Adventures in Administration

This week's # EduBlogger Club prompt is all about pictures.  I love this prompt because I spend a lot of time finding images to match my posts. I find that the posts I personally enjoy reading are the ones that include good images.  I also know from lots of reading, attending conferences, time in classrooms, and leading PD, that images are much more powerful than words. So I have spent much of the past week noticing images and thinking about how I use images as well as how I can better use them in the future.  Image from one of our (previously NOT upgraded) classrooms I enjoy using images and have actively worked to improve my use of them over the last few years. For example, part of my job as an administrator is to justify projects to our Board.  We educators know that there is never enough money in the "pie" to go around so I take my job very seriously when it comes to lobbying for funds for our teachers. For some requests, images can definitely help strength...

Photo taken by author in Belmont, CA Well, week three of the #EdublogsClub challenge has us reflecting on leadership. That is the topic tat drove me to blog in the first place.  And with the recent change of power in the United States, a very apropos topic. Eleanor Roosevelt is a woman and leader that I have come to admire and respect.  As a history teacher, I always spent time in my classes asking students to look at events through the eyes of the people and through the eyes of those in charge.  Because there are always multiple ways to look at every situation, every turning point. We would discuss the "what ifs" of history--Would Martin Luther have been as successful if Gutenberg hadn't invented the Printing Press when he did? Would the North American colonies have won their independence form Great Britain if George Washington had not been born? How would WWII have ended if the Allies had not developed the atomic bomb first?  These big questions have as muc...

Well, with this new year comes the need to seek out some ways to support my desire to continue growing. As 2017 starts, I have many revamped goals--in other words, goals that I have set in the past but not been terribly good at completing.  That list includes blogging.  But this year, I have a new approach, and one that I think will allow for a greater level of success. I started my blog a few years ago as a result of attending a CUE Rockstar camp session led by the amazing Jen Kloczko .  Over the last few years, I have seen my efforts wax and wane.  So, when I stumbled across the #edublogsclub challenge, I saw an opportunity to reinvigorate myself and commit to blogging again.  I even roped in a colleague and friend ( @techbiobek ).  As with all goals, there is a greater chance of success when there is accountability. I have done blogging challenges before, such as the Connected Educator blogging challenge, and found them to be helpful and inspirin...