Motivating, encouraging, and celebrating life
Showing up at work with two different shoes (when it’s NOT the national holiday for that!), wearing a piece of clothing inside out, coming out of the restroom with your skirt hiked up and showing your backside, etc. We’ve ALL had embarrassing moments in our lives. I started young. My momma told me on more than one occasion, “Gail, what happens to you happens to
Art Linkletter was a radio and television host in the 1950s through the 1970s. One of his lasting legacies was the entertaining interviews with children that would appear on a 15-minute segment of his program entitled Kids Say the Darndest Things. (Not the “dandiest”.) When I first became a teacher, I bought a journal to write down the cute and funny sayings that would come
(Photo credit: Tommy Brown) An active visible principal is a viable one. We’ve moved from the principal as a manager to one that is an effective education leader. But how do you balance those administrative business duties (office time) with making an appearance in the classrooms? I found the “Classroom Visitation Calendar” a valuable tool to document the principal’s time spent in classrooms. It was
Exit tickets or exit slips are a quick and easy assessment tool…and can be much more! They are essentially a closure or exit out the door after a lesson, meeting, the end of a unit, or the end of a term, etc. There are many ways to use exit tickets. They are useful for: Reflection Self-Analysis Checking workplace climate Boosting morale 1) Reflection Reflective exit
This post may contain affiliate links. See the full disclosure here. Early in my teaching career, my principal called a leadership team meeting. Sitting on top of the table in the conference room was a small pre-k size blue chair. The chair represented our students. I was told to keep my students first and foremost. Taking care of the needs of our students was to be everyone’s
Years ago I heard about a leader that would greet her staff with “Happy National ______ Day!” and hand them a piece of gum, sticker, or a small token to commemorate the holiday. I could imagine walking into her building with an expectation of celebrating something fun no matter how small…or how momentary. Different and FUN are my two reasons for the creation of the
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for more details here. Photo by Zachary Nelson on Unsplash I was one of those principals who loved learning about temperament or character types. If you’ve been in the educational profession for any length of time you’ve taken them. Most tests have four different types (although the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® MBTI test® has 16). Perhaps you know
During my elementary school teaching years, I worked with students that came from great families and unfortunately some that did not. I had students that heard more negative than positive comments in their lives…and much worse. At times, my elementary age students would get grumpy and say something ugly (a Texas word for bad) to a classmate. I would tell them something along the lines
A few words that come to mind when I think of teachers. Hard-working, diligent, always-seeing-the-good, and LOVE! To me, teachers include everyone in a school that works with children. From the custodial staff, cafeteria workers, teachers aides, specials teachers…everyone! I appreciate those who are not teachers taking the time to THANK a teacher. I can’t tell you the number of notes, letters, or gifts I
Meet Luz, one of my more-than-fantastic custodians when I was an elementary principal. She was the first person on campus most mornings and quickly circled that whole school making sure all the inside doors were unlocked. And by the way, she was not the only wonderful custodian on campus. I was very thankful for my staff! I was especially grateful for Luz though one summer
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for details here. During my elementary school principal years, I had a master kindergarten teacher that was amazing. She was quiet, sweet, and totally adored by her co-workers, parents, and students. She also made teaching look oh so easy! I made the mistake one time of bragging about her in a staff meeting. She was sitting
If you’ve visited this page previously, I’ve changed it up! I’m attaching a link to a FREEBIES category so that you can add to the cart and then have unlimited downloads for that product. That way I can update the items along the way without you losing the link. I hope that makes sense! And if it doesn’t, no worries…just click the link below for
