Learning to “Be Great” with Dwight Carter

This is Season 4, Episode 13 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Dwight Carter. It was originally recorded live for a virtual audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Dwight Carter tells us about being great as a school leader, his five principles of leadership…and so much more.

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Dwight Carter Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Dwight Carter is a nationally recognized school leader from Central OH and has been an educator for 27 years. He is currently the Director of Student Support Systems for the Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools District.

Here are just a few of his awards and accolades:

He was inducted into the Jostens Renaissance Educator Hall of Fame.

He was named a National Association of Secondary School Principals Digital Principal of the Year

He was an Academy of Arts and Science Education High School Principal of the Year

He was the 2015 Ohio Alliance of Black School Educators Principal of the Year

And he was a 2021 Columbus Afrocentric Early College Sankofa Emerging Leader Award winner.

He is the co-author of three books: What’s In Your Space? Five Steps to Better School and Classroom Design (Corwin, 2015), Leading Schools in Disruptive Times: How to Survive Hyper-change (Corwin 2017), and the second edition of Leading Schools in Disruptive Times (Corwin, 2021).

His newest book is Be Great: Five Principles to Improve School Culture from the Inside Out.

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FocusED Show Notes with Dwight Carter

Dwight starts with a simple definition of culture: the accepted behaviors within the organization.

Dwight runs us through the five competencies of school culture.

Be Grateful

Be Relational

Be Enthusiastic

Be Authentic

Be teachable

Joe asks about simple steps that adults can take. Dwight responds with the first principle about gratitude.

Dwight talks about “what we can control” and brings up the topic of hyper-change. We have total control over our attitude and actions.

Don’t miss what Dwight says about the difference between being a “doormat” and a “doorway.”

Dwight reminds us of a Todd Whitaker quote: “When the principal sneezes, everyone catches a cold.”

What Dwight talks about in terms of “teachable” reminded us of our work in an effort to create learning cultures.

Don’t miss what he says about the difference between “being judgemental” and “evaluating others.”

Dwight is calling for a shift from teaching to learning--moving from a focus on what teachers are doing to a focus on what students are doing.

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FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.