The first PHSprincipalBlog (changed to Director 4/1/2009) post was on 9/18/2007. (332 posts overall) I have been using Twitter for 4 years, 4 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 4 hours, 54 minutes, 7 seconds starting on Nov. 29, 2007 according to http://howlonghaveyoubeentweeting.com My activity on my blog as well as on Twitter have diminished as of late. I...
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a parent that has really set me to thinking about many things. Sometimes there are situations where students go way beyond the expectations of educators and achieve what was thought to be unattainable. When students exceed expectations we celebrate those great accomplishments and pat...
High school principal’s video about the lack of change in education and the possible ramifications.
How do we make changes in public education that will transcend the model of education that is so entrenched in many of our schools? There are no easy answers. Many people outside of the education profession believe we need to do more of the same, for more hours, using the efficiencies that technology affords...
When did the stone age flintknappers actually realize that their skills had become obsolete? Do you think they looked around at the folks who were working on making a hotter fire, shake their heads and say, “We have to emphasize stone flaking and drawing pictures of our hunts on the walls of caves. This...
When I turned 16, the first car I drove was a 1973 Pontiac Bonneville two door coupe, with a 400hp engine, that my brother had driven before me. Strangely, when I first started driving it, I was challenged to race it often (I learned later that it had rarely been beaten in a short...
I have pledged to make myself spend two half days a week (at a minimum) doing nothing but visiting classrooms. I want to connect with students, see the work that they are doing, watch my staff and highlight the exemplary practices I see, and do everthing I can to promote a positive learning environment. ...
Do you ever Google yourself? If you don’t, why not? If you do, what do you see? If something about you does not come up on the first page, something is wrong. Your learning community needs to know what you believe is important. Your voice and ideas need to be read and heard! If you...
One of the things we do at PCHS shortly after the school term ends is have the faculty meet for what we call school improvement days. These are not the days where we pour over test scores and find ways to address deficiencies that are uncovered by the yearly tests. We use these school...
As always, I have been reading a lot about what to do to make schools better. Some of what I read lately is just downright ludicrous! Pay students for grades, put more kids into excellent teacher’s classrooms, hire business leaders to run districts, make yearly tests even more high stakes, and so on. Where in the world...
Now that you have decided to read this because you think this is going to be an assault on teacher directed instruction, or one size fits all professional development, I am actually going to propose that we do some sittin’ n’ gettin to improve our practice. Now, this is not your sit and listen to...
If we really believe that the best ideas come from the confluence of many thinkers with different angles on the same set of principles, then we should be willing to come together to talk, debate and share on a regular basis. I have watched/participated in/lurked at/ some fantastic education gatherings in the last two...
Have you really ever tried to listen? Not just attend to. Not just look at, nod the head and verbalize an affirmative to someone. To really listen you have to consider what is being said, try to understand from the others point of view what the issues are. This is hard. Hard for anyone...
To be effective we need to continue to work to be: •Professionals who care about students first, student growth second, and our subject matter with the time we have left. •Professionals that are willing to take risks, willing to admit we do not have all the answers and never lose the yearning to keep...
How do we change student motivation? How do we make education more engaging? How do we get teachers to embrace a more collaborative approach with their students? I am thinking, as I browse through the trove of resources on Twitter this morning, that I have missed the point. I have spent too much time...
This is one of the toughest times of the year for our high school staff. They are trying hard to finish up the final unit of the semester, preparing final exams as well as trying to catch up on the mountains grading. There is so much to do it can be downright overwhelming! Throw...
Education is no longer a one way conversation. Gone are the days where the teacher stands in front and downloads (in an authoritarian manner) the information for the students to regurgitate back. Go into any classroom where the teacher is dominating the interaction, and you will find the students are unengaged. Students have to be involved in...
School administration is a complex job. The whole school organization feeds off of the energy, attitude, and disposition of it leaders (which includes teachers). There are many constituencies to deal with, lots of decisions to make, many managerial tasks to execute, and to put it simply, there are a lot of occasions that you...
Believing in what you do…It is pretty important don’t you think? Do you believe in what you do? Does what you do have significance to you? To others? Having been an educator for 21+ years you would think that I have figured out that what I do is important or that I would have...
Imagine walking into a shoe store where all shoes were the same. Size, shape, color, and function were the same for all choices. Every customer walks out with the exact same shoe as the customers yesterday as well as shoes that will leave the store again tomorrow. Of course shoe stores do not work...
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