Blog
It’s Time to Get R.E.A.L.
The start of the 2020-21 school year has been anything but business as usual. We have found ourselves navigating uncharted territory, tasked with reimagining teaching and learning amidst a global pandemic. Read more
Keeping Your Fire Stoked
If you live in Texas like I do, you know that anytime the weather gets below 80, we celebrate with all things fall! Pumpkin spice, boots, and s’mores around the fire pit! Recently, my family and I were enjoying... Read more
Assessing the Remote Learner
Shifting to remote learning over a weekend and then starting the fall semester remotely has been a challenge for many teachers. Read more
Saving Grace
I believe it is fair to say that we are going through a significant trial, and some may even say, a crisis. Experiencing a months-long school shutdown was not something I had ever . . . Read more
Our Mission Remains Clear: Focusing on Student Results
In this world of uncertainty, where everything is changing by the hour—wait, by the minute!—there are crucial questions that need to be answered. How do we continue to ensure that . . . Read more
How PLCs Guided Our Work Through the COVID Crisis
As the dynamics in education across the world changed in March and the months after, so did the thoughts of many educational professionals. Leading a large urban-suburban high school provided . . . Read more
Critical Issues for Guiding Coalitions
Change is messy. Change is hard. Change is unpredictable. These are the types of phrases I have heard over the past few months as educators around the globe prepared for several changes to the . . . Read more
Finding the Opportunity in the COVID-19 Crisis
The 2019-20 school year will certainly go down in history as unprecedented. The COVID-19 pandemic turned all aspects of society, including school systems, upside-down. As schools were mandated . . . Read more
An Administrator's Perspective for PLC Meetings
There is an age-old question—If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to see it, does it make a sound? Here’s another question—If a collaborative team meeting takes . . . Read more
Seven Norms for Collaborative Teams
During our first year working in the district office, we had monthly district grade-level meetings led by teachers who set agendas, provided oversight to the meetings, and facilitated . . . Read more
CFA Data Inquiry Helps Foster Collective Teacher Efficacy
In a school with strong collective efficacy, all of the faculty feels they have a hand in helping each child excel. Students are valued for the diversity of their learning profiles, and teachers . . . Read more
Pit Bulls and Fallen Trees: A Message to Principals
It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving break. As a busy elementary school principal, I spent the previous four days resting, relaxing, and gearing up for the mad dash to winter break. I renewed . . . Read more
Joyful Noise
The framework, process, and structure of professional learning communities often consume our thoughts and actions as we strive to increase student achievement by constantly focusing on answering . . . Read more
'Better' Doesn't Happen All By Itself
My granddaddy used to say, “Tighten up every little chance you get. ‘Better’ doesn’t happen all by itself.” And my granddaddy was always right. (With the exception . . . Read more
Understanding the 'What'
While I was a school principal, our teams went into the PLC process with the aim of meeting each and every student where they were. Our mission was to collectively support all learners in moving . . . Read more