In one of my keynotes I start by asking the audience to think about their worst teacher.
Truth be told, I used to ask people to shout it out as a cathartic exercise. This worked well at conferences, but when I tried it when delivering the message to a single district one time it was followed by an eerie hush. Then it dawned on me, ALUMNI. People were shouting out the names of other people in the room!!!! (SIDENOTE: I have stopped asking people to shout it out)
The next question I ask is why is that the teacher you remember as the worst. I receive three answers most frequently:
- The belief existed that the teacher did not care about the students OR in some cases actively rooted against student success.
- The class was boring and every minute in the classroom felt like an eternity.
- We felt like a failure when walking out of their class.
So, in the land of negativity that surrounds education you may be asking why I would want to skew any conversation negatively. The answer is simple, sometimes in our current landscape it becomes increasingly intimidating to try and figure out how to be the perfect teacher or leader.
Everywhere you look there is new research, a new trend, or someone blowing up your social media feed with some innovative new concept that makes you feel “less than.” Perhaps the way that we can move forward is simply to understand and rebel against what we know we do not want to be.
I mean, as I look at the list of “worst teacher’ qualities it is incredibly instructive to me as both a teacher of graduate students, but more importantly as the leader of my district. It forced me to ask myself some reflective questions to guide my thinking and spur on continued action.
Sometimes the best path forward is simply to start moving. We are operating in an information-rich and interconnected world which is an AMAZING thing. This, however, can also be intimidating and cause analysis paralysis. Sometimes our best step forward is simply moving in the opposite direction of what we do not want to become.
REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS TO GUIDE SOME THINKING
- Do the people I serve sincerely believe that I care about them?
- How am I demonstrating to people that I am actively rooting for their success?
- Are my meetings boring, i.e. could they have been an email?
- Do I demonstrate to my people that I value their time and attempt to make every interaction meaningful?
- What am I doing to communicate the successes of my people and their schools/departments to them and the community at-large?
- Am I actively communicating to my people that I see them for greater than they currently are and helping them create that image as well?
THE BEST THING I READ/WATCHED THIS WEEK
Jay Wright’s Culture by The Daily Coach
Really short, instructive article for all leaders – but particularly attractive to those that love sports. Among many, this is my favorite quote in the article:
“We have a saying that everyone’s role is different, but everyone’s status is the same. It’s a reminder that no matter how bright the spotlight gets, we are all part of something much larger than ourselves.”
WHERE YOU MAY HAVE SEEN ME RECENTLY OR CAN FIND ME NEXT
ON DEMAND – Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You Book Study
ON DEMAND – Communications – MicroCredential Certification through Illinois Principals Association
SPEAKING-CONSULTING-CONFERENCES
May 17 – ROE 47
Administrator Academy – Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You
May 26 – Illinois Principals Association
Learning Partners – Why Everyone Deserves a Coach
June 7 – Assistant Principal and Dean Summit
Avoiding Difficult Conversations is a Failure to Lead
Still booking events for summer and Opening Keynotes in August
MORE OF MY MUSINGS
Pushing Boundaries Podcast Episode 78 – We Spray to All Fields on This One
Interesting Interview in which we spray to all fields – Personal, Leadership, Education.
Thruue – The Great Re-Negotiation
Honored to be a small part of the research on the future of work alongside giants in leadership such as General McChrystal and others.
Writing
EdWeek – Why I want my children to become educators
I know plenty of educators who advise their own children to go in a different direction. To me, there is nothing sadder than that. We need our absolute best and brightest within our profession and we must do the work from the inside to ensure we make it an attractive profession for the generations to follow.
ASCD – EL Magazine – Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You
Time-management tips and techniques tend to treat the symptom and not the disease. They are essentially like “diets”—if you use them, they work, but they are often just temporary solutions to deeper problems.
Instead, you must fight a few mindset battles to increase your personal efficiency.
Edutopia – How School Leaders Can Build Realistic Optimism This Year
As part of cleaning off my plate, I forced myself to make a list of the five things that bring me the most joy in my job. The list included one-to-one meetings with my direct reports, proudly representing the district in different capacities, data talks, coaching my leadership team through difficult situations, and spending time investing in my board of education.
Then I intentionally rerouted my calendar for two weeks to dump as much joy—those five activities—into my day as possible. It worked.
What happened by default was that I spent less time on the distractions that were not only a time sink but also an emotional drain. It turns out the very loud minority of people who were making my job very difficult didn’t deserve the attention and cognitive space I was giving them.
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter.
It would mean the world to me if you could share it with one person each week. We all get one chance to live a life of passion and purpose. Help me maximize my one at-bat.