Motivating, encouraging, and celebrating life
Do you celebrate your staff’s accomplishments? A few years ago, my husband and I traveled to a neighboring state to watch our grandson play baseball in a tournament. I believe he was 8 or 9 years old at the time. After winning a game, the coach sat them down (with all the parents and grandparents around) and proceeded to tell them everything they needed to
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for details here. Physical Touch Physical Touch is included in the book, 5 Languages of Love which makes perfect sense to me. But when it comes to the workplace, the subject of physical touch gets…a little touchy! The authors of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace acknowledge this fact but believe “appropriate acts
All classroom teachers have had the thought. Every administrator should go back to the classroom…at least once! Teachers: Hey, maybe administrators will remember how hard it is! What about how much MONEY we pay out-of-pocket? Or how much TIME (not to mention “BLOOD, SWEAT, and TEARS”!) it takes to run a classroom? So I did. For one whole year. The long, gloomy hallway As a classroom
I recently asked elementary principals to rate their staff morale on a scale from 1-10 (10 being out-of-this-world wonderful!). Over 100 principals responded. Here is how they rated staff morale: The responses came in the month of May. Typically, a month where teachers are administering end-of-year testing and well, end-of-year EVERYTHING has set in! My heart was saddened by principals dealing with “school closings”, “needed staff
Are you looking for good team-building and problem-solving activities? Here are a few I’ve tried as an elementary school principal. If I thought it was accomplished with a good amount of success, I gave those activities a “thumbs up”. I’ll also share a few that I thought fell short! Look for the “thumbs down”! MAKE YOUR BED I call this one, “Make your Bed” as
This post may contain affiliate links. See the full disclosure here. “It’s not often that I receive an email that does not include a due date, complaint or request.” This statement was embedded in a return email to me from an elementary school principal after I sent her a thank you! A sad statement but a truthful one I know. I realize by reason of the
The creative and humorous lady in the picture above was my librarian, Lori. The library took on amazing transformations through her giftedness. Parents, staff, and kids absolutely loved her. This BEACH theme was incorporated in the last few weeks of school to get everyone ready for summertime. I want to show you Lori’s ideas that transformed the library and also a couple of ideas to
The professor at my first administrative class had just asked the formidable question, “Why did you want to become an administrator?” I shrunk down in my seat while scanning the room making a quick assessment of the seating order. Maybe this professor wouldn’t see me or solicit everyone’s input. I could only hope! After a few minutes, I realized with dread that I was going
Last week I was with my daughter and grandson when we dropped him off at his elementary school. So fun! My daughter made the comment that they were always trying to hurry everyone through the line. I had to stifle a laugh. I was reminded of the signs I ordered from a sign company (no longer in business, sorry!) when I first started as an administrator.
This post may contain affiliate links. See the full disclosure here. Principals! Are you ready for a FUN challenge? This annual event, held the second week of November, is in conjunction with National Young Readers Week. It is sponsored by Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program and the Library of Congress Center for the Book. What is the challenge? Principals pick one day during the second week
A word spoken in due season, how good it is! Prov. 15:23 I don’t personally know of anyone that doesn’t appreciate an encouraging word, but when it comes at exactly the right time for them…what a wonderful thing indeed! How do you know when to speak words into someone’s life? I call it an unction or a nudging in your gut. It’s when you are thinking of
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
