Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Increase Your Productivity by Using Pockets of Time
Friday, May 19, 2023
Leadership Lessons from Brene Brown
On a personal note:"Only God and the enemy" - as my friend Sarah Johnson says - know the struggles I've gone through with shame and how it has impacted my life. So when Brene speaks or writes, I take heed to the message she delivers.
I've carried a "bag of rocks" throughout my life that I've been able to reduce, pebble by pebble, because of the teachings and impact of people like Brene.
Shame is a heavy burden. Through reflection, actions, introspection, and responding to feedback, shame can be lifted or reduced to a manageable amount. I encourage anyone who is dealing with shame to seek out help. Reading the works of Brene is an excellent start to a long but rewarding journey.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
How to find your Core Values
Identifying our core values is an essential step in building a fulfilling life, a successful and rewarding career, and healthy relationships.
But how do we find our core values?
In this post, I'll share some strategies to help you identify your core values.
How to find your Core Values
Self-reflection
Self-reflection is a powerful tool to identify your core values. Take some time to reflect on your life experiences, your achievements, your failures, your relationships, and your goals.1. When you were a child, what virtue did your parents most want to instill in you?2. If you saw a "For Sale" sign in your neighbor's yard, what virtue do you hope the new neighbors have?3. What virtues do you want to see in your co-workers?4. What values do you hope to instill in your students?5. At your funeral, what virtue do you hope is used to describe you in your eulogy?
Look at your role models
Our role models can provide valuable insights into our core values. Think of the people you admire and respect. What qualities do they possess that you admire? What values do they represent? Look for commonalities between your role models and what they stand for. It can help you identify values that resonate with you.Identify what triggers you emotionally
Our emotions can be powerful indicators of our core values. Think of the situations or events that evoke a strong emotional response from you. What is it about those situations that trigger your emotions? It could be a sense of injustice, fairness, or compassion. Whatever it is, it can give you clues about your values.Assess your priorities
Our priorities reflect our values. Take a look at how you spend your time, energy, and resources. What do you prioritize in your life? Is it your family, career, hobbies, or social life? How do you balance these priorities? By analyzing your priorities, you can identify your values and what matters most to you.| Related Post: Staying Balanced in Life
Take a values and/or strengths assessment
Seek feedback from others
Sometimes, it can be helpful to seek feedback from others to identify your core values. Ask your friends, family, or colleagues to describe your strengths and weaknesses. What values do they see in you? How do they perceive your behavior? Their feedback can provide valuable insights into your values and how your values are perceived by others.Final Thought
Should you live for your resume or your eulogy?
Thursday, May 4, 2023
5 Reasons to Use Propello to Personalize Learning
My life’s mission has always been to empower others in their journey to becoming the best version of themselves, whether I was a teammate, coach, personal trainer, science teacher, high school administrator, or character coach.
One of the key reasons I started The Compelled Educator long ago was to create a space where I could share resources, ideas, and successful practices with others.
When I was a science teacher, my ultimate goal was to inspire creativity and curiosity in my students. I wanted them to walk away with a love for science!
I used inquiry-based lessons as much as possible, because I knew that there would also be times when direct instruction would be necessary to help students “connect the dots” when it came to clarifying myths about science and explaining scientific concepts.
I was always looking for lessons that were inquiry-based, aligned with standards, and taught my students to ask questions and investigate problems. Before the Internet came along, it was difficult to find resources to add to my teacher toolbox. This is one reason I’m thrilled to share Propello with you today!
This post is sponsored by Propello. All opinions are my own.
I discovered Propello at the 2023 ASCD Conference in Colorado. Propello is a FREE high-quality learning platform created by teachers, for teachers, and it’s evident when you visit the site that this platform is bold, innovative, and thoughtful in how it was created with the user in mind.
Mission and Values
Propello has the potential to take a traditional classroom to a learning hub, and I believe it’s because of their mission and values that drive their work.
From the Propello website:
Learning for Everyone
We believe education is a right, not a privilege. By designing individualized learning solutions for every student, we are striving towards a more equitable future of education.
Spark Joy
Our goal is to create delight in every discovery. Designed to cultivate curiosity and inspire a lifelong love of learning in educators and students alike, our immersive curriculum helps knowledge take flight.
Challenge Convention
We're not afraid to break the mold. We see difficult conversations as opportunities to explore our potential, pushing us to create solutions that propel education upward.
Here are 5 reasons to use Propello:
1. Quality
The curriculum is aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The NGSS were created by states to improve science education for all K-12 students. Each state has its own unique standards, and Propello has reviewed the standards in each state to determine how the platform meets or supplements each state. Access to quality online learning helps every learner, no matter their zip code, to reach their full potential.
2. Doing Science
Students can’t just learn ABOUT science, they need to DO science. Each of Propello’s units contain hands-on activities for students to learn concepts by investigating, reporting, and analyzing. Materials lists, instructions, and Teacher Tips are included for each activity to assist the teacher in managing the activities. (The Teacher Tips are great for brand new teachers! Did you just hire new science teachers? Share this platform with them!)
3. Customized delivery
Within the curriculum, Learning Paths can be created for students based on teacher choice. It can be created for an entire district, a single class, a specific group of students, or an individual student. (Think about sub days, students who miss class for several days, students in ISS, or student groups based on readiness!) After teaching Physical Science at the high school level for over 10 years, I knew the concepts that needed to be reinforced at the middle school level. Propello is an excellent resource for customized, vertical alignment between grade levels.
4. Personalization
Propello has embedded supports that include translations to 100+ languages, read aloud, a visual dictionary, text isolation, and more. By using Propello, the lessons become “rewindable,” and students are able to spend the time they need on the content. Additionally, using the online content allows students to read and work at their own pace, freeing up time for a teacher to hold individual student conferences while everyone else is working.
5. Save time
Teachers already have too much on their plates, and trying to comb through the vast number of online resources can be daunting and time consuming. Propello's teacher- and expert-created curriculum with built-in labs, activities, exercises, and teacher support saves so much time. Also, Propello easily integrates into Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams. Having Propello as a resource cuts down on preparation time, saving teachers loads of time spent at home and on the weekends getting ready for a lesson!
Differentiation and Extension
The four questions for Professional Learning Communities are
1) What do we want students to know and be able to do?
2) How will we know if they learn it?
3) What will we do when they haven’t learned it?
4) How will we extend the learning when they already know it?
Many PLCs spend their time working through the first 3 questions and give little amount of attention to the 4th question. Propello assists teachers and PLCs in answering the critical fourth question.
For many of the activities on the platform, Propello provides differentiation for students who need extra support as well as extensions for advanced learners.
Resources and Responsive Support
As I was navigating through Propello and wishing that this resource had been available when I was a classroom teacher, I found that I had a question that needed answering. It gave me the perfect opportunity to use the chat feature on the platform.
Within an hour of asking my question about assigning Learning Paths to students and/or groups, I had a response from a team member. She also shared a link to another resource that she thought I may find helpful. The next day, I received a copy of the transcript from our chat via email!
At Propello, you can find many teacher resources including articles and books about grading, standards, ChatGPT, science, and more. It truly is a space for student AND teacher learning!
Propello is in its early stages with plans to launch more subjects soon (English Language Arts in the fall of 2023). If you are or know a middle school science teacher, please share Propello with them!
Friday, April 14, 2023
Cultivating a Mindful Culture: How Leaders Can Build Mindful Teams
Called MSC leadership, it's leadership that begins with leading one’s self, then leading one’s followers, followed by leading one’s organization.
Mindfulness, based on focus and awareness, allows leaders to be effective at giving their time and attention to goals, objectives, and pathways.
Selflessness by the leader is the understanding that the leader is not the sole contributor to an organization’s success, and paired with self-confidence, the leader’s focus is that of the wellbeing of the organization and its employees.
Compassion, not to be confused with empathy, creates a lens for the leader to view others and the organization with care, even in challenging and difficult situations.
The three characteristics are interrelated and connected. Mindfulness (M) makes a person selfless, and selflessness (S) makes one more compassionate (C). To be an MSC leader, one must courageously commit to self-leadership and be willing to cultivate the three characteristics relentlessly.
Mindfulness is the pathway to self-awareness. Authors Hougaard and Carter go into detail about mindfulness and awareness, stating that mindfulness allows people to be fully in the moment and aware of thoughts, decisions, and actions while giving a pause where new thoughts, choices, and actions can be made.
Today’s world is full of distractions that lead people away from being mindful and self-aware. From email to social media to phone notifications, mindfulness can take a “back seat” to the incoming information and distractions. With the overwhelming amount of information that we face each day, it can lead to operating in autopilot mode. When on autopilot, leaders can say or do things without self-awareness of how the actions will be perceived from followers.
To become an exceptional leader, one needs to have consistent, focused performance. In The Mind of the Leader, the authors share four strategies to accomplish focused performance.
- In line with self-leadership, it is important for leaders to know what impacts their own focus, including time of day, caffeine, emotions, and physical health.
- The second strategy is to stop multitasking. Easier said than done, it is important to be aware when multitasking and limit one’s actions to one task at a time. While it may seem as though it is less productive to perform one task at a time, there are negative results that arise when multitasking.
- The third strategy for focused performance is to take time to do nothing. Our brains are wired to be doing something all the time, yet many of the behaviors in which we engage are non-productive tasks and distractions to our greater goal of focus performance.
- The fourth strategy is to create focus time. It is important to make it a priority to spend time away from devices and do focused work. As a leader, set aside time with your followers to work collaboratively on distraction-free activities.
"Selfless leadership is about having the wisdom to develop and grow your people so they can shine and thrive with your support."
- Hougaard & Carter, The Mind of the Leader
The Mind of the Leader by Hougaard and Carter is a must-read for anyone aspiring to become an effective leader. The authors provide insightful perspectives on leadership, including the importance of mindfulness, compassion, and self-awareness. They also offer practical tools and strategies to develop these qualities in oneself. Overall, this book is an excellent guide to cultivating the mindset and skills necessary for successful leadership.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Resources, Tips, and 3 Ideas for Using ChatGPT as a School Leader
Technology is Always Evolving
We had a conversation in our doctoral class a couple of weeks ago about ChatGPT, and it got me to thinking about ways to use ChatGPT as a school leader."Since ChatGPT debuted in November, the nation's largest school districts have banned the artificial intelligence chatbot, concerned students will use the speedy text generator to cheat or plagiarize."
*Want to try ChatGPT? Use this link to go to the website, and click on Try ChatGPT. You can create an account, ask the chatbot a question, and it will give you a detailed answer in complete sentences.
Ideas for Using ChatGPT as a School Leader
ChatGPT Tips
Want to learn more about ChatGPT?
Saturday, January 21, 2023
5 Actions to Engage Employees when Building Culture
This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting TheCompelledEducator.com
Leaders shape the culture
5 actions to engage employees:
1. Get to know them
"People are more likely to do the right thing by you and the team if they are personally invested in the workplace and its relationships.""Most people are creatures of habit and routine. Knowing your employees helps you to spot any changes which may highlight a problem that could impact the team."
- How do your people react under pressure?
- How about when something unexpected happens?
- What about when there is uncertainty?
- How does your team member react when you praise them in front of the rest of the team? Do they love it, or shy away from the attention?
- Does your team member seem confident, or tentative in their actions?
- How do your team members respond to team conflict?
2. Look for strengths
3. Create opportunities for employees to contribute, lead, and use their strengths
Try using a "Love It / Loathe It" list. (Click for FREE download) How it works: for a few days, every time you have a task to do, write it in on the "Love it" column or the "Loathe it" column. At the end of the designated time, review your lists to determine your strengths (the tasks in the "Love it" column).
4. Celebrate and recognize them
-Cyclical celebrations: seasonal themes, key milestones, corporate anniversaries-Recognition ceremonies: public acknowledgement for a job well done-Celebrations of triumph: special occasions for accentuating collective accomplishments (e.g., in a school, ACT scores or meeting other benchmarks)-Personal transitions: entrances and exits-Workplace altruism: doing good for others and promoting social change-Play: games and events, fun
5. Show you care
- How might relationships be strengthened in my school or organization?
- How would I rank the five actions in order of my own strengths as a leader? From the ranking, how might I increase my role in engaging others at work?
- What is a celebration we need to add to our workplace calendar?
- When reviewing my calendar, how have I created time for getting to know others at work? How can I be more intentional about making time to get to know others?