Thoughtful Thursday

Remember, that it is not about the final destination, it's about the journey. What happens when you have reached a goal you have set for yourself? You celebrate, rejoice, and then that's it. You move on to set another goal to work on. The destination is just one moment in time. The amazing part is the journey. The journey is when you learn life lessons. When people speak about their success, they first tell you about their journey it took to get there. Many success stories include a journey filled with  struggles, mistakes, heartbreaks, disappointments, and trials. It is in those moments that creates  strength and resilience. In my journey in education, the struggle was...(and still) real. I don't let those moments of disappointments and struggles stop me. I realized long time ago, that I experience certain things for His purpose. This journey is not about me...and that is why it is not about the final destination. I live to inspire, motivate, and empower others through my journey. Through your journey walk tall and hold your head high. Even in the darkness...don't get discouraged...your journey is so much more!


Don't forget to #GETINSPIRED4EDU with the  THE INSP!RE BOX:
Check us out: THE INSP!RE BOX

Wordless Wednesday

What is your purpose?

I just finished reading The Principal 50 by Principal Kafele. Chapter 1 begin's with the question... "Do I lead with a definite purpose that drives everything I say and do?"

My Purpose:

It is my responsibility to positively promote education; to motivate each child to learn; to build a holistic educational community; to inspire, motivate, and empower educators. 

What is your purpose?

Read more about my educational philosophy...my mission, vision, and goals at Felecia M Young.

Don't forget to subscribe for your inspire book for August. Are vendors are creating amazing Back to School products for you. Check out a sneak peek at:
THE INSP!RE BOX 

Talk About It Tuesday - Lost at School Review

It's Talk About It Tuesday again and I am finishing up the book: Lost at School by Dr. Ross Greene

I will use the acronym FISH (c) to convey my thoughts...

First thoughts...

Impact of the reading on...
Summary of the chapters, reading, etc...
                           How will I use this to grow...



The final few chapters of the book continued to talk about Plan B with the story continuing. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will definitely implement Plan B with a few of our students. As I continued reading the book, I imagine collaborating with a few of our students to help solve problems. 

I'm so excited I read this book and look forward to seeing how Plan B will help our students. Below are my final notes...it focuses on Plan B more in detail...

Plan B - Collaborative Problem Solving - From the book Lost at School by Dr. Ross Greene

Kids become fully invested in solving the problems and the solutions are more durable when they participate in Collaborative Problem Solving. Students learn the skills they were lacking during the collaborative problem solving process.

Plan B has 3 Ingredients:

1. Empathy - involves gathering information so as to achieve the clearest understanding of the student's concern or perspective about a given unsolved problem. The goal is to gather information and achieve an understanding of the student's concern. Begins with a neutral observation ("I've noticed that...) and on initial inquiry
2. Define the Problem - involves entering the adult concern or perspective on the same unsolved problem into consideration. Often, the concern is related to how the problem or behavior is affecting either the individual or other' sin the student's environment.
3. Invitation - involves having the adult and student brainstorm solutions so as to arrive at a plan of action that is both realistic and mutually satisfactory (a solution that addresses both concerns and that both parties can actually do.

Plan B can be used with individual students or with an entire class. It builds healthy relationships with challenging students and  will create a healthy community in the classroom. Healthy relationships is build through collaboration and the key part of Plan B allowing teachers to speak with students and not at students.

Schools can use Plan B in two ways:

Emergency - Used at the time the student is beginning to show signs of challenging behaviors.

Proactive - Get the goal solved or skill taught proactively before it comes up again.

In summary, Plan B fulfills five goals:

Goal 1: Pursue unmet expectations and ensure that your concerns about a given student's challenges are addressed.

Goal 2: Solve problems in a collaboration, mutually satisfactory and durable way.

Goal 3: Teach students the skills they are lacking.

Goal 4: Reduce Challenging behavior.

Goal 5: Create a helping relationship.

Next week for Talk About It Tuesday, I will share what I learned from a few other books I read... The Principal 50 and What Great Principals Do Differently

Feature Friday Blog Spotlight

This week's Feature Friday Blog Spotlight is Leslie Kinard (she also have a Vlog)




Leslie is an educational leader in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. She is passionate about working with administrators, teachers, and students to prepare today's students for tomorrow's future. She love what she get to do every day and believe in the power of connected and intentional leadership. Leslie's dedication to education, leadership, and social justice fuel her love of learning as well as pushes her to continue to grow as an individual and contributor to her community and the world.

Connect with Her: 

Email: kinardleslie@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.lesliekinard.com

Vlog:  https://goo.gl/cvGHgo

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliekinard

Twitter:  @lmkinard

Voxer:  lmkinard

Thoughtful Thursday

What a true statement! No significant learning will occur without a significant relationship first. As an educator it is our number one priority to get to know our students. We must realize that before we can provide students with the content, we must provide them with a caring, genuine relationship. Building rapport with students is the key to their success and growth in and out of the classroom.

Here are a few ways to a build a relationship with students:
1. Smile and greet them each morning.
2. Share stories about your life with them.
3. Ask them about their personal interests.
4. Have community meetings/morning meetings/family meetings.
5. Write positive notes or make positive phone calls home.
6. Acknowledge their efforts.
7. Respect your students.
8. Start each day fresh.
9. Eat lunch with them.
10. Don't yell!

Wordless Wednesday

Professional Growth

Read about Lost at School and Building Mathematical Comprehension (We begin our Book Study Discussions tomorrow) on the blog. 

What are you reading this summer?

Talk About It Tuesday

It's Talk About It Tuesday again and I am finishing up the book: Lost at School by Dr. Ross Greene

I will use the acronym FISH (c) to convey my thoughts...

First thoughts...

Impact of the reading on...
Summary of the chapters, reading, etc...
                           How will I use this to grow...





F: My first thoughts of the chapter 4 was how valuable will this process be for students to learn social and behavioral skills.

I: Chapter 4 had some great information on the process of Plan B. Using the three steps discussed in Chapter 4 will definitely help distributive behaviors in classrooms.

S: Chapter 4 discussed 3 steps to Plan B: empathy, define, and invitation. Using these 3 steps in a proactive or emergency situation can help students resolve disruptive behaviors. Empathy helps the adult understand the student's perspective. When you get to the defining step, it will allow the adult to voice their concern. It is important to remember that during the defining step, you voice two concerns: the student's and the adult's. The last step is inviting the student to solve the identified concerns. You know I am not going too far in detail about these steps, because I want you to purchase the book and read it for yourself. Just know this is some good stuff. 😉

H: I will use the information in this chapter to create a plan for teachers to use in their classrooms to teach students skills they are lacking, to reduce challenging behaviors, and to help build relationships.  Here is the Plan B Cheat Sheet and Plan B Checklist

Feature Friday Blog Spotlight

This week's Feature Friday Blog Spotlight is.... Teach and Take Time for Kids

Cassandra Washington. Welcome to www.teachandtaketime4u.com (TTT4U). I have created a comfortable, healthy space for educators to find praise and support. It is also a place to network, collaborate and learn about the latest trends in education. I want this website to promote wellness among educators, and spread some good news about the profession.

Thoughtful Thursday

 

I can share with you many defeats I have encountered, but with each one I have become better, stronger, and wiser. As I look back on my journey in education, what I thought was a defeat was actually the opportunity to become resilient. The experiences of being defeated and rising up from it became my story. So remember, what you think is a defeat  is just an opportunity for you to be great! Stand strong through the defeat and use it as motivation and inspiration to take you to the next level. 

Wordless Wednesday

My motivation! 

What motivates you?

Talk About It Tuesday - Book Review

Last summer, my principal challenge the staff to do 10 minutes of reading a day (#10MORD). I am challenging myself to committing to do 10MORD everyday again this summer. I have started this summer with a few books on discipline, math, and leadership! Every Tuesday, I will do a blog titled: Talk About It Tuesday and share what I have been reading.

I will use the acronym FISH (c) to convey my thoughts of the reading. 

First thoughts...

Impact of the reading on...
Summary of the chapters, reading, etc...
                           How will I use this to grow...






This week we will discus the book
Lost At School by Dr. Ross W. Greene.











F: My first thoughts of the book was, "Oh my these are my students!"

I: In the first three chapters it made an immediate impact on how I view challenging students...providing me with a lot of AHA! moments.

S: In these first three chapters, Dr. Greene states that many of our challenging students have difficulties because they lack the skills required for adaptive, social, emotional, and behavioral functions. He suggests that "Challenging behavior occurs when the demands and expectations being placed upon a child outstrip the skills he has to respond adaptively." p. 27 Without giving away too much (so you can grab the book and read it for yourself 😉), he explains how identify lagging skills and unsolved problems. Lagging skills are the why of challenging behavior. Unsolved problems tell us when the behavior is occurring. Understanding this, he then talks about Plans to use to be proactive. I liked how he tells the story about Joey, in his approach to provide a framework for understanding challenging behavior.

H: In the first three chapters I am using what I have learned about lagging skills and unsolved problems to help to assess and help some of our challenging students. In a conversation I had a few weeks ago, I talked about this being our first step in our discipline plan...teaching students how to behave because so many of them just don't have the skills. I can't wait to continue reading this book and put a plan in place that will help our students.

SWOT Analyzing and Reflecting

It's great getting back to blogging. Since it is the end of the school year, I have time to dedicate to blogging...sharing MY FIT!

This post is to provide you with a strategy to promote self-reflection with your staff, student, or even yourself. I love to use SWOT when I need to reflect on myself as an individual, a project I am working on, or even my career.

So what is SWOT?
SWOT analysis is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is a structured planning method that evaluates the 4 elements of an organization, project, or business venture. The SWOT analysis is a tool that can be used for a company, product, place, industry, or person.

As an administrator, we often find ourselves reflecting on our profession, assisting teachers on reflecting on a lesson or skills, or even reflecting on how a certain program or processes is working.


I have used SWOT in many situations that involved self-reflection or for a teacher after an observation. SWOT allows us to reflect on what is working, what is not working, what opportunities do you have to grow, and what could be stopping you from growing.








Here are a few ways you can use SWOT:

Self-reflection

What STRENGTHS do you?
What WEAKNESSES NEEDS do you need to improve?
What OPPORTUNITIES I was provided or will look into to reach my goals?
What THREATS hinder me from reaching my goals?


Teacher Observation

What were your STRENGTHS in the lesson? (What went well?)
What were your WEAKNESS in the lesson? (What could have been better?)
What OPPORTUNITIES provided you to be successful?
What THREATS hinder you from being successful during the lesson?


Student Behavior

What are your overall STRENGTHS as a student at school? (What do you do well?)
What are your WEAKNESSES? (What areas can you do better in?)
What OPPORTUNITIES are you provided to make the right decisions?
What THREATS hinder you from making the right decisions?


Don't forget we begin our Book Study: Building Mathematical Comprehension on June 22. Check it out: http://fitinedu.blogspot.com/p/building-mathematical-comprehension.html