(Leaders) live in the present. They work in the now. They plan for the future. Leaders navigate waters both smooth and choppy. They encounter colleagues, students and parents at both their best and their worst. They inspire positive experiences. They are held responsible for negative ones. Leaders have histories. Leaders create histories. Leaders leave histories…
Category: Teacher
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 35 | Fail Better | April 17, 2024
… failure is as important as success … In recent years, a significant thread in educational research around achievement has emerged and it is something that, back when I was in “teacher school” we never discussed. As educators, the theory holds, we should encourage our students to fail. We should create conditions in which it…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 34 | It’s in the Doing that Things Get Done | April 10, 2024
Confession: I am a maker of lists. Confession: I am a maker of lists. When presented with a complex task which I know will eat up hours and the completion of which will take a significant amount of time, I get fired up when I chart out potential steps and timelines, chunk together the major…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 33 | Dissent | March 27, 2024
People disagree with their leaders. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. When decisions must be made, good leaders determine what to do based on each individual case, weighing the opinions of others as appropriate, considering precedent if necessary, proceeding confidently into each new area. Good leaders make decisions because decision making is part…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 32 | An All-Star Cast | March 20, 2024
Good leaders enable those around them to be an all-star cast I have written many times in the past about my affinity for movies. I love movies. Big movies. Small movies. Genre movies. All kinds of movies. And I love all star casts, the kinds of casts that leave an audience asking “how did they…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 31 | Followership and Leadership | March 6, 2024
… our followership, how we respond to those above us on the organizational chart, reveals much about our potential as leaders. Schools operate within hierarchical systems, where each individual, regardless of their role, is part of a structured chain of command. Teachers report to department chairs, department chairs to assistant principals, principals to presidents, and…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 30 | Gratitude and Fear | February 28, 2024
Gratitude opens the door to joy and abundance, whereas fear firmly closes those very doors. Throughout my life, and particularly in recent weeks, I have found myself reflecting on the many opportunities, both personal and professional, that I have been fortunate to experience. Most have nudged me out of my comfort zones, prompting me to…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 29 | When Leadership Lets Us Down | February 21, 2024
When we are authentic, when we act from our true selves, all of this, though incredibly heavy to shoulder, is worth the weight. Many (most?) of the blogs I have composed over the nine years of Teach & Serve reflect on or reference conditions wherein good leadership is present in a school. They are written…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 28 | Love | February 14, 2024
Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day are about intentionality. They are about relationship. Most importantly, they are about love. Today is Valentine’s Day. It is also Ash Wednesday. Though this confluence of days is rare, it is not as rare as one might think. It just happened six years ago in 2018 and will happen again…
Teach and Serve | Vol. 9, No. 27 | Polar Approaches | February 7, 2024
How the leader proceeds in the face of negativity and complaints says far more about the leader than the constituents. I recently had cause to reflect on something a good friend of mine said a few years ago: “When disagreeing, the negative opinion can seem to be more informed than the positive opinion. We should…