greystone | May 19, 2013
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Getting the Right People on the Bus

My Greystone office team colleagues (Assistant Principal – Tracy Lachman; School Support Coordinator - Jesse McLean) and I held a marathon session of teacher interviews this past week. Our school community is growing in size and we needed to add an additional five teaching positions and two temporary assignments for the 2013/14 school year.

I consider hiring new staff to be one of my most important responsibilities as a school leader. Creating a positive, strengths-focused school culture where our staff are committed to improving their teaching practice, in the company of peers, and where they see themselves as designers of learning in a collaborative, interdependent school community means that each and every time I bring someone new onto the team, I better get it right. Jim Collins, author of the book Good to Great, calls it “getting the right people on the bus”. Todd Whitaker, author of the book What Great Principals Do Differently, claims that the biggest impact a leader can have on school improvement is to hire “super stars”. I have come to understand, through my experiences in staffing over the past several years, from mistakes made, lessons learned and successes achieved, that Jim Collins and Todd Whitaker are absolutely correct – hiring the right people is key to ensuring that a school community continues to improve.

As I began our Greystone “Star Search” and sifted through the hundreds and hundreds of on-line applications, resumes, and letters of reference that were submitted, I kept coming back to one key question…what are you looking for? In my opinion, the “super stars” we hire at Greystone need to meet the following criteria:

1. Be a good person – do the right thing, be a positive influence and role model for others, support and serve others, build strong relationships and demonstrate a hopeful optimism for today’s youth. If we can connect with each other and our students, we will be successful in creating a place where all of us feel we belong, where we can discover our unique gifts and talents and where we can make a difference in the lives of our young adolescent learners.

2. Be a hard worker – never give up, persevere, take student learning seriously and do everything possible, inside and outside of the classroom, to support the success of our kids. Think critically about all of the initiatives and programs out there to determine what is the best fit for the vision we have as a school community and keep working hard to bring our vision to life. We expect our students to work hard – we must also expect this from ourselves.

3. Be a learner – take risks to try new things, be open-minded, reflective and willing to grow, recognize the importance of continuous learning from a variety of sources – books, articles, students, colleagues, twitter, workshops, courses and apply the learning to the work we do with our students. Understand that learning requires that we make mistakes, fall down, get back up and learn from the experience.

The other qualifications a teaching candidate brings to the table are important, but if these three things are not in place to begin with, quite honestly, all the understanding and experience related to curriculum, literacy and numeracy programs, new technology, assessment and inquiry based learning won’t get us where we need to go. What I am looking for is good people – the rest can be learned.

The challenging thing about using the above criteria to determine a candidate’s potential for being hired at my school is that these qualities don’t necessarily pop out while reading an on-line application. This is why it is extremely important to pay attention to the recommendations of trusted colleagues, to follow my intuition and the intuition of my office team during the interview and then to thoroughly check the references provided. When I discover that the candidates I interview are people that their current colleagues and employers are sadly disappointed to see leave, I know I am on the right track and that these “super stars” will contribute their talents to make Greystone Centennial Middle School an even stronger community of learners. They will help us on our journey as we continue to move from good to great.

We have hired an amazing group of “super stars” this week – genuine good people. I believe we have the right people on the bus and I am so excited to see what will be possible next year and beyond.

I am curious about what criteria other school leaders use to get the right people on the bus…what are you looking for?

 

Category: Community Building, Professional Learning, Reflections, Shared Leadership |
greystone | April 13, 2013
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Professional Learning is a Priority in Parkland School Division

 

I just came back from two days spent with my colleagues – members of our School Division’s “Lead Team”. Our Lead Team includes Principals, Assistant Principals, Learning Services Facilitators, Directors from our Finance, Transportation, Learning Services, Transportation, Human Resources and Communication Departments along with members of our Senior Executive. Gathering such a large, diverse group of School Division leaders together is no small feat. It meant that every individual who attended needed to leave the busy schedules of their day to day work behind and for those of us in schools, it meant trusting that our schools’ teacher leaders would “hold down the fort” during our absence. On behalf of our Senior Executive of Superintendents, it demonstrated that in spite of challenging financial times in the world of education, the importance they place on the value of our team’s professional growth and collaboration so that we can lead our schools effectively for our students will not be sacrificed. A few of us said we felt almost guilty for taking time away from our schools to head west to the beautiful mountain community of Canmore where we gathered for our learning.

Now that I am back home and have time to reflect on the experience – I can honestly say that I am grateful that our Senior Executive made the decision to provide all of us with this uninterrupted time together – away from the demands of our professional and personal lives back home. The Lead Team Retreat gave us an opportunity to learn from and with each other both formally during our scheduled meetings and presentations, but also informally as we shared best practices with each other, discussed some of our challenges, offered suggestions to each other and had long conversations on the road as we were encouraged to car pool with our colleagues. I have found that some of the best learning can come from the conversations that just happen when we spend time together talking about our students and our schools.

A few of the highlights for me were:

Mental Health Presentation

We were reminded of how significant an issue mental health is in the workplace. Research tells us that 1 in 5 Canadians between the ages of 18 – 65 will experience mental illness and that this will have an impact on their work. It was shared that of the people who face mental illness challenges, very few will be diagnosed and even fewer will receive successful treatment. We learned about the symptoms of mental illness and what to look for among our employees. We learned about what we can do to support those who are experiencing mental illness so that they can be successful in getting the help they need to improve their health. What stood out for me was how important it is to remove the negative stigma associated with mental illness so that our staff members know they have our non-judgemental support in order to seek treatment.

“Speed Dating”

This is simply an organized, yet highly effective, way to ensure that we got the opportunity to listen to each other share some of the amazing things we all have going on in our schools. In small groups, we moved from table to table and heard all kinds of new ideas for things we may want to bring back to our own schools. What I will be bringing back to Greystone are some great suggestions around technology from a couple of schools. Muir Lake School shared experiences and insights around their one to one technology pilot project. Meridian Heights School shared how they “trained the troops” on the use of google docs by scheduling chunks of time for the students to be taught the process by the tech “expert” on staff.

The most important “take away” from this valuable time spent together with my colleagues was that I continue to feel non-stop support and the power of collaboration from our Lead Team. Knowing that we are in this together allows me to return to the challenges and opportunities that await back at the school with a huge boost of renewed energy. For me, this was time well spent and reminds me that our School Division really does put its people first!

 

Category: Collaboration, Community Building, Professional Learning, Reflections, Shared Leadership |
greystone | April 7, 2013
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The Sideways Kids

 


 

Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made. Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

-Henry David Thoreau

Kids who march to the beat of a different drummer – our classrooms and schools are filled with these kids. In fact, my home even has a couple of these kinds of kids – my husband (the adult “kid” in my family) and my eldest son (now a young adult). A friend and colleague shared the term “Sideways Kids” with me – a very appropriate way to describe the “out of the box” individuals who sometimes challenge us as teachers, as parents (and as spouses!)

When I think about the school experience for both my husband and my son, it is safe to say that the traditional classroom setting did not consistently serve either of them really well. While each possess incredible language and communication skills – both being avid readers and having outstanding comprehension, problem-solving and critical thinking skills – they also have a very low threshold for boredom. This is typical of the “Sideways Kid” – that student who picks up on new ideas and concepts easily, who demonstrates creative ability and strength in figuring things out for themselves. These are the kids who often challenge us to explain the reasons behind why we do what we do – and who, in my opinion, are at risk for leaving the world of “formal” learning behind just as soon as they have the opportunity because the education system has tried to sort and process them not as individuals, with unique skills, talents and abilities, but instead has pressured them to conform to the status quo of the classroom. My son, the “Sideways Kid”, who taught himself how to play a number of musical instruments, to write songs, to compose his own arrangements and to record his music, wrote a song in his grade 12 year entitled Our Last Year as Cattle. I think it describes, extremely well, the way he felt about his formal public education experience.

How many “Sideways Kids” are in our classrooms, daydreaming, wishing they were somewhere, anywhere, else but sitting in that chair day in and day out hearing the same old messages about their school performance. Words like “what’s wrong with him?”, “why isn’t he motivated?” “why doesn’t he try harder?” “why doesn’t he pay attention?” are common themes throughout the years of teacher conferences and report card comments; or worse, these are the kids who are labelled “attention deficit”, “oppositional defiant” or “lazy”. I believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with our “Sideways Kids”. In fact, there is something wrong with our assembly line, factory model classrooms and schools if we fail to serve the needs of our “Sideways Kids”. These kids have the potential to be the innovators, the problem-solvers, the creative and collaborative “right-brained” thinkers that will be needed to lead our communities into the future. Our school systems cannot lose these gifted individuals. We must re-create our schools to serve their diverse needs.

How can we do this? There are so many great ideas out there for how we can tap into the passion and talents of our young people. This year, our school experimented with one of these ideas - Innovation Week. It was an amazing way for our students to become highly engaged in their learning through a week long exploration into a topic of their choosing. The results of this endeavour were overwhelmingly positive and we learned, as a staff, that our students are capable of so much when we give them the opportunity to pursue something they care about. Since that week long experience at our school, I have been thinking about ways that this kind of learning could become more integrated into the daily and weekly learning that takes place at Greystone. Recently, I came across this video that shows a High School pushing this notion of providing students with interest-based learning even further.

If Students Designed Their Own Schools

After I watched this, I wondered how much better my husband and my son’s school experiences would have been if they had the opportunity to learn this way.

How many other “Sideways Kids” would re-engage in the notion of lifelong learning if this was their experience at school? I can’t help but get excited about the possibilities for all of our kids if we were to infuse more choice and personalization into our programs.

Category: Collaboration, Personalized Learning, Student Learning |
greystone | March 17, 2013
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Student Voice Makes a Difference in our Community

Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.

 - Margaret Mead
Our small group of committed people from Greystone Centennial Middle School showed they had the power to make change in the world. They did this by getting involved in a local issue around pedestrian safety right here in our own community. Students from Learning Community 6 learned about democracy and how important it is to research an issue in order to go about finding ways to be heard and make a difference.The following is a letter that students sent to our mayor.
 Dear Mayor Stuart Houston,
As part of the grade 6 social studies curriculum our students have been learning about ways to take part in the democratic process. In order to make it an authentic and meaningful learning experience, the students are actively involved in an inquiry project centred around the safety of the community and the possible installation of traffic lights at the corner of Greystone Drive and Grove Drive. The students are understanding a variety of ways that individuals, groups and associations can participate in the decision making process.
 
Our students have:
 
- attended a city council meeting to gather information and understand issues in our community
- undergone a letter writing campaign to address the traffic light issue
- designed a formal petition to be signed by community members
- designed flyers to be distributed amongst our school and surrounding community
- created a Facebook page in an attempt to raise awareness of the issue
- created letters to be sent to the editor of the Spruce Grove Examiner
- conducted surveys to get feedback on public opinion
 
Thank you for your support in helping the students of Greystone in understanding their roles in the decision making process and implementing our social studies curriculum in a meaningful way.
Sincerely,
Learning Community 6 Students & Staff at Greystone Centennial Middle School
The mayor just called last week to share the good news – our students’ voices were heard loud and clear. The City will be proceeding with the installation of new traffic signals at Grove Drive and Greystone Drive. Furthermore, the mayor sent our students letters thanking them for their participation in the democratic process and for making their views known to Council. Thank you Mayor Houston for listening to our community’s young citizens.
Category: Community Building, Learning Through Inquiry Projects, Student Learning |
greystone | February 23, 2013
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Don’t You Love Surprises?

Reading this tweet from one of our creative Greystone teachers while I was away this month really got me curious…what clever prank was she up to this time?

Our Greystone staff are becoming very good at surprising each other, our students and me. Examples of the kinds of surprises we have had in the past include a whole school appreciation assembly, a piece of artwork students created for the school, a couple of flash mobs – the most recent one performing “Thriller” on Halloween, an entire classroom being relocated to the learning pod one day, and of course, the amazing success of our Innovation Week just before Christmas holidays.

When I walked into the school this past Tuesday morning, rushing to get to my supervision post, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I ended up being late for supervision because I couldn’t pull myself away from staring, in awe, at the latest Greystone surprise…

This is one of the five words that was represented by each of our five grade six classes – words that are the core of what our school is about. Each class had the task of looking around the school for images of the letters needed to make up the following words:

Synergy~Creativity~Citizenship~Exploration~Imagination

The best of the best photos were chosen, sent off to be transformed into banners and then the five banners were hung in the front foyer of our school – all done without me knowing a thing about it. I was overwhelmed with the work that went into this and so impressed that it had been a project involving an entire learning community of students and teachers.

The week ended with another great surprise – our Inferno School Assembly. This wasn’t a surprise assembly, nobody made a surprise appearance or shared a surprise performance. What surprised me was how moved I was with all of the sharing that was part of this one hour of time together and the positive energy that could be felt among our school community. Here are some highlights:

→Video of our Hair Massacure Project – created by one of our students and his parent (this year we had a record number of students participating – 140!) and students sharing their personal stories about why they got involved and how it felt to have their heads shaved (brought several of us to tears)

→Our Student Advisors sharing examples of how Synergy~Creativity~Citizenship~Exploration~Imagination come to life in their classrooms at each grade level through special projects and activities

Check out what the kids were talking about:

Learning Community 5

Learning Community 6

Learning Community 7

Learning Community 8

→Guests from Youth in Action inviting our students to join their organization and make a difference in our community (and comments like this from our guests made to me following the assembly…“your school is incredible!”)

→Pictures and videos from our SEVEC Student Exchange to Quebec got the whole school singing and swaying as the music played on in the background

→Standing ovation for our Drama Club who were amazing this week at our school’s first ever evening performance at Horizon Stage

 

 

Who doesn’t LOVE these kinds of surprises? Thank you Greystone!

 

Category: Community Building, Reflections, School Vision and Planning, Student Learning |
greystone | February 18, 2013
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While the Cat’s Away…

This cat has been away from Greystone for quite a while recently. First, I joined our grade nine students and two of our teachers for our SEVEC Student Exchange in Quebec and then I took a couple of personal days so I could head up to Alaska to take part in the annual parents’ weekend events for my son’s college hockey team. By the time I get back to work after the Family Day long weekend on Tuesday, I will have been away from the Greystone School community for almost two weeks.
What I noticed during my absence is how completely confident and relaxed I felt about how things were being taken care of back at the school. This does not mean that while I was away I did not care about the daily life of students, staff and families at Greystone. In fact, I care deeply, but I was able to be away without concern for the decisions that were made during my absence or the day to day teaching and learning or numerous other initiatives and projects taking place at our busy middle school. I was able to do this because of the strong trust I have for our staff. The Greystone team has demonstrated, time and time again, that they are capable of doing the right thing. Our staff is committed to the vision, values and purpose of our school – we are about kids and we believe in the promise of each and every one of our students. Does this mean that our staff won’t make mistakes? Absolutely not. However, I know that their intentions are good and that they always act in the best interest of our students. The staff has demonstrated the ability to lead by example, make great decisions and step up when called on to deal with difficult situations. Everyone on staff, from first year teachers to seasoned veterans; from Educational Assistants to our Office Leadership Team; supports one another in ensuring that our kids come first.
Leading a school community reminds me, in some ways, of parenting. For purely selfish, ego gratifying reasons, it can be extremely re-assuring to feel needed. As a parent, there is no better feeling than to be able to help your kids whenever possible – when they are young, it is incredibly fulfilling to be the centre of your child’s universe – loving and supporting unconditionally – jumping in to help them whenever they are struggling. In the long run, this kind of selfish parenting does not help children develop into confident, capable, independent, interdependent adults who are able to direct their own lives and learn to roll with the challenges that life presents. Children need to do things for themselves in order to grow. They need to stumble and fall in order to learn how to get back up and try again. The same is true when leading a school community. While it feels great to be needed by so many people within the school community, creating a school culture that is dependent on me is selfish. A strong school environment thrives when individuals interact interdependently and recognize that everyone contributes their strengths to the school’s overall success. In a highly effective organization, every individual has the capacity to be a leader when needed, and a follower, when needed. My time away from Greystone this past few weeks reminded me that this school community is made up of a strong team of highly collaborative, talented individuals who certainly don’t depend on me to ensure that the work carries on in my absence. For a leader, this is humbling – to know that it isn’t all about me – nor should it ever be. One of our Greystone teachers recently shared this quote. It describes the kind of leadership I strive for at our school:
A leader is  best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
  ~Lao Tzu
While this cat was away, the mice may have played…but the mice at Greystone play every day, whether the cat is there or not. I trust the mice to play and work and learn and lead at Greystone. In fact, I hope that during my absence, the mice barely knew I was away.
Category: Collaboration, Reflections, Shared Leadership |
greystone | February 10, 2013
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Ten Years Later – Different Teachers, Different Students, Same Amazing Experience!

I just met up with a former student here in Quebec City – she was not one of my students from Spruce Grove, she was a student from Quebec City who I met during my first SEVEC Student Exchange – when she was in grade 7. Since that time, she lived with my family during a summer holiday and then again when she had completed her school, before beginning her training as an x-ray technician. She is twenty-one years old now and we have stayed in contact since that first exchange experience, exactly ten years ago.

Coincidentally,the exchange that I am participating in this year with my Greystone students ended up having us paired with the same school I was connected with 10 years ago.The teachers and students we are matched up with are all new to me; however, they have made us feel so welcome that already, it feels like we know each other well. Once again, I am reminded of what an incredible opportunity this is for our kids (and adults) to build relationships with others who are interested in taking their learning about the country and its people outside of the walls of our schools.

We are being treated to some new experiences here in Quebec and it is really helping all of us appreciate the unique, proud culture of our French Canadian neighbours. The people here have been so kind, fun and welcoming. Our students have been taken into the homes of the students from Quebec and this weekend, we are getting text messages from the kids telling us about all the places they are going – the Winter Carnival, Sugar Shack, Ice Hotel, to name just a few of the highlights. The host teachers here in Quebec are treating our teachers to some excellent experiences, too – Rempart Junior Hockey Game, dinner out to a favourite restaurant while also giving us time to do some exploring on our own. During the weekdays – there are daily fieldtrips planned to a range of places – everything from a Circus School (Quebec is home of the world famous Cirque du Soleil) to an outdoor snow park – Valcartier. What an amazing opportunity for all of us.

What I am most proud of – our students have stepped up to live in the homes of complete strangers, who don’t speak a whole lot of English, and they are growing in so many ways. They are operating outside of their familiar comfort zone and are demonstrating an openness to build relationships and gain a deeper understanding of the French Canadian culture. What an excellent example of authentic learning.

The experiences on this trip might just give our kids the confidence they need to continue taking risks to try new things and learn and grow from the process. Who knows, maybe they will still be in contact with the people they meet from this trip – in ten years time!

Category: Community Building, Reflections, Student Learning |
greystone | February 3, 2013
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A Target for Teachers

Our teachers at Greystone are becoming very skilled at helping our students understand the targets we set for their learning. We have been learning how to co-create criteria with our students so that they will understand what we are looking for when we assess their learning. We know that our students will be able to better meet the standards for high performance when the target is made clear to them and when we work with them throughout the learning process, to provide ongoing feedback and opportunities to improve their work, so that they can hit the targets we set.

The same thing is true for our teachers. When we talk about what kind of teaching needs to be going on in our classrooms so that we can make engaged learning come to life – we need to set some targets for ourselves as well. We have taken on this process of co-creating criteria for engaged student learning during our Professional Development Days this year. We are getting further along in developing our shared understanding of what we should expect to see in our classrooms when we are providing an engaging learning environment for our students. Here’s a snapshot of what our teachers have come up with so far:

Risk Taking - Learners are persevering to grow outside their boundaries.

Providing Evidence – Learners are an active part of the assessment and feedback process.

Learning Authentically – Learners are emotionally and intellectually invested in their work.

Questioning – Learners’ natural curiosity is leading them to explore deeper learning.

Collaborating – Learners are open-minded to different perspectives.

Creating – Learners are thinking, acting and engaging with ideas.

We are now developing specific actions that would be taking place in our classrooms to demonstrate each of these key areas for engaged learning. Once we have developed our action plan, we will be able to use this document as a tool to assess ourselves and provide feedback to each other as we continue our professional growth.

This is taking a long time, but the process is definitely providing us with lots of excellent opportunities for dialogue about best practices for our classrooms. I am confident that once we are finished, the criteria we have established together will be a valuable tool in helping us hit our target of getting it right for today’s learners.

 

 

 

Category: Assessment and Reporting, Collaboration, Professional Learning, Student Learning |
greystone | January 27, 2013
2 comments

Just Dance – Changing Role of the Teacher

 

 

I love to dance! I’m not a great dancer…in fact, I’m not even a good dancer. I really don’t care, though, I just dance or, as the saying goes, I “dance like no one is watching“. So, when I attended a learning session this past week where the presenter shared that teaching was like being a choreographer, I was intrigued.

The presenter was Garfield Gini-Newman from The Critical Thinking Consortium. The topic was about using technology to transform teaching practice. Gini-Newman reminded us all that technology

has the potential to be a curiosity amplifier and can transform teaching and learning but only if harnessed in powerful pedagogy.

We reviewed Critical Inquiry and how creating an engaged, curious classroom community can serve the needs of today’s learners. What really got me reflecting this week was when Gini-Newman identified what the teacher’s role in this learning environment needs to be.

For me, I always felt the role of the teacher included a balance of the following:

Teacher as Expert ~ the teacher needs to have some depth and breadth of knowledge about the subject discipline – preferrably not just to dispense information to students but to know where to guide students as they uncover curriculum together in order to assist students in making connections, both to prior learning and to the real world where the subject discipline lives.

Teacher as Facilitator ~ the teacher needs to bring out the past experiences, new understandings and individual perspectives from students – often watching and observing as the learning unfolds while giving students voice and choice, when possible, in exploring, in more depth,topics of interest.

Teacher as Coach ~ the teacher needs to continuously assess the developing understandings and skills in order to support next steps in learning – asking questions and helping students find answers within themselves while developing confidence and perseverance through ongoing feedback and opportunities to learn from mistakes.

This week, Gini-Newman provided me with a new way to consider the role of the teacher – which caused me to do a lot of thinking. I wasn’t sure, initially, if I agreed with his analogy.

Teacher as Choreographer? ~ I am in awe of talented dancers – the movement, the skill, the grace and strength. Quite frankly, even though I took several years of dance in my youth (and was really very bad!) I have little to no understanding of what is involved as a choreographer. What my limited understanding tells me is that choreographers plan a dance routine and get the dancers to follow their plan. So, how is this any different from the traditional role of a teacher? Plan a lesson and have the students follow your plan (Teacher as “Sage on the Stage”). Then I did a little research. I watched this TEDTalks video to help me understand more about the role of a choreographer.

What I discovered is that in the kind of choreography shown here, the choreographer exposes the dancers to an idea or gives them a challenge, creates a mental picture, and provides them with choices for what to do for themselves. As they explore the creative process, the choreographer observes how the dancers are interacting with the movements and ideas and then makes decisions, in that moment, about how to collaborate with them to change, adjust and connect to the central idea. The process is fluid, based on taking risks, expressing voice and communicating ideas.

The skilled classroom teacher, as choreographer, follows this same creative, collaborative process. The process is never fixed, always fluid, dynamic, responsive to individuals and allows for individuals to interact with new ideas and understandings in a way that is meaningful to them. The teacher continuously assists students to connect the smaller pieces to the big, overarching idea in order to bring coherence and meaning to the process.

Teacher as choreographer – it is a lot more complicated than to just dance!

 

Category: Personalized Learning, Professional Learning, Reflections, Student Learning |
greystone | January 3, 2013
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Recharging the Battery for the Best in 2013

Five years ago, after I took on the role of Principal at Greystone Centennial Middle School, my husband and I and our two sons took our first trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We fell in love with the place and ended up buying our second home here. It was a pretty big risk, we didn’t know much about purchasing property in Mexico, but opportunity knocked and we answered the call. We have absolutely no regrets about this decision and five years later, we just spent another holiday here at our home away from home – the first time since our original trip here that both of our adult sons were able to join us. It has been an amazing holiday filled with love, laughter and fun family times together. It was an absolutely perfect way to recharge the battery from a fairly busy and demanding role as Principal of a high flying staff and energetic group of middle school students.

I am fortunate enough to get away to this amazing piece of paradise about twice each year and I find the time away absolutely essential to my ability to carry out my responsibilities throughout the school year. Every time I escape to this peaceful retreat I head back to my work refreshed and ready to take on whatever challenges and opportunities await. In fact, I usually find that time away gives me the creative energy and enthusiasm to take my learning and the important work we do in our school community to a new level. This year is no different – after almost two weeks of time to focus on myself, my family and doing what I love (running in the warm climate, reading, relaxing on the beach, trying out great restaurants, and enjoying the company of wonderful family and friends) I feel like I  am ready to take on the new year with a renewed optimism and commitment to the goals I set out for myself earlier this year.

This brings me to the reason for this post – a reminder to myself, and to others who might stumble across this and read it, of the most important thing to keep in mind when we are caught up in a very rewarding, yet demanding profession, that requires so much of our energy and commitment to continuously give to others – we must never forget to give to ourselves, first. Just like they tell us on the airplane – get your own oxygen mask on first before you help others. I believe it is okay to be selfish by looking after yourself first (by setting priorities for family, sleep, exercise, emotional/spiritual renewal) before you can be at your best to do your best for others. This should  not just happen during scheduled holidays – it needs to be a way of life. This is something that my time away in paradise always reminds me about when I am here recharging my battery. I plan to keep this selfish lifestyle up all year round so that I can be my best for all of the students, families and staff – because they deserve the best that I can give. Feliz 2013!

Category: Reflections |
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