4 Easy Steps to Become a Smarter Leader

When we go on trips and vacations, we constantly need directions to find a store or restaurant.  We simply fire up an app to help us find the destination.  When we want to see a menu before we go to a restaurant, we go to the restaurants website and look at their menu.  When we want to buy clothes but don’t want to go to the store, we access our favorite stores app or website and purchase the clothes.  We use technology everyday (almost every hour) to find almost all of our information.  It literally has become almost too easy to get information.

Let’s admit it, not everyone is connected with technology.  Even those who are not connected can still get information in a variety of ways to help themselves get better.  We all have to find a way to become more knowledgeable; it’s the society in which we live.  Gathering information and knowledge allows us to educate ourselves and share it with others.  Some are better at it than others.  The ones who are really good at educating themselves do it for a variety of reasons, but ultimately, they are dedicated lifelong learners to help others and their organization. 

Leaders who don’t consistently educate themselves don’t learn for a variety of reasons too.  Many times, their reasons consist of many excuses.  Excuses hurt a number of people besides the leader.

So where do those leaders go to eliminate their excuses?  I believe following the principles below can eliminate the need for excuses while making each leader smarter and helping their organizations:

Connect

As leaders, we need to focus on connecting with people.  It really is up to us on how we are going to connect.  I know for myself, I find it easier to utilize the great resources on the Internet and social media to help me grow as a leader.  Connecting with others who are also using social media to grow and enrich lives inspires me to continue to search for knowledge.  Building relationships with other leaders at conferences and workshops also helps fuel the passion to get better.  Building connections and networking with others allows us to find out what others are thinking and gives us feedback for our own learning.

Collaborate

As you continue to connect with leaders and staff, there is nothing wrong with asking for help.  Bouncing ideas off of your connected colleagues creates a clearer vision.  Even asking for an opinion from someone who is not related to your organization can produce positive results.  As Jim Brett, president of West Elm a home-furnishings retailer, states, “You just have to believe good ideas can come from anywhere.  Don’t stick to people who think like you; creative conversations are not meant to be lovefests. Engage with people with aren’t afraid to challenge your thought process or criticize your ideas.”  Working with others and sharing ideas is powerful for leaders.  Connecting and collaborating will make you better each time you take advantage of both.

Confidence

When you have knowledge, you have confidence to do things differently.  When a leader has confidence, the organization is simply better.  The confidence flows to others.  What staff member doesn’t want to follow a confident leader?  When confidence is knowledge-based, it will help an organization even when things aren’t going well.  Confidence helps grit shine.  Every leader will have confidence when he or she knows how and where to get information to help their knowledge grow.  This confidence allows our creative juices to flow.

Create

It is imperative as a leader to create and innovate to make a difference in an organization.  Creating will help a leader’s drive and passion.  When we create anything, it fuels our search for data so we can sustain success.   When we continue to want to have the best product and organization, we strive to be our best.  A continued push to acquire knowledge only benefits a leader’s ability to be creative and innovative. 

As leaders, we have to want to get better.  We have to want to succeed.  We have to want to grow and become smarter. 

The opportunity to get better for every leader is right there in front of us.  Don’t wait for the right time.  Do it now! 

Use your daily opportunities to connect, collaborate, build confidence, and be creative and innovative to fuel your growth as a leader.   The next time you go to a website to peruse a menu, find what you want to eat and find the time to become better as a leader.  With the available resources, we know how easy it is to do.

The 5 Most Effective Tactics to Implement Technology

How many times have you thought about building something after seeing a video or picture of it on a social media site?  I know for me it is almost a daily occurrence.  I see someone build a table and I say to myself, “I can do that.”  Watching the video or seeing the picture allows you to visualize yourself building the product and using it one day down the road.  Most of the time, after you get started, you realize it’s more difficult than it looked on social media. There are more the details that are necessary.  You’re lack of experience begins to play a role.  There was planning that wasn’t captured in the video and/or picture that is vital for success.  Then it hits you, “I think I’m in over my head.”

While having lunch with some colleagues recently, we were discussing the integration of technology in schools.  It seems many districts today are purchasing technology and worrying about planning on how to use it after they have the technology.  The focus needs to be the other way around.  You can’t go into it like I did when I thought I could build the table as mentioned above.  There are 5 factors that must be present to lead technology integration in an organization:

• Have a Plan Not Centered on Technology

This may sound counterproductive.  Your plan can include the use of technology, but it needs to be focused on the broader scope of the organization.  Your use of technology should be a road on your overall journey.  The technology is just a tool, it shouldn’t be your organization’s vision.

• Open Discussions About Putting the Proper Infrastructure in Place

After the district’s or building’s vision is established and there is a need for technology to be a part of it, make sure the appropriate parties (technology department, members of the faculty, district administrators, students, community members) provide input regarding what infrastructure is actually needed.  The technology will not be a resource for students and staff if they do not have the capabilities to use it effectively.

• Provide Support for the Technology

The end user needs to be able to use the tool.  If they can’t use the tools, you will not grow.  In schools, the staff needs to be given professional development so they are confident using the resource with students.  If you expect staff members to use resources for to assist in student growth, you need to provide them with the necessary training so they can determine if using the resources will bolster their instruction.

• Communicate Expectations

The leader of the organization needs to always remember: do not let the technology guide the learning, let the learning guide the technology resources to use.  That statement needs to be embedded in the culture of the district and/or building.  Remember, if the overall vision for your organization is growth, there are many different resources staff members can use to obtain growth.  If the technology you are implementing happens to be a part of it, so be it.  If it doesn’t, but there is still growth, that is good too.  The staff, students, and community need to recognize the focus is on growth and how we get there (even if we have shiny tools to help us) is not the overall vision of our district and/or building.

• Be a Leader

In schools, do not let the tool and/or resource run the building, let learning run the building.  Culture starts with the district and building leadership.  The leadership needs to focus on the overall goal, communicate to the staff the expectations for the goals, and model how to reach the goal for the staff and students.  If you are implementing a technology resource in your district or building, build a foundation for the technology to be implementing and used successfully.  Create and sustain a culture where change and failure are welcomed.  This type of culture will help you as a leader implement new initiatives down the road and help staff with their transition.

Implementing technology in an organization is like anything else: you need to have a need and have a plan.  Don’t do it just to say you did it.  Focus on the vision and mission of the organization and then decide if implementing technology tools is what you need to reach your goals.

How to Use Talent To Stand Out

As a high school administrator, I like to reflect on my experiences on what I witnessed during the week and over the weekend.   A couple of weeks ago I was able to see my students accomplish and perform in ways that words cannot explain.  Watching students sing, perform, compete and reach goals fills any administrator with pride.  Afterwards, what really gets you thinking and wondering about the talent you just witnessed is, “How are these kids so successful at what they do?” 

We think the same way outside of education.  When we see people who are really good in different areas, we are amazed.  Once we see the talent at hand, we eventually fall back to the question above.  One could mention many factors that help produce a product of success.  I believe the factors that lead to success are areas that fall under the umbrella of good, old-fashioned talent.

I believe there are 5 factors to making sure the talent you posses allows you to stand out:

1.  Dedication

If you don’t grind or want it bad enough, you won’t achieve it.  If you don’t dedicate yourself to the end goal of what you want, you will not achieve your goal.  It may sound elementary, but it really is that simple.  People who have talent and don’t let it go to waste are dedicated to their craft.

2. “We Talkin’ About Practice?”

Contrary to what Allen Iverson says, practice is vital if you are going to let your talent shine.  If you don’t put the time in, don’t expect much in return.  That goes for a lot of things in life.  The most talented people are always the ones who work the hardest.

3. Use Your Support

It is important to be able to lean on others and pick others up when they need it.  Everyone that has talent will always tell you that they wouldn’t be where they are without the support of others.  Surround yourself with great people to get the greatest results.

4. Nothing Beats Passion

When you have talent, to get the most out of it, you have to love what you do and what you are a part of.  Talent alone will sometimes let you stand out for a little while, but it doesn’t keep you out in front of your competition.  If you’re not passionate, you will be just like everyone else.  If you use your passion and your talent, everyone else will have to catch you.

5. Expect Success

Bruce Lee had a famous quote, “If I tell you I’m good, you will say I’m boasting.  But if I tell you I’m not good, you know I’m lying.”  People with talent expect success.  They believe in themselves, they have an attitude about them.  When you mix talent with the four factors above, why wouldn’t someone expect success?

Many people are talented, but do they have what it takes to extend that talent to transform lives?  As an administrator, I get to see students who transform lives everyday.  Seeing students use their talent to stand out drives me as an educator to try to get better each day.   In my opinion, that’s the beauty of seeing and experiencing talent that is strengthened each day.  It makes us all strive for more.

Variety and Choice: The Spice of Life in Education

Variety in life is a good thing.  Variety and choice are a couple of things that make our country and this time in our lives great.  For some as adults, the different variety and choices that we have take time to get used to.  But for our students, this is the only life they know. 

Our students take advantage of variety and choice everyday.  The only problem is, in education, we don’t take advantage of that.  For years in our educational system, we have tried to avoid variety and limit the amount of choices for students and teachers.  Why? That’s for another blog post.  For now, the fact of the matter is as educators, we need to offer different opportunities for our teachers and students.

When I meet with teachers and discuss preparation, instruction, and assessment of students, one of the biggest opportunities for growth with educators is using assessment data and assessment choices.  As educators, it seems that it is ingrained in us to assess students the same way students have been assessed for years.  The mindset is, “It is has worked for this long so why change?”   That may have worked 10 to 15 years ago, but as stated above, our students and society have changed.  Our students need choice.  Whether it’s good or bad, our students expect choice.  Students have different needs, learning styles and abilities.  In education, we need to cultivate their desires for differentiation allowing them to demonstrate growth based on their styles.

Differentiating assessment choices may sound intimidating to many in education.  We are just not accustomed to doing it because it is not how we learned when we were in school.  The great thing is, by making subtle changes in the classroom and in our mindset, we can make differentiation a smoother process:

• Change your Instruction

Instruct differently.  Maybe not everyday and every lesson, but try some new approaches.  Changing your instructional mindset allows your assessment mindset to transition.  At that point, you're not taking a risk.  You’re simply changing your assessment based on a change of instruction.

• Increase Student Resources

The correct type, amount, and use of resources leads to more student creativity.  Allow students to use their resources and creativity to show what they know.

• Increase Student Choice

Students have good ideas.  Growing up in a society that offers so much choice and variety fuels creativity.  Ask students how they would like to be assessed.  Trust me, they will surprise you.

• Utilize Professional Resources

Ask others (outside of your classroom) for their opinion.  Allow them to share their creativity and ideas with you.  There are many different resources to use (blogs, social media, department meetings) to gain more knowledge about assessment choices. 

• Practice More   

Give students more opportunity to practice.  Use more formative and diagnostic assessments each day in class.  We can accumulate a great deal of data and use it quickly with the help of technology.  Analyzing data allows educators to identify student strengths and needs immediately so class time is used effectively and efficiently.

We need to change our mindset.  A great place to start is how we deliver instruction to our students.  Taking small steps to deliver and assess instruction in a different way will create learning opportunities for a number of students.  Let’s match our instruction and assessments with our students needs instead of matching them with our comfort level.  What do we have to lose?  Not as much as we have to gain.

The GPS in Education: Meaningful Measurable Objectives

Goals are an important part of life.   Without them, we often are just treading water.  As Earl Nightingale said, "People with goals succeed because they know where they're going."  There are many different examples in life where we can point to the importance of goals: athletics, behavior of children, academic success, business success and so on.  

Often during pre-conferences and observations, a discussion centering around the focus for student learning takes place.  In this discussion, we often recognize the importance of measurable objectives in daily lessons.  As educators, we need to establish goals for our students.  Creating goals gives our classes more structure and are easier for students to comprehend because they know what is expected.  Think of it as a GPS; we type in our destination, receive directions and we eventually end up where we need to go.  Our classrooms should look the same way.

There are 4 areas of focus for creating measurable objectives:

1. What is your goal for day, the week, the unit?
As stated above, all students need goals so they can be successful.  What do you want students to learn when they are in your class?  Establish a goal: it can simple (five parts of the design process or steps to create a brochure).  Each day there should be a goal.  It may be an extension of a previous lesson, but there should be a goal nonetheless.

2. What knowledge do you want the students to gain?
This is accomplished by creating learning targets or "I can…" statements that identify the learning level where students should end.  A good resource for determining the level of knowledge for students is Bloom's Taxonomy.  Some lessons or projects require different levels of learning for students ("Identify the five parts of the design process" compared to "Demonstrate the steps necessary to create a brochure").

3. Choose your words carefully
You have to know exactly what you need in #2 above in order to complete #3 correctly.  The learning level of students will depend on the correct verbiage used for the behavior at hand.  A great tool to use is an objective builder such as the one featured on this site.  It allows you to choose the correct term so your students know exactly what they need to do.

4. Make sure to add your destination
Students need to know how they are to demonstrate they have reached the end goal.  Its much like our GPS example above, if we don't put in the destination, the GPS won't guess where we are going for us.     Let students know if they need to illustrate they know what they are doing in an assessment, project, paper, lab or whatever the educator is looking for to show mastery.  Referring to one of the examples above, asking a student to demonstrate the necessary steps to create a brochure doesn't tell the student how they need to do this to show mastery.  Adding how you want the student to "Demonstrate the necessary steps to create a brochure by creating a brochure in MS Office" does.

Measurable objectives are a basic part of our daily lives.  We need them in education so our students have a path.  A goal without a plan is just a dream.  Help our students get from Point A to Point B and be successful by taking the time to create meaningful measurable objectives that give students and parents clarity.

5 Steps to Personalizing Professional Development without Technology

Teaching can be a lonely place.  As educators we need to do a better job of connecting with others especially fellow educators in our buildings and districts. 

Many educators and educational experts talk about educators connecting through social media.  I would agree with that.  Educators should connect through different tools and applications such as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and others.  But to grow as educators in our buildings and district, I believe peer-to-peer communication and interaction is most beneficial for overall growth of local educators and students in our communities.

Relationships, along with efficient and effective learning environments, are vital pieces in the foundation of outstanding schools.  As educators, we need to use the growth possibilities that exist in our own schools and districts.  The growth possibilities are created by the relationships with other educators in the buildings and district.  As educators, we eat with each other, work with each other, but do we really reflect and utilize each other’s practices and methods?  Do we take the time to go into other teachers’ classrooms and learn from them?  Do we gain knowledge from other educators’ instructional methods and provide them feedback on their methods? 

We need to make teaching a public act and open ourselves to learn from each other.  This is easier said than done due a number of reasons.  The most prominent is usually the lack of time educators have to instruct, plan, research, and develop professionally each year.  So how can we help educators grow from their peers?  Let’s look at five areas to focus on to find this growth:

Talk with other teachers

See what teachers in your building are doing.  Listen to what other teachers are doing.  Find out what you want to do in your classroom and who already does it well in your building.  Hosting a building or district EdCamp is an excellent way to do that.  There will be a variety of sessions on different methods and tools that will expand your instructional practices.

Make it a point to take the time

As mentioned above, we are all looking for more time.  Take time out of your day, whether it is during your lunch or conference period, to visit other classrooms.  Do it for no other reason than helping students.  Work with your department team to create a schedule where each of you may be able to visit other educators and learn something new from them.  Learn from observation and don’t leave any excuses on the table.  If you want to get better, make it happen!

Go cross curricular

Stretch yourself and visit classrooms outside of your department.  Observe what the educator and students accomplish and visualize how you will use the same thing or something similar in your classes.  Build partnerships with other teachers for the greater good of the building.  Again, EdCamps are a great way to start leanring from others in your building.

Share your experiences

Let other educators know what you experienced.  Share it in a building email, staff meeting, department meetings, or even in the hallways.  Sharing our experiences helps the overall growth of the building and again allows others to visualize.

Change the culture

As more and educators take the time to learn from other educators in the class setting, the professional development mindset of the building will change.   Make it a part of the vision of the building and model for others.  As more teachers begin to visit other classes, trust begins to play a larger role around the building and fosters growth for all.

Teaching can be a lonely place if you don’t allow your teaching and others teaching to become an observation of work.  Work with other educators to share practices and methods to help our students grow by utilizing all of the educators in the building, not just the ones they have each period.