Your Volume Doesn't Define You

An elementary school age version of me gets an autograph from former NFL quarterback, Erik Wilhelm

Jim, "Don't call me Chris," Everett pauses to take a photograph with my brother and me

What do the above pictures have to do with education and/or leadership?

Throughout my childhood, I accumulated a fairly impressive collection of autographs from my favorite professional athletes. I was relentless in regards to the letters that I wrote and sent to them. And I was strategic with how I would maneuver myself to the front of any crowd to acquire the autograph that I wanted.

I've tried to pass-on some of these same strategies to my son.
Here he is, as a four-year-old, after acquiring Alex Rodriguez's autograph during a spring training game.

I didn't have to be loud, which is good because I consider myself to be a quiet person. Typically, I prefer a rather introverted lifestyle. This has always been the case. 

You don't have to ask everyone. But you have to be willing to ask one person. And you have to be persistent to get what you want.

Currently, I'm trying to link-up with Arizona Cardinals head coach, Bruce Arians, for a #DadsOnDeck podcast that #DadsAsPrincipals and #MakerDads are creating (see previous blog post, linked). Connecting with him is a long shot (although, I have received an initial email response from his assistant!), but it's kind of fun trying. It will probably go nowhere and if that's the case, I'm out nothing but my time. But what if it does go somewhere?

There is a lot out there for our taking. In regards to this, social media is amazing. The doors that it opens for us, throughout the world, are limitless. We have tools at our fingertips that allow us to connect with anyone.

I've done that. And I'll continue to do that. I've connected with educators from coast-to-coast and everywhere in-between to grow my Professional Learning Network (PLN) in-order to benefit the staff and students within our school at Van Allen. Going forward, I have BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals) to connect with authors and other individuals that can lead to impactful experiences for our school. It's a brave new world.

So don't call me shy. Don't call my kids shy. Don't call students shy. Don't call people shy. That's a label. Labels are judgments that people make; they're not helpful.

My Leadership Shelfie

If you're gonna talk the talk, you better walk the walk.

So I am following-up my last post #LeadersAreReaders with My Leadership Shelfie - I stole all of this inspiration from Beth Houf (her post, My Leadership Shelf UPDATED, linked).

What I'm Reading Now:

My office door shows what books I've read,
and lists what I'm currently reading

• Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning, by John Spencer
• Lasting Impact, by Kostya Kennedy

What I'm Reading Next:

• Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson
• Collaborative Leadership: Six Influences that Matter Most, by Peter DeWitt
• Creativity Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, by Ed Catmull
• Ditch that Textbook: Free Your Teaching and Revolutionize Your Classroom, by Matt Miller
• Social LEADia: Moving Students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership, by Jennifer Casa-Todd
• Teach Like Finlad: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms, by Timothy Walker
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, by Michele Borba

What I've Recently Finished Reading (over the course of the summer):

• Uncommon Learning, by Eric Sheninger
• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, by Tim Grover
• March: Book One, by John Lewis
• A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park
• Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution that's Transforming Education, by Ken Robinson
• My Cubs: A Love Story, by Scott Simon
• The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown
• Starting a Movement: Building Culture from the Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities, by Ken Williams
• Wonder, by R.J. Palacio

What's in My Cart at Amazon:

• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah
• The Kickstart Guide to Making GREAT Makerspaces, by Laura Fleming
• Lead Like a PIRATE: Make School Amazing for Your Students and Staff, by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf
• The Quarterback Whisperer: How to Build an Elite NFL Quarterback, by Bruce Arians

A collection of (most of) my favorite professional books that I've read. 

Read. Inspire Learning.

#LeadersAreReaders and Readers are Leaders.

#LeadersAreReaders

"Yes, we have very busy lives. We have time for exactly what we choose to make time for." 

I'm pretty sure that it was Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd) who spoke those words during a session at the National Principals Conference this past summer.

We all have the same amount of time. Yet, we all prioritize our time differently. What are your priorities?

Two books recommended to me by my friends:
 Jessica Cabeen and Lindsy Stumpenhorst

We can probably ALL agree that reading should be a priority for our students. Few would argue that kids need to read. However, students aren't the only learners in schools. In schools, learning starts with us - the adults, the educators.

Reading is a way of learning. Reading is how we grow. Reading is a way to develop empathy. Reading is how we become inspired. Our kids must see us as readers. Our kids must see us as learners.

So if we're asking our kids to read, which we are (or probably should be), we better be reading. I believe that we should never ask our kids to do things that we aren't willing to do, ourselves.

Are you assigning your students independent reading for X amount of minutes throughout each week? This is an assignment for most of our Students. I am not questioning this assignment. In fact, I think that this is one of the more logical homework assignments that we give our Students.

However, what I do question is the educator that assigns 20 minutes of reading, each night, to his/her students...or 100 minutes of reading, each week, to his/her students, but then claims to not have the time to read him/herself. We're busy. Kids are busy. We're all busy. If it is important, we'll make the time for it.

So when do you read? When do you learn? When do you grow? When do you develop empathy? When do you become inspired? And how do you do it? Wake up a little earlier. Listen to an audio book.  Figure out a way to consume books while you commute and/or exercise. Be creative, and share your hack for how you make time.

This image was taken from Chris Doyle's Twitter feed.
He is constantly inspiring learning through his sharing the books that he is reading.

Read. Inspire Learning

#LeadersAreReaders and Readers are Leaders.

ThingLink - Summer 2017

After seeing a blog post written by Melinda Miller (@mmiller7571) - A Non-Traditional Back to School Letter - ThingLink (linked), I was INSPIRED to TRY something NEW. Here is the interactive image that I CREATED, which includes some highlights from my summer.

#DadsAsPrincipals - Dear Coach Arians:

Dear Coach Arians:

First off, I am a football fan. I love it. It was my first love (see the strand of pictures at the bottom of this post). Throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school football was my priority. Football was what motivated me to perform adequately in regards to my academics. Football kept me out of trouble. Football was what inspired me to adopt a lifestyle of health and fitness that has continued into my mid-thirties. Football taught me character traits that I credit for shaping me into the adult that I've become. Football, and the possibility of coaching football, is why I got into education. I owe football. I love football.

But this letter isn't about my love for football.

This blog post is about my love for something that I love even more than football. Being a Dad.

Recently, I stumbled across an article (linked) that quoted you from a recent Sirius XM NFL radio (linked) interview as saying,

"For our coaches, I tell them, if you miss a recital or a football game or a basketball game, I'll fire you. You can always come back and work."

Thank you.

You see, I'm an elementary school principal. I stay pretty busy with work. Probably not quite as busy as you, however. My job is important, nonetheless; children's futures are at stake, which coincides with our society's future being at stake.

If I let it, I could be consumed by my work. It's a struggle because I love my work.

Anyways, thank you for making it okay to prioritize being a father and a parent. I am involved in a couple of newly created movements made-up of educator Dads that are working to keep this focus in the forefront of our minds as the school year gets underway. Traditionally, the narrative only allows us to be great at one or the other - home or work. That isn't something that we're okay with. That isn't something that we'll settle for - we want to be great in both roles. We think that it is possible.

So I know that you're extremely busy as the football season is getting underway, but if you're interested, we'd love to connect with you.

On behalf of the #DadsAsPrincipals, #DadsOnDeck, and #MakerDads - thanks in advance for reading this, and good luck with your upcoming football season.

Sincerely,

Eric Ewald