Tag school leadership

3 Lessons In Managing Under Pressure

When I was in high school and college, my brothers and I worked part-time diving for mussell shells in the Kentucky Lake area. We would sell them by the pound at local markets, and those shells would in turn be…

10 Digital Tools For Enhancing Your Communication

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a fellow administrator in Sydney, Australia, asking for permission to re-publish a recent blog post for their executive newsletter. Although he and I are literally sitting on opposite sides of the…

Planning Ahead For What Matters: 7 Tips For Time Management

One day I was standing outside my classroom during a passing period when I suddenly had one of those Jedi-moments that teachers have–when I could tell something was about to happen. I could just feel a change in the hallway…

Don’t Underestimate Your Influence

I grew up in West Tennessee where my parents raised the six of us on a small farm in the middle of nowhere. Gravel roads, winding creeks, swampy bottoms, large fields, and rambling woods were my playgrounds. We were so…

10 Steps For Publishing Weekly Student Newsletters

For the past two school years, I have put together a collection of updates, photos, highlights, and announcements that I email to parents in a weekly newsletter. As positive as this outreach has been, this year I decided to reach…

3 C’s For Navigating A New School Year

This summer I had the privilege of traveling to Washington, D.C. with my superintendent. At our district’s opening meeting with staff, he told a story about one morning when we decided to paddle a kayak on the Potomac near Roosevelt…

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…

Take Time To Recharge Your Batteries

Last week I heard Dr. Adam Saenz speak at Oklahoma’s Engage Conference when he said, “Only when you find satisfaction in the totality of life can you really enjoy your calling.” School leadership is not just about the to-do’s of…

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…

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,…

Thank You For Being Givers

Yesterday I was privileged to hear one our senior boys do a presentation at a neighboring school. Jesse Haynes is a recently published author of young adult fiction. He was talking to groups of middle school students about his experience…

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…

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…

10 Tips For Interviewing For An Education Opening

As hard as it is to work through the hiring process, nothing is more important to the success of school than finding quality educators. And if you are looking for a new position, it is essential to know how to…

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…

Jazzing Up Announcements: 5 Steps To Publishing a Powtoon

: Play in new window | DownloadOur school has a large screen in the commons area where we keep a slideshow going of our latest school announcements. I know some great programs exist for creating cool slides, but I have…

Research Supports Positive Engagement: 5 Ways To Improve Yours

When I was teacher, I would often hear my students talk about their other instructors. It didn’t take long to discover who were the superstars. They were the ones whose lessons were both rigorous and engaging–the ones who greeted students…

Making Good Memories–For Yourself And Others

Many of my childhood Christmas memories include sharing big dinners at Grandma’s, story-telling with family members, playing on the frozen pond with siblings and cousins, or just singing carols together. In reality, not everyone has nostalgic memories this time of…

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.…

Let’s Celebrate Our Profession

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…

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…

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 Tips For Setting Up School Email Campaigns

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…

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 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…

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…