1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Recently, many friends and followers via Twitter and Voxer have been publishing their 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 blog challenge. Well, I love blogging, I love lists, and I love challenges! So here I go.

1) What has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?
Just one?! 

1. I'm new to my building, this year, and as a result there has been a learning curve.
   One particular struggle is creating, introducing, and implementing procedures and structures. Not having a full grasp of what procedures and structures were needed prior to the year starting, it is now difficult to get these things off of the ground as we go through the day-to-day grind of a school year without many opportunities to come-up for air.

2) Share TWO accomplishments that you are proud of from this school year.
Just two?!

1. Communication to parents. I am trying to reach a lot of different parents, a lot of different ways, for a lot of different reasons. We have email blasts, a school newsletter (via Smore page), a Remind account for text messages, a Facebook page, and a school hashtag (#StarryShines) for Twitter to name a few of our methods. I've also been adamant about taking and sending birthday selfies to families. These things seem to be a big hit, as I've received A LOT of positive feedback from a multitude of parents.
2. I feel (hope) as though teachers are being empowered - to make instructional decisions, to
   
   pursue and implement personal/professional interests and/or passions, to be in-charge of the situations where students need consequence and/or discipline. As a leader, this is something that I feel strongly about. Unfortunately, I don't know how measurable it is. Futhermore, this is an accomplishment in pockets of our building. Nonetheless, again, I feel (hope) that this is the direction where we are moving.

3) What are THREE things you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?
Just three?!

1. We are working on creating/planning a Parent Education Consortium Workshop. This is something that we've had parents openly desire. We are hopeful that we can grow the program into something that will be beneficial for many of our families.
2. Developing PBIS sub-committees. Our PBIS team has a lot of work to do when it comes to revamping our PBIS implementation. It's too much for us to accomplish the way that we are currently operating. We are looking to divide and conquer.
3. Diving-in with a structured data protocol that our grade-level teams will use to focus their conversations. What is the data, and what implications does the data have on our instruction? What commitments are we willing to make in our classrooms, in-order to positively impact the data that we are looking at. We need to talk about the things that we can control, the things that we can do, and the things that we can impact. 

4) Give FOUR reasons you remain in education in today's rough culture?

1. I got into education so that I could be a positive role model for kids. Ten years into the profession, that desire has not faded.
2. There is a rough culture associated with education. But there is also a wonderful culture that celebrates all that is good with education. Connecting with other like-minded, positive educators via Twitter and Voxer (Principals in Action group, especially) is such an inspiration to persevere for kids.
3. Esmeralda Moseley recently blogged about the model for leadership that her father provided her with. I want to be that model for my kids. I want my kids to see me as an educator, and expect nothing less from any teacher/school staff that they will encounter as they go through their schooling.
4. What else would I rather do? I can't think of a single thing that would be more rewarding. Easier, sure I could think of lots of jobs that would be easier, but I can't think of anything that would produce the same kind of highs that working in a school so frequently provides.

5) Which FIVE people do you hope will take the challenge of answering these questions?

1. Matt Mayer - I've really enjoyed connecting with him on occasion this year via our Principals in Action Voxer group and Twitter.
2. Shelley Miller - She is only in her second year as a teacher, but she does an amazing job! She started a blog this year to communicate with the parents of the students in her class. If my kid's teacher had a blog, I'd be curious to see their responses to these prompts.
3. Tony Sinanis - Fell in love with the book that he co-wrote for the Corwin Connected Educator Series, The Power of Branding. I've since had the pleasure connecting with him, again via Voxer and Twitter, as we get ready to push #PositivePostItDay, next month.
   
4. Jeremy Stewart - This blog is a broken record.  I've never met Jeremy, but through some awesome dialogue that we've had via Twitter and Voxer I can tell that we share the same passion for education and kids.
5. Janelle Sulhoff - Another amazing teacher doing amazing things for her students. A teacher leader. She started a blog this school year, too, but I've noticed that it's been a little quiet lately.