Twitter Treasure

Portwiture is an interesting program that grabs photography from Flickr that matches the content of your most recent Twitter updates. You can view the photographs on a grid or in a slideshow.

Here is my Portwiture.

Talking Him Off the Ledge

The beginning of the school year can be daunting for our youngest students in Kindergarten. Today I was called down to a kindergarten class because a child was not cooperating and being pretty disagreeable. I could tell that he was highly frustrated and impulsive. My goal was to calm him down and figure out just what led to his state of mind. His class was on their way outdoors to observe a tree. I asked him if he would stay inside to calm down a little and talk with me. He parked himself under a table and seemed to prepare for a battle.

In the first few minutes of our conversation, we just weren't connecting. He was still too frustrated to be logical or cooperative, but slowly he began to talk with me. I made it apparent that I was very interested in what he had to say. In a few minutes, he got the idea that I wasn't there to make his day more miserable but that I was genuinely trying to understand him. We spent the next 15 minutes talking - he stayed under the table as I sat near trying to make eye contact.

Some moments in education are magical. In just a few minutes, I found out what was making him so unhappy and learned about what he liked. But more importantly, we connected. The class returned from observing a tree outside and went out for a bit of recess. I watched him and two other boys play soccer. When the children came inside, they spread out with books for a few moments of independent reading. He chose a book about bugs that we both found pretty interesting. We looked through it together, and I invited him to come to my office to read with me sometime.

In those last few minutes together, I could have imagined it, but I think he nearly reached for my hand. In our time together, I learned some things about him and he learned some things about me. We can build on the friendship we began today. I am looking forward to more opportunities to spend time with this child. He has some challenges but he is a most interesting child. In small ways I hope I can help him find his place in our school.

So Much Potential

Our school's vision ends with the phrase "encourage the unlimited potential of the whole child."

It's a lofty goal in these times of grades, competition, testing, accountability, and an outdated school structure that impedes authentic learning rather than encourages inquiry, collaboration, discovery and a meaningful and thoughtful pursuit of new learning.

I continue to have a steadfast belief in our school's vision. But there are days when it is tough to sustain the vision and to rely on my beliefs about learning and teaching. I believe in the possibilities. I believe in the unlimited potential of every child. I believe in a caring and nurturing learning environment. I support the work of teachers who bring out the best in our children. I appreciate their dedication and commitment. I believe in the power of relationships.

Today I watched again the presentation by Benjamin Zander titled "The Art of Possibility" because it renews my belief in the possible.


Watch the video when your belief in the potential of every child is shaken by the rumblings from the conditions that seem out of your control. I intend to encourage my staff to watch the video and reflect on its connection to their own learning and teaching.

And I am wondering what it would be like to share the video with children and listen to their responses. I hope to do that this coming week and will post my reflections.

3 Days Into the School Year

We finished our third day of school today. It's amazing how quickly we settle into our routines. How do we re-establish those routines but guard against the complacency of doing things the way we have always done them? How can we start the year with a new set of lenses through which to view our learning community? Can we get in the habit of asking "Why?" so we know our decisions are
meaningful and purposeful?

Today I was strolling around the cafeteria helping students open the juice boxes, milk cartons, and string cheese wrappers when a second grader stopped me as I walked by. He said, "My name is Jaden. I'm new here and who are you?" I love the way he felt comfortable enough to strike up this conversation. I told him my name and that I was the principal. I knew he had transfered from another school in our district and told him that his principal had told me he was coming to our school. We had a brief conversation, and I moved on. I won't forget Jaden's name tomorrow or the next. We have made a connection. My challenge is to make those connections with all the children at our school.

Tomorrow will be the end of our first week of school. We are settling in and making our new friends feel welcome. The hope of the new school year is ahead of us.

Leadership Day 2009

Today, June 12, Scott McLeod from Dangerously Irrelevant is holding a blogging Leadership Day. I am really anxious to read what others post.

My thoughts on this Leadership Day ...

For me, it is the power of conversations about learning and teaching and the potential of technology that will move people toward new ways of thinking.


It's having clear expectations that we will enable our students to pursue learning in new ways and that we will give them the privilege and the responsibility to enrich their learning with new technologies.

It's encouraging teachers to discover what new technologies have to offer and to begin a conversation about thoughtful and purposeful technology integration in the classroom.

As a leader, it is about knowing what you stand for. It's about holding onto what you believe about learning and teaching. It certainly isn't simply about technology. For me, it is about the unlimited potential of our children and their future.

Zeke Knows Where to Find Books

My grandson, Zeke, is just learning to pull him self up to stand.
He is a sponge for all the new things he is discovering.
I love the fact that he found some books on his journeys today.

Collaboration on Stixyboard

I am exploring ways to collaborate online. There are better ways to collect the thoughts of 50 or so staff members besides gathering them in a room to talk. I am also wondering how we can use collaborative online methods in the classroom.

Our teaching staff has tried Stixyboard as a way to collect people's thoughts on a topic. The Literacy Team has been sending a weekly question out to the staff on email. But the process was somewhat cumbersome. A person had to send the email, collect the responses, and paste all the responses together to share them with the staff. There had to be a better way.

So we introduced Stixyboard to the staff. We sent out invitations to respond to a discussion topic. In this case, we wanted to collect people's thoughts on what CHOICE means in an elementary classroom. So we asked, "What does it mean to give kids CHOICE in your classroom as it relates to literacy?"

We asked staff members to respond individually and then continue to revisit the site to watch the number of comments grown and to read what others are thinking about choice in the classroom. Here's what our online collaboration looks like now.



We are excited about using this tool for continued conversations about learning and teaching. It is a format that is easy to use and a very effective way to collect thoughts from a large group of people.

If anyone is using Stixyboard, let me know. It would be good to gather all the creative ways people are finding to use it. And if you use it in the classroom with students, please also share your applications.

Have fun with Stixyboard!