Keep Calm and Blog On

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

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How many Keep Calm and… posters, pictures, and memes have you seen in the last year? I can’t even begin to count how many I see on Pinterest and Instagram on a daily basis. However, for the first year or so that Keep Calm signs seemed to flood my Social Media screens, I had no idea where it came from. I researched the history, reading a number of resources including this.

I knew the original poster was from English during World War II, but I just recently learned that the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was the third in the series and was never actually used. The originals were found many years later (60!) at an auction. After multiple reproductions of the original gained popularity, it was only a matter of time before modern techies took the idea and morphed it into something funny and annoying and trivial and all over the Internet.

They even have a Keep Calm generator where you can create your own phrase and then purchase items with the phrase printed on them:

Keep Caml

Keep Calm and Blog On

If I was a teacher in a classroom today, I would challenge my students to come up with creative Keep Calm sayings based on the content we were studying (after learning the origin of the idea!).  Then I would see how they could share their creations with the world as part of a movement to have an impact.

But since I don’t have the opportunity, I will just Keep Calm and Blog On.

 

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SAQ’s

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

SAQ’s = Should Ask Questions (great idea from this post)

By now we all know that during most job interviews, the interviewee has the opportunity to ask questions of the person/panel/organization. It is important to not only ask at least one question, but to prepare your question(s) based on the job for which you are interviewing. I offer the list below as a starting point to consider, the SAQ’s an interviewee should ask in an educational interview:

  • How do employees treat one another here (in this school/ office/ department/ district)?
  • How might I see your organization’s vision come to life if I walked into a classroom/ meeting/ event?
  • In what ways is your organization innovative?
  • How do people communicate within your organization?
  • What would you describe as the greatest strengths of the organization?
  • What would you describe as the greatest area ready for growth within the organization?
  • How is technology used for work efficiency within this organization?
  • What would you like me to know about the organization that I can’t learn by visiting your website?
  • Is this position a new job or is it being vacated?
  • If vacated, why is the previous person leaving this job?
  • Why should I want to work here?
  • How do you see this job evolving in the next 5 years?

What other SAQ’s would you add to this list? 

See here for ways to stand out in an interview and here on some interview advice!

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Thank you for being a… teacher

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

Anyone else humming “The Golden Girls” theme song “Thank you for being a friend”?

May is the time when we celebrate the hard work and dedication of teachers. Teacher Appreciation Week is a small drop in the vast, complicated ocean that is teaching. But having a specific day or week called out helps us remember to honor this incredible profession.

In 2015 I celebrated The Art of Teaching during Teacher Appreciation Week. In that post I remembered some great learning experiences I had, thanks to my own teachers. Teachers still rock!

This year I just want to thank each and every teacher – the teachers I’ve had, the teachers I’ve known and worked with, the teachers I connect with through Social Media or conferences, and all the millions of teachers I’ve never met.

Teaching is hard. It is complicated, challenging, and rewarding work. People outside of education spend a lot of time judging teaching. But only those of us who have stood in a classroom full of students understand the reality. Teaching is powerful. Teaching is learning every day. Teaching is creativity as well.

In the last 3 months I’ve visited 180 classrooms in my district. I would like to thank these teachers for:

  • creating risk-taking environments for students.
  • welcoming colleagues into their classrooms.
  • wanting and appreciating feedback on their work.
  • creating labs and hands-on experiences that engaged students through multiple modalities.
  • integrating technology into lessons that asked students to think critically.
  • providing authentic, rich texts for students to read and discuss.
  • making learning meaningful for students.
  • framing lessons around essential questions that lead to deep inquiry.
  • trying out Twitter for the first time.
  • being willing to plan an Edcamp.
  • being awesome every day!

THANK YOU TEACHERS!

I hope that during this Teacher Appreciation Week  you take time to thank a teacher.

#TeachersRock

 

 

 

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Mentoring

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

I have written many posts on coaching.  I was a literacy coach in a previous position.  Most recently I left a position as a director who oversaw the instructional coaches at each of our district school sites.  I am passionate about coaching and my beliefs related to instructional coaching.  But today I’m transitioning into some reflections on mentoring.

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In my new district, we are recreating a new teacher induction and support program (formerly known as BTSA here in California).  The new induction standards call out the role of mentor (formerly know as a Support Provider under BTSA), so that is the term we are using.

According to dictionary.com a mentor is

a wise and trusted counselor or teacher

The same resource has 11 different definitions of a coach, but none of them relate to the support of teachers.  The two closest definitions, that we in education have hijacked, are:

a person who trains an athlete or team of athletes;

a person who instructs an actor or a singer

As I reflect on those definitions, I am struck by the differences and the possible ambiguity when this role impacts so many teachers and students.  Luckily, I have worked in systems that clearly defined the terms we used, so that everyone knew what we meant by “literacy coach” or “academic coach”.  My colleague who will oversee the new induction program has also worked with a committee of teachers and administrators to create a definition of our new “mentor” expectations.  Our expectations for mentors are actually very similar to that of the coaches I’ve worked with in the past.  Our mentors will be asked to teach model/ demo lessons, observe classroom instruction, and provide feedback on lessons.

We are tapping into the knowledge, experience, and expertise of our veteran teachers to serve as mentors to our newest colleagues who will just be entering the teaching profession.  Most importantly, we hope to create an experience where new teachers feel supported and welcomed, and therefore more likely to remain in the professional longer than the average (where teacher turnover rates are sad and shocking).

Some of my most influential learnings as a teacher and a leader have come with support from my mentors.  There are a few leaders who have served, and continue to serve, as my mentor throughout my career and I know that I am a better educator, a better leader, because of their wise and trusted counsel and support.

  • Does your school or district have coaches or mentors?
  • How is the role defined?
  • Have you had a valuable coach or mentor in your career?

*I’m participating in the #educoach blogging challenge and look forward to continuing the conversation with colleagues through comments, Voxer, and Twitter!

 

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April Reading Update

Posted on April 30, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

Here are the reading experiences I had this month.

  1. Field of Prey by John Sandford – Before I left for a recent vacation I downloaded this book by one of my favorite mystery writers.  The books I read in March were not among my favorites and I wanted to experience some fun pleasure reading while soaking up the rays on the beaches in Hawaii.  Sanford’s Prey books never disappoint- this was another interesting mystery that I enjoyed!
  2. The Affair by Lee Child – Child’s Jack Reacher series is one of my favorites.  Every time I start another book I feel like I’m visiting with an old friend, albeit a violent, loner friend, but still.  This was one of favorites in the series because it flashed back to tell the story of how Reacher became the man we know him as in the current books.  I love when an author can flash back to shed new light on a familiar character.
  3. Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan – This was a random deal on Barnes & Noble in the mystery Nook section.  It was actually two short stories in one book.  I enjoyed getting to know female private investigators, especially since the two books I read before it had male main characters.  It was an okay storyline and I am willing to check out another in the series to see if I really like the characters and the style of writing.
  4. Explore Like A  Pirate: Gamification and Game-Inspired Course Design to Engage, Enrich, and Elevate Your Learners by Michael Matera – This is another great book published by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.  I knew practically nothing about gamification before reading this.  Now I feel like I can have an educated conversation about it (and I plan to, regarding district professional growth opportunities!).
  5. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling- This is another audiobook I enjoyed in the genre of celebrity autobiographies! While I don’t love her current show, I appreciate her wit and her love of romantic comedies.
  6. A Wanted Man by Lee Child – This was not one of my favorite Reacher books, but I still enjoyed the overall experience and the twists and turns.
  7. Deep Down by Lee Child- This was a short story based on Jack Reacher.  It was a quick read and different from the normal books because of the lack of violence and suspense.
  8. Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom by Kristin Souers with Pete Hall – I wish I had read this book when I was a teacher or a principal!  It took me years of experience working in schools full of students who had experience a wide range of trauma to understand how to work best to support my students.  As a principal, I gave up self-care and became so unhealthy, which only added to my stress while dealing with a trauma-filled school.  This is a great read for any educator!  One line that resonated with me was, “forever changed, not forever damaged,” and is so important to remember as we work with students who have had traumatic experiences.
  9. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – One of my favorite books as a child, when I reread it this month I realized I have no idea why I enjoyed it as a child!  This was such an odd experience for me, because I didn’t love it and couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why my younger self loved this particular story.  As a young reader I did not enjoy SciFi and the YA dystopian genre did not exist back then.  It made me sad to finish this book without loving it and thereby changing my opinion of a once-beloved favorite.

This brings my 2016 total to 30.

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Thinking in Numbers

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

I began this blog back in 2012.  Since then I have written 230 posts.

For Question Week, I wrote one blog post in questions.

I have had two focus words: mindfulness and rejuvenate.

My blog is filled with 26 posts about reflection, in the Abecedary.

I have an Evernote file with at least 10 blog post ideas going at any given point in time.

When I do a search for the word “coaching” on this blog, there are 42 posts flagged.

I write 1-3 blog posts a week, usually.

Each morning I read anywhere from 3-15 blogs.

When I publish a post, my 2,589 Twitter followers see it (if they catch it fly by in their timeline!).

After returning from an 8 day vacation, I had too many emails to count, over 30 Voxer messages in the chats I am a member of, 3 loads of laundry to do, and 3 days to relax before returning to work.

What numbers make up your life right now?

numbers

 

After starting this post, I read this great slice in numbers!

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Rejuvenate Update #2

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

Rejuvenate is my focus word for 2016.  I try to spend time weekly building or maintaing a habit around my word and then reflecting on my progress.  Since my update in February, I created my beautiful question to go along with my word of the year: What opportunities am I creating for rejuvenation? Then I had the best opportunity for rejuvenation possible – an 8 day vacation in Hawaii!

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View of Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head

Other opportunities I created to help rejuvenate over the last two months include:

  • Restorative yoga & breathing exercises
  • Essential oils used daily at home and in my office
  • Instagram- I choose to fill my feed with happy pictures that keep me smiling!
  • New coloring books for continued mindfulness
  • Learning about Auyredic properties and how to continue to use food and lifestyle to rejuvenate
  • Enjoying every sunset possible

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Yoga on the beach in Hawaii

 

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I love a sunset over water! 

 

What is your word of 2016?  How is it helping you?

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March Reading Update

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

This year I’m sharing the experiences I have reading.  This month I reached my #read16in16 goal, but there are plenty more books on my to-be-read list!

 

  1. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert -This book was on so many people’s end-of-2015 list of books they read and loved that I had to add it to my must read list. I’m so glad I did because I enjoyed reading it!  It was an easy read with multiple reminders to enjoy your creativity every day.  For me, that is writing and I am inspired to do that more, thanks to this book! I expanded on my thoughts in this post Find Your Big Magic specifically about the inspiration from this book.                 Big Magic
  2. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini – I loved listening to this audio book. My friend and I have always been fascinated by the secrets behind Scientology, and this book spills the beans on that and more!  I appreciated Remini’s honesty about how she loved her time in Scientology and the struggles to leave it and then accept her life without it.  Her life is nothing like I would have imagined, which reminds me not to judge a book by its cover, nor a celebrity by their tabloid persona.                                                                                     aclk.jpg
  3. Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz -This was an audio book I downloaded a long time ago, and just got around to listening to it this week.  I knew nothing about the story, so it was a pleasant surprise to listen, truly not knowing anything about the plot.  I enjoyed getting to know the flawed characters and the way the author connected to real-life events (from the 80’s). This is a sweet YA story!               search
  4. Eat – Taste – Heal by Thomas Yarema, Daniel Rhoda, Chef Johnny Brannigan –    This was recommended by my acupuncturist, as we continue to work with what my body needs to heal, to rejuvenate.  The information resonated with me, so reading this made a lot of sense to me at this point in my time.    I’m making an effort to focus on food to be the most healing for my body type as described in the book.                                     imgres
  5. Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris –   I have always loved NPH, from his days as Doogie Howser, M.D., to Barney on “How I Met Your Mother” to everything in between.  I truly believe he and I could be good friends if we ever met IRL. 😉  I listened to his book, which was adapted from the written version.  The written version is truly written as a choose-your-own adventure style.  Obviously that is harder to capture in an audio book, but the adaptations were cute.   I LOVE listening the real celebrities reading their own books- it truly brings the story to live for me.  This was no exception.  It was a quick, fun read about my future BFF!                    nph book
  6. City of Beasts by Isabel Allende – I read books by Allende in Spanish while in college.  I never knew she wrote YA books and recently discovered this in a used book store.  I actually held a physical book in my hands to read this (rare these days!).  This was not a quick-paced adventure, but a long, slow-moving story told in many details.  I liked, but did not love the experience of reading this.  What I did enjoy was the location (the Amazon), especially after hearing all about the Amazon from Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic.                                                                                                                     search-1
  7. Better Conversations: Coaching Ourselves and Each Other To Be More Credible, Caring, and Connected by Jim Knight – I began reading this book as part of a monthly book study on the #educoach chat.  While I was familiar with Jim Knight’s work around coaching, I hadn’t read one of his books in entirety.  I really enjoyed this book at this point in my life.  He provides concrete steps to help us all become better conversationalists by enhancing our listening and communicating skills.  He also encourages us to videotape ourselves and analyze our conversation through a variety of lenses; that is next on my to-do list!                                                                                aclk

 

Earlier 2016 Updates:

January

February

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Reflections on the value of a PLN

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

My first year of teaching I was blessed to work in a middle school where we worked on true interdisciplinary teams.  I was the Spanish and Civics teacher on the team and my colleagues taught Math, Science, and English; we all shared the same group of students and had a common prep period.  My Apollo team colleagues not only supported me, the brand new teacher straight out of college, but they also taught me the value of a Professional Learning Network (PLN).  We used our common prep period to collaborate on a wide variety of issues, but this was years before I was introduce to the DuFours’ work around Professional Learning Communities (PLC). At the time, my naive 21-year-old self had no idea how lucky she was to have a built in PLC handed to her during her first year of teaching.

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Since that time, my PLN has evolved from the colleagues at my own site, to the colleagues I met at workshops and conferences within my district and across the country.  I am currently working in my fourth district in San Diego and that has been a blessing to my PLN.  With each successive move, I have carried with me amazing contacts who continue to challenge my thinking, enhance my practice, and encourage my work.  I am a better educator because of the people who are a part of my PLN, near and far.

When it comes to Social Media, Twitter is the main way that I have added people to my PLN.  I avoided using Voxer for a long time.  But every once in awhile someone I respect would mention a valuable conversation they had through a Voxer chat, and my interest would be piqued.  I recently joined a Voxer group associated with the #educoach chat.

One of the common trends I’ve noticed is that many of the participants appear to have jobs where they are very isolated. I don’t mean isolated as in rural versus urban setting.  I mean isolated as in they are the sole instructional coach in a building, district, city, or region. There are various positions that have been created without training or support. When I think about these people, a Voxer group dedicated to sharing best practices in coaching makes sense.  Not only do you have a built-in PLN to share ideas and ask questions, but you create a support system for yourself across the country.

I am so happy that these folks have found one another and are able to find the support they need and deserve.  This leads me to wonder about others… the people who are thrown into a coaching position with no training or support. I believe very strongly that any initiative (such as adding instructional coaching to a system) should be collaboratively planned, based on research and a theory of action, with supports and accountability measurements to check on the progress of said initiative.  While it may be time and labor-intensive at the beginning, I guarantee that the time spent up front will save you time in the long run.  With proper planning and support, you will have less turnover, less stress, and more productivity. I hope that the coaches out there with less structure and support are able to build their own PLN, to surround themselves with colleagues who can guide and assist their new learning.

Reflective thoughts to ponder:

  • Do you use Voxer?
  • How do you interact with and grow your PLN? 
  • Does your school, district, or system have positions that were created without a system of support? 

 

 

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Five: A Survey

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

I read a number of healthy blogs.  Many of the bloggers I follow are friends and colleagues. When one of them publishes a cute blog survey, others quickly follow.  I have now read 4-5 versions of this survey and finally decided to add my own thoughts, with a leadership and learning twist.  Feel free to play along in the comments with your leadership or personal answers!

Five Places I’m Dying To Visit

  • A school district with a positive culture and climate that has equity as a central focus, where students and adults thrive in a fun, supportive learning community
  • A school district (other than my own!) where the Superintendent is a true Instructional Leader
  • A university-based teacher education program that prepares teachers for the realities of teaching in an urban setting in the 21st Century (and ditto for leaders!)
  • A local EdCamp in my own district, co-created by an amazing team of teacher leaders!
  • An upcoming Learning Forward conference!

Five Tasks I Do Every Day

  • Journal for personal leadership reflection
  • Check and response to email
  • Speak to my colleagues
  • Read Twitter for educational inspiration
  • Smile- this work is fun!

Five Talents I Wish I Had

  • Change-easer- the ability to help educators navigate through complex change painlessly
  • Balancer – the ability to seamlessly find balance between work and personal life
  • Cheerleader – the ability to cheer for people all around our system- acknowledging their efforts, approximations, successes, and repeated attempts!
  • Sharer – the ability to share the great things happening in our schools with everyone around the world as they happen (Social Media makes this more possible than in the past, but it’s not a perfect system yet) and interact with others about our work
  • De-hoarder – the ability to help educators minizing their hoarding tendencies, limit the amount of paper we hold onto, and help others organize their work spaces and lives

Five Leaders I Wish I Could Work With

  • Elena Aguilar – a leader in coaching and supporting the work of coaches
  • Dr. Anthony Muhammad – A leader in the field of culture and climate
  • My friend and former colleague Shelley Burgess– anytime anywhere!
  • My friend and a member of my doctoral committee Dr. Leighangela Brady – a passionate leader focused on innovative ideas to personalize learning for all students
  • My friend and former colleague Pauline Leavitt – another passionate leader focused on the learning success of all students while creating a professional environment that supports her staff

Five Twitter Hashtags I Love

  • #LeadLAP – Lead Like a Pirate, created by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf – I can’t read their book!
  • #educoach – Created by Kathy Perret, Jessica Johnson and Shira Leibowitz – the chat takes place every Wednesday evening
  • #satchatwc – This is a west coast spin off of an east coast original chat.  I was once  a co-moderator.  Now I love spending my Saturday morning being inspired by the positive, uplifting topics!
  • #Read16in16 – This inspired me in 2015 and this year to blog about all of the books I’m reading and to share them with others.
  • #tcrwp – Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project – I’ve written about my love of this work before and it will always have a special place in my heart (the feed is FULL of classroom examples of amazing literacy instruction!).

Five Blogs I Love To Read

Five Phrases I Have On Repeat 

  • Voice and choice matter in student AND adult learning
  • What can we celebrate from that classroom/ meeting/ workshop?  What is going well for students?
  • What do YOU think?
  • Have you explored Twitter?
  • We are creating personalized professional growth pathways

Five Books On My To-Be-Read List

  • Explore Like a Pirate by Michael Matera
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom by Kristin Souers with Pete Hall
  • The Multigenerational Workplace by Jennifer Abrams
  • The Art of Coaching Teams by Elena Aguilar

 

What five things are important to your leadership and learning?

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