Managing Student Discipline

If you had asked me to describe my greatest challenges during my first years as a school administrator, I would have quickly said managing student discipline. When I talk to prospective principals, I sometimes ask them to think back to…

The Power of “Entanglement”: Implications For School Leaders

Recently I was listening to a January 29, 2015 episode of Invisibilia, a podcast about the invisible forces that affect us without us being aware. Specifically, the reporters narrating this episode were talking about a phenomenon known as “entanglement.” They…

30 Questions From Principal Interviews (Plus More)

A few weeks ago, some fellow administrators and I presented to an awesome group of teachers who are preparing to become admins. A great follow-up question was: “What kinds of questions can I expect in an interview for assistant principal…

The Power of Strong Teachers

Yesterday I participated in a presentation to a group of teachers who are aspiring to become principals. We talked about what it means to transition from the classroom to administration, the roles of school leadership, and the to-do’s of interviewing…

Why Do You Lead? 3 Responses To Consider

A few nights ago as I let the dog out one last time, I noticed an eery glow in the night sky. A blanket of fresh snow was covering our neighborhood, and the all-encompassing-white was casting a hazy light on…

Encouraging A Culture Of Acceptance

Last Friday our basketball teams played at home. Unfortunately, we lost both varsity games. But the night was not a loss. At half time, our athletic directors introduced a team of student athletes who had returned with medals from their…

What is Motivation By Wonder? How It Changes The Way You Work

A friend who is also a reader asked me the other day to explain to him what I meant by being motivated by wonder. “Motivation by purpose, I understand,” he said. “But motivation by ‘wonder’? Can you tell me…

3 Heads Up On School Testing And ESEA

Education news is a buzz with talk of the federal government taking up the issue of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The issue will continue to be a hot one over the months to come, so here…

Learning To Recognize The Wonderful

Our high school choir students gave us a beautiful Christmas present this past week when they performed the musical It’s A Wonderful Life. I’ve loved the movie version since I was kid, and seeing the story put to music as…

4 Lessons Learned From Daring Greatly

Last weekend, our high school football team came home with a silver instead of gold trophy from their state championship contest. Their experience reminded me of this quote: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points…

Going For Gold: An Essential Ingredient

Our high school football team is headed for the state championship game this coming weekend. (You can see their championship game promo here.) Two years ago when these senior players were sophomores, their team won no games. It was a…

A Reason To Be Thankful

Last Friday night, our school hosted a second-round football playoff game. Just days before, the opposing team’s community of Guthrie, Oklahoma had suffered a devastating fire at an apartment complex that destroyed the homes of several students and resulted in…

What Can We Accomplish Together?

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…

The Hard Realities of School

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…

The Other Side Of The Moon: 3 Tips For Handling Misunderstanding

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…

Attention Please, I Have An Announcement To Make

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.…

Why Invest In Growing Leaders? 7 Free Resources

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…

Learning From Challenges

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…

Building Positive School Culture: 20 Ideas From Principals

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…

Avoiding Pitfalls: 3 Leadership Tips From Good to Great

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…

Are You Growing? 5 Questions To Ask Yourself

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…

Reality Check: 4 Suggestions For Observing Teachers

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…

4 Reminders For A New School Year

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…

3 Leadership Takeaways From A Relay Team

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…

6 Ways To Avoid Making The Wrong Calls

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;…

Keeping The Heart Of An Educator

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)…

6 Basketball Tips For School Leadership

I am not a basketball coach, and I don’t pretend to be one on TV either. Over the years, however, I have watched a lot of games, and sometimes I’ll still shoot baskets with my kids until my legs give…

Learning To Predict School Climate

The other day my elbow was aching. I have a scar there from when I broke it falling from a horse almost twenty years ago. When it aches, I can usually be certain the weather will turn stormy. And it…

5 Essential Ingredients For Learning (SPLAT)

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…

Key Responsibility Areas Part Two

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…

Remembering Grace: Advocacy In Education

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…

5 Lessons I Learned As a Student

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…

7 Reasons Why Documentation Is Still A Good Leadership Tool

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…

5 Lessons From My First Year As Site Principal

: 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…

Interview With Rachel Skerritt

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…

Guest Post: Pivotal Leadership

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 Conversation About K-12 Schools

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…

3 End-of-the-School-Year Reminders

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…

Interview with Mitchell Curry

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…