“I Learn, You Learn, We Learn” Blog

As you know, some of the posts I add to this site are about leadership and what it is to be an effective leader. In many of my posts I refer to Mark Sanborn.  About a month and a half ago, I received an email from one of Mark’s associates asking if I would read his new book and post a review on my blog.  I can’t tell you how thrilled I was  when I read the email. I couldn’t't respond quick enough with an excited “YES”.

Mark’s new book The Encore Effect will be coming out the first week of September. For those of you who are familiar with Mark’s previous work, The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a Title to Be A Leader, you will not be disappointed with his new read.  Both of these books can be easily applied to any role in education whether you are a teacher, administrator, para-professional or on the custodial staff. If you are not familiar with his books, it’s a good time to become familiar with his work.  

Look for a review of The Encore Effect sometime next week.

” In my 63 years on this earth, I have come to realize the difference in success or failure is not chance, but choice. Because when adversity strikes, it’s not what happens to us, but how we react to what happens that will determine our destiny.” ~ Mac Anderson of Simple Truths

Every once in a while I like to view and be inspired by these short movie clips. Here’s one called Finish Strong . View the movie at http://www.finishstrongmovie.com/

Thank you , Mark Sanborn, for these 10 lessons.

Visit Mark’s Leadership Lesson’s Archive to add more to your thoughts and collections.

These are lessons I either learned early (thankfully) or I wish I had learned earlier (regrettably).~ Mark

1. The responsibility and service of leadership always outweigh the recognition and status.

2. Responsibility is rewarding, but it isn’t about rewards

3. Anyone can lead but not everyone should lead. If you don’t have your heart in it, you’ll be mediocre at best.

4. Leadership doesn’t make a difference; leadership makes the difference, personally and organizationally.

5. Anything the leader does that benefits only him- or herself was done out of ambition; leadership done right benefits others as well.

6. Consensus building is harder but far more powerful than control.

7. Your impact will rarely be bigger than your vision.

8. People draw big conclusions for little gestures and interactions.

9. As John Maxwell says, “It shouldn’t be lonely at the top.” If it is, you’ve done something wrong getting to the top.

10. I learned from the autobiography of John Ashcroft that as a leader more people will befriend you than be your friend. Understanding the difference is critical.

11. The best way to gain cooperation is by asking, “How can I help you?”

12. Leaders make time for what’s important.

Tomorrow approximately 60 DEN STAR Educators will converge on Discovery Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.  If the week turns about to be anything like last year, it is going to be fantastic! What’s different this year is this particular week’s participants are associated with each state’s DEN Leadership Council. I imagine the week’s festivities will focus on how we can play more of a leader role within our schools, district’s and state by focusing on technology integration and 21st century skills in our schools.

I have always been interested in the qualities of being a good leader. I’ve poked around reading various books and articles on the subject though what I’ve learned from it all is not really rocket science. I have and continue to believe communication, caring relationships, hard work, integrity and trust are key to being a good leader.  Knowing this, I continue to soak up the expert’s wisdom about the subject if only to experience increased motivation from the monotony and difficulty we sometimes experience in our workplace. Sometimes it’s refreshing to hear a great speaker who can really get your juices going or read an author who seems to really care about what it takes to be a leader.

With that in mind, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of the Leadership Blogs I follow and some of the authors and speakers I enjoy.

Blogs I follow:

• LeaderTalk
• Leading Together @ TIE
• Non-Profit Leadership Innovation and Change
• The Practice of Leadership
• Dangerously Irrelevant

Authors of Interest: ( You can check out some of their books on my GoodReads Book Shelf in the left hand column of my blog)

• Mark Sanborn
• Pat Lencioni
• John Maxwell
• Jim Collins
• Cal Ripkin
• John Wooden

Last but not least, I keep coming back to a simple book I read a few years ago by Mark Sanborn called  You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader.  When I think about the DEN STARs, I think about this book. As many of us who are in education experience often, it is hard to be “considered” a leader without the title of principal or another type of administrator. Mark provides many ways of how non-titled people can make a difference; just as we are in the DEN.

Have a great week. I can’t wait to report back on what Discovery has in store for us.

Scott McLeod of Dangerously Irrelevant started Leadership Day a year ago.  Although he has earmarked July 4 as the official day to blog about leadership and technology, I hope that many of you continue to blog about it on a daily basis. As you can see, I missed the 4th. I’m sure it won’t matter because this is not something that only needs one day a year generate awareness.

Scott brings attention to the leaders of our K-12 schools and what they are doing to promote, improve and integrate the use of technology to assist our students in succeeding in school and in their future.

Although technology integration and use is not one of the major agenda items of many of our school leaders, it should be recognized as an important catalyst to the success of those major items like literacy, differentiated learning, improving test scores, etc…  It cannot be dealt with separately, in a vacuum, or as an after-thought. It must be systemically integrated into the design and construction of a school’s major initiatives just as it should be seamlessly used as a tool  within  the curriculum.

Scott asks the question, “How can we help our leaders with the task of using digital technology to increase student learning and 21st century outcomes?”   I wish I had the answer, but  I don’t. But, collectively, all of us might.  I have ideas. You have ideas. Teachers have ideas. Students have ideas. The community and business partners have ideas.  Administrators who have had success with technology and everything that goes along with it have ideas. Together, if leaders were willing to listen, I believe we can help.  Yes, this is Scott’s idea - to provide a collaborative of sharing and learning. However, it will only make a difference if our administrators are willing to be open to listening to those who have the knowledge and experience of understanding and utilizing the technology in our educational settings. 

Along with Scott’s plea to help our leaders understand the use of digital technologies, I would like to up the anti just a bit - how can we encourage our administrators to read our posts, listen to ideas and have conversations with those who can help? 

Post your comments here or at http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2008/06/calling-all-blo.html. Don’t wait until next July 4th, though.  Any day in any way is welcome.

Tags: leadershipday2008, schooltechleadership

I seem to be fixed on a quote in my last post - “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results” ~ Milton Friedman

I wonder how many times we’ve made this mistake in K-12? I think I can guess with certainty it is many more times than I would like to know about.  How many programs have been purchased and implemented in just math and reading only to be moved to the wayside because the original intentions of the program weren’t working?

  I recently joined a summer online book club hosted by Scott McLeod of Dangerously Irrelevant.  We are reading Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.  Just by reading the introduction and chapter one I am amazed at how seemingly stuck I am on the power of behaviors. The message coming out loud and clear on our book  discussion board site is it is necessary to identify and focus on changing  “vital behaviors” if you want to influence or make a change in anything you want to do.   When districts implement new programs, why can’t there be evaluation of results coupled with behaviors of all stake holders involved before tossing the program or stating it doesn’t work?

Stay tuned …………………………….

Here’s a little inspirational video ditty to show to your team or just get to get your own leadership juices flowing.  http://www.changeisgoodmovie.com/ It was originally posted on “Dangerously Irrelevant” on June 3.  Thanks Scott.

Charisma

“How can you have charisma? Be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are making them feel good about you.” ~ Dan Reiland

“There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.” ~Henry Van Dyke

“Charisma is a sparkle in people that money can’t buy. It’s an invisible energy with visible effects.” ~ Marianne Williamson

Education

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” ~ John Dewey

“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” ~ Chinese Proverb

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” ~Albert Einstein

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” ~Alvin Toffler

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~ William Butler Yeats

Apologizing

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” ~ Kimberly Johnson

“An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.” ~Lynn Johnston

“Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.” ~ Tryon Edwards

 “When you realize you’ve made a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier to eat crow while it’s still warm.” ~ Dan Heist

“Instead of taking sides, we should think about howto use digital tools well”. This quote is from an article published yesterday in Education Week by Andrew A. Zucker.

The focus of the article is considering how technology can be used to focus on 6 key goals of education:

1. Student achievement

2. Making schools more engaging and relevant (thereby helping reduce the disastrous high school dropout rates in many districts)

3. Providing high-quality schooling for all students  (including English-language learners and student with disabilities)

4. Attracting, preparing, an retaining high -quality teachers

5. Increasing support for children from parents and the community

6. Requiring accountability for results ( including providing information about schools to policymakers and the public)

I believe digital tools can help to achieve al these goals. What about you?

Click here to read the entire article: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/02/31zucker_ep.h27.html?print=1

Crossposted from David Maister’s blog .

“Whether you are talking about purpose, mission, vision, values, goals, objectives or almost ANY of the traditional concepts that people use, the only practical way to make it real is to do two (simultaneous) things:

(a) stop talking about the future destination, and start thinking about the rules you would have to live by in order to get there; and

(b) translate the generalities of the organization’s purpose, mission, values or principles into what it would mean for individuals and confirm that the organization’s members are, in fact, prepared to be held accountable and live by those individual rules.

How often do we develop vision and mission statements that do not result in a change in anyone’s behaviour. Vision should result in a set of values and principles, that enable all people in the organisation to act independently, towards the achievement of the vision. Unless something changes as a result of the vision, the vision is meaningless. Moving from vision to action can only happen, if it results in a change in behaviour, either your doing different things or doing things differently. To ensure that behaviour change in ways that achieve the vision, a vision must be supported by a set of “rules” or principles to guide the journey.

• How’s your vision? Has it resulted in action?
• Do you have “rules” or principles to guide you on the journey?
• Have you translated the vision into what is means for individuals?

Last night’sDEN webinar with Anastasia Goodstein, creator and author of yPulse Teen Blog, was a a terrific session focusing on what teens are actually doing on the internet. Turns out it’s not much different from years ago. They like to hang out, decorate their space, and socialize all in an effort to find themselves. What has changed is they are
doing it in a very different place - online. Think about it - malls and social hangouts aren’t as welcoming anymore, teens still have a lot on their minds (just as we did years ago), but they still need to talk with their friends. Social networking sites have become the “place” to hang, talk, decorate, and be a teen.

Anastasia, along with a number of webinar participants,agree the issue at hand  is we (parents and educators) need to begin a serious campaign on educating our students about the correct way to use computers, the correct way to socialize online, and what to do when a teen reads something disturbing to them.  Computer Ethics, Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety must become a staple in our education system and in our conversations with our children.  Computers and the Internet aren’t the culprits (contrary to what most school officials think) it is the people using them in the wrong way that is.

Here are Anastasia’s Top Ten things you can do to become a “Totally Wired” educator (and Parent)

1. Survey your teens - Find out where they go online, what they like to do online and how they use their phones and the internet

2. Lean on them - Not a computer wizard? Identify a teen who is and let them help in your class. It is empowering and validating.

3. Join a social network - Learn to use the tools your students are using

4. Be their guide - Help them learn to evaluate and find credible internet sources. Help them become information “literate”

5. Talk about and model appropriate use - No hidden camera photos of their friends,  what’s appropriate to post in a public forum and why, not using texting acronyms in English papers

6. Teach teens cyberethics -Incorporate ethics into any computer course and classes using computer labs,emphasizing what’s different about bullying online, the public nature of the internet, plagiarism and cheating

7. Identify the trailblazers in your field - Read their blogs, ask them to tell you what works and what doesn’t

8. If you are a trailblazer,spread the gospel. Find ways to get your positive experiences with technology out to others.

9.Support efforts to unblock appropriate social media - Educate your administrators on ways social networking can be educational and how some can be privatized

10. Practice Active Reputation Management- student blogging, portfolio sites, active use of privacy settings.

Here are some sites to help get you started:

• Google Tips forOnline Safety
• TenCommandments for Computer Ethics
• NS Teens
• AddressingCyberbullying in Classes
• Online Activity about Digital Citizenship
• WebWiseKids

Cross-post from 21st Century Learning

David Jakes has come up with a series of questions districts should begin contemplating in an effort to evaluate and make changes as we move through the 21st century.

 Here is a sample of questions posed to professional educators:

The Professional Educator:

1. Are you a life-long learner? How do you demonstrate that? Do you have your own personal learning space? Will you build the skills, live the skills, before you expect your kids too?

2. Are you a member of a learning network? How does that impact what you do in your learning space? How do you contribute to the learning spaces of others?

4. Do you have 15 minutes to devote to your own personal and professional learning and the development of your learning space? Are you willing to live it and breathe it before your kids have to?

Click Here to read the entire article: http://www.21centuryconnections.com/node/456

Two of my favorites, The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a TITLE to be a Leader will have some company in September and I can’t wait.
Remember Jaime Escalente, the teacher in the  classic movie Stand and Deliver?  The teacher who goes beyond the ordinary to teach inner city kids math and eventually pass the AP test?  The teacher who kids came to school on Saturdays for?  Mark uses Jaime as an example when describing his new book Encore Effect. 
If anything like it’s predecessors, you will open Encore Effect for tips, quotes and words of wisdom long after you’ve read it the first time. 
In the meantime you can learn more about Mark and his writing  at http://www.marksanborn.com/marks-writings.

 ”Always be yourself, but choose to be your best self.” Mark Sanborn