I was thinking of statistics the other day. Here is something that I find interesting. The chance of a student being shot to death in the United States in a school shooting is 1-614,000,000 (based on data from 2018). For context, the chance of winning the Powerball lottery is 1-292,000,000 And yet…We spend millions of dollars on school resource officers…Because…
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This Is The Best Day Of My Life
When I was a teacher, a group of my teacher friends and I organized 2 field trips a year for our 7th and 8th graders. Every Fall we would take a day trip to New York City. In the Spring we would rotate destinations between Washington DC, Baltimore, and Boston. We raised money for the trips and it was a…
The Crisis Leadership Matrix
I have a weekly newsletter called “The Learner-Centered Leader.” The newsletter is published every Monday morning at 7:00AM and shares leadership advice and inspiration for learner-centered leaders. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. This blog post is an example of the content in the newsletter. “Too often, leaders attempt to change how their teams and organizations act without changing…
The #1 Characteristic Leaders Share
Here is something to think about. In all of my experience and all of my reading on leadership, 1 characteristic stands out for leaders who get things done. Want to know what it is? It’s is simple to understand, but difficult to implement. Great leaders adapt strategy to meet the specific context of their situation. Go be awesome!
3 Actions To Prevent Being Leadershipped Out
What does it mean to be “leadershipped out”? Here are some signs that you might be suffering from this condition: Do you know that feeling that you are on the cusp of being overwhelmed? That’s leadershipped out. When you are in a meeting and the topic is something that usually gets you charged up, but you feel apathetic about it…then…
Learner-Centered Leaders and Critical Thinking Skills in School
My Brother and Critical Thinking My brother works as a foreman for a pipe-laying crew. He mostly puts in water and sewer lines. He has some great stories from his work. It is interesting the people he has to deal with, the regulations he has to master, and the problems that arise every day. What I find interesting is that…
Do Something Now! (A Rant)
Here are some comments I hear all of the time from teachers, principals, superintendents, and anyone else that aspires to be learner-centered. “Where do I start?” “There is too much to do.” “How do I not get overwhelmed?” Let’s get something off the table right now…these are not excuses! I believe these are all valid concerns that are impacting people…
Leadership Can Be Learned
A Story Is “leadership” something that you are born with or a skill that you can develop? In other words, do you just throw up your hands and say, “that’s the way I am” and not try to build your leadership skills. In the two previous posts, I laid out a way for school leaders to develop their own leadership…
A Learner-Centered Thinking Mindset
This post is “Part Two” to last week’s blog post about a moral imperative that school leaders have to society. Since last week, I have had time to reflect a little more on the topic. It is so important for us as school leaders to shift our mindset to reflective thinking because that is the start to thinking about our…
A Moral Imperative to Society
Michael Fullan’s book, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, has been a foundational text for my career. When someone asks me what my “why” is for my career, I always say that I believe it is our moral imperative to provide the best learning opportunities for each learner, every day. The idea that resonates with me the most in the…