MRVED Update - December 15, 2021

MRVED Business

MELT Registration

MELT Registration opened on Monday. Over 3/4 of MRVED teachers have already registered! We have already had to close sessions, so if you haven't registered yet, be sure to do it now! Registration closes December 22nd at 4:00.

MELT Brochure

MELT Registration Link

Resources

Bias Based Bullying Resources

The University of Minnesota conducted a study on bias-based bullying, using both the Minnesota Student Survey and qualitative interviews and focus groups of Minnesota students, parents, and school staff. The study was seeking to understand both the scope of BBB in Minnesota's schools and the related individual and structural protective factors. They have produced a number of factsheets for school administrators and for teachers and staff. Please share this information with your school colleagues. For more information on bullying prevention and intervention, see the Minnesota Department Of Education’s Ensuring Safe and Supportive Schools resources.

Book Study

The Power of Positive Leadership - Chapter 11&12 & Wrap-Up

First off, thank you for reading along with my reflections of The Power of Positive Leadership by Jon Gordon. My hope is that you have learned as much, if not more than I have while reading this book.

Chapter 11 talks about positive leaders having grit. If you are familiar with Angela Duckworth's research on grit, you will fully understand this chapter. If not, and you need a refresher, here is a short TED talk she did about grit. Bottom line is, positive leaders find a way to get it done, no matter what! They battle through adversity, critics, failure, and self-doubt.

I'm not going to expound on some of these quotes from the chapter, but just leave them here for you to ponder.

"If you don't love it, you'll never be great at it." (Gordon, 172)

"Fear is draining, but love is sustaining." (Gordon, 172)

"It (failure) doesn't define you; it refines you." (Gordon, 173)

"Don't let praise go to your head and don't let critics into your head." (Gordon, 176)

One part of this chapter that really hit home for me, was the part Gordon talks about not letting the results get in your way. Even if the numbers, wins, etc... don't show it, he says "keep doing things the right way...Trust the process." (Gordon, 175) Again, this is something I preach to my baseball teams. I coach JV baseball, and I fully believe that my job is to get my players ready to play varsity baseball. This may mean playing players in positions they aren't comfortable with. Stealing a player that might get thrown out. We are putting them in multiple different situations to see how they react. We may lose some games because of it, but I preach to my players, "trust the process". We need to do things the right way and good will come to us.

Chapter 12 is the finale to the book. It basically sums up all the other chapters with stories of positive leaders. You can read it on your own :-)

Conclusion

I hope this book was life-changing for some of you. Jon Gordon provides so many useful strategies to help make you a positive leader. Throughout the book, I was blown away by the mind-blowing quotes that made me stop and reflect on my own leadership qualities. My hope is that by reading this book I can become better at everything I do. From being a coach, teacher, teammate, father, and husband. This book will stick with me for a really long time! If I ever feel like I am becoming an energy vampire, I'm pulling this book out and reviewing my highlights in it. If you didn't buy this book, I HIGHLY recommend getting it and reading it over winter break. Better yet, buy 2 books, keep one for yourself and give one to a friend! If you liked this book study, you are going to LOVE the next one.

Row the Boat - Preview

Since I enjoyed reading Jon Gordon's book The Power of Positive Leadership so much, I decided to dive into another of his books that he co-wrote with PJ Fleck, Row the Boat. Much like The Power of Positive Leadership, this will be my 2nd journey through this book. Row the Boat is such a quick and easy read, however, my plan is to take my time through it and do a lot of reflection. PJ Fleck will also be our keynote speaker in April! I hope you can join me on the journey as we start the next book study on January 12th, 2022. Let's Row the Boat together!!

MRVED Update - December 1, 2021

MRVED Business

MRVED Meetings

December 8, 2021 - MRVED Board Meeting

December 16, 2021 - Teachers' Advisory Meeting

December 17, 2021 - Principals' Council Meeting

December 22, 2021 - Superintendents' Council Meeting

MELT Registration Information

Be looking for MELT Registration from your principal next week. MELT Registration will open at 7:30 AM on Monday, December 13th. With over 650 teachers in the MRVED and limited classroom space, sessions will fill quickly. Once sessions are full, they are taken off the registration. So if something you want to take is not listed, it is likely full. There is no wait list, so please do not contact the MRVED asking to get into closed sessions. Two years ago, we had over 400 teachers register by 10:00 AM on the first day!

IMPORTANT: MELT Registration information will come from your principal the week prior to registration. Please READ through the descriptions carefully. The session information is sent to you prior to registration so you can read through the information and choose sessions that are pertinent to you.

Resource

Wordwall

Someone had asked for some ELL resources and I came across this neat website called Wordwall. With Wordwall you can create fun interactive games for your students to play. There is also a database of user-created games for you to search through. The games in the community range from letter sounds to identifying states. Some of these games would be fun on an interactive board. There is a free and paid version. Check it out today!

Professional Learning

5 Ways to Practice Thanksgiving Every Day

With Thanksgiving a week behind us, we shouldn't just be "thankful" on a Thursday in November, we should find ways to be thankful every day. I remembered something that Jon Gordon said that made me think, he said that "research shows that grateful people are heathier people". Not only physically healthier, but mentally healthier as well. Here is a blog post written by Jon Gordon about 5 Ways to Practice Thanksgiving Every Day. Give it a read today, and put one or two of the practices into your routine tonight!

Book Study

The Power of Positive Leadership - Chapters 9 & 10

Chapters 9 & 10 talk about pursuing excellence and leading with a purpose. Again, both chapters are jam-packed with quotes I could list for days! However, here is my reflection on the two chapters.

To sum up chapter 9 one could say that positive leaders are never content, they continually strive to get better every day. They pursue excellence, and not just as a catchphrase. They live it, breathe it, practice it. Positive leaders need to model the pursuit of excellence to show those that follow them the path of excellence. Gordon talks about the "one percent rule". "The rule says to give one percent more time, energy, effort, focus, and care today than you gave yesterday." (Gordon 146) This quote resonated with me as this past spring my mantra to my baseball team was, "be better than we were yesterday". It reaffirmed my message to my team.

In the pursuit of excellence, leaders must love their teams, but also hold them accountable through what Gordon calls "love tough". Gordon says, "you have to love your people, but you have to make sure you hold your team accountable to the plan, the process, the principles, and the values of the culture" (Gordon, 140). Notice he doesn't say you need to hold them accountable to the results, he says "of the culture". Holding people accountable to the plan, process, principles, and values is key to creating an awesome, high-functioning team. If  you have communicated well with people, there should be no excuse for violating the culture, thus holding people accountable becomes a little more easy. Jon uses the phrase "love tough" to show that you must first love your people before you can be tough on them. "If your team knows you love them, they will allow you to challenge and push them." (Gordon, 143)

In chapter 10, Gordon talks about leading with a purpose. The biggest takeaway for me was when he talks about people burning out. He says, "we don't get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forgot why we do it." (Gordon, 152) We need to always center ourselves around, what Simon Sinek, calls our "why". Why do we do what we do? When times get tough and stressful, stop and remember why you are a teacher, paraprofessional, cook, janitor, in the first place. Everyone has a "why", we just need to stop and reflect on it.

He also gives the example of a purpose-driven goals. Gordon was working with an NFL team and had the players write goals on a piece of paper. He then had them rip up the goals. Players and coaches were upset at him for doing this. Then he asked, how many of you had goals to win the Superbowl? Throw for x amount of yards? Have x amount of tackles? Win x amount of games? And all the hands went up. Every team/player in the NFL has those goals. Why not write down why you play football in the first place and then share with others?

Think About:

1. What is your why? Write it down.

2. Gordon talks about his one word strategy on page 159. What is your one word for the year? What is your life word?

3. What legacy will you leave?