Some Great Links on Leadership

1. I think you will like this very brief article on the three E's of leadership: Engaging, Encouraging, and Enforcing.  Moreover,I think there is a lesson to be learned in regard to Peter's changing attitude toward Kathy.
http://www.inc.com/peter-gasca/3-leadership-skills-that-trump-all-others.html


2. A great remidner that the one thing we can be sure of changing in life is ourselves!
http://www.allthingsworkplace.com/2013/03/career-self-leadership-3-key-variables.html


3. A reminder on the importance of knowing your audience when you are communicating. http://linked2leadership.com/2013/03/23/communication-breakdown-are-you-thinking-about-your-audience/

The first step to classroom management: have a vision

Nothing bedevils teachers like classroom management.  Research tells us that 1/3 leave teaching within the first three years and 1/2 leave within the first five years.  I imagine it is safe to attribute many of these defections to stress associated with an inability to properly manage their classrooms.  In fact, I have yet to meet the teacher who believed they were adequately prepared to manage a classroom when they entered the profession.  During my time as an educator I have had the distinct privilege to watch some excellent teachers in action.  Moreover, I have also had the opportunity to think about this issue and to discuss it at length with many of the staff members I have been so fortunate to work side-by-side with for the past 14 years.  As a result of these observations, discussions, and after much thought, I believe I have some ideas on how to improve any teacher's classroom management.

Teachers must have a vision for their classroom.  They must have a clear idea of how their classroom will look when it is operating at maximum efficiency and effectiveness.  What are the students doing when you are delivering the lesson?  How are they seated?  How do students enter and exit the room?  Your vision should encompass your procedures and policies for any situation you and your students may encounter throughout the day.  Developing a vision for your classroom will allow you to troubleshoot many problems before they ever arise in your classroom.  Moreover, it makes you think of your possible responses, thus preparing you to deal with or avoid potential problems down the road--and we all know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Developing a vision for your classroom serves as a catalyst to make you think about the behaviors you want to see, the behaviors you will tolerate, and the behaviors that are non-negotiable for you as a classroom leader.  Keep in mind that all successful organizations, teams, and individuals develop a vision and use that as their blueprint for action and decision-making.  When used properly, it helps orient our behavior in an effort to achieve our goals.

In the days to come I will also address some other components of classroom management.  As always, I am interested to hear what you have to say on the subject.  Please feel free to make comments or to email me your thoughts.  Have a great Thursday!

Why We Should Love Teachers

Teachers have been under attack lately and I think much of the criticism is undeserved. Teaching is an incredibly personal and incredibly difficult profession.  It is personal because all successful teachers take it personally and develop close, intense, personal relationships with the students and families they serve.  Moreover, they develop similar relationships with their colleagues.  Teaching is a very difficult profession because there are so many variables that affect a teacher’s ability to do their job.  Moreover, teachers are often not treated with the respect they deserve which has worked to make this profession even more difficult.  There is no question that we can, and must, do better in regard to educating our children.  However, let us begin by wrapping our arms around those in the profession, acknowledging their hard work, and showing them the respect they deserve.  Not there, yet?  Not sure you are ready to embrace our nation's teachers?  Well, let me try to convince you by providing you with three reasons as to why we should start loving teachers.

First, teaching is the most difficult profession in the world.  This may seem like hyperbole, but think about it for a second: what other profession can you find where at least one person per day is actively working to prevent you from doing your job?  And let’s face it, I am being far too conservative when I suggest one person attempting to prevent a teacher from teaching.  Those who have taught or are teaching know that it is often multiple people working to prevent them from teaching.  Imagine being a fireman and being called to a five-alarm fire.  You get dressed, hop on the truck, and speed away to the scene of the fire.  Once you arrive you gather your equipment, hook up the hose to the hydrant, and prepare to douse the fire with water.  You are waiting to feel the sudden surge of water shoot through the hose, but you are still holding a slack hose.  You look back and see two kids with mischievous grins on their faces looking back at you; they have unfastened the hose from the fire hydrant!  This is often what it is like to be a teacher.  You enter the school each day prepared to teach, but are sabotaged by a student or students committed to preventing you from teaching.  This is not to mention the many, many variables that come into play with even the most motivated students.  Teaching on its best day is very difficult, but day-in and day-out teachers continue to show up--hoping, praying, and striving to make a difference in our nation's classrooms.

Second, we trust teachers with our most precious resource--our youth.  We actually do this twice: first when we are ourselves students and then later when we become parents (youth as a stage in our lifetime and youth as in our children).  Moreover, as years go by we trust/expect teachers to do more and more with our children.  No longer are they just expected to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic.  Today our teachers are expected to teach children basic social skills, hygiene and grooming, sexual education, nutrition, teamwork, empathy, sympathy, and the list goes on.  Now more than ever teachers are truly acting in loco parentis as so many of the functions previously handled by parents are now by default the responsibility of teachers.

Third, all other professions depend upon teaching and are contingent upon teachers doing their job to the best of their respective abilities.  In fact, it is very difficult to imagine a world without teachers, especially when one considers the growing responsibilities they possess in our society.  Teachers make all other professions possible.  Moreover, democracy and capitalism are both dependent upon an educated populace, which is dependent upon teachers, so one could argue that teachers are at the very foundation of our nation. To take this thought a step further, think about many of the great figures from history we revere; at their core, they were teachers.  Confucius, Laozi, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad--all teachers.  Clearly our present-day teachers have a great deal to live up to, so they certainly need our support!

Teaching is a noble and incredibly rewarding profession.  Moreover, it is a profession worthy of our respect and support. Many of us are where we are due to the hard work of the many teachers we were fortunate to have during our formal education.  Take a moment this week and reach out to a teacher from your past and thank them for their hard work and effort in making you who you are.  Furthermore, if you come into contact with any teachers this week, please wish them well and thank them for the work they do with our children.  Knowing teachers as I do, I am sure they will greatly appreciate your kind words and your support!