Leading, Learning, and Doing: A Principal's Story

We are in the 2nd year of adding a 12 Days of Christmas on our campus.  The teachers look forward to our fun theme days and also being able to wear jeans each day! Day #1:  Wear Red and White (and jeans)   Treat #1:  Candy canes to each staff with a corny poem about peppermints! On the announcements we sing: On the 1st day of Christmas my leaders gave to me, a candy cane in my mailbox!    Day #2:  Reindeer Day (and jeans) Treat #2:  Trail Mix (reindeer food) On the announcements we sing: On the 2nd day of Christmas my leaders gave to me, some reindeer food for my tummy!       Day #3:  Grinchy Green Day (and jeans) Treat #3:  Guacamole/Green Food On the announcements we sing: On the 3rd day of Christmas my leaders gave to me, some grinchy guacamole!   Day #4:  Pajama Day Treat #4:  Hot Chocolate Bar On the announcements we sing: On the 4th day of Christmas my lea...

I am a scattered person by nature.  My brain thinks of ideas faster than I can keep up with, and I take notes all over the place.  I am constantly trying new organization systems in an effort to improve my access to ideas and notes from meetings. Well I have found the answer!  If you are like me, you need to run as fast as you can and try Google Keep!  This is sticky notes on steroids!!!!  Here is a link  https://keep.google.com/ You can take notes, or make a checklist, and then add labels for organizing.  You can also change the color of the notes to help your brain categorize concepts.  ALSO, you can take photos and add them to the note right there!!!!  Lastly, you can pin important items to the top of the list.  Then you can access your notes from any device that has Google.  I no longer have the problem of thinking....where is that agenda I took notes on?  Here is an image of what my first few pinned notes look like. ...

My staff read The Wild Card, by Hope and Wade King, for our 2018 summer book study.  The teachers absolutely LOVED it and I was inspired by their enthusiasm.  The book challenges teachers to get out of their creativity comfort zone and engage students in learning.  It is written by teachers for teachers and is super fun to read.    I assigned my FIRST EVER Google Classroom project!  I shared it with the teachers and they were able to work at their own pace during the summer and answer reflective questions as they read.  The teachers did an amazing job reflection on their practice and setting goals for areas to improve on. I have copied and pasted the information from the Google Classroom below in case you want to give this book a try with your staff.  Why reinvent the wheel?  Have fun! Part 1 of Wild Card Book Club Activity! Welcome to our summer book study! We hope that you are excited to read this book about using your authentic self...