Innovative, Imaginative and Realistic ideas for school leaders.
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 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…
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…
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 responsibility areas in our office…
I’m sitting on a airplane above Dallas. It’s sunset and below in the misty sea of landscape, I can see patches of brown fields and green swaths of trees. Occasionally, I catch the glint of lights from buildings. In the…
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…