Patience is a Gift

It's the time of year where we count our blessings, love our family and friends, and appreciate the wonderful season of the Holidays. But, after the lights are down, the holiday food is over, the real challenge can often begin. It can even be harder for our children of all ages.

The first of the year can be a challenge for our students as they return from a holiday break that might not mirror the love and hope we experienced in our home. They return to school with needs having been unmet. We come back to school and there are many days of learning back to back to back. So, what's the best gift you can give your students to the start of 2019?

Patience.

You can give patience.

Yes, we have been in school for a semester and they should know what to do.
Yes, it should be no surprise that students are expected to work independently during independent work time.
yes, we should be kind to our peers and to the adults.

But, let's face it that is not always the reality. When those moments occur that disrupt the 'natural flow' of learning, give patience. It's not something that is guaranteed or promised to anyone. But, I promise giving patience can make the difference between a great day and a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Try these three strategies to give the gift of patience for the new year.

1. Breathe deeply. There are moments in our classroom where we may have to repeat ourselves several times or a student says something they should not to you. Resist the urge to jump on your emotions. Take three deep breathes and determine the choices you can make. Three deep breathes can make the difference in how we deal with a student issue before we make a mountain our of a mole hill.

2. Laugh often. See the humor in circumstances. When a little child decides to skip in line instead of walking down the line as she should, chuckle to yourself. Be appreciative that she has that much joy and love in life that skipping sounds so fun. In fact, try letting everyone skip. See what happens. Lots of smiles. High school friends - they may not skip in the hallway, but there are some great one liners kids say. Enjoy them and call them out!

3. Give Options. There are some 'battles' not worth fighting. If a student needs a pencil and doesn't have one, have options ready. Perhaps it's a borrow basket, ask a friend, or use a pen. A student asking for a pencil means she/he is wanting to work! Celebrate the small things. Anticipate options that allow choice for students to ask. When we have options its easier for us to practice patience.

Give patience as a gift. If you don't, who will?

Top Shelf: Favorite Books for the School Leader

It's hard to believe we are 13 days away from Christmas! This time of year offers a great opportunity for personal and professional reflection. What were you goals for 2018? How do you measure success? What might you revise as you look into 2019? Don't wait 19 more days to renew your goals - do it now!

Students benefit from leaders who read. I always work to increase capacity in understanding and application through professional reading. Consider the following Top 9+ Books to consider for your own reading pleasure for 2019.

#1: Results Now by Mike Schmoker
This was a transformational book when I was in a K-12 leadership role. This text helped generate a brand new professional learning model for the district I was in as we looked at how to increase student learning while building capacity in professional learning. Schmoker's book offers a laser focus view on professional learning communities for schools, literacy, and consistent curriculum.

#2: Bold School by Weston Kieschnick [#BoldSchool]
My colleague Weston sold over 25,000 copies in the first year of release -- and for good reason! This is a pivotal book for all teachers and leaders who are striving to to keep tried and true professional learning practices with building intentional and specific uses of technology. Wes created The Bold School Framework for Strategic Blended Learning to offer a clear and consistent approach to strategic learning in classrooms.

#3: Architects of Deeper Learning by Lissa Pijanowski [#AODL]
There are few things in life that get me more excited than instructional design! Creating purposeful and meaningful learning opportunities that translate into high levels of engagement is some of the most rewarding work we do. My good friend Lissa offers this exact solution. Her eight design principles offer a step by step approach to ensure that the most rigorous, relevant, and engaging experiences exist in classrooms. Lissa's wealth of experience in classroom, school leadership, and district leadership bring an unique approach to the instructional aspects of learning for all students.

#4: Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow's Schools, Today by Eric Sheninger & Thomas Murray.  [#LTKeys]
First, using the #LT8Keys offers a great professional learning network that compliments this great resource for leaders. Sheninger and Murray offer an approach that helps shift districts from the industrial model of education to the 21st century, future-forward education that students should be engaging with each and every day. What I appreciate about this professional reading is the importance of meeting the needs of students at a personal level. The level of leadership needed for schools to achieve this requires us - school leaders - to be inspirational, intentional, and innovative. The eight keys offers an opportunity for great reflection - be sure to check this one out by Eric and Tom.

#5: Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney by Lee Cockerell
As a school leader, our stakeholders are critical to the success of the school. When I was a school principal, this was the must read book for our cabinet. Through this text, we redesigned our customer experience families experienced in school. Don't get me wrong, we had friendly and supportive in our cabinet - some of the best I ever worked with in my career. But, this book took us to the new level - we were intentional and strategic in the how and why we created the experience for our families. I cannot tell you enough how powerful this book is - a 2019 must read for your team. Plus, it's a Disney nod and who doesn't love Disney!


#6: The Better Leaders Better Schools Roadmap: Small Ideas that Lead to Big Impact by Daniel Bauer
I just recently connected with Daniel and the work he does for school leaders. Daniel is a true connector and finds value in bringing teams and resources together. Daniel walks the walk in the support he offers in his new book. Built upon ideas around creativity, servant leadership, and mindset, educators will enjoy this resource. If you want to be challenged in your thinking and refine the 'why' you do what you do, this is the book for you.

#7: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
This powerful book has taken the educational world by storm - so much in fact that the word "grit" is now another educational jargon in our repertoire.  But, it's not the word that is powerful - it's the practice. Duckworth's challenges the status quo in how we prepare students. We must help students build tenacity in all that they do. Effort, effort, effort is critical for our students. We must build these skills to become part of the student learner DNA make up for each and every student. Teaching grit is different than teaching thinking and relevance. Grit requires persistence, modeling, and productive struggle. It's also a pretty self-reflective assessment - take Duckworth's Grit Scale and you will see what I mean!


#8: 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success by John Hattie & Klaus Zierer
If you are in education and you have not heard about the text Visible Learning, stop and and go get it right now. Seriously. While you are ordering that book, grab this one, too. Hattie and Zierer works from the research presented in VL to offer 10 mindsets teachers need to create high levels of student outcomes. This practical mindframe approach offers teachers to go from theory to practice to action. What I most love about this text is that building powerful relationships is one of the 10 frames - remember kids don't learn from people they don't like. We must be relationship builders all day every day.


#9: When by Daniel Pink
I first heard Daniel Pink at ICLE's Model School Conference in the summer of 2017. To say that my world was rocked would be an understatement. There are so many variables in education that impact student learning and teacher efficacy - an infinite really. But, Daniel offered one more to me that was powerful - time! Pink immediately puts you right into reflection and thinking by asking you to find when is your perfect "When". Reflecting on your day and what you do impacts your performance and attention to details (among many other things!). We may know some of this intuitively, but Pink puts the research and rationale behind this. The implication for education is exciting. A great leadership book read to brainstorm the how and why we do things in school suddenly now matters.

Wait, why is there not a #10? Great question ... in the coming weeks I promise to share the #10 book that is a must read for 2019. The #10 book promises to be an exciting and powerful resource for school leaders, district leaders, pre-service leaders, and teacher leaders. Stay tuned for this new and exciting book to add to your Top Shelf!