Summer is upon us! This month, the final school bell rings and the doors fly open sending our students out into the sunshine eagerly anticipating free time, the chance to engage in personal interests and the future start of a new school year. As professionals, this time will also offer many of us similar opportunities. Some will take the chance to be with family and friends while others may even travel expanding their worldview and experience with new cultures. Regardless of what the summer holds for you, I want to invite you to use the time to keep learning.Ģż

So, what then makes a learner? I like to think of a learner as someone who is curious about the world and actively seeks opportunities to discover how it works, the people that live in it and the role we personally play in making it a positive place to be.Ģż

Being a learner is so much more than studying or digging into textbooks. While these are important parts of learning, the informal classroom is much more expansive. There are many ways to learn! Some of the best learning happens outside of a formal setting and takes place in our informal day-to-day interactions. In fact, we often cite research that shows that the best learning in the classroom is learning that is highly relevant and deeply connected to the world around us. Summer offers our students (and us) the chance to apply the things they learned all year in a school setting to their personal lives in a less structured, meaningful way.Ģż

Real-world applications are the very things that solidify our understanding of the concepts we study and move them from theoretical to usable knowledge. Kendra Cherry, an educator and psychologist, said, ā€œFor many students, learning typically involves reading textbooks, attending lectures, or doing research in the library or online. While seeing information and then writing it down is important, actually putting new knowledge and skills into practice can be one of the best ways to improve learning.ā€ Outside, in our everyday lives, we can integrate new knowledge acquired across various disciplines in school and truly make sense of our interconnected surroundings. Imagine all the new ideas generated from that!Ģż

So, this summer letā€™s all stay curious! Make a goal to try something you have never tried before. Dig into an activity that challenges you in a new way. Start a new hobby or interact with new people. Not only will you have fun, but Iā€™m positive that you will enrich your life learning something new along the way.

We have all heard the popular saying, ā€œApril showers bring May flowers.ā€ No other place is that truer than here in north Texas where annually thunderstorms roll through, painting the fields with rain leaving vibrant bluebonnets in their wake. Seeds previously planted by nature sprout forth nudging the city to come back to life with blooming trees, singing birds and wildflowers.

As I have pondered this time of year and our eager anticipation of its arrival, I canā€™t help but notice how similar the emotion is as we gear up for the last few weeks of school. All year long, we have poured into our students, cultivating their minds and encouraging their creativity as they persisted through the important struggle learning offers in order to grow. We have stayed the course and met unexpected challenges. As teachers, you have thoughtfully designed lessons that captivated your studentsā€™ interests and fostered the development of skills they will need not only in the classroom, but in life as they blossom and pursue their passions. As peers, you have supported one another, shared ideas and problem-solved together, and you have committed to ensuring your learners had opportunities to receive the individualized experiences they needed to thrive. And now, after all that hard work, I want to invite you to stop and smell the roses.

Life is busy. And, often in our haste, we fail to give ourselves the time to reflect on our efforts and to bask in the fruit of our labor. Setting goals at the beginning of the year is the easy part. Persistently digging in deep, when you feel like you have little left to offer, to achieve those goals, now thatā€™s where the greatness lies. You have done that. You have given your very best in the service of others and now you can see the results of that effort. Feel good about what you accomplished! Recognize the growth you have cultivated in yourself and others. You and the students you serve are now better than when you started because of your commitment to achieve.

Satya Nani, a well-known film producer in India, once said, ā€œA little progress each day adds up to big results.ā€ Each of the seemingly small things you did daily for your students collectively have generated a meaningful experience that has yielded positive change and the mastery of new skills. Your learners now understand and know things they once didnā€™t. They have evolved, in incredible ways, into new people - ready to take their next step. That preparation, nurtured slowly over months, is the result of the time they spent with you. Take it in!

Thank you for your resolve and dedication to excellence. The world is a better place because of it.

This has been a tough season. We lost a student to violence and another was injured. Our hearts go out to their families and to all of the students, teachers and staff of the Lamar High School community. You are in our prayers, and we are here to support you.

Tragedy is never easy to navigate. It cuts us to our core and forces us to face the unimaginable. It abruptly reminds us of what we value and causes us to turn inward as we re-evaluate our priorities and what is important in life.

Teaching and leading in schools is emotionally taxing. It draws upon our energy reserves and stretches our thinking. Teaching requires us to know our learners, understand their backgrounds and to find ways to reach them not only on an academic level but one that is also social and emotional. Students need to be and feel seen and heard. They need to be acknowledged directly and indirectly. They need to experience learning in a way that connects them to their lives and futures. And all these things require thoughtful and responsible adult stewards.

How can we, as educators, ensure that we are able to show up for students and give 100% each day? One way is to honor our own humanity and do so by working to strike some balance between our work responsibilities and attending to our lives as individuals.

Loana Lupu and Mayra Ruiz-Castro (2021) of the Harvard Business Review share that work-life balance is a cycle and not something we simply achieve. In other words, there is no one thing that a person can do to strike a balance between work and life outside of the classroom. Rather, it is something that we must continually adjust for as our responsibilities and circumstances change. While this will always take some effort, Lupu and Ruiz-Castro do share specific steps that we can all engage in to try to find that balance many so fervently strive for. Here are some of their ideas:

1. Pause and denormalize the imbalance. We become so used to stress and living in a state of reduced emotional capacity that we often fail to notice the impact this reality has on our lives. It almost functions like noise in the background that we grow accustomed to. To recognize it, periodically take a moment to check in with yourself and ask how you are feeling. How are you prioritizing your time? How have your circumstances changed? What are you sacrificing? Answering these questions can help you to think about potential adjustments to your day and actions.
2. Listen to your emotions. Emotions often tell us what our thinking brain does not. They serve us like an internal radar system that highlights when things are going well and when modifications in life are needed. Lupu and Ruiz-Castro state, ā€œA rational understanding of the decisions and priorities driving your life is important, but equally important is emotional reflexivity- that is the capacity to recognize how a situation is making you feel.ā€ Understanding how we feel about a situation is necessary if we are trying to determine when and if change is needed.
3. This is easier said than done. It requires us to generate some emotional space between where we are and where we are trying to go. We often must let go of things we have done for a long time and that we potentially feel connected to. This space allows us the chance to re-envision what the ideal can look like. In fact, when people with a healthy work-life balance are asked about how they facilitated it, they often share that they ā€œintentionally reprioritized how they spent their time in a way that lined up with their true priorities.ā€
4. Consider your alternatives. Finding balance does not always mean that you have to drastically change things. Ask yourself, ā€œWhat are some things going well? What are some things that I could try just to see if it makes a difference?ā€ Sometimes, even small tweaks can have a positive impact.

Service is about others. It is outward facing. It is about giving our time, energy, expertise, talents and even regard to improve the lives of those around us. As flight attendants say on every flight before departing, in the event of an emergency, we must put our personal oxygen mask on first so that we have the ability to be there for others. In this spirit, I invite you to reflect on these four suggestions and consider what you can do to find an increased sense of balance in your life so that you are able to show up emotionally whole for our learners and each other. May you continue to take care of yourself and know how incredibly valuable you are to the lives of your colleagues and the students you serve.

Coaching. Once a term used to describe skill-based mentorship in the sports arena, it has now altered the landscape of professional work environments across industries throughout the world, including education. We hear and read about coaching and the influence it has on organizational outcomes, but what is it exactly? Why does it now play such a prominent and potentially impactful role in employee development? Why has traditional supervision taken a backseat to a more shared and progressive growth model? It really comes down to the science of learning and human nature.

Growing up, we experienced learning in a variety of ways. All of us have drudged through courses where we spent most of our time trying to keep up with what the teacher or professor was saying all the while wondering when (if ever) we would use the knowledge we were so desperately trying to acquire. Day after day we would go to class, counting the minutes for it to end from the very second we walked through the door. Hopefully those experiences were the exception. On the flip side, we also can remember the classes we LOVED. When you consider these two contrasting experiences, what did you enjoy so much about the course you loved? How did the teacher or professor captivate your attention and make you want to persist even when the concepts and work were difficult?

When I think about that course for me, so much comes to mind. First, it was clear the teacher was deeply passionate about the content and intentionally designed learning in a way that was connected to my life. I didnā€™t spend time wondering about when I would use the information because the lessons were designed in a way that I was already applying the learning in my lifeā€™s context as part of the learning process. The work was meaningful but challenging. Yes, there were times when I got stuck and needed assistance, but I persisted because I was so captivated by the experience. It was interesting and fun! Lastly, my teacher provided me with so much choice. There were many ways I could go about learning the content or demonstrating my mastery. I was allowed to lean into my interests and natural strengths, and they were encouraged and celebrated. The students in the class didnā€™t all have to produce the same product. We were given a certain level of autonomy and that autonomy allowed us to thrive.

Now you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with coaching? Well, simply put, everything! Coaching is nothing more than a model for learning. The reason coaching improves practice above all other forms of professional learning and supervision is because these same learning elements that you noticed in the courses you loved also exist as part of the coaching process. Effective coaching is strength-based, founded on strong competencies, and provides in learning opportunities grounded choice and autonomy.

Jim Knight (2023), author for ASCD, shared research conducted by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. They found that ā€œpeople have three innate human needsā€”competence, autonomy, and relatednessā€”[needs] that will increase motivation when met and decrease motivation when not met. That is, people will feel motivated when they (a) are competent at what they do, (b) have a large measure of control over their lives, and (c) are engaged in positive relationships.ā€ The opposite is also true. When there is a lack of these qualities within our professional environments, negative consequences abound. Knight indicates that ā€œwhen professionals are told what to do and given no choice, the best possible outcome is likely complianceā€”and compliance is not enough to do the complex work needed in our schools.ā€ Because we work to cultivate a culture of coaching to grow and develop our practices to meet the complex challenges we face each day in service of kids.

Effective coaching leans into choice and invites us as professionals to not only build positive relationships with others, but to also assert some level of control over how we personally develop. We get to choose our goals and through the powerful questions of a skilled coach, identify what competencies we want to practice in pursuit of future professional mastery. Coaching expects us to show up as an equal partner in the learning process. It is active in nature and requires high levels of metacognition. There is a reason the top athletes, CEOā€™s, educators and musicians routinely engage in the coaching process. Itā€™s because the best of the best own their learning and this ownership drives improvement.

As you reflect, how can you take full advantage of the coaching opportunity available to you? Here are a couple of ideas to consider:

1. EMBRACE YOUR ROLE. As the coachee, YOU lead the process, not the other way around. Spend some time in advance considering what you want to work on. What makes you believe this is an area for growth? What steps can you take to improve and what evidence will you use to demonstrate to yourself that you achieved your intended outcome?
2. BE VULNERABLE. Coaching encourages us to share and sometimes talk about areas of our professional development that we may feel apprehensive acknowledging. Itā€™s ok and typical to feel that way! We all do. If you want to maximize your coaching relationship to improve, trust and know that your coach has your best interest front and center and that your success is their success. Challenge yourself to be open. The very best coaching experiences start with transparency.
3. PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK. Yes, celebrate yourself! Change is hard work and growth is change. Get excited about your small wins and donā€™t be afraid to feel the joy that comes from reaching your goals and slowly improving. Learning is what gives life zest. The more you can honor your work and affirm yourself in your efforts, the more you will cultivate your internal motivation to continue.

Growth takes time and comes through consistent effort. You donā€™t become a master pianist practicing one time. It comes from hours and hours of personal effort and diligence. Learning to be a powerful teacher and leader is no different. The more we reflect on our practices and hone our skills, the more we can connect with our students and ensure they grow under our guidance.

Thank you for showing up and bringing your strengths to the coaching process! You got this!

At the onset of each school year, we each pause for a moment and establish our professional goals. We reflect on our growth over the last year and identify new areas we want to improve. We consider our strengths and think about how we can leverage those strengths to get better every day. This process of reflection and goal setting is not uncommon, especially when we cross a time marker inviting us to change. People all over the world engage in establishing New Yearā€™s resolutions each January aspiring to a new and improved version of themselves. While itā€™s true that setting resolutions is trendy, this year, I want to encourage you to try something a bit different.

The truth is New Yearā€™s resolutions typically do not have a lot of staying power. In fact, most people abandon their resolution before the year really gets underway. Discover Daily Habits reports that most resolutions involve peopleā€™s efforts in either saving money or getting physically healthier. They further state that while 41% of Americans make resolutions, only 9% feel they are successful in keeping them. Why is that? I suspect itā€™s because while our desires to improve are ever present, we donā€™t spend enough time considering how to integrate the new behaviors into our lives in a way that our already established habits donā€™t resist.

So, what are some of your current professional habits and routines? Is there a new habit you want to build for this second semester that will improve your outcomes and help you reach the professional goal you set for yourself in the fall? James Clear, author of Atomic Habits said that habits are the ā€œcompound interest of self-improvement.ā€ He advocates that if we instead make tiny changes, they will compound over time and generate the larger behavioral outcomes we seek. Here are several suggestions he provides to his readers:

• START SMALL. Most of us try to make big changes and then when we struggle to keep up with the change, we chastise ourselves claiming that all we need is a bit more motivation. Clear claims that willpower is like a muscle and gets stronger over time. He suggests selecting a habit that doesnā€™t require willpower, just to get started. For example, rather than having a 10-minute professional reflection time at the end of each day, start with two-minutes. Itā€™s easier to get started small.
• INCREASE YOUR HABIT DAILY BY VERY SMALL INCREMENTS DAILY. The big idea here is to try to get better 1% every day. So back to our prior example, if you want to take 10 minutes daily to reflect on how your interactions with your students impacted their learning, start with two minutes and then each week slowly add a little time until 10 minutes feels easy.
• PLAN FOR FAILURE. Everyone experiences obstacles when building new habits. Consider these in advance. What would prevent you from taking your reflection time? How can you solve those challenges upfront so that they donā€™t derail you along the way?
• KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PROGRESS. Record the days that you engaged in the new habit. If you notice there was a day or two that you missed, try not to get discouraged. Just get back to it the next day. Even the best of us makes mistakes or get off track. Itā€™s not a dealbreaker. The key is to not let more than two days go by without engaging in the new behavior.
• BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF AND STICK TO THE PACE YOU COMMITTED TO. Itā€™s easy to give into the temptation to increase effort and pace when things start to feel routine. Beware of this pitfall and stick to the pace. This will prevent future burnout and increase the likelihood of your success.

Goals are powerful. They inspire us. They drive us to be better. But they are only as good as our preparation to accomplish them. This year, rather than setting a new goal in January, consider the one you already established in the fall. What are some new habits you can put in place to support you reaching that goal? I suspect by doing a few small things each day, you will bring that goal into reach even quicker than you anticipated.

Can you believe that we are already halfway through the school year? It always amazes me how quickly time flies and how much a group of committed individuals can collectively accomplish in a relatively short amount of time. It is easy in education to become distracted by the rhetoric and the happenings of the world. As teachers and educators, we have a front row seat to each of those things. But, the moment a young person walks into our classroom, we are gifted with the opportunity to refocus ourselves on their service and support to ensure they have the skills needed to contribute back to society in the way they desire. Kids and their learning come first.

Acquiring new skills takes time and focus. Each time a learner is introduced to something new, it builds on prior knowledge and has a compound effect generating new levels of mastery and proficiency. Slowly, the student increases her capacity to make new connections, ask more informed questions, generate new opinions and ideas, and apply new knowledge to more effectively react to and solve real challenges that impact her life. This happens when the student acts with intentionality and purpose. So how do you help students increase their personal drive and ownership to achieve new growth? One important way is through goal setting.

Chase Nordengren, a researcher with NWEA, shared, ā€œGoal settingā€¦ gets students involved in reviewing their assessment results, working with their teachers to set reasonable but aspirational goals for improvement, and continuing to drive their learning with frequent reference to those goals.ā€ In fact, according to research published by Robert Marzano in 2009, the act of goal setting can produce an increase in student gains by 18 to 41 percentile points! The simple fact is that when we have an awareness of where we are, where we are trying to go and have a plan to get there, it makes a real difference in our achievement. Goal setting motivates students and moves learning from a mandate to ownership.

As you think about introducing goal setting to your learners, here are a few things Nordedgren asks us to consider:

1. Start early. Students can begin setting goals as early as kindergarten! Youā€™d be surprised how quickly students begin to see the relationship between setting goals and the learning outcomes they experience.
2. Do it routinely. Students should be setting goals connected to skills that they will continue to work on and develop. Tracking progress is motivating! Things you could consider are goals and progress monitoring on reading levels, performance on classroom or curriculum assessments, growth on technology-based applications such as Imagine Math or Istation, etc. The key to goal setting is that students set a target and come back routinely to check against that target, celebrate and/or adjust.
3. Make is visible. Goals that are visible and seen are worked on. What is out of sight is out of mind. Teachers can use a variety of ways to make goal setting visible including using anchor charts, graphs, student data-tracking folders and goal-setting worksheets.
4. Keep it relevant. Allow students to have ownership in the goals they set. Goals should be connected to areas where they are individually striving to improve. This increases a studentā€™s sense of agency and autonomy. Nordengren states that when ā€œgoal-setting teachers serve as directors of learning: breaking larger goals down into skill areas, suggesting goals based on skills students are missing, and outlining the steps necessary to get to a particular goal, but ultimately leaving selection of the goal itself in the hands of students.ā€

In January, we start a new year. We are provided with the opportunity to reflect on our practice and try something new. I invite you to consider goal-setting with your students. Pick one area. Give it a try. Youā€™ll be pleasantly surprised to see the difference it will make!

What an incredible time and place we live in! The world is so much smaller as technology has bridged the gap between people and provided a platform for us to connect with others who were once inaccessible. This connection highlights the beauty of the worldā€™s diversity and invites us to expand our understanding and need to learn from one another.

During the month of December, we pause to celebrate the end of a year well- lived and the beginning of a new one. People gather with friends and loved ones to ring in this annual change while engaging in deep cultural traditions that are underscored by historical context. We begin reflecting on what we have accomplished, challenges we have overcome and desires for our future. The ways in which we do this are wide and varied and that is special.

As I have reflected on this, I have asked myself how we can be sure to intentionally embrace this gift and cultivate opportunities for our learners to engage in relevant learning experiences that connect them to not only the worldā€™s innovations, but also to their own cultures and unique traditions. You see, I believe it is important that learners see themselves in the things they read and write about. As human beings, we need to feel connected to our environment and see the footprints of our predecessors so that we can glean lessons from their examples and begin to envision the impact we personally want to have on our communities moving forward. As educators, we want to cultivate an environment where students can capitalize on the incredible diversity that exists within our classrooms and learn from one another as they discuss, read and write about the contributions of citizens around the world.

So, how do we do this? What are some things we can do to understand our diversity and equitably integrate this diversity into our studentsā€™ daily learning experiences? Saniyyah Khalilallah, an author for the American Montessori Society, said, ā€œTalking with the children can be one of the best ways to understand the diversity in the classroom. Pay attention to different languages being spoken or when the child talks about celebrations at home. Listen when the child is excited to tell you something about a family gatheringā€¦ Make mental notes about what the child said and ask the child questions while conversing. The child will feel proud to teach the educator something new about themselves and will be thankful that there is an interest. Inclusion starts with listening to the students without judgment.ā€ She goes on to invite us as educators to consider two questions:

1. How can I make the intention to respect every child in my classroom?
2. What is a goal I can make to ensure each child feels included?

ĢżBeing an educator in 91ÖĘʬ³§ is wonderful! We are enriched by the incredible diversity we have within our schools. Our responsibility is to ensure that we maximize that gift by integrating meaningful opportunities for students to engage in robust learning experiences that connect them with themselves and those around them. This month, I invite you to consider the two questions Khalilallah poses and commit to doing one or two additional actions to help your learners feel even more included and seen in the things they read, write and discuss. I canā€™t help but believe that this will not only enrich the learning experience but validate students and help them to recognize the gift they are to each of us. May we, together, have a festive holiday season and learn from each other while we do.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the East Coast. If you havenā€™t been during the autumn season, it is a must do. The fall foliage comes out in all its spectacular glory painting the landscape with the most vibrant shades of red, yellow and orange. There is something about the seasons changing that invites us to reminisce internally and to reflect on the time that just passed. Leaves brown as they dry and gently drop to the floor under the current of a cool breeze, and as they do we are called to begin the renewal process all over again.

Whenever I find myself in nature, I canā€™t help but contemplate things that are much bigger than me. I find myself grateful for the friendships I have experienced and the lessons I have learned through challenges and insights that life just seems to offer up.

Several years ago, I was introduced to a book by Dr. Shawn Achor, a best-selling author and world-renowned expert in the field of positive psychology. After serving students at Harvard University for over 12 years and hosting one of the top five TEDx talks, he shares in his book ā€œThe Happiness Advantage,ā€ the research-based connection between happiness and success, offering up five habits that can boost that feeling of contentment we all desire. Itā€™s no surprise he starts with gratitude.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School say, ā€œGratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.ā€ Psychologists Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami conducted a study asking three participant groups to record a few sentences on one of the following topics each week for 10 weeks: things they were grateful for, daily irritations and events that occurred (without any assignment of whether those events were good or bad). Results showed that those who wrote about gratitude consistently felt more content about their lives and were generally more optimistic. Who wouldnā€™t want to experience more of that?!

This next month, we will celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. As we approach that time, hereā€™s my homework for you. Set aside five minutes each day for 30 days and quietly just reflect. Write three things that you are grateful for that you experienced in the previous 24 hours. Really try to tap into the emotion of gratitude and just record three things. Try not to fall into the temptation of overthinking. The task should be simple and quick. Over time, what do you find yourself scanning your environment and experiences for that you didnā€™t prior to starting this daily routine? Do you notice how you begin to search for things you are grateful for throughout the day? How does this change your perspective and outlook on life? Sometimes even the most subtle (and seemingly inconsequential) acts can have a real impact.

May you find joy this fall season and have your personal happiness enhanced by intentional, grateful reflections. After all, itā€™s often the small things that make the biggest difference in life.

I recently had the opportunity to visit with a colleague whom I admire. She is committed to teaching and learning, and that commitment is evident in the way she expends her energy pouring into teachers and curiously seeking out new knowledge to apply to her coaching practice. She is inquisitive and asks questions modeling what it means toĢżget better every day. As I walked away from our conversation, I reflected on where that commitment comes from. What drives us to do what we do? How do we hunker down and press forward when the going gets tough? Why do we persist even in the face of obstacles? I think it comes down to purpose.

Pablo Picasso, a world-renowned artist, once said, ā€œThe meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.ā€ John F. Kennedy stated, ā€œEfforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.ā€ So how do we give our gifts away in the service of others? What is your purpose, and how do you generate a path to let it lead your work each day?

In 91ÖĘʬ³§, we have one mission. That mission is to empower and engage ALL students through relevant, innovative and rigorous learning experiences. Engaging every student requires us to know them and to understand what their interests are as well as their strengths and opportunities for growth. Empowerment embodies the idea of making someone stronger and instilling confidence in their abilities. Our mission is to provide learning experiences that do both of these things ā€“ captivate studentsā€™ minds and encourage them to believe in themselves. This takes skill and compassion. It requires us to master the art and science of teaching. It is why coaching plays a prominent role in our work and why we strive to master the best practices research shows impacts learning in the classroom.

This year, we have continued our effort to provide customized coaching to each of our math and reading teachers with the goal that every math and reading teacher earns a level three badge in four best practices, namely:

• Standards Alignment
• Assessment and Formative Feedback
• Differentiation and Scaffolding
• Small Group Instruction

These four practices lay a strong foundation for learning experiences designed to meet each studentā€™s individual needs. When implemented effectively, they set the stage for students to be engaged in learning at their proficiency levels and empower them to lean into their strengths and assets as they grow towards mastery of the standards. The key word beingĢżgrow. Coaching of teachers, coaches and principals, mastery of best practices, badgingā€¦ all of this effort and work is to ensure that we all, as educators, build our capacity to effectively provide learning experiences that promote our learnersā€™ growth.

We have an exciting year ahead of us that is full of opportunities! Thank you for your effort to getĢżbetter every day. May we all continue on that path and together guide our learners to the destination they envision for themselves.

It has been said that we donā€™t learn from our mistakes. We learn from reflecting on them. Reflection is the intentional process of considering our actions within our given context and determining where we stood in our strengths and what opportunities exist for improvement. It is the chance to connect with our experience while examining those experiences from the lens of a learner - almost in third person.Ģż

Reflection isnā€™t easy. Brave leaders reflect. If we engage in true reflection, we must be open to reality even if we donā€™t like it. It calls on us to be emotionally vulnerable with ourselves and open to change. It invites us to take new steps in the future and to refine ourselves and our practice. Reflection is key to growth. And, I would venture to say that the absence of reflection constitutes the absence of strong leadership.

Dr. Paleana Neale, a member of the Forbes Council, stated, ā€œSelf-reflection, at its simplest, means taking time to slow down and think about you and your experiences, as part of increasing your self-awareness, learning and growthā€¦ It involves contemplating your current level of skills, strengths, weaknesses, behavioral patterns and how you seek to influence others. It is also about exploring and getting clarity on your values, goals and ambitions. All this serves to increase your self-awareness, alignment, authenticity, learning and growth. Self-reflection also accelerates improvement in your leadership skills and practice ā€” including your emotional intelligence ā€” and enables you to better understand others.ā€

With that in mind, Neale goes on to share tips for designing a leadership self-reflection practice. Here are a few I encourage you to consider:

1. Set an intention to reflect continuously. Reflection doesnā€™t have to be a long process. Create a habit of reflecting at a specific time each day. For some it may be in the morning as a way of setting their dayā€™s intention. For others it may be at the end of the workday in preparation for the next. When we reflect is not as important as regularly doing it.
2. Create a prompt or two that you can use to start your thinking. At the end of a meeting, you could ask yourself, ā€œHow did that go? What did I learn? What would I do differently in the future? How did I make others feel?ā€ If reflecting at the end of a week, maybe ask, ā€œWhat went well this week? If I could do something over again, what would it be and why?ā€ Prompts are just easy ways to get the juices flowing.
3. Be honest, specific and detailed. When reflecting on yourself or your practice, it is human nature to simultaneously try to justify to ourselves why we did what we did. Instead, try to set that aside and consider things from an objective perspective. Be detailed in your reflection. Consider writing it down to slow the thought process. The more honest and specific you are, the easier youā€™ll be able to identify what next steps will help you grow.

Building a reflective practice not only builds your skill set and emotional intelligence as a leader, but it is also an act of self-care. Leadership is focused so squarely on serving others. But we only have the wherewithal to serve if we ensure our internal bucket is full and that we take time to occasionally fill it. May we all intentionally create the time and space to reflect, so that we can not only improve but care for ourselves along the way.Ģż

Reference: Neale, P. (2021). Seven Tips for Designing A Leadership Reflective Practice.

What is a best practice? In education we often see this term thrown around, sometimes incorrectly. Practitioners in fields all over the world will use this phrase to express a heightened level of importance to specific actions or behaviors. But what are best practices exactly? Best practices are defined as procedures demonstrated by research and experience to produce optimal results. In other words, if we as educators must pick and choose what strategies we want to use in the classroom, there are some strategies that have been proven to produce significantly better outcomes with kids. And, if we implement these specific research-based practices with fidelity, there is strong evidence that our students will have the greatest returns on their learning that will endure for years into the future.

The Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) at the University of Buffalo has suggested, ā€œIf you do not choose instructional practices that align with learning outcomes, you will create the wrong type of learning. For example, imagine you have a course with the learning outcome ā€˜Students will think critically about world geography.ā€™ What experience would help students practice thinking critically? If you choose only to lecture, students will not have the opportunity to practice thinking critically and improve through feedback. While they may learn to remember geographical features, this misalignment means they will not learn to think critically, your stated goal for the course.ā€

In 91ÖĘʬ³§, we have a singular goal. Our goal is that 100% of our students graduate exceptionally prepared for college, career and citizenship. We have had to ask ourselves what it means to be exceptionally prepared. In reflecting on that question, we recognized that preparedness for a future reaches far beyond academic achievement. Our learners need to graduate with skills that allow them to successfully navigate all aspects of life. These include being able to:

• Communicate
• Collaborate
• Thinking critically
• Problem solve
• Self-regulate
• Model responsible citizenship

To foster the skills and attributes in our learners, our task is to ensure we leverage research-based best practices that meaningfully allow students to practice these skills daily while they learn their content.

This year, we have focused on four of 12 best practices, namely:

• Standards alignment
• Assessment and formative
• Differentiation/Scaffolding; and
• Small group instruction

Reading and math teachers across 91ÖĘʬ³§ have been working to master these best practices and student growth is evident!

Goals (especially one focused on 100%) are not reached by persistent effort alone, but effort focused on the right things. Thank you to all our teachers who are striving to refine their practice in order to help our learners be prepared for life. By mastering best practices and implementing them daily in the classroom, we are not only ensuring our students receive a high-quality learning experience in 91ÖĘʬ³§. We are making certain they are prepared to meet the exciting opportunities that await them.

Spring break is a wonderful time to take a deep breath and reconnect with ourselves and those we love. Many of us take the opportunity to rest and engage in hobbies that we often have to put aside in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. I hope that you were able to enjoy your time off and engage in some fulfilling activities.

As I have thought about these next several months, it reminded me of marathoners running a race. If you interview a person who runs marathons, most will describe what they call ā€œhitting the wallā€ around the 18ā€“20-mile mark. This is because ā€œour bodies store about 1,800 to 2,000 calories worth of glycogen in our muscles and liver [and] on average, we use about 100 calories per mile when running, depending upon run pace and body mass.ā€ According to Susan Paul of Runnerā€™s World, when that preferred energy source is depleted, something happens in our brains that encourages it to go into preservation mode which can introduce negative thinking and make us want to give up. To sum it up, itā€™s a simple math equation, and to overcome it, athletes spend a significant amount of time training before a race to prepare for that moment.

So why am I speaking about that now? I donā€™t share this to suggest that we are in a race, but to emphasize the importance of being intentional about actions we can take to remain committed to our goals and see them through to the last day of school. Learning has a compound benefit that yields big returns over time. Because of that, every minute is precious.Ģż

To be successful and focused to the very end, there are a few tips that the College Board offers to students. I think they very much apply to us as educators too. Here are some of those tips:

1. FOCUS ON HIGH-IMPACT ACTIVITIES. Not every activity we plan for or engage our students in are created equal. Some are good, some are better and some are best. When designing activities for your learners and when choosing where to focus your time and attention as a teacher, focus on those things that are going to give your students the greatest advantage and have the strongest impact on their learning outcomes.Ģż

2. CREATE NEW CHALLENGES. By March, it is not uncommon to feel fatigue. Both students and teachers feel this, and it is normal. One way to boost our focus and energy is to introduce new challenges. Humans love novelty. Make learning fun and engaging by challenging your learnersā€™ brains with standards-aligned activities that push their thinking, challenge their perceptions and connect them to the things that they find personally important.

3. LEAN INTO YOUR SUPPORT NETWORK. We all need support and encouragement. Some of the best sources for that support are those we interact with the most - our colleagues and friends. Share your challenges with your peers. Seek out solutions and new ideas. Connect with those around you and consider collaborative approaches to overcoming common challenges. Working together and leaning into the support of those around you can make all the difference.

4. CELEBRATE! You and your students have come a long way this year and made growth. Celebrate those accomplishments. Reflecting on how far you have come can be so motivating and give you the extra umph to push forward and see your goals through to the end.Ģż

So many good things have happened this year and students are continuing to learn and grow. Kids are working hard to catch up and close gaps that were generated from unfinished learning. Your work is making that possible. May we all push for the homestretch and encourage each other as we do it!

In 91ÖĘʬ³§, we have a cultural tenet that we believe and try to embody - Get Better Every Day. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what it means to get better every day? What behaviors do we have to engage in daily to make that happen? What do we do when we hit roadblocks or struggle to improve a weakness that is staring us in the face? What kind of person is working to improve themselves on a daily basis?

While the answers to these questions are potentially as individual as the person asking them, I couldnā€™t help but see the one thing they all have in common. They underscore oneā€™s identity. Identity is defined as who or what a person is. New York Times bestselling author James Clear said, ā€œEvery action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.ā€ In other words, we are all on a journey to becoming someone, and who that someone is depends on what we DO. The great thing about this process is development is not a destination. We never ā€œarriveā€ when we are trying to build habits that help us to get better every day. Each new sunrise offers rays of hope about new learning on the horizon.

So, what can we practically do as individuals to embed habits into our daily lives and classrooms that will help shape a better us? I want to highlight two.

1. KEEP THE CHANGE SMALL. Very few of us have the willpower to sustain big changes to our daily lives resulting in real improvement. The pull of old habits is too great, and we often lose our emotional stamina to persist and go back to our old ways. This is the reason New Yearā€™s resolutions are routinely the same year after year (itā€™s ok, you can admit it if you do that, tooā€¦ I know I do). To avoid this uphill battle, why not make the change small? And by small, I mean tiny. In his book Atomic Habits, Clear reminds us that ā€œchanges that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if youā€™re willing to stick with them for years.ā€ Pianists become pianists because they persist in practice every day. Readers become good readers because they read every day - even if only for a few minutes. Marathoners run marathons because they took their first step and persisted until their body adapted over time and slowly they were able to reach the distance of 26.2 miles. None of these accomplishments happen by trying once or even twice for that matter. They happen because the person started small and persisted over time.Ģż

2. STACK YOUR HABITS. Clear shares, ā€œOne of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top.ā€ Here are some concrete examples he shares:

• • Meditation. After I pour a cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute.
  • Gratitude. After I sit down to dinner, I will say one thing Iā€™m grateful for that happened today.
  • Exercise. After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes.

Can you think of one that you can add to your classroom routine that would promote more time on-task reading?

Find one habit that is already automated in your life or classroom, and simply stack one small, specific thing on top. Do that small thing every day, and you will have a new habit that is helping you to get better, every day.

Being a human being is a gift. We have the cognitive ability to reflect on our lives and make intentional changes to improve ourselves. May we find joy in that growth one small even tiny step at a time.

I recently started reading a book called Think Again authored by Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In the text, he focuses on the value of approaching life and situations with a scientific mindset, open to the possibility (and high probability) that you could be wrong and/or that there is additional information that could add to your understanding. He suggests that ā€œwe need to do as much time rethinking as we do thinking.ā€ What does he mean by that? It starts with what he refers to as intellectual humility.

While we work through the challenges that are symptomatic of a community that has lived in persistent physical and emotional crisis for the last couple of years, we have come to realize that doing ā€œbusiness as usualā€ will no longer generate the outcomes we once enjoyed. Learners have new obstacles to overcome. Teachers and staff have additional worries and stressors impacting their work. We have to be open to being a bit more curious and to the possibility of how school and our day-to-day work may look different. As Grant reminds us, sometimes our own experience and background knowledge can generate convictions that ā€œlock us in prisons of our own making.ā€ If we want to be highly effective leaders (and by leaders I include all of us that interact with students and each other), we must cultivate confidence in our ability to reach our goals and enough humility to be open to revising our beliefs about things as we pursue them.

Krumrei Mancuso stated, ā€œLearning requires the humility to realize one has something to learn.ā€ Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist shared that ā€œhe genuinely enjoys discovering that he [is] wrong, because it means he is now less wrong than before.ā€ I never thought of it that way! So how can we, as a team, begin to flex our leadership muscles to develop greater levels of humility, detach ourselves from our own ideas and openly consider new possibilities? Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. Promote psychological safety. Be willing to model vulnerability and express when you have doubts about your own ideas or may be wrong. It is said, ā€œI err, therefore I learn.ā€ Learning insinuates that you didnā€™t know something before. As a learning organization, we want to underscore that learning is a good thing, even if that means admitting we donā€™t have the answer or that the answer we thought we had may not be the right one.
2. Ask more questions. When working with others, it is counterproductive to enter a conversation with the sole purpose of convincing the group to concede to your ideas. If you notice that they do not agree, ask what part of the idea gives them pause and seek out more details. You will likely find that the answer to your challenge lies in the mix of ideas that are generated from everyone working together. There is some truth to the adage that two minds are better than one.

Change isnā€™t easy. And changing our minds is no exception. But it is possible to develop the skill, and we are all better for it. As you reflect on how this may apply to you, let me leave you with just a few more parting words offered by Dr. Grant for us all to considerā€¦ ā€œIntelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, thereā€™s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learnā€¦ We donā€™t have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. [Let us all lean into the invitation] to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility, humility and curiosity.ā€

Differentiation. Itā€™s a word that is commonly used throughout the education community. It is also a word that is routinely misused. Most individuals using this term do so to describe their effort to provide a variety of entry points to children in the learning process. We often hear of differentiation of content (what is taught), process (how it is taught), product (how mastery is demonstrated) and the learning environment. Examples are regularly provided with teachers creating centers and students rotating through a variety of learning activities to practice new concepts. And while it is true that differentiation can in fact include these things, that is only a small part of the story.

So what is true differentiation and why is it so important? As public school educators, we have the unique privilege of providing a high quality education to all students in our community - not just some. These learners come from a variety of backgrounds. Some students arrive at the schoolā€™s doorstep with a strong foundation in basic literacy and numeracy skills. Others may need teachers to build that foundation to prepare them for more complex concepts down the road. Regardless of the skill sets students arrive with, we want school to be meaningful and engaging whenever a student participates in the learning process. This requires us as educators to first do our homework. I would like to suggest two main assignments.

1. Get to know each student on an individual level. What does your learner think about and enjoy when they are on their own time? Do they have passions or interests? Do they have hobbies? What aspects of the world or their community peak their interest or inspire them to ask questions? The more we know about our learners, the better we are able to ensure that we frame and shape the lessons in a way that is engaging and naturally draws them into the learning process. Who wouldnā€™t want to master new skills while diving into topics that we are naturally drawn to?
2. Understand what the individual students know and donā€™t know about the concept about to be taught. Like we talked about last month, we need to pre-assess our learners to make sure we know what they already know about our unit of study. By understanding where they are on the continuum of mastery, we can be sure that the learning process includes the very skills they need to successfully meet the expectations of the grade level standard.

Differentiation is a gift. It is one that is wrapped with care and effort by the teacher. The best gifts we receive are those we can tell came from a giver who knew us well and used that knowledge to find something that would bring us a small moment of joy. This holiday season, letā€™s continue to provide our students with the joy of learning and gift them with learning that is customized and differentiated just for them.

Boy, if there was ever a bad word in education, assessment has become that word. Politicized across various platforms, families have rightfully been frustrated with the volume of time their children are engaged in taking assessments all in the name of accountability. School has turned into more than a place where our children go to learn new concepts, explore innovative ideas, ask genuine questions and interact with diverse people. It also has become a place where the stakes are high, and consequences are statutorily imposed based on scores gleaned from a state test administered on a single day. Unfortunately, all of this has created the misperception that tests are bad or not needed. But they are in fact a critical part of the teaching and learning process.

Imagine for a moment that you want to go on a road trip. To plan the best route to travel, you must first decide where you want to go and where you are in relation to that destination. Your route will be different if you are trying to get to New York City as opposed to Houston. It also depends on where you currently are. If you live in Ohio, your route to either destination will be very different from a person who lives in Dallas.

So, what does this have to do with assessment and teaching? Itā€™s simple. Before I can know what to teach my students, I must first define what it is they need to know. I need to understand what mastery of the concept I am about to teach looks like and assess where my students are in relation to that level of mastery. I need to understand what my students already know (we donā€™t want to waste their time teaching them something they already understand). And I need to assess where each of my studentsā€™ starting points are and decide how to customize their learning pathway to get them to the correct destination - the place of mastery.

Assessment is critical. Only by pre-assessing students before we begin teaching can we know how to differentiate their learning. Only by formatively assessing students while they are in the learning process can we know if they are on track for mastery or if teaching adjustments need to be made to ensure they arrive at the intended learning target.

This best practice - assessment and formative feedback - is one of the most important skills we as educators must master. Here are some steps you can take as an educator to leverage this best practice in your instructional design:

1. Decide what your students should know and be able to do to demonstrate mastery of the concept being taught.
2. Design and administer a standards-aligned pre-assessment prior to teaching to see where your students are in the mastery continuum.
3. . Customize learning pathways for your students to master the learning objectives.
4. Locate or create formative assessments to track studentsā€™ progress (and to allow students to track their own progress) as they are learning.
5. Adjust along the way using the information that formative assessments provide.

Learning is fun! It is especially fun when we are productively challenged and have some ownership in the process. Assessments and formative feedback make that possible. Letā€™s get back to our roots and use them well for how they are intended!

Coaching can initially be an intimidating process. It calls for our vulnerability and trust. We are invited to openly share our goals and to collaboratively work with a thought partner to identify the steps we plan to take to reach them. There is an increased amount of personal accountability. Each time we meet with our coach, we give an accounting of the progress we have made or the missteps that need to be corrected. And while each of these things may challenge us, the very best professionals are the very best because of the way they maximize the support of their coach.

So, how do we do that? The Lindenberger Group offers seven steps for maximizing the benefits of executive coaching. I invite you to consider them for yourself as you begin your work with a math or literacy coach.

PREPARE FOR DISCOMFORT. Quality coaching starts with a candid self-assessment through self-reflection or feedback. This can be scary. Know that your coach is there to support you and help you explore the work you are engaged in pursuit of your goals.

SET CLEAR GOALS. The only way to get to a destination is to clearly articulate exactly where you are trying to go. This will help you to stay on track and understand where adjustments are needed along the way.

BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK. None of us are perfect and all of us have room to grow. Feedback is a gift! Others, who live outside of our daily experience, can see things we miss. By capitalizing on and understanding their perspective, we will be able to see our blind spots and consider how to best proceed forward successfully.

BUILD ON YOUR STRENGTHS. We all have strengths. Coaching is about leveraging those strengths to reach our goals. Your coach will help you to recognize your strengths and use them as a foundation for achieving your desired outcomes.

BE AWARE WHEN STRENGTHS BECOME WEAKNESSES. Sometimes our strengths, when we lean on them too much, can serve as a hindrance to our progress. New achievement often requires a new set of skills. Over-reliance on the same skills we have typically used may not always be the best approach when you are trying to accomplish something new.

REMEMBER THAT IT TAKES PRACTICE. We have all heard the adage, ā€œRome wasnā€™t built in a day.ā€ Expert teachers and leaders are also not developed in a day. It takes practice, practice, practice and time, time, time! Be patient with yourself. Mistakes are inherent and expected. Just like we know our students will stumble at times throughout the learning process, we should expect the same for ourselves and give ourselves grace.

SHOW COURAGE! It takes courage to try something new and to delve into areas and practices that are different from what we have done in the past. Be brave! Lean into your coach and your growth. The final result will make it all worth it!

We are excited about this year and the opportunities it affords us as teachers and leaders in service of our students. Congratulations on taking the first steps with your coach! You are in for an exciting journey!

It has been said that to become an expert, a person must practice their craft for approximately 10,000 hours. While some may learn a bit faster and some may take a bit longer, this number seems to be the average and equated to about 90 minutes a day for 20 years.

Consider how routine this practice must become to acquire the volume of hours needed to reach such a high standard of proficiency. What other things in life consume that much time? You may be surprised! Huffpost World News reports that over a lifetime, the average person spendsā€¦

• 281,952 hours in bed
• 59,808 hours of that time just tossing and turning trying to fall asleep
• 72,720 hours watching television
• 25,632 hours on social mediaĢż
• 37,992 hours eating - 66% of which is eaten at our desk at work
• 5,640 hours just standing in lines
• 18,000 hours in school from pre-K to our senior year in high school

If we were to fill up a jar with marbles and each of the marbles represented one year of our life, just the hours above would consume approximately 52 of them. Time is our most precious gift and we have relatively very little of it.

You may be asking yourself why I would be writing about this. The reason is I have been thinking about how to best use the time we have with the students we serve and have reflected on how we can continually improve our craft to become expert educators. Research has clearly articulated which practices, when implemented with fidelity in the classroom, yield the greatest positive impact on learners. This year we are focusing on four of them. They are:

• Standards Alignment
• Assessment and Formative Feedback
• Small Group Instruction
• Differentiation/Scaffolding

How do we, as educators, maximize the 18,000 hours we have with our students and ensure they are getting our very best? We do so by perfecting our practice through coaching. There is clear evidence demonstrating a 95% transfer rate of newly learned skills into daily practice when coached. In other words, the chances of me implementing the new things I learn are high if I have a coach to help me do it.

So, who takes advantage of this and gets coached in the world? The best CEOs, gold medal Olympians and professionals in almost every field get coached. In essence, those who want to be the best at what they do are coached. According to the Harvard Business Review, one of the top reasons for coaches is to engage an organizationā€™s high potentials. You, the teachers and leaders of our learners, are our high potentials!

This year, we are focusing on providing one-onone coaching for every literacy and mathematics teacher in 91ÖĘʬ³§. I want to invite you to take advantage of this opportunity to grow and learn. Lean into your coach as a sounding board. Challenge yourself to embrace new practices. Support one another as you try. There is a reason it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in something. Practice makes perfect, but that practice takes time and effort.

Thank you for your commitment to the students of the 91ÖĘʬ³§! Now more than ever they need our very best as they seek to recover from unfinished learning that has accumulated over the last 18 months. Your expertise and skills will bless their lives and help them make the most of the 18,000 hours they are in our care.

What a year this has been! We have all been challenged in ways we could have never anticipated. We have had to stretch ourselves and refine our craft with such urgency that the pace at times felt daunting. We have worked to support students and their families as they navigated family hardships all while trying to stay engaged in the learning process. We have served as friends, counselors, confidants and sometimes even a shoulder to cry on for our colleagues during moments where we have been overwhelmed and emotionally saturated. So much of this has been done quietly, without the crowds and lights. But I want Thanks for all your hard work you to know that you have been seen. You are GREAT teachers! And as was so well articulated in an article on Teach.com, ā€œGreat teachers do it all.ā€

When we all chose to enter this profession, we did so knowing that there was a unique opportunity to serve others and impact their lives for good. We knew that each year would present a new set of opportunities and that every cohort of students would be original. Teaching is like no other profession. ā€œTeachers are in a unique position to have a direct impact on their students. Teachers can see their work in action, see the changes they affect, and in so doing they witness firsthand their goals coming to fruition. No matter what the goals are, they can pretty much be summed into a single sentence: You want to help people.ā€

As we close this school year, I want to say THANK YOU! Thank you for helping me. Thank you for helping each other. Thank you for supporting your students and their families through this difficult season. We have all made it through this stronger than we started because you have magnified your role and have shown what being a teacher is all about.

May you take some well deserved time over the summer for yourself. Reconnect with your hobbies, personal interests and loved ones. Do so knowing that you have helped and impacted others (some that you may not even personally know) for good. And we will be forever grateful.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to train for a half marathon. The idea of running 13.1 miles straight was a bit daunting to imagine. I had never run long distances in the past and the longest distance I could remember running was in the eighth grade for PE and that was just a mile!

There was something about setting this goal that was extremely motivating for me. Not growing up as an athlete, it was validating. It was something I could do and do well. It was a challenge and required persistence. It took a certain level of determination and the potential accomplishment of the goal was exciting!

Running is a unique sport. Running requires not only physical strength and endurance but also a strong mind. Runners commonly experience the mental challenge of having to push through specific mile markers. There are moments when your body wants to give up and your mind has to kick in to overcome the physical temptation to stop.

Running also requires consistent training. When I Crossing the Finish Line began my training schedule, I started slowly. I ran very short distances and gradually built up my stamina a half mile at a time over several weeks and months.

Training required patience. It was a long process. If I pushed myself too hard too quickly, I risked injury. I instead had to celebrate the small gains along the way and reflect on how far I had come since I began. The closer I got to reaching the goal of running 13.1 miles, the more motivated I became.

After months of training, the day to run my first official half marathon race finally arrived. It was a brisk morning and the energy in the air was palpable. Runners from all over the country had assembled and were eagerly warming up their bodies as they waited for the long-anticipated sound that signaled that the race had begun. My micro-goal that day was that I was going to run the entire race and not walk a single step. My months of training paid off. I did it!

So why do I tell you this story? School this year has been very similar to training for and running a marathon. It has been a long journey - longer than any one of us could have anticipated. It required agility and professional flexibility to adapt our practice real time and to learn new skills that didnā€™t always come easy or naturally. It required patience and perseverance for all of us and most importantly for the students as they learned in new modalities. And now we are getting closer to the finish line and I want to invite you to FINISH STRONG!

Push to the very last day. Continue to provide meaningful and rigorous learning tasks to the very last day. Encourage students to engage in their learning up to the very last day. Letā€™s all collectively rally as a team, students and staff alike, to cross the finish line giving our all.

THANK YOU for a successful school year! It is YOU who have made it that way.

91ÖĘʬ³§ is welcoming learners back!

Last year, we all jumped into Spring Break excited with anticipation for time to travel, rest, spend time with family and friends, etc. Little did we know that only a few days later the world would stop in its tracks and force all of us to reorient ourselves to life without direct access to people and resources.Ģż

This sudden change in environment has impacted so many facets of our lives including our physical and emotional well-being and the way we learn. Educators and students were thrust into an instructional model that required us to adapt and think about teaching and learning from a new perspective. Fast forward a year later and we are slowly seeing the sunrise in the distance.

As we gradually see this chapter in our lives start to close, we look forward to welcoming more and more of our students back to school. We are excited to see their faces and to engage in collaborative learning in an environment that is more relational in nature. While students may eagerly return, itā€™s important to recognize that coming back to school and reorienting to life as it once was may stretch learners as they adjust.

Habits have been formed while everyone has worked from home. And changing those habits can be challenging. Here are a few tips offered by students and shared by author for educators to consider as we prepare for more students to return to the classroom.Ģż

Tip 1: Create a supportive and emotional safe environment Many students have been isolated for months from their peer groups. They have not had the chance to socialize or to interact with others on a routine basis, let alone in a physical learning environment. As more students return to school, it will be important to make time for this to happen. Build in time for learning activities that intentionally create the chance to reconnect with their classmates, exchange ideas, share experiences, etc.

Tip 2: Be flexible Students working from home have had a lot of autonomy. They have been able to take breaks when needed or get up and have a snack when they were hungry. They have even had the ability to daydream without being noticed, check their devices and even text their friends at will. As they return to school, it is important to remain flexible as students adjust to new expectations. Letā€™s encourage and continue to mindfully support them as they adapt.

Tip 3: Foster the development of new study habits Learning in the home environment is quite different from being in school where students adhere to a bell schedule and structured learning blocks/periods. This change will necessitate new habits to foster engagement and learning. As students return to school, work to reestablish routines. Develop specific times where learning positive behaviors are fostered. Intentionally work to increase studentsā€™ attention span by breaking up instruction into smaller chunks and integrating multiple opportunities for them to dialogue about the content they are learning. As Dr. Cash says, ā€œKidsā€™ brains need breaks, and their bodies need movement.ā€ Building those moments into their class time is a good thing.

Tip 4: Model patience Change is hard. Itā€™s especially hard when multiple changes are happening at the same time such as changing the learning environment and the way one learns. As students come back, they may need more time to complete assignments or to take an assessment. They may need opportunities to safely work in small groups or to go slower in order to eventually go faster. As we plan for instruction, itā€™s important to understand what gaps they may have related to the content we are about to teach and customize the learning experience that gives students the opportunity to potentially have more than one attempt. Letā€™s encourage students to take risks in their learning by being patient as they learn.

Slowly returning to life as we knew it is exciting! It is also scary and overwhelming for many. May we support and encourage one another and our learners as we step back into it.

If it could happen in 2020- 2021, it has. Never in our lifetimes have we experienced so many culminating challenges at the same time. And while we have been pushed to innovate at a pace previously considered impossible, we as a society have risen to the occasion and see brighter days in our near future.

Throughout this experience, I have been reminded of the work of Dr. Carol Dweck and the importance of having a growth mindset. We have studied what a growth mindset is and value its role in learning so much that we have embedded it into the Active Learning Cycle and our Leadership Definition. To me, the concept of a growth mindset is the foundation of what we call lifelong learning. We can experience challenges, personal and professional, and learn from those experiences to grow and improve over time.

Having a growth mindset does not mean walking with naive positivity. It is about seeing the reality for what it is and finding the opportunities to grow in the process. For many, the growth is skill-based encouraged by continued practice and effort. For others, it is emotional. It is about looking introspectively and strengthening the mental and emotional stamina needed Helping Studentsā€™ Mental Health to Thrive to weather the challenges life puts in front of us.

As we work through the second semester, I want to invite us all to intentionally take care of the emotional well-being of ourselves and the students we serve. Our learners are being asked to carry unanticipated burdens while also simultaneously striving to perform academically. So, how can we support them mentally and emotionally through the process? Grace Berman and Allison Dubinski of the Child Mind Institute share some simple strategies for supporting studentsā€™ mental health during the COVID-19 crisis. Letā€™s consider a few:

• Build a daily routine into your instructional day that is focused on social and emotional health. This will provide students with a reliable outlet to work through the emotions and experiences they are having. As they reinforce, ā€˜Even small exercises can go a long way in helping kids feel safe and validated.ā€™ For example, you could do a ā€˜feelings temperatureā€™ each day similar to the temperature checks we do before kids enter the building. Students can rate the intensity of their feelings on a scale of 1-10, notice how they are physically reacting to it and journal about it.
• Incorporate mindfulness and relaxation into the day. Take a two-minute relaxation break. Help kids notice the small details in their surroundings - how things, smell, taste, see and feel. Build their toolkits to include relaxation techniques, including intentional breathing, muscle relaxation and guided imagery. These can be done easily while social distancing in their seats.
• Prioritize hands-on learning activities. During COVID, students spend so much time in front of screens. Intentionally work to build non-screen activities into their learning process and encourage your students to make time at home to do some of their favorite activities/hobbies. As a people, we often put our physical health ahead of our mental and emotional when they are all equally important to sustain a quality life. May we continue to make space for ourselves and the students we serve to allow our mental and emotional health to thrive.

While transitioning to a virtual learning environment was unexpected and the timing of it a bit accelerated, the reality is that so many teachers and students around the world have long begun leveraging the benefits of technology to enhance the learning process. This modern integration of technological tools has created a whole new learning experience that has supported increased student autonomy and purpose in their learning. Realworld problems can now easily be infused into teachersā€™ lessons and opportunities to explore powerful questions to solve those problems at the learnersā€™ fingertips are everywhere.

As with any transition, learning to be an autonomous and engaged learner in a new environment can be challenging. For so long, students have waited on their teachers to give them step-by-step instructions as they have progressed through the learning process. For students who have relied on this type of direction, moving into a virtual environment can feel a bit daunting and lead to a lack of engagement. Emelina Minero recently authored an article in Edutopia.org providing specific strategies to improve student participation in the virtual classroom. Letā€™s consider a few of these in both synchronous and asynchronous environments.

Synchronous

1. Use the chat feature to check for understanding. During lessons, posing questions that students can immediately respond to using the chat tool can encourage realtime participation and give teachers a sense if their remote learners are following the lesson. It can be as simple as a thumbs up. You could even use Pear Deck to make the feedback timely and fun!
2. Flip the classroom. Before the lesson, give students the opportunity to engage with the content through recorded videos and brief activities. Then, at the start of the lesson, begin with a discussion about what they learned. You can host a whole-class discussion or use breakout rooms to summarize concepts, solve problems together, clarify topics, or provide small group targeted instruction.
3. Adapt Think-Pair-Share to Zoom or Teams. You can do this by simply giving students a prompt and then breaking them into small breakout groups where they each can discuss and record their answers on a google doc. This allows students to share their ideas while still being accountable for their participation.

Asynchronous

1. Create a virtual gallery walk for students to see and provide feedback on each othersā€™ work. Students can create a short screencast sharing their work and then provide feedback to at least two of their peers. Teachers can structure this by posing specific questions to answer on a google doc such as, ā€œWhat is something that surprised you?ā€ ā€œWhat is something that you thought was done well?ā€ ā€œWhat is one thing the student can consider to improve their work?ā€
2. Give students the chance to virtually walk around the room and engage with content. Students can be divided into groups online and have access to a google slidedeck or document. Students can rotate through the slides and leave comments or insights about the content. They can then go back and comment on what their peers wrote, generating an online conversation.
3. Leverage tools to create realtime collaboration among students. There are so many tools available to encourage real-time collaboration among students. Check out for an article listing of 30 of the best digital collaboration tools for students.

There are so many ways we can make learning fun and engaging online. The possibilities are endless. Just ask the students! When itā€™s all said and done, it simply comes down to this: The more we can increase student interaction with the content and each other, the better!

We live in a unique time. Never before has the world been so small and accessible. People from distant lands can board a plane and within hours travel to the other side of the planet populated with individuals who share a different culture and value system. With the click of a few buttons, we can connect face-to-face with those living in various time zones and engage in conversations that challenge our thinking and expectations. Information is doubling at a pace that far exceeds our ability to consume it. New ideas saturate our living rooms and bookshelves as they are published and put on the air at a once inconceivable rate. If you had asked a person even 25 years ago what today would be like, I would venture to say it would have been a stretch of the imagination at best. And while these advances may generate some unique challenges, I believe that our exposure to each other, our individuality and diverse thoughts is actually a gift.

What makes a gift so special? Is it the wrapping paper covering the package with colors and patterns that pique our curiosity and insight emotions of excitement and anticipation? Is it that the gift was unexpected and an expression of someoneā€™s care for us? There is probably an endless list of reasons why gifts feel significant to us. I would like to suggest that the reason that gifts are generally received with joy is that they represent goodness. That goodness is not wrapped up in paper or delivered with a bow. The goodness is actually felt and discovered in the unseen positive motivation that we sense from the gift giver themself. And that goodness is available to us every day.

Goodness is all around us. It is found in the new people we meet and the new ideas they The Gift of Goodness share. Goodness is easily visible if it is sought with intent. Discovered goodness breaks down stereotypes and holds space for individuals to authentically show up and be seen. Adults and children alike have goodness, and when we intentionally look for it, we can see their humanity and become a source of encouragement. Alexs Pate in The Innocent Classroom writes, ā€œPeople learn better from people who they believe care about them.ā€ What are some things we can do to effectively foster the relationship-building process in both students and each other? Pate has three suggestions:

1. Believe that good exists in each of the children [and adults] we work with;
2. Believe it is possible for us to discern the good in each of them; and
3. Believe that responding to their good will affect their engagement level and create an environment without the weight of negative narratives, stereotypes and iconography.

Each of you... your talents and ideas, your personalities and cultures, your backgrounds and skillsā€¦ no matter from where in the world you come... all of those things that make you different constitute a gift you offer to the world. When embraced in others, those same things are a gift received by each of us individually that blesses our lives. As you round the final days of this year, may you intentionally find the good you carry and seek it out in those you meet.

Recently, I read a quote that stopped me in my tracks. The quote was posted on a small road sign in a highly populated metropolitan city. It read, ā€œJust because someone carries it well, doesnā€™t mean it isnā€™t heavy.ā€Ģż This message resonated with me deeply and is a powerful reminder of the invisibility that often accompanies the burdens we bear as individuals. I couldnā€™t help but reflect on the words and consider their application in so many areas of life. Immediately my thoughts turned to our children.

Kids are often seen as some of the most resilient people in the world. When change strikes and challenges arise, children are generally perceived to bounce back more quickly than we do as adults. But emotional hardships are equally as real for them and lasting. School today is different than it was a year ago. Contact with friends and family is limited. Opportunities to engage in extracurricular activities have been truncated. Even the way students are being asked to engage in the teaching and learning process switched for them overnight. While we are all focused on ensuring students are successful academically, we have to first prioritize their emotional well-being. Without that, success will be impossible.

So, what are some things we can do to support our learners during this unique time. Here are a few suggestions shared by Laura Vargas in an ASCD article titled, How We Can Make Time to Meet Studentsā€™ Emotional Needs?

1. Create a Safe Atmosphere. Investing the time to ensure that students are learning in a safe emotional environment is as important as ensuring a safe physical one. Kids will thrive in places where they know that they can share their experiences. Vargas quotes an educator who says, ā€œIf we dedicate time to make students feel that mistakes are part of the learning process, they will understand that we are there to help and not to judge.ā€ Suggestion can include regular class meetings, check-ins with individual students, etc.
2. Meet Studentsā€™ Individual Needs. The essence of this suggestion is to simply get to know your students. Who are they? What makes them tick? What are their interests? What are things they dislike? How do they prefer to learn and demonstrate their learning? Ask questions. The better we know our students (and make it overtly obvious to them that we know and care about them), the better we can meet their needs and support their emotional well-being.
3. Establish a Support Network. Just like adults need support to navigate the difficult moments in our lives, young people need the same. They need trusted adults who they can rely on to provide guidance and stability. They also need peers that they can trust. By intentionally creating opportunities for students to establish and build those meaningful and safe relationships, they can generate networks they can lean into when itā€™s needed.
4. Routinely Check-in. One of the powerful things about ā€œadvisory periodsā€ is they provide an opportunity for teachers to routinely check-in on how individual students are doing. With so many courses and activities in a young personā€™s life, it is important that a responsible adult routinely checks in with the students to see how they are doing. Quick chats, small talk about their life and even grade checks can help you know how what a student may need and how you can best serve them.

We are living in a unique time. More than ever our students need caring responsible adults and friends to support and encourage them in their school work and life. Thank you for committing to the young people you serve and for creating a space for them to thrive.

Grades. Where do they come from? Why have they played such a prominent role in the American education system? All of us know students who have received an assignment and immediately asked, ā€œIs this for a grade?ā€ Why would that question be so common? Isnā€™t school about learning?

The use of standardized grading systems that include letter grades and percentages in elementary and secondary schools goes back to the early 20th century. Debates around grading practices and their value have swirled in the field of education ever since. Researchers have asked questions about the most effective methods for assessing studentsā€™ learning. Questions about variability, reliability and grade inflation have all resulted in many doubting the relationship between grades earned and what students actually know (Lassahn, 2020). Today, those questions still persist.

As I have thought about these persistent challenges, I canā€™t help but ask, ā€œWhat is in a grade and why do grades feel so high stakes?ā€ Grades are primarily intended to serve as a way of communicating to a student the level of mastery they have achieved in relationship to a specific learning standard. Teachers assess mastery in a variety of ways. We see authentic projects and essays that are often graded using a developed rubric that articulates key look-fors and expectations. We also see more simplistic forms of grading generated from multiple choice exams. No matter how the grade is derived, the important thing is that it communicates to the student where he or she is on the continuum of mastery.Ģż

Grades often feel high stakes because for many students there is a lot riding on them. Universities and other institutions of higher education rely on the transcribed grades communicated by teachers in high school to tell them about the potential readiness of the student for participation in a postsecondary education program. The challenge is that students compete for spots in schools with other students all across the state and country. And while they may all take the same course in high school, what is measured for mastery and the way it is measured varies resulting in grades that communicate different things. None of these challenges are easily solved. But, I do think there are some things we as educators can consider that would help us inch closer to grades communicating mastery rather than an average of the mistakes a student makes along the way.

While we live in a system that still uses averages and that is not likely to change, I want to encourage us all to consider a few questions as we work with our learners in 91ÖĘʬ³§:

• Can I provide my students with another opportunity to learn a concept after they initially struggled and resubmit an assignment for grading consideration that reflects an updated level of mastery?
• What are some ways that I can be transparent in my grading expectations prior to students performing the assignment/task in order to help them self-monitor their performance while they work?
• What role can goal setting play in my classroom as I work with students? Can my students use the pre-assessment information to set an academic goal they can strive for as they complete the unit of study?

Grading isnā€™t easy. Itā€™s time consuming and requires mental energy as one constantly evaluates performance. But I believe as we partner with students in their learning, grades can serve as positive guideposts - markers of periodic communication guiding students to their intended destination.

Never could we have imagined that the 2020-2021 school year would start the way it has. If you had asked me about the start of school this time last year, I would have described the great anticipation of studentsā€™ return, jumping back into learning, providing new and innovative programs for students, collaborating with colleagues and more.

As I have thought about the start of the school year this fall, I would still say so many of the same things. Just the context has changed. Does that mean I feel less joy in my service of students and teachers? Not at all. What it does mean is that I, and all of us in 91ÖĘʬ³§, have just had to learn to teach and lead in a time that requires high levels of adaptability.

As you all know, I love to read. True to form, I recently read an article published by Forbes called ā€œFour Truths for Leading in Uncertain Times.ā€

In this article, the author, Kathy Perkins, shares productive insights that I believe all of us can benefit from as we navigate our work with students and each other.

Donā€™t become paralyzed by uncertainty
As human beings, our brains (and emotions) like and prefer predictability. We feel comfort in being able to anticipate what is to come and try to readily adapt based on that predictability.

During these uncertain times we have to lean into one another and leverage the information that we have to make the best decisions we can, even if that information is not complete.

What we canā€™t do is to become paralyzed with indecision or inaction. This pertains not only to logistics and protocol, but also to meeting our studentsā€™ learning needs. Many students may have gaps in their learning or struggle as they learn new concepts. Our goal is to do all we can to understand those needs quickly and to address them in the most effective ways possible.

Find stability in the chaos
With everything going on in the world, our students and families need us to be a stable force for good. Students will look to their teachers and school staff for leadership and assurance. As we navigate these times together, I encourage us all to establish anchors to find steady footing.

Provide routine to your students. Be a positive force for optimism and good.

Students (and your colleagues) will appreciate the confidence this will provide them as they work through their own questions and potential insecurities.

Learn to live with ambiguity
Life is ambiguous. Challenges and crises only magnify this aspect of life and shine a spotlight on it. Effective educators and leaders accept this reality and learn to move forward courageously.

As teachers, we can teach students to be agile with lifeā€™s challenges and to lean into their values, skill sets and gifts to positively impact the world around them while learning to simultaneously live themselves in the uncertain environment found in the world.

Accept lifeā€™s paradoxes
Wise leaders understand that all situations hold both positives and negatives. There is not only one solution to all challenges. Sometimes the answer includes a ā€œbut or an and.ā€ As we embrace these contradictions, we can learn to become more resilient. Often the most difficult of circumstances is laced with a silver lining. I can think of many positive things that have come from this most unique challenge we have all had to face together over the last six months.

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! I am honored to be a part of the 91ÖĘʬ³§ team and to work alongside talented, optimistic and capable individuals such as you. I look forward to supporting you and our students as we embark on this unique journey. And, I have complete confidence that we will meet our challenges with great success. 91ÖĘʬ³§ has always always risen to the occasion and we shall again!

This year, my son decided to try something new and enrolled in a theater arts class at his high school. I was proud of him for taking a risk and engaging his curiosity. While he isnā€™t a stage actor, he was interested in working on the team that managed sound during the productions. The students in the class have been working all semester to prepare for their school musical, and he invited me to come and observe their pre-opening night rehearsal. It was so fun to see him with the earphones on working the sound booth!Ģż Ģż

At the end of the rehearsal, the students gathered on stage to receive feedback from the director. As I sat and listened from the audience, a positive and energetic teacher approached me from behind and asked if I was his father. When I confirmed that I was, she proceeded to tell me how much she enjoyed having him in class, what a terrific student he was and how grateful she was that we shared him with her. As we closed the conversation, I couldnā€™t help but think, ā€œEvery student deserves a teacher like her!ā€

What was it about this experience that struck me so deeply? It wasnā€™t that she was complimenting my son. It was the obviously genuine love and kindness she felt toward him. She could see his talent, and she affirmed it. She enjoyed his contributions to the class, and she told him. She gave him opportunities to try new things and encouraged him while he learned. He has really excelled with her as his teacher and is eager to participate in her course. And this is all because she makes her relationship with him as her student a priority. You see, I believe that if we really want to have the greatest impact on our learners, we have to start by making sure they know that we care about them as unique individuals and make our investment in their success visible.

In an article published by ā€œThe Guardian,ā€ a 16-year-old said, ā€œThe perfect teacher. [To some], that probably means exemplary lesson plans and 30 immaculately marked books with targets for improvement. But, as a 16-year-old, Iā€™m not sure I agree. What students love about the best teachers - the ones whose lessons are discussed at the dinner table, whose names are always remembered and whose impact is never forgotten - is quite different.ā€ It is about showing you care.Ģż

So how can we do that? How do we build positive relationships with our learners in a way that they can visibly see? This young author shares a few ideas for us to consider and the impact each has had on him personally:

Put in the time to get to know your students as people.

• ā€œAlthough passion is inspiring, a deep knowledge and understanding of [your students] is just as importantā€¦ I have a teacher, who from the beginning of my two-year course, offered an after-school session every single week... I am often the only one there but she doesnā€™t mind. She has completely changed my life by believing in me, pushing me and caring about meā€¦ Know[ing] someone values you enough to put in time is amazing.ā€

Show respect.

• ā€œRespect isnā€™t about having 30 silent faces shouted to submission. If you treat us as humans, know what youā€™re talking about and take an interest in what we have to say, you will gain our respect.ā€

Show your personality (but not too much - his words not mine)

• ā€œThe best teachers are the ones whose personalities are so bright that the light bulbs inside 30 heads are switched on anyway. We genuinely like the teachers who smile [and] who can do the voices in books without feeling embarrassedā€¦ We know youā€™re not here to be our friend, but some sort of relationship is important.ā€

Tell them when they have done well.

• ā€œTeachers may be expected to write pages of feedback, but if you want to improve your studentsā€™ self-esteem and encourage them to further their thinking, itā€™s the verbal feedback that really sinks in.ā€

Being a teacher is hard work. It requires not only expert skill sets, but also high emotional intelligence. As you consider the impact you have on the students you are blessed to serve, I invite you to find one way you can begin to make your care for them a bit more visible. Once they know how much you care, I am confident they will be interested in knowing how much you know.

Itā€™s a new year. Usually, that turns into a nation of people reflecting on the past several months and projecting into the future by setting New Yearā€™s resolutions. I have never been a great New Yearā€™s resolution guy. I have the best of intentions, like most people. I start off with so much energy and perceived commitment, but slowly start to drift back into old habits and, before I know it, I am back to my usual routines. I am sure if I took a poll many of you would say the same thing.

Why is that? Why are New Yearā€™s resolutions so hard to keep? How can we make positive changes and turn them into habits?

Most of us have been taught that it takes upwards to 60 days to create a habit. Dr. Susan Weinschenk, author featured in Psychology Today, says this isnā€™t true. In fact, she shares that most of the habits we have are developed unconsciously and we do them automatically. This not only makes life easier but also frees our brains to focus on other things. Think about that. Have you ever moved into a new house or office? Everything is in a different place. It is overwhelming at first but eventually gets easy as you grow to know (out of daily habitual behaviors) where everything is.Ģż

We have lots of habits we do each day:

• How we get to work everyday
• Our morning routines
• How you brush your teeth
• How you load the dishwasher
• Your routine before going to bed or immediately after waking up
• How you start your day at work by turning on the computer or creating a list

The list could go on and on. The big question is how did these things become so automated and how can you automate something that is really meaningful to you that you want to begin making a habit?

Shawn Achor, author of ā€œThe Happiness Advantageā€ suggests that we first try to reduce what is called catalyst energy - the energy needed to just get started. For example, if you want to work out in the morning, reduce all of the obstacles that would keep you from talking yourself out of it when the alarm goes off. One strategy may be to place your shoes by the bed and sleep in your workout clothes. Then all you would have to do is roll out of bed, put your feet into your shoes and off you go!Ģż

The opposite is also true. If your goal is to stop doing something, you can create obstacles (increase catalyst energy needed) that will reduce the chances of you engaging in the behavior you are avoiding. For example, if your goal is to reduce the amount of time watching television, you can take the remote, take out the batteries, and place the remote in a room away from the TV and the batteries in another room. The challenge of having to go get the remote and put batteries in it before you can watch your show will expend more time and energy than the value you anticipate getting out of the television show, causing you to not even bother. Place a magazine or a book by the couch and chances are you will pick that up instead!

This new year, I invite you to find a behavior you want to cultivate in your lives - one that will add value and joy. Reflect on how you can reduce and increase the catalyst energy needed to engage in that behavior and take action! The key is to start small and make it as easy as possible. Before you know it, you will be exactly where you want!

When I was a kid, I didnā€™t like to read. It wasnā€™t that I couldnā€™t read, I just didnā€™t enjoy it. I distinctly remember being assigned a book to read and feeling the tedious and emotional angst as I slowly went page by page just trying to finish the task. I was a deliberate and methodical reader as a child. I didnā€™t want to miss a word. If there was something I didnā€™t understand, I would go back and reread. While these are good reading strategies that helped with my comprehension, I approached it from a very task-oriented mindset and it was not enjoyable.Ģż

People who know me today may find themselves quite surprised by this. Today, it would not be uncommon to find my nose deep in a book or actively seeking out someone with whom I can talk to process something I am reading. As I have mentioned before, I commonly have four to five books that I am reading at the same time simply because I will find myself reading one thing and then drawn to another out of sheer curiosity. I just canā€™t help myself!

So how did this transformation happen?

How did I go from a child (and even a college student) who put effort into avoiding reading to one who is so passionate about it? As I have thought about this, I realized that my passion and interest grew when I began to have genuine personal questions I wanted answers to and realized that there was a wealth of literature out there that could feed my inquisitiveness. Reading became meaningful and as I gained answers to the questions I was exploring, the learning then became fun.

As humans, we are born to learn. The learning process begins the moment we enter the world and continues until the second we leave it. Learning shapes us into the people we are. It molds our thinking and constructs our opinions. It modifies our biases and challenges our assumptions. It confirms fact. The individuals we are and the societies we create together are deeply influenced by the ideas shared and the things we learn through reading.

In an article published by Kites in the Classroom, the author explores the relationship between the science connected to the neurological function of your brain and the learning process. There we learn that ā€œdopamine is a neurotransmitter - a chemical messenger that helps the transmission of signals in the brain. It affects brain processes that control movement, emotions, and the ability to experience pleasure and pain. But to teachers, dopamine is the brainā€™s reward mechanism. It is released in a studentā€™s brain when they experience something they enjoy...

ā€œWhy should we care about dopamine? Because our brains are wired to find learning fun! Think about it: Every time weā€™re interested and engaged in a subject, our brains get a shot of dopamine. The feelings of pleasure that follow make us want to keep learning, exploring and pushing ourselves to find out more... But whatā€™s more, dopamine not only motivates us to learn, but it also helps us retain that new information... The more interested we are in an activity, the more dopamine is released and the better we remember it.ā€

This resonates with me and the personal experience I have had. It seems to be true for so many of the students and teachers I have authentically engaged with in the learning process over the years. As teachers, we have the chance to give our students the gift of learning. By getting to know them and the authentic interests and questions they have, we can design learning experiences that tap into their curiosity and make learning not only meaningful, but also fun! What could be better than mastering new concepts and skills all while enjoying the process.Ģż

The holiday season is about generosity and service. Thank you for the service you provide to your students. Teaching them to love learning is one of the most valuable gifts you can give. And the incredible thing about it is that it is one that will keep on giving for decades to come.

John Spencer and A.J. Juliani, authors of , say, ā€œStudents continue to fall into the same trap year after year with traditional schooling. They rarely have the chance to choose their learning path in school and routinely treat school like a ā€˜jobā€™ instead of the most valuable learning experience they will ever have. By the time students get to high school, over 83 percent are stressed out, 67 percent say they re bored half the time, and many learn to ā€˜play the game of schoolā€™ while worrying about what will happen to them if they do not get a particular grade and get into a specific college.ā€

This is a powerful statement and claim. The idea that students are often either stressed out or bored does not seem ideal. As I reflected on this comment, I considered my own children and began to notice evidence of this even with them. How can this be? We live in a time where innovation and human advancement is happening at an exponential rate. How is it possible that the very students that will perpetuate that advancement feel bored or worse, stressed?

Each year, we survey our students and ask them questions about their learning experience in AISD. Specifically, we ask students how satisfied they are with the education they are receiving. The results are astounding. In high school, 41.7 percent of 10^th and 12^th graders report not being satisfied with the education they are receiving from their schools. This number isnā€™t much better in Junior High or Elementary with 39.7 percent of 8^th graders and 31.7 percent of 6^th graders reporting the same. The interesting point, however, is that 87.4 percent of 6^th grade, 82.4 percent of 8^th grade and 81.2% of 10^th and 12^th grade respondents say that their classes are in fact preparing them for their futures. So while the students who responded believe their classes are preparing them for their future, they are still dissatisfied with their education.

ā€œChoice gives students the opportunity to cast their own line and choose what bait they want to put on the hook. Learning follows, not because it is forced upon them, but because it is naturally connected to curiosity and inquiry."

Why is this? Could it be that our students are craving for more relevance in their learning? Do students want to have more choice in their purpose related to the tasks they are being asked to engage in? Spencer and Juliana share an interesting idea from , a best-selling author and speaker on creativity. He said, ā€œWhether or not you discover your talents and passions is partly a matter of opportunity. If youā€™ve never been sailing, or picked up an instrument, or tried to teach or write fiction, how would you know if you had a talent for these things?ā€ They extend this thinking stating, ā€œChoice gives students the opportunity to cast their own line and choose what bait they want to put on the hook. Learning follows, not because it is forced upon them, but because it is naturally connected to curiosity and inquiry." We are working to do this very thing in 91ÖĘʬ³§ by leveraging our learning framework, the , to give our students more choice and opportunities to engage in learning experiences that they enjoy and connect with.

What an honor it is to educate the learners of AISD! Thank you for all you are doing to provide our students with highly relevant learning experiences that is preparing them for their futures. May we continue to leverage research-based best practices to promote highly rigorous and relevant learning experiences that focus on studentsā€™ needs and empower their ownership in the learning process. I know that in so doing, we will not only continue to ensure our students are prepared for the futures they see for themselves, but also promote their deep satisfaction along the way.Ģż

As a young boy growing up in Southern California, I was always interested in other people and cultures. I would spend hours learning about distant lands in Europe and was captivated by their royal histories. The idea that a person could travel by car or train, and within a few short hours, have driven through several countries, each with their own district language and tradition, fascinated me! I used to listen to Spanish radio, wanting so badly to speak another language like so many of the citizens from the places I learned about. And while I didnā€™t know when it would happen, I knew that one day I would see these places first hand.

I remember in middle school, I joined the Europe Club led by my teacher, Mrs. Webb. She assigned cool projects about topics that peaked our interests. She provided time for us to read and share what we learned with other friends who had similar passions. I loved it so much I stayed after school to keep learning!

As I reflect on that memory, I can see the encouragement and space some of my favorite teachers gave me to leverage my skills in pursuit of what I was passionate about. They knew what I was interested in and gave me the space to learn the academic skills of reading, writing, researching, etc. while pursuing those interests. This not only deeply engaged me in the learning process, but also empowered me to own it.

So how do we as educators make that shift from simply making the subject interesting to truly tapping into our studentsā€™ interests? A.J. Juliani provides a powerful recommendation in his book .

He said:

"Let the creative process fuel your work and empower students to be a maker instead of only a learner."

What does it mean to be a maker?

It means giving students the opportunity to apply their learning in highly relevant projects where they are not only tapping into their interests and purpose, but in many cases, adding value to the community and world where they live. When planning for instruction, he recommends a few reflective questions for teachers to consider that will promote this kind of learning:

1. Why would my students care about (insert content to be taught)?
2. What would be the best way to learn (insert content to be taught)?
3. What would be the best way to assess my studentsā€™ learning without regurgitation?
4. How can I engage my students in understanding their purpose and use in the real world?

Being an educator is no easy task, but the rewards are great! Juliani provides educators with ideas and free resources at to help facilitate this type of learning for kids. There teachers and staff will find ideas for projects that will not only expose students to rich content, but do it in a way that empowers them to own their learning.

Thank you for designing meaningful learning experiences for kids! Iā€™m grateful to Mrs. Webb who did that for me. And I know your students will feel the same gratitude for you.

Let me tell you the story of a young boy named Louis. Louis grew up in a small French village outside of Paris in the early 1800's. He was the youngest of four children and was raised by loving parents who were leather workers by trade. Louis often went to visit his father at his shop. While there he would play with the materials and try to make holes in the leather using a sharply pointed tool called an awl. This instrument is often used to create holes we commonly see in the belts we wear. One day, while he was busy making holes, the awl slipped and caught him in the eye. His parents rushed him to the doctor, but it was too late. His eye could not be saved. Sadly, several days later, his other eye became infected. At the age of three, Louis found himself blind.

Louis was blessed with parents who encouraged him as he adjusted to his newly darkened world. They provided resources to help him navigate the town and he attended the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. While in attendance, he met a captain in the French Army who invented a new communication system called "night writing". This system used a series of dots and dashed impressed into paper. This intrigues Louis. It mattered to him. By age 15, Louis Braille had taken what he had learned from this relevant adult and invented what we now know as the Braille System- a system that has impacted millions for almost two centuries.

This story, related by authors and in their book , illustrates the power of relevance and student ownership in the learning process. When we, as educators, make learning meaningful to the life of the learner, they become highly motivated and committed to that learning and the impact can be far reaching. Kids want to learn about things that matter to them and they should have that experience daily.

Spencer and Juliani continue by sharing six important truths for us as educators to consider as we design relevant learning experiences for our students.

Every child deserves to own their learning.

Teachers have the ability to empower student ownership to be lifelong learners. This boosts their creativity and commitment to their learning, which can have incredible results!

Every child in your class is someone else's whole world.

By empowering our students, we can start to transform society's social/human connections.

Stories will always shape us and help us learn.

Let's empower students to create and share their own learning stories. It's pretty incredible how the world can be transformed through the power of storytelling.

The only thing you can prepare students for is an unpredictable world.

While we don't know what the future will hold or what each of the roles our students will play in it, we can prepare them to be thinkers and problem-solvers who are able to collaborate and communicate their ideas well.

Literacy is about learning, and learning is about unlearning and relearning.

We need to give students the space to try new things and to make mistakes without consequences. Growth mindset is the foundation for lifelong learning.

As teachers, we have a huge impact on our students' lives.

When empower our students, we amplify that impact.

Being an educator is a gift. Giving our students the gift of owning their own learning is one that will keep giving exponentially. Let's together make the choice to put learning back into the hands of our kids. They deserve it. Ģż

Department Contact:

Dr. Steven Wurtz

Chief Academic Officer
(682) 867-7300
swurtz@aisd.net

I love to read. Recently, I saw a post on social media that shared how you can spot a person who loves books. It made me chuckle to myself as I read the cited ā€œevidenceā€.

• Reads several books at one timeā€¦
• While also having a stack of books to read next andā€¦Ģż
• Keeps a running list of even MORE books.

I guess itā€™s safe to say that I am guilty as charged - I love having my nose in a book. Why do I enjoy reading so much? To me, books are a special way of communicating. The act of reading words slows us down and gives us a chance to consider new things without immediately feeling inclined to jump to a response. We can reflect and chew on things that challenge us within the quiet of our own mind. Books invite us (sometimes even boldly) to consider new ideas that stretch our thinking and expose us to concepts that we may never have thought about otherwise. They reveal new truths that we may sometimes fail to see and force us to reconcile the gap between the world we perceive and the reality around us. Books teach us about people and cultures. They invite us to be pliable and to grow. They challenge our assertions and expand our possibilities. The benefits of reading are endless!

True to form, I was actively in search of a new book and I came across a title that read, ā€œEmpower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning.ā€ The word empower grabbed my attention. My mind immediately began processing the word and started analyzing what the author potentially intended by its use. I thought about the relationship between the word own and the word empower. How are these two words connected? Can a person be empowered without ownership? Does ownership generate empowerment?

In the forward of the book, George Couros created a strong visual that represented the continuum of student agency. On one end of the spectrum was compliance. On the opposite end was empowerment. Somewhere in the middle he notated engagement. What an interesting idea! Empowered students are one step further beyond simple engagement in the development of their agency. They are not only engaged in the learning process, but also have the space, tools and permission to own their work. The bookā€™s authors, John Spencer and A.J. Juliani, go on to say, ā€œThe best educators have always tried to empower their students. They know that if you are truly good at your job as an educator, eventually the students will not need youā€¦ To develop ā€˜leaders of tomorrow,ā€™ we need to develop them as leaders today.ā€Ģż

How do we empower students to own their work and be self-starters? To start, student ownership is a mindset. It is a shift from a compliance mindset to one that is self-directed. Spencer and Juliani state, ā€œNot every student will become an entrepreneur, but they will all someday need to think like oneā€¦ They may not invent a company, but they will have to invent and reinvent their jobs in order to stay relevant. In other words, theyā€™ll need to be nimble.ā€Ģż

So what can we do to help students learn the skills of a self-starter?

Spencer and Juliani suggest the following:

INSPIRE THEM

Students take initiative and are eager to participate in things that matter to them. Tap into their interests. Get to know your students and learn about what makes them tick.

CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SELF-STARTING

Carve out some time in the instructional week for students to have opportunities to self-start on their own learning. For example, have an inquiry-based Wonder Day or Genius Hour where students can choose the topic, genre and format for learning.

PROVIDE THE TOOLS

At times, students have ideas but lack the tools and resources to see them through. Letā€™s work to support their initiative by providing the tools for students to pursue the things they are most passionate about.

ENCOURAGE CREATIVE RISK-TAKING

Growth mindset is key to being a self-starter. Encourage your students to take risks and to accept failure as part of the learning process. Even the greatest inventions of the world came from lots of trial and error.

MODEL THE THINKING PROCESS

Show students how you are a self-starter in your own life. What are some ways you personally take initiative and how does that impact the positive way you see yourself?

AFFIRM IT

Acknowledge when you see your students being self-starters and reinforce the behavior. Practice over time builds strong habits.

HELP THEM FIND A COMMUNITY

Self-starters are connected to others. They network with peers and mentors. Finding opportunities to expose students to leaders and self-starters within the school and community can help them understand themselves and envision their future impact.Ģż

In the 91ÖĘʬ³§, one of our cultural tenets is to own your work. By empowering our students to own theirs, we are inviting them to use their learning to make a difference. And that is what education is all about!

Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to a keynote address where the audience was filled with men and women from different walks of life, all there to learn and grow. As I sat there looking around the room, I realized how each person uniquely brought their own individual and varied experiences, perspectives, opinionsĢż and values - each of which articulated how they lived their daily lives.Ģż

This reflection caused me to ask myself, "What drives me to pursue the goals that I personally have? Why do I passionately go after some things and feel less passionately about others? What is my purpose and how does it feed my passion for the work I am privileged to be a part of?"

Scott Perry, founder of Creative on Purpose, recently discussed the roles of passion and purpose and the difference between the two. He said, "We are born with the capacity for reason, a social nature and a creative instinct. We can employ these assets as we search for meaning and seek significance. And we all depend on and associate with others who are on the same journey... [and in doing so ask ourselves], 'How can I pursue my need to find and be me, while allowing for your desire to do the same?' This is the job of purpose.

Purpose is the convergence of:

• Who you are (your core values and guiding principles);
• What you do (your essential talents and 'soft skills'); and
• People who share your values and need your talents to enhance their lives."

Simply put, purpose is the engine and passion is the fuel.Ģż

So what is your personal purpose? How is our role in the 91ÖĘʬ³§ connected to that purpose and the purpose of the organization as a whole?Ģż

In the 91ÖĘʬ³§, we are focused on developing successful people who thrive. They are students who come to school each day to learn new skills and to develop relationships that will help them reach their goals and potential. They are teachers and staff who strive to refine their craft and build relevant experiences that challenge learners to think and grow. They are each one of us as we strive to get better every day.Ģż

As you begin this school year, I invite you to reflect on your purpose. Seek to connect your day-to-day work to your personal purpose - that force that drives your passion and sets you apart as a unique and contributing person in the world. By doing this, not only will you continue to greatly impact those you serve, but you also will discover your personal gifts that make that impact possible and find joy in so doing.

Have a successful 2019-2020 school year! I am grateful to serve alongside you!

Department Contact:

Dr. Steven Wurtz

Chief Academic Officer
(682) 867-7300
swurtz@aisd.net