Dealing with Problems is a Matter of Perspective

In his book Developing the Leaders Around You, John C. Maxwell quotes Raiders owner Al Davis: "A great leader doesn't treat problems as special, he treats them as normal." Maxwell goes on to emphasize that in an imperfect world problems will occur regularly. While we as educational leaders should strive for excellence, we must expect problems. Maxwell argues that "problems almost always create opportunities - to learn, grow and improve."

In my own experience as an educational leader, I often find myself at the end of the day or at the end of the week frustrated by all the problems that have popped up that require either my attention or the attention of the leaders on my team. After reading and reflecting on Maxwell, I realize these problems aren't special, unique or unusual. In reality, each problem that arises is an opportunity for my organization, my school, to improve. In order to realize that improvement, I must excel at solving those problems. Additionally, the leaders around me must excel at problem-solving.

Maxwell says leaders must do four things to become good problem solvers:

1. They must anticipate problems before they occur.
2. They must maintain a positive attitude while they occur.
3. They must use all their resources to solve them as quickly as possible so they cease to occur.
4. They must learn from them so the same problems do not occur again.

I've given this a great deal of thought and I believe Maxwell is right on about problems and problem-solving. Perhaps the greatest challenge in following Maxwell's advice lies with point #2 (maintain a positive attitude while problems occur). Once we come to accept problems not only as part of everyday life in an organization but also as part of the growth process, maintaining a positive attitude about problems should be less of a challenge and less frustrating.

I'm going to share these ideas this week with the leaders around me so we can help one another accept problems, problem solve, and hold one another accountable for Maxwell's four points above.

Material above taken from Developing the Leaders Around You, John C. Maxwell, pp. 149-150.

The Most Frightening Part of Increased Plugged-In Time

So, why should we as educators be frightened that our kids are now spending more and more hours online or plugged-in to social media? Obviously the more our kids stay plugged in then the less they're reading, sleeping, working on schoolwork or spending time with family. However, there is a much more frightening aspect of digital natives increasing their already astonishing number of hours plugged in to social media. I'll explain.

I met last week with two Department of Justice agents who specialize in cybercrimes. We spent about almost two hours discussing potential online threats and dangers our kids face every day. I sat stunned as they gave me statistic after statistic about how many children and teens have had conversations online with complete strangers, how many of those strangers have lied about how old they actually are, how many of those strangers have told the truth about how old they are but the kids don't care, and (the most frightening of all) how many children and teens have received the invitation LMIRL (let's meet in real life). As an educator whose entire career has been in the digital age, I have seen and dealt with all sorts of things. I am neither naive nor easily shocked. However, after our conversation I felt overwhelmed.

The good news for educators and parents is that there are measures we can take to protect our kids. The greatest weapon against the evils that lurk in the chat rooms and social networking sites is education. We will be doing an educational series soon not only about the threats I've mentioned here but also about other digital dangers including sexting, cyberstalking and more. We're going to host the Department of Justice agents for an assembly one morning in school to educate the students and then for an assembly of a much more graphic nature at night to show the stark reality to our parents. This assembly will be sandwiched between Advisory sessions about sexting, compulsive texting, cyberbullying, cyberstalking and more. There are a number of great resources available but the newest one I've come across is A Thin Line. We'll probably use much of their information in our Advisory sessions while the DOJ will use its own material.

I encourage you to contact the FBI or Department of Justice, speak to someone who works with cybercrimes, and invite them to your office to get you caught up on how predators are hunting our kids. You will be shocked. I guarantee it.

Digital Natives Increase Plugged-In Time

A recent New York Times article reveals startling new information about our digital native kids. Just when we thought our digital natives couldn't log any additional on-line or plugged-in time, they do just that. According to the article, If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online, by Tamar Lewin, the Kaiser Family Foundation repeated a study last done five years ago and discovered that digital natives are now online or plugged-in "seven and a half hours a day... compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago." While that is startling enough, because digital natives multi-task so well, these kids pack about eleven hours of media use into these seven and a half hours each day. Of the seven and a half hours, digital natives average about two hours of that time on a mobile device. The study shows that more than 70% of teens have a TV in their rooms and more than 33% of teens have a computer with internet access in their rooms. The new study further supports the idea that our schools and our classrooms must continue to make strides in an effort to keep kids literally plugged in to education. More integration of technology into daily classroom activities, allowing students more access to technology for academic endeavors, and more out-of-the-box thinking and planning by teachers are just a few of the things that must happen in schools to keep our kids focused on their education.

All of these statistics are fascinating but on some level they should be downright frightening. Why? I'll explain in my next post and the explanation has nothing to do with classroom education.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaks on Education

While searching recently for quotes about education, I found one by MLK. This being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I'll post the quote and share it today.



“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” MLK



Well said, Dr. King.

Visiting with a Mentor: Time Well Spent

I recently adopted a new mentor, though he may not realize it yet, and I spent the morning with him on Friday. From the outside looking in, some skeptics probably would wonder what I, working with my particular kids and teachers, could learn from him, working with his particular kids and teachers. After all, while our campuses are separated by only several miles, our campuses are worlds apart. Truth be told, though our campuses appear to be worlds apart based on demographics and the socio-economic status of our students' families, our campuses share a common bond: kids. As he said, "Kids are kids. They all want to be respected, to be given direction, and to know someone cares about them.

We spent the better part of the morning talking shop. Mostly I asked him questions and did my best to soak up his wisdom. After discussing a wide variety of topics about administration and leadership, I asked him for his best advice on leading a faculty. I've listed his keys to success below:

• Find pillars in your teaching community - Identify and build relationships with those on your faculty who you trust and whose opinions you value. Keep them close and lean on them always.
• Have many small conversations - Management by walking around, in other words. Most business can be conducted in a school setting in a series of small conversations rather than in formal meetings. Additionally, this approach builds and strengthens relationships.
• Let them (the faculty) see you with your hair down once in a while - Faculty often see their division head, principal or head of school as a robot or machine whose job it is to make decisions and dictate policy. The teachers who are in the trenches every day need to see their leader as a real person who is capable of having fun and being real.
• When you have the authority, bless them (the faculty) - Because teachers aren't rewarded monetarily to the extent they deserve and because theirs is a profession without much instant gratification and satisfaction, administrators should shower them with blessings whenever appropriate. Breakfast in the teachers' lounge, abbreviated in-service days, sensitivity and understanding about personal issues, baked goods and coffee hand delivered, and covering a teacher's lunch duty are all small but appreciated ways of blessing teachers when possible.

I could list a dozen other nuggets of his wisdom here, and perhaps I will later. The time I spent away from the distractions of my campus may have been some of the most educational and productive time I've invested in my own education since I became an administrator. Seeking out and spending time with a mentor can hardly be considered a new educational leadership strategy but it must be considered one of the most effective. Every educational leader needs someone with more wisdom and experience to provide counsel, guidance or perhaps just a friendly ear on those days when it gets lonely at the top.

Thermometer or Thermostat?

While I'm quite sure I often drive my faculty crazy with quotes, anecdotes and other things for them to ponder, I will continue to throw things out there for them on a regular basis because that's who I am and that's part of what makes me the leader I am (for better or worse). Based on the response I got from my faculty, I consider this offering a success so I'm going to share it here. It should be noted that I am in no way trying to take credit for the following idea. Because the smart steal from the strong, I simply tweaked it to fit my needs.

While reading John Maxwell's book Developing the Leaders Around You, I ran across two words that caught my attention: thermometer and thermostat. Those two words got me thinking about how educators, in the classroom and in the schoolhouse, can choose either to be a thermometer (passive) or a thermostat (active). After some thought, I posed the following challenge to my faculty: "This week, in dealing with our kids and in working to make our school a better place, each of us can choose to be a thermometer or a thermostat. I hope you will choose to be a thermostat. When you know why, shoot me an email and explain." All day long my teachers emailed me their responses to the challenge. Most of the responses were very well thought out and articulated. Are all of my teachers suddenly thermostats if they happened before to be thermometers? Probably not. However, this idea hopefully will stay with them for a while and hopefully will have meaning for them for some time to come... at least until I throw out another quote, anecdote or challenge for them.

Educational Leadership Blogging to Resume in a Few Days

Somehow it has now been several weeks since I've posted new material here but I have been pouring my creative energies into other endeavors. Admittedly, my school takes most of my time and energy and I've been investing virtually all of myself in school the last few months. Away from school, I've been hard at work on a new piece of fiction I hope to have completed this year. Additionally, I've spent some time putting together an outline for an educational book I plan to start when my fiction is complete enough to hand off to an editor. The educational book, which has no working title as of yet, will draw wisdom and practical teaching methodology from the world of coaching, wisdom and methodology that can be put to use by classroom teachers. In other words, the book will describe those practices and philosophies teachers can learn from coaches. At any rate, I'll have fresh content once again on a regular basis soon for all six or seven of you out there who read my blog. Stay warm and check back in a few days...