My Favorite Question

Update for Feb 1-5

Late last week, I had the opportunity to visit my daughter's classroom.  Her teacher is hosting parents and community members who are willing to share something they are an expert at in life.  She is hoping to help the kids see how one becomes an expert at something and hopefully inspire the kids to want to learn more about at topic they are interested in learning.

I shared how to make pancakes since that's something I do with Ally almost every weekend.

I know.

It's not exactly what I had in mind either when it came to what expertise I could share.   We had fun nevertheless!

The night before I was supposed to come in, I told Ally I was going to be able to do an expert talk in her class.  She was surprised, but not for the reason I assumed.

"Are you sure you have time to do this, Dad, since you're a principal?"

"Sure!" I said.

"What do you do all day anyways?"

*record scratch*

Now this is my least favorite question about being a principal and for many reasons (My favorite question is a little later).

I think teachers can relate, too, because how could we possibly describe what we do all day?

(Here's someone who tries to help others understand:)



I've tried to actually describe what I do as a principal each day and watch as the eyes of the person who asked me glaze over and wish they had never asked me the question.

I've tried keeping it short, too -- "I get to help people all day," (which is true, by the way) and they kind of look at me sideways like, He's not telling me the truth.

The truth is what I do all day is try to answer one question.

I believe we are all working to answer this question, we just may not have articulated it before.

I didn't really articulate it before either until I read an Educational Leadership article called "Trust, But Verify".

There was a powerful paragraph in the article that helped me articulate my new favorite question. I shared the passage with three of my colleagues earlier this week and here it is for you:

"As professionals, we're expected to seek better ways of educating children."

Pretty powerful, in my opinion.  We are all called to work toward this expectation. This is why we do what we do.  This became the inspiration for my favorite question:


"Can we do this better for kids?"


Have a GREAT week!

-Herb


Articles Worth Reading --

"Program leaders hope to help autistic kids express themselves https://t.co/dQo9wVzxpg via DispatchAlerts"

"5 Things We Can do to Prepare Students to Work Independently. https://t.co/ZGwYDX17Ek https://t.co/KDVDSvHZnS"

"This Is What a Student-Designed School Looks Like https://t.co/NxFapXPJ0A

Ss 18X more likely to be academically motivated if they are #engaged in their learning. How do you engage Ss? #ESSA https://t.co/olULPLowWn

— Quaglia Institute (@QISAtweets) January 29, 2016

Video Worth Watching --








Upcoming Dates --

Feb 1 -- ADE PTO Meeting, 7pm

Feb 2 -- ADE Kindergarten Registration Day

Feb 2 -- BIT Meeting, 8am

Feb 3 -- ADE Staff Meeting, 8am -- Topic - Follett Shelf
Feb 3 -- "Open Office Hours" - After school in the Media Center -- I'll be available to discuss House Options & Project Timeline.  

Feb 4 -- Herb Admin meeting

Feb 5 -- Yearbook Sale Ends

Feb 8-11 February Conference Week 

Feb 10 -- Conference Evening

Feb 12 -- Parent/Teacher Conference Comp Day, NO SCHOOL

Feb 15 -- Presidents’ Day, NO SCHOOL
Feb 16 -- Teacher Steering Committee Meeting

Feb 23 -- K (AM) & 1st Grade (PM) ½ Day Data Team Meeting

Feb 24 -- 2nd Grade (AM) & 3rd Grade (PM) ½ Day Data Team Meeting

Feb 25 -- 4th Grade (AM) & 5th Grade (PM) ½ Day Data Team Meeting