Why I Lead? - #SAVMP

This post marks the beginning of my journey into the School Admin Virtual Mentor Program (#SAVMP) organized by @gcouros.  This program is designed to bring together school leaders to connect, to learn, and to grow through the utilization of social media.  I am very excited to be connecting with @Joe_Mazza, @kmnutting, and @drsnerling and I am looking forward to sharing and learning with them.

Now onto the purpose of this post.

Why I Lead:

In reflecting on this question, I had difficulty separating the “Why” I lead from the “How” I lead.  I guess this makes sense since all of my actions as a leader are based upon my beliefs.  So I took some inventory on my educational beliefs.

·         I believe that all students can learn.

·         I believe in building relationships through mutual respect and trust

·         I believe that all students deserve a champion working for them. (If you have not seen Rita Pierson’s TED Talk, you NEED to click here.)

·         I believe that while you may finish your education, you should never stop learning.

·         I believe in celebrating every victory, no matter how small.

·         I believe that I can be a positive role model for my students, my staff and my school community.

·         I believe in positive change.

So Why do I Lead?… I Lead because I Believe.

Be well,

Joe

Lollipop Moments

I’m going to level with you…

This is scary.  I mean, like, really scary. 

I began building my PLN through Twitter at the beginning of this past school year.  Slowly and surely I have built a community of learners, educators and leaders who I converse with, share ideas with and learn with.  I went from lurking in chats to participating in them regularly to planning to co-moderate one with a few fantastic people (more on that at a later date).

Blogging, however, has always been an intimidating undertaking.  I have been toying with the idea of blogging for some time now, but anytime I would start to really consider it, I was shut down by self-doubt.  I read the blogs of many of the people I follow on Twitter, @casas_jimmy, @NMHS_Principal, @twhitford and @gcouros just to name a few.  These were leaders who present at National Conferences sharing their great accomplishments, their forward thinking, their deep, sometimes profound, reflections and messages.  How pompous was I to think that I would have anything to offer the community that could not be found from someone else with much more experience and knowledge than me.  And so I remained simply a reader rather than a contributor…

 

However, last week I saw the outstanding TED talk above from Drew Dudley entitled “Everyday Leadership”.  In this talk, Drew shares the idea that by only celebrating mammoth accomplishments as Leadership, we devalue the great things all of us do every day that impact people’s lives.  This devaluing causes us to not always recognize “Lollipop Moments”, moments when our words or actions ended up making a remarkable difference in someone’s life.  Drew’s message pushed away the fear and intimidation of blogging.  It helped remind me that Leadership is as much about our daily actions and conversations as it is about major events and initiatives, perhaps even more so.  These small victories that we experience in our schools need to be celebrated just as grandly.

So as I plan for September, one of my goals is to be more conscious of my everyday words and actions and their impact on my students and staff.  To focus on my ability to, as Drew puts it, create, acknowledge, and pay forward more Lollipop Moments.  
   

Drew’s message also forced me to reflect on the Lollipop Moments that I have experienced in my young administrative and educational career.  The moment that I immediately recalled was a conversation I had as a 2^nd year teacher with my then Assistant Principal.  During my year-end evaluation, she told me, “Joe, you have such great things going on in your classroom.  You need to get out there and share them with people.”  That single statement, that vote of confidence in a young teacher, sparked a desire in me to share and to collaborate, to grow and to eventually lead. Those 22 words have had a profound impact on my career and my life; they have been the catalyst for all of my leadership endeavors to this point.  And I don’t think I have ever shared that fact with the wonderful woman who said those words to me.

As referenced towards the end of the talk, a major part of acknowledging Lollipop Moments is saying “Thank you” to those who have provided these moments to you.  So before I rush out to get my bucket of lollipops for September, I have an important email to write to a very special lady.  Have you thanked the person(s) responsible for your Lollipop Moment?
  

Be Well,

Joe