Recently I read parts of a new

book called, “Real Women, Real Leaders: Surviving and Succeeding

in the Business World” by Kathy

Hurley and Priscilla Shumway. I

was not sure what to expect other than a female perspective on

leadership. The authors

interviewed 24 women in

leadership positions and came up

with seven things that the best leaders never fail to do. Examine yourself and see how you fit with

these seven characteristics:

1) Never trash anybody. You

may some day work for

someone that you could

never want or expect.

2) Always network, even when

you don’t think you need to.Take the time to talk with

people when you have time

because the connection could

open up new doors in thefuture.

3) Always give credit to others.

Recognizing achievement in

others helps build confidence

in others.4) When things go wrong, err on

the side of generosity. When

mistakes are made, which we

all do, help employees tolearn from the mistake andbecome a better person.

5) Develop relationships that go

beyond a specific job oremployer. Build long-lasting

relationships outside your

work environment. One day

these people could be your

boss, co-worker, or a

reference. 6) Surround yourself with smart

people. The best leaders hire

the brightest minds and

people that possess humorand humility.

7) Spend a lot of time listening.

People have a lot of great

ideas but a leader must be

willing to listen and reflect onwhat is being said. At that

point you become a team.

These seven traits seem to be a very common sense approach to leadership, but many times they

are overlooked. Remember,

examine yourself with this list because we are all leaders!

Have a GREAT summer.

Start a walking group with friends, neighbors, or co-workers.

Make the streets safer for walking by driving the speed limit and yielding to people who walk.

Consider joining a low- or no-cost exercise group or an office sports team such as softball or kickball, and enroll kids in community sports teams or lessons.

Participate in local planning efforts to develop walking paths, sidewalks, and bike paths.

Work with parents and schools to encourage kids to safely walk or ride bikes to school.

Join other parents to ask for more physical activity at school.

Try different activities to find the ones you really enjoy, and have fun while being active!

- Reprinted with permission from NIH News in Health, May 2015 Issue,

http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/may2015/feature1

“Getting computing devices into schools is relatively easy,” say Tom Daccord and

Justin Reich of EdTech-Teacher in this Educational Leadership article; “changing

classroom practice with technology is really, really hard… With every generation of

computing technology, a small group of educators has been able to use new tools in

transformative ways, but on the whole, classroom practices have proven stubbornly

resistant to change.” In one iPad-using school, Daccord and Reich noticed that

students were using their tablets mostly for note-taking. To avoid this kind of

suboptimal use of powerful devices, and get beyond the complicated and time-

consuming logistics of tablet adoption, the authors suggest three steps:

Articulate a clear vision of how tablets will improve instruction. Three or four

years after an iPad adoption, what will students be able to do that they can’t do

now? In the words of educator Dan Meyer, “If iPads are the answer, what was

the question?” Far too many schools have no vision at all, different visions for

different grades and departments, or a diktat imposed by a charismatic

superintendent. The Arlington, Massachusetts schools came up with clear and

compelling goals: At the elementary level, tablets prepare students for learning,

self-regulation, and collaboration using the Tools of the Mind curriculum; in

secondary schools, they focus on discourse and reasoning from evidence.

Help educators imagine how tablets can support the vision. What does awesome

use of tablets look like? Shawn McCusker, a Chicago history teacher who

previously assessed his high-school students by having them write formal

analytical essays, decided to use iPads to allow more creativity in demonstrating

understanding. One girl created a short video about Adam Smith, Karl Marx,

and the Industrial Revolution which, after some additional work, found its way

onto YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4YlOyugato. New York

City elementary teacher Kristen Paino joined with colleagues to create a

community called Global Book Series featuring collaborative books authored by

educators and students from around the world: https://itunes.apple.com/us/

book/a-global-ibook/id710713861. Teachers and students told the stories of

their schools through pictures, writing, audio, and videos, and students’

interest in geography was piqued by hearing from students in New Zealand,

Russia, and Chicago. Where is Russia? Paino’s students wanted to know.

What’s at Navy Pier in Chicago? Can we see Johnnie’s school on a map?

Support teachers and students to use tablets for curation, creation, and

connection. The first thing teachers tend to do with new technology is extend

existing practices, and it takes support and a schoolwide vision to move beyond

that. “From someday to Monday” is Daccord and Reich’s mantra for helping

teachers bridge the gap from vision to everyday practice. They preach a

combination of teachers experimenting with small steps they can take right

away (for example, using Socrative or Poll Everywhere to check for understanding)

and radically rethinking their units or courses (when Daccord was a history

teacher, he transformed a hum-drum unit on the Depression by examining the

period through the eyes of a well-documented group of teenage hoboes). In

terms of timing, a mid-year workshop is best used for “Monday” tablet teaching

ideas, while summer PD time is ideal for “someday” curriculum creation.

None of this can be done on the cheap, say Daccord and Reich: “If investments in

technology aren’t paired with investments in teacher capacity, change is unlikely.”

- Reprinted with permission from Marshall Memo 586, May 11, 2015. Article is a summary of: “How to

Transform Teaching with Tablets” by Tom Daccord and Justin Reich in Educational Leadership, May 2015 (Vol. 72, #8, p. 18-23), http://bit.ly/1cJzTZg; the authors can be reached at tom@edtechteacher.org and

justin@edtechteacher.org.

I recently read an article entitled, “Revolving Door Of Teachers Costs Schools Billions Every Year” which discussed many of the reasons why there is such a high turnover rate among teachers. I recognized many of these reasons as being the same ones that

result in staff leaving in other human service positions as well. The article states that, “One of the main factors is the issue of voice, and having say, and being able to have input into the key decisions in the building that affect a teacher’s job.” This point resonated with me more than any of the others in the article. So often in my own career in human services I and my co-workers would become frustrated by rules, procedures, and client interventions that made no sense to us, and that we had no input in creating. I see this as being a major contributing factor in many of my coworkers’ decisions to leave. In The Mandt System, we talk about how we create and support effective teams. One of the ways we do this is by seeking and valuing the insights of everyone involved. As the article says, “The idea is to bring everyone on board — even bring students on board and figure out what policies do you want, how they’re going to be enforced, and what would be the sanctions.” By doing this we help everyone feel supported and can be much more effective in getting cooperation and buy-in from those involved. This process also treats people with dignity and respect and helps them to feel valued in their jobs. I wonder how many of my coworkers may have stayed around longer if they had experienced more of this in their work environments.

- Reprinted with permission from The Mandt System Blog, April 25, 2015. Full blog post can be found here.