Next-Level Ed Leadership Interview Prep

The Principal Entrepreneur: Simple Social Media Marketing Tools for Broke Behind Schools

In the moments of spare time I have I spend it reading and thinking about ways to get the positive things my school is doing and how to connect with parents and families. At the high school level significant and consistent parent involvement/engagement, in the traditional sense, is a struggle. At least at my school. Often times when we try to make calls there is no answer or the phone no longer works. We believe that every parent wants what’s best for their child but often times life gets in the way. And they aren’t able to demonstrate this commitment in ways that we as educators can observe. In the face of this challenge we have newish tools that we can use to connect with families and market the great things we’re doing for and with their child. These social media marketing strategies are a simple free method to communicate with our families.

Talking/communicating with parents consistently is key. According to Statista, a website that tracks a multitude of statistics, Facebook had 1.79 billion active users as of the third quarter of 2016. Facebook should be the foundation of your social media strategy if you want to get your school, and the cool things being done, in front of parents .

Focusing on parents is the largest lever at our disposal when it comes to promoting our school and its culture. In Gary Keller’s book The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, he talks about focusing on a single aspect that will create a domino effect and how over time one small task can create the biggest change. Using Facebook as a conduit to your parents is the one thing you can do from a marketing standpoint that can impact your student count. It could help you retain and acquire more students.

Facebook is an option to have a slightly longer format of communicating your school’s events and post images of what your school is doing. Of course be sure to have permission from parents to have their child’s picture taken. This can be done at the beginning of the year when students signup for school.

Another social media tool you can use is Twitter. Twitter is a great way to give a distilled version of events. Where on Facebook there’s the opportunity to expand on updates, Twitter forces you to be concise. A great way to connect to parents in the Midwest is to have them follow you during the winter months. Let parents know that you’ll be announcing snow days via Twitter. I’ve also seen schools tweet out school events like band concerts and athletic contacts. In addition, because you have limited time you can simply grab headlines from your Facebook posts and tweet those out including a link back to your Facebook page.

Janelle McLaughlin, an educational expert in social media practice, recently said, that twitter is a great place for principals to start in social media. The reason for this suggestion was because of how little time it takes. She suggests setting up a separate account just for school and tweet from that account.

Posting that twitter account and tweeting out your classroom visits with the hashtag of your school is a great way for parents to find you and communicate with you.

Youtube can also be a great resource for parents. Behind Google Youtube is the most often searched for information. Often times parents have trouble accessing a certain section of a school’s website or they have difficulty logging into a particular app that the school district uses to display their child’s grades. By having “how to” tutorial videos on your webpage you can address some of those concerns. Youtube is also a great way highlight student work and their projects. Using your school’s name and the event are easy keywords for parents to search when they’re looking for you.

By integrating these three free social media tools you can increase the reach that your school has in the community and let them know what you’re up to.. The more often parents see you the more comfortable they’ll be entrusting their children to you.

If you’re a broke behind school what are some other methods you use to reach out and connect with families? What social media tools do you use to promote your school? What apps have you found that are helpful? Leave your suggestions in the comment section.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

I recently read a blog by education consultant Janelle McLaughlin titled How to Build a More Powerful Classroom by Letting Go. It talked about student centered classrooms and how effective they are. One of the quotes that stood out to me was when she wrote, “These are the kids that leave that class filled with the power of using their own minds and directing their own learning.” It got me thinking about how this related to discipline, accountability and the new legislation that’s passed in Michigan which is referred to as 1310D. Empowered students are less likely in need of discipline and the following three student driven and collaborative tier 1 interventions can help mitigate and eliminate the need for punitive consequences. The following is an adaptation from a student advocacy form received at a pd. If you’d like a copy please contact me here and click on intervention in the drop down menu.

Student Centered
The idea behind the student centered intervention is that the student must learn to understand herself. He must figure out the triggers for his behavior. They must also decide how staff can assist them they can so they can regulate their reactions. Or they must discover what they can do to help themselves.

Classroom Centered
These interventions begin in a well structured classroom environment. It includes the typically things great classrooms have as a foundation such as high quality and differentiated instruction, built in supports and classroom routines. It also includes things like academic circles, call and response, centers and project/placed based learning.

Community Centered
This focus here is still on the student but the focus in on the student becoming part of the larger community outside of the school. In this intervention you provide leadership opportunities so they have an opportunity to solve school issues as well as community problems. They must work with others to make decisions that have real implications and consequences. In addition putting them in a position to lead discussions and talk about their strengths and areas of expertise gives them self-efficacy.

These three student and community centered tier 1 interventions are preemptive strategies that can help mitigate problems behavior. What are other ways you can help prevent problem behaviors on the front end? Share strategies in the comment section below.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

I was recently at a pd where we were getting information from the district lawyers that we needed to add to our student handbooks. With the new legislature coming down for next school year changes have to be made. The old language has the district and schools having more leeway to suspend students over 10 days. However, with the latest research showing the link between suspensions and jail that is no longer the case. The new default position is that students shouldn’t be suspended longer than 10 days and if you do so, you have to prove that is is necessary. The following mandated questions must be addressed if you wish to suspend a student for longer than 10 days.

1. Students’ age
Age may be a mitigating factor if a student is 6th grade or under. Parents, guardians and student advocates could easily argue that a student is too young to understand the long term results of their actions.

2. Disciplinary History
Was this a one time thing where the student got caught up in the wrong crowd or is there consistent discipline issues of the same type of behavior?

3. Disability
Does the student have a disability. This doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be consequences for actions but are those actions a by product of the disability?

4. Seriousness of behavior
Does the behavior warrant a suspension longer than 10 days or was someone’s feelings just hurt?

5. Did pose safety risk
This is similar to seriousness of behavior. In this case they seemed to be speaking about physical safety and not emotional safety.

6. Restorative Practice
Restorative practice focuses is on repairing the harm to victims and the school community caused by the misconduct of a student. That being said was any type of restorative practice used or could it be used instead of or in conjunction with suspension?

7. Lesser intervention address behavior
This could tie into restorative practice but could also include something like community service. The purpose of the intervention would be to address the behavior and get the student back in school in less than 10 days.

These 7 factors are required by the new Michigan Legislation 1310d. Principals must consider these factors before suspending a child for longer than 10 days. Remember the default position is that a suspension is not justified and must be proven.

*If you’d like to have a form of the checklist shared with you so you can make a copy click here.

Will these seven factors disrupt your discipline procedures? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

We’re talking with Educational Consultant Mrs. Janelle McLaughlin. She has fifteen years of experience in the trenches and has experience as a curriculum director. She’s taken those skills and now does consulting work and professional development with districts across the nation. Her expertise among other things, are Technology Integration and Social Media Practice. We’ll get some tips in her areas of expertise but before we did we got into her origin story and how she caught the education bug.

As a brief summary of a few of her important points she mentioned the importance of relationships and noted that :

You have to meet them (in this case teachers and administrators) where they are and take them one step further.

Mutual trust is key to any type of growth or change.

If it’s something important for staff, it’s something important for you. In this case she was referencing the need to be with the staff when new initiatives are being rolled out.

A couple key pieces of advice with regards to social media included if we as administrator want to stay relevant to the kids we're impacting then we got to live in their world. She suggested using twitter. It is one of the easiest ways to get your story out and doesn't take up much time.

Two books she mentioned that had a profound impact on her are The other Wes Moore: One Name Two Fates by Wes Mooreand and Digital Leadership by Eric Sheninger. You can find the links below.
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If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

We’ll have at least 50% turnover of our core teaching staff when this school year ends. This is the battle that the entire educational field is fighting right now. Studies have shown that turnover impacts student achievement as the new teacher finds their footing and begins to navigate the culture and expectations. Knowing that turnover will happen the following three steps are what I took to mitigate the damage.

The search
Finding the right fit that complements your team is the first step. Make sure that you take inventory of your current staff and find a person that not only fits culturally but also complements the personality of the rest of the team. This does not mean that the new employee should be like the others. Ideally she should bring something new to the table. When researching a potential candidate I not only went over their resume but checked websites, social media and other aspects of their online presence. In this way I was able to see if they were consistent across platforms.

The interview
Once we found a potential candidate we brought the person in for the interview. Prior to that we had our set of questions which was reviewed by multiple staff members. That way redundancies were removed and the most relevant questions remained. Not only were traditional questions present but a unique visual portion was added as well. When it was time for the interview I made sure there was a representative from each part of our school staff so people with multiple viewpoints could give their input. Students were also included. Once the interview ended we discussed our impressions.

The follow up
When we identified a candidate who seemed like the right fit it was time for next steps. We had the person come in and give a lesson to a random group of students. A lesson plan was submitted and gone over and then presented. After the lesson a staff member with the highest proficiency in that subject, the candidate and myself debriefed the lesson. The staff member asked probing questions about sequencing and choices. The candidate was able to explain his choices and his reasoning and we were able to get a better idea of his thinking.

These three steps; the search, the interview with unique questions, and the follow up helped us find a teacher who should be a good fit for our school. What are some other methods you use to find the right employee fit? Share your process in the comment section below.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

Shared leadership from a traditional authoritative leadership perspective can look like a hippy commune. Looking in it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly what the leader is doing. Staff members would be taking the lead in multiple areas and even instructing the titular leader with the “best” way to do things.

To be a principal with a shared leadership philosophy you have to, like Dr. Marcus Jackson principal and educational leader says, “put down the ego soup and take a bite of humble pie.” As the principal of the school you have to find the strengths of your staff and put them in the best position to be successful. You don’t have to control everything.

These 3 strategies will help answer the question, how do I become a great principal with a shared leadership philosophy?

Build Trust by asking for assistance
As the new Principal, one of the first things I did was to ask for help. I was looking to create a schedule that accommodated the needs of the staff while still providing building level support for students. By asking for help in making a daily schedule I was able develop trust by clearly showing that I was taking their needs into consideration. Asking for help demonstrates vulnerability and makes it clear that you don’t believe that you have all the answers.

Create community through inclusion
Rarely is the truth simple and everyone’s truth is different. However, a meeting in which multiple perspectives are raised, and received knowing kind intent, is one worth having. These are the meetings we leave feeling purposeful and connected. Meetings of this kind are rare. They’re often unexpected and hard to come by but these are the meetings in which the entire staff grows because everyone has an opportunity to contribute.

Be sincerely grateful
Not surprisingly, the idea of appreciation is a theme that runs through the shared leadership philosophy. Giving the gift of gratitude demonstrates the honor you feel for having a staff member performing and leading well. A simple handwritten card is a great gift and can uplift the sagging spirits of a teacher. Be simple and concrete in your thank you note so it’s not an empty platitude. Plan to read the note in front of staff and/or students. Public acknowledgement is key in demonstrating the respect you have for the work they’re doing.

As the principal of the building you have to decide what your core beliefs are and how you want to lead. Depending on the situation you often have to wear multiple leadership “hats”. Building trust, creating community through inclusion, and being sincerely grateful will help create a shared leadership foundation from which you can build other leadership attributes.
What are other shared leadership strategies that you find effective. Share your experience in the comment section below.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

In Today’s episode we’re talking with Elementary Principal, School Turn Around expert and CEO of C and C educational consulting Mr. Shawn Hurt. Before we get into his area of expertise we dive into his origin story.

A quick summary of some of his main points include:

The schools that are doing well across the united states, even the world are using data to drive instruction.

We have to have high expectations for our students. A lot of times we feel like we have to lower our expectations because they(the students) come from environments that aren’t conducive to learning. That’s something that you should never do.

Kids are kids. We’re gonna deal with our mindset how we view these kids, how we look at these kids and how we’re gonna deliver instruction everyday.

The three pieces of advice he has for beginning principals include:
Find a mentor.
Make sure that you know understand and live by data.
Surround yourself with superstar experts in their field.

Finally:
Two authors that he highly recommends include Principal Kefala and Dr. Anthony Mohammad


If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. That is it for this episode. Thanks for listening to the Principal Entrepreneur.

6/7/2017 The Principal Entrepreneur: 1 skill to get the best ideas from a meeting

The principal as facilitator is often an under appreciated skill. I was recently at a meeting where the superintendent did a good job of facilitating and NOT leading the meeting. We were discussing a criteria for student awards and while he did have an agenda and points of view he made sure to step back and guide so his ideas didn’t dominate the discussion.

For a leader switching to the role of facilitator and listener isn’t always easy. Those in the room will continually look to you for affirmation. Remaining neutral both in language and in facial expression is necessary. You don’t want to unconsciously nod with comments you agree with thus shutting down others points of view.

Another example that demonstrates this concept occurred while I was an assistant principal. The principal in my former building was a great facilitator and I learned a lot from watching him work in leadership meetings. Like the superintendent, he not only set the agenda but asked questions so that he could get the best ideas from the others around the table.

One of the programs we were looking at implementing was an after school academy. The principal set his vision of what this would look like. He then presented this idea to the leadership team and fostered conversation about what the program could be. The other participants added their ideas and at the end he was able to summarize their main points and present a coherent plan.

This plan had many of the aspects that the others advocated for and he was able to create by being a great facilitator.

Facilitating is a necessary skill if you want to be an effective principal. When you go into the meeting you do want to have an agenda so you’ll stay on topic. You also want to have a list of questions to help guide the conversation. Finally you want to have some method for summarizing and finalizing the points of the meeting so at the end there is a sense of accomplishment.

What are some other skills that a good facilitator should have? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

As we begin to wind up our school year and look to the next we know change is coming. As principals one of our main objectives is to influence positive change within our schools. Reflecting on the past year, this may seem impossible, especially when trying to change behaviors around homework, attendance and basic soft skills. In reading through the book Influencer The Power To Change Anything.I came upon three techniques that might help change student and staff thoughts and behaviors around these school struggles. These three tips are all from chapter four of the the book.

Game time
One of the issues teachers regularly complain about is that students rarely do homework. I’ve heard both sides of the debate and am pretty sure that regardless of where you land the fact that it can, at a minimum, impact a student's’ grade is not. In thinking about a way to encourage the completion of homework this particular point “Make it a game”, in chapter four came to mind. I asked myself how can I make homework a game so students want to do it instead of dread doing it? The answer I came up with to create a huge dry erase board with all the students’ name on it and place it in our community room. When they complete a homework assignment they can place a marker of some kind on the board. Once they complete a certain number of assignments they can make it to the next level. Once they reach the next level they get a prize. Once a week when we meet we can pass out prizes and recognize those students who have moved to the next level. By making homework a game I’m hoping to positively influence my students’ academic outcomes.

I am whoever I say I am
This idea was one of the other suggestions the authors of Influencer have for those looking to create change. This idea only works if you and your staff find time to really get to know your students and understand who they think they are. Most of my students have brothers and sisters and feel intensely loyal to their siblings. The question becomes how to attach this new behavior (doing homework consistently) to their sense of loyalty. In thinking of ways to do this I came up with the idea of students having to take a selfie with a family member once they’ve completed their homework and then, upon showing that picture to a staff member, they get the opportunity to win a bonus prize for their entire family. The prize could be as simple as delivering a pizza to the family’s residence and acknowledging the student in front of their family.

The power of choice
This was the last strategy in the chapter and there is a quote that I found especially impactful. The authors say, “You must replace judgement with empathy, and lectures with questions. If you do so, you gain influence. The instant you stop trying to impose your agenda on others, you eliminate the fight for control.” So how does this relate to students and homework? Perhaps you give students a choice of what kind of homework they do. By giving them this control you could increase the likelihood of them completing the task and reinforcing what they’ve learned. Students like staff need to feel as if they have some autonomy, giving them choice gives them what they need to help them change their behaviors.

Changing students lives is why we’ve become principals. The book Influencer The Power To Change Anything provides some suggestions to do just that. What are some of the books that you’ve read that have great insight into changing behaviors? Leave your suggestions in the comment section below.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.

In Today’s episode we’re talking with High School Principal, Mr. Craig DeYoung. Mr. DeYoung is the principal of a high school in Dexter, New Mexico and as such wears a multitude of hats. He is a jack of all trades and master of some! His area of expertise involves building positive relationships with all stakeholders.

We talk about his journey from high school and college athlete to teacher, coach and Principal. We touch on the challenges of being a single administrator in a school and how he manages his time. He also gives some great pointers on building relationships with all stakeholders and the strategies his school uses to bridge cultural gaps.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

If you’re a principal make sure you check out the new grant/scholarship available that honors the hard work you put in on a daily basis. K12 principals click here to learn more

For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, new episodes weekly. To join the podcast as a guest email me at [email protected]. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.