Our jobs are stressful. Our jobs take a toll on us mentally, physically and emotionally. We are invested in our work and our students. We are on a journey to ELITE and we are relentless in our pursuit to grow and be better and do better. However, throughout this journey we have to take time to laugh at ourselves! We are so lucky to work with such amazing people. It’s important that we enjoy our time with one another. So, while you continue to work so hard for your students, remember to give yourselves permission to laugh a little! Throughout the month of December you are challenged to find one of three “Gulley on a Shelf” elves around the school. If you find one, bring it to the office and you will get to choose a prize from Mr. Smalley elf’s sack! Enjoy. And, remember to laugh a little! Here is your staff update for December 1st.
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Everyone of us is a leader. We are leaders on our teams, in our families, in our classrooms. We each own 20 square feet of this school district and we are all leaders within that 20 square feet. But leadership is not just a title. It is not a power bestowed upon us. Within our 20 square feet we control our behavior and our culture. As a leader, we must understand ourselves so that we can continue to work to be the best version of ourselves. I had the pleasure of spending some time with Tim Kight on Monday after our assembly. He reminded me of a training that he conducted with the HCSD admin team two years ago. The training helped up learn more about our leadership style. During our conversation I was reminded of how much I learned about myself by analyzing my style. Over the weekend, I challenge you to take some time to look at the following documents. Be honest with yourself about yourself and determine your style. Read about the strengths and weaknesses that come along with your leadership style. Then think about your behavior. Reflect on how your style can help you and how it can negatively impact your culture and behavior. Here is your staff update for November 17th.
I was planning to write a blog post about how incredibly proud I am of this staff. In preparation for the blog post, I decided to look up the dictionary definition of the word “pride”. As I was reading the definitions, I couldn’t help but notice this definition from Merriam Webster in which “pride” is defined as a company of lions or a group of lions forming a social unit.
As I read this definition, my thinking changed. I started to reflect on the connections that we have to one another and the great team that we have created here. My focus for the blog post shifted from being about how proud I am of all of you, to how proud I am of the team that we have become. Just like a group of lions that work together to survive; we have formed trusting relationships that allow us to strive to be our best. We speak the same language. We share the same values. We are a “unit”. Think about it, we spend more time together than we do with our own families. As I walked around our school with two visiting administrators on Thursday, I couldn’t have been more proud to be part of this staff. What we have is special. It can’t be found everywhere. As I was sharing your classrooms with our visitors, I made a conscious effort to enjoy the moment. It’s not often that any of us take time to slow down and celebrate the beauty of our moments. And let me tell you, the moments you create for students are truly worth celebrating. So, thank you! Thank you for the work you do. Thank you for the time and energy that you put in each and every day. I am beyond proud to be a member of this unit. I am proud to be one of us. Here is your staff update for November 10th. We have been working so hard to build our R Factor skills. Last week I had the privilege of being part of a group who provided R Factor training the entire staff at Milton Union schools in Springfield. I was in charge of teaching R1-Press Pause. It was a great refresher for me and really got me thinking and reflecting about how we all use R1-Press Pause.
For many of us, it is easy to press pause, especially in an uncomfortable or potentially uncomfortable situation. This doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes let my emotions take over causing me to forget to (or choose not to) press pause. But, just as forgetting to pause can be detrimental, so can pressing pause and staying there for too long. When I was reviewing my presenter notes last week, this quote stuck out to me and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it: Your level of comfort is not a reference point for what you should do. On our journey to ELITE we must pause so we can see our events with clarity and courage. Courage is such an important piece of the R1! This week at school I was able to witness a courageous example of two staff members who PRESSED PAUSE with courage, GOT THEI MINDS RIGHT and then STEPPED UP so that they could make steps to improve a difficult situation. These two staff members could have gotten stuck on pause. They could have let animosity build. But instead, they responded to their event with courage. They did not let their level of comfort (and in this case, their level of discomfort) be a reference point for what they should do. Because of their willingness to STEP UP and be vulnerable, they have created a new and very positive E for one another. Take some time to reflect on how you PRESS PAUSE. Do you forget to pause and let emotions guide you? Do you get stuck on pause? Do you let your level of comfort be a reference point for your RESPONSE? Pressing pause is a gateway skill in R Factor. How well you implement R1 will dictate your successful R to any E. Here is your staff update for November 3rd. |
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