Your bank data, your accounts, your email, and your life are all wrapped up in your ability to create secure passwords and remember them. This wordcloud shows the most commonly used passwords. If you see one that you use, stop now and immediately change yours! 1 - Never Tape It On Your Desk Most password theft happens because of "social engineering." Most people keep their password taped under their keyboard or in the right or left hand drawer or wallet. Get an app like Password Caddy (http://j.mp/pcaddy)  on your phone and store your password there, not out where the world can see it. (Or use Last Pass!) 2 - Switch to a passphrase Just using a phrase Use a phrase instead with uppercase, lowercase, and numbers included. Ilovetofishat6:00am! is an example. 3 - Don’t be obvious If you look at the worst passwords of 2013 (http://j.mp/worstpass) 123456 and password top the list. (Sunshine and letmein are also in the top.) Don’t use your spouse’s name, kids, grandkids, birthdays, phone numbers or a keyboard row of any kind. 4- Never save your passwords in your web browser If you have to, use a tool like LastPass to keep it safe but if you save it in your web browser, you are an easy target. 5 - Have a unique password for your bank and email account NOW When you sign up for a site that asks for your email and password - DON’T ENTER YOUR PASSWORD TO YOUR EMAIL. It is asking you to set up a NEW password for that particular site. No one will ever ask for your email password. No one. Your email password and your banking password should be unique and NEVER USED AS THE PASSWORD ON ANY OTHER SITE. 6 - TRICK: substitute numbers and letters Pick certain numbers to replace letters - like a code — you could always use the number 7 instead of T’s for example. 7 - TRICK: Use the site name somehow in the password You can have a system for passwords but make them unique by using the site name you’re logging into somehow. 8  - Use a password manager Many experts are recommending password managers after the recent Heartbleed bug (http://j.mp/pwdmgr) Remember that if you mess up and forget your master password you’re locked out of everything permanently. LastPass or Dashlane are 2 good ones. (PC Magazine recently reviewed some, so you can take a look at their 2015 Password Manager Recommendations) 9 - Use a fingerprint reader Biometrics or the using of your fingerprint or some other unique identifier related to your biology is definitely the way things are going. I love the fingerprint unlock on my iPhone 5s. (NYMI has a heartbeat sign in tool coming soon.) 10 - Lock your screen and log out If you step away from your computer or mobile, set it to lock or log out. This is particularly important if you have anything secure on your computer. Having a method to remember highly secure passwords will keep you and your loved ones safe. Spread the word. The post 10 Things Everyone Should Know About Passwords appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

In today’s featured show, Chandler Bolt talks about breaking out of the mold and getting life done. Breaking Out Of A Broken System, was written by Chandler and his brother Seth. The money goes to fund some of their work in Africa and it is a fantastic book for students to read and discuss. Listen now to find out what the brothers meant when they said "rebellion is a good thing". Knowing some of you out there who listen to the show and read this blog, you might just agree. This is one of those shows I listened to with students. The book itself is quite edgy and they did things with it graphically that "aren’t supposed to be done." Their unique perspectives on debt, education, and life — whether you agree with them or not — will foster great discussion. And the cool factor of these hip brothers is one that will appeal to your teenagers. As you look for something different this spring to talk about with students — this is it! — Vicki Davis Listen now to Chandler Bolt Add the Bolt Brothers to your PLN Chandler Bolt Seth Bolt Bolt Brothers Website Listen now to Chandler Bolt Chandler Bolt - Show #83 - Learning For Life Versus Learning For Grades, College, or Career Seth and Chandler have written a book, Breaking Out Of A Broken System, about creating a life instead of letting life happen. With this book, they hope to get people to act on their dreams instead of settling for the status quo. For example, the brothers viewed accruing debt, not as the status quo but as a mold that cannot be broken. Chandler is a very successful entrepreneur, and Seth is a very successful musician. Chandler refers to innovators as heroes. Listen now to find out why. Listen now to Chandler Bolt  Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? Click play on the BAM Radio site or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post Learning For Life Versus Learning For Grades, College, or Career appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

This conference day in Dubai was one of the best. Mr. Andreas Schleicher spoke with us about how teachers are not treated equally among other professions. Teachers make less money that other professions and are not respected, but they are just as important as doctors. Imagine this, if teachers stopped teaching then the world would be plain dumb. The same goes for doctors; if they stop caring then people will start dying. Teachers around the world feel as though they are not important and do not make a difference. The truth is that teachers do matter, the reason we have so many great people in the world is because someone taught them to be like that. Andreas Schleicher’s Speech: State of Education in the World Today I’m continuing to run reports from my students who attended the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai. #GESF is also where the global Teacher Prize was awarded. It was a fantastic event, and I hope you’ll continue to encourage my students with your questions and comments as they share their perspectives on the conference and the state of education today. — Vicki Davis Interviewing Educators: If You Could Fix One Problem in Schools I then went to talk with two exciting people Mrs. Julie Mercer and Ms. Jiaojiao Li. These are two amazing people in the field of education. Mrs. Julie Mercer is Deloitte’s Global Industry Lead for Education. She is passionate about her work and likes to help drive innovation in education. Ms. Jiaojiao Li is another prestigious woman. She leads the New Vision for the Education project at the World Economic Forum to shape the future curriculum for the greater good. I asked both of these women one question. If you could fix one problem in schools today what would it be? Mrs. Mercer answered, "I would wish for all schools to be local and efficient" Ms. Li answered, "I cannot choose only one, because many problems need to be fixed as well". I understand both sides. Mrs. Mercer was thinking in terms of a temporary solution, and she let us ask the question and she answered, but Ms. Li was thinking deeply and asked questions back while answering. If asked this question, I would do the same exact thing Mrs. Mercer did. I can tend to be rash in my thinking; I do things on the spot. In my opinion, this is the type of learning we do not want to teach. We want to teach kids to ask questions and think deeply before they answer. In college, this is how most professors want us to act. Unless we get a boring teacher, and he or she lectures us the whole time which will teach us nothing. Where is the Money? Financing Education Then, I went to a panel, and Junior Plenary session called "Where is the money? Financing education". Two major highlights of this session are how to fill funding gaps and corruption. To fill a funding gap, you can either take the money from somewhere else in the budget or get money from someone else. Corruption was another major concept in the session. Corruption is human natural when people sin it’s never good. Corruption can be a major setback to education if it happens. At Corruption was another major concept in the session. Corruption is human natural when people sin it’s never good. Corruption can be a major setback to education if it happens. At end the day, I went to the Global Teacher Prize Award Ceremony. This ceremony was a prestigious ceremony, because they named one teacher best in the world and gave her one million dollars. The ceremony was great and the winner, Nancie Atwell, deserved that award for her dedication and hard work as a teacher. This first day was truly a great learning experience. For those of you who teach blogging, you can take a look at my book Reinventing Writing, but let me point out a couple of important things Jason has done in this post. The use of hyperlinks is important. Also, embedding video if it is available. Finally, using more paragraphs and having whitespace is something you have in blogs more than in papers. The post Top Teachers, Financing Education, and Improving Education: a #gesf Student Reflection appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Education technology startups are hot. Sweeping changes are moving through education as technology has become more affordable and scalable. Now is the time. This week, Intel announced their Intel Education Accelerator Program. If you’re interested, you need to apply (Intel.com/EduAccelerator) before May 22 at 12pm PST. Intel Education and Intel Capital have launched this program to give guidance, resources, and potentially a $100,000 investment from Intel Capital. This program will include mentoring, speakers, and access to key worldwide resources from August to the first week of December at which time the selected participants will demonstrate their developments. As I read their announcement, I’m thinking of a "Shark Tank"-like experience except with lots of mentoring before the product is proposed. As further evidence of the timeliness of this opportunity, the US Department of Education released their Guide for Ed-Tech Development of which I was one of the "crowdsourced" leaders in the field who was consulted and quoted. Got an #edtech idea or startup? See Intel’s Education Accelerator program Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Without a doubt, some great new start ups are in the minds and perhaps even planned out by the readers of this blog. As I’ve  met so many of you who read this blog, you want to improve education and do the right thing to improve the world for students. We sit upon a hinge of history (as Thomas Cahill writes in his book series) and technology is a pivot point. We need insightful entrepreneurs with a passion for students and world-class learning to take their companies and ideas to the next level. If you have an idea, you should visit Intel.com/EduAccelerator and begin your application process. If you’re accepted, keep me posted! What an amazing opportunity! Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post Intel Education Accelerator Program for #edtech Startups Is a Great Opportunity appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Jim Ryan, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, talks with Vicki at The Global Education & Skills Forum in this episode of Every Classroom Matters. Jim shares his opinion on how teachers of teachers should be presenting coursework in college. He also talks about the hypocrisy of many professional development and college courses that teach teachers. All college professors and those responsible for teacher professional development will want to listen to this show. Listen to Dean Jim Ryan Add @DeanJimRyan to your PLN @DeanJimRyan Listen to Dean Jim Ryan James E. Ryan is one of the nation’s leading scholars of education law and policy as well as the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Dean Ryan is also an award-winning teacher who served on the University of Virginia faculty since 1998. He strongly feels teachers of teachers should model methods for teachers. He advocates the use of projects, maker education, and the same type of methods professors want teacher candidates to use in the classrooms of the nation. Jim Ryan also holds ideas about professional development. He feels teachers want to learn PD from other teachers and the quality must be higher raised. He feels even Harvard should be doing more in professional development courses offered at the institution. Dean Ryan urges teachers should never stop learning. Listen to Dean Jim Ryan Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post What Should We Teach the Teachers Who Will Teach Tomorrow? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

April and May are tough times of the year for me. Every year. Right now, I teach straight from 8:11 until 2:11. Then, at 2:11, my room is usually full of kids working on projects for other teachers — needing password resets and help. Then, at 3:03, I sit down to try to grade and plan lessons but I’m so tired, I just wonder what to do. I’ve written about How to Step Back from Burnout, but this is more than that. Right now, I’m approaching 100,000 Twitter followers, and that is awesome. But in some ways, it is intimidating to me. I don’t feel special. I know I don’t have all the answers. All of you have caused a tad of crisis in my tweeting (which I will get over). Being paid attention to sounds like a very odd problem but really, it is a reflection on responsibility. I want to do right by those of you who trust me and right now, I don’t feel at my best. I’m struggling to stay in the classroom. I want to encourage and be helpful to teachers. No doubt, that is my calling. And yet, I have this agreement with myself that when I’m too down and have nothing good to say, that I will be very very careful about writing. I am a professional, and there are right and wrong ways to handle problems. There are those who  air their issues on the Net and wait for thousands of vigilant friends to come to their defense. Come on! Grow up. That isn’t how we handle things, in my opinion. There are times but not every time. There are lonely battles I fight by myself. Exercise is a big part of my coping mechanism. I take time every day to do it. It helps deal with the stress and makes me feel better. Even a walk around the building can clear my mind and yours. The truth is that I’m having an epically hard time right now. Each morning I get up and work hard to exercise and eat well — anything that I know will boost my mood and help me teach for six hours straight. I stay late grading and have adjusted my schedule to spend time helping students after school. I often wonder how I’m going to make it through the next five weeks. I work hard to keep hold of my thought life and not let it spiral into despair. So much of my energy is being tied up in "making it" that it becomes quite overwhelming to try to inspire others. I feel insufficient. I feel like you need someone who does everything perfectly, has a perfectly clean room and has all the answers. Yet, one thing I have also discovered: if I see a person who says they are a perfect teacher, they are a liar. Because perfect teachers don’t exist. There are no perfect humans. We all mess up. A pull towards excellence as the school year ends can help you make it. Let’s encourage each other. There are many days when I think that the best answer is just to quit.  And yet, I know that it is not my time to leave… yet. When I leave the classroom, I will not quit - I will decide to leave and know that I have another classroom of another kind to tackle. Quit implies giving up. Sometimes there is a time to move on after you finish well. I think that perhaps it is my time to feel the depths of the struggle that most normal teachers feel. It is my time to push through and find answers for myself that can help others. I had vented a tiny piece of a struggle I had last Thursday, and someone else tweeted back at me, "somehow knowing you had a rough day too, makes mine not so bad." I always ask myself: "What direction am I moving?" I may only take a small step but if it is in the right direction, I’ll take that as a win. So, maybe this post is just to encourage those of you out there who are real teachers. Some may struggle with the fact that I am not, despite some who argue to the otherwise, a modern day Pollyanna.  I am a realistic optimist. I know the reality of how hard it is going to be to go for another five weeks teaching 6 hours a day straight. I am also optimistic that, as always, I will find a way to soar (even if I feel like I’ve fallen in a mud puddle right now.) Maybe this post is to help you know that many of us struggle to make it one day to the next. In fact, I’m down to one-minute-at-a-time right now. Maybe this post is to help you know that you’re not alone. So many of us struggle. It is not a lack of love for the kids. It is just the reality of all of the bazillions of things that we deal with as a teacher that no one could put in a book. Kids who get sick at the worst times and parents who think they prove their love to their children by how loud they yell at their teacher. People who yell at you without even getting their facts straight. Too many responsibilities and too little time and a struggle to achieve a balance that never quite gets there. I’m not resentful against this profession I love; this profession is what it is. No one can change this for me. I either accept it, or I don’t. I am a teacher. I am glad to be a teacher. I am glad that it makes a difference in the lives of children. But this profession, like few others, wears on the soul of the person who dons the mantle. It is worthwhile, but it is hard work. If you’re with me, and you get every word I’m writing then let me tell you this. I love you and your sacrifice. If I could reach through this computer and give you a hug, I would. If I could sit across from you and buy you a cup of coffee and tell you that you’ll make it, I would. But I can’t do that.  I can only write these words: Teacher! You are important. Your job is noble and incredible. And you will make it. One foot in front of the other. Do your best, and that is enough. Keep going. Wait and make the big decisions about life when you’re a little more rested and I will too. We can do this. KEEP GOING! Teacher! Your job is noble and important. And you will make it!Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This The post If I’m Such a Great Teacher, Why Do I Want to Quit? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Paper by 53, a favorite sketchnoting app of many, gets major updates like cloud backup and Activity Center where you can share and find sketchnotes of others. This is very cool for sketchnoting fans and those who just like information. While I struggle with sketchnoting, I have this app and will be playing with it more this summer. Via Paper by Fifty Three Gets Updates on App Advice Sketchnoting is awesome! 3 Resources To Get You Started with Sketchnotes Sylvia Duckworth’s incredible presentation Sketchnoting for Beginners. Kathy Shrock’s Sketchnoting guide Smashing Magazine’s Article on Sketchnoting   The post Sketchnoting Fans: Paper 53 Built a Sketchnote Community appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

What are the qualities of an effective teacher? This was one of the main questions that one of the panels at the 2015 Global Education and Skills Forum tried to answer. Over and over again, all the panelists seemed to list the same characteristics that they believed an effective teacher possessed: knowledge of the subject, motivation, emotional intelligence and empathy, stamina, and passion. This session was recorded at the Global Education and Skills Forum. Student Elizabeth Glass writes her views on this session which she attended at the forum in Dubai. — Vicki Davis, Teacher Studies show nothing is as critical to a child’s education outcome than their teacher. However, in many societies the role of the teacher has been strongly critiqued. This plenary explores how we might rethink education systems so that they champion the teacher in society. Moderator: James E. Ryan, Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA H.E. Vedran Mornar, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia H.E. Esteban Bullrich, Minister for Education, Buenos Aires, Argentina Geoffrey Canada, President, Harlem Children’s Zone, USA John Bangs, Senior Consultant Education International and Honorary Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, UK Jacqueline Jumbe-Kahura, Bofa Primary School, Kilifi, Kenya Find out more at: https://educationandskillsforum.org/ Knowledge of the Subject: First off, this quality is an absolute necessity to being an effective teacher. It does not matter how motivated, passionate, or creative you are if you cannot teach your students what they are there to learn. How can you expect them to learn if you don’t even know what they are supposed to be learning? Motivation: To be an effective teacher one has to be motivated, motivated to learn and to help others learn. That motivation for learning and self-improvement is what separates the truly great teachers from the rest. They are always trying new ways of teaching and engaging their students and they never tire of being students themselves. Effective teachers are always learning different ways of doing things and take the time to learn from other effective teachers. Emotional Intelligence and Empathy: Understanding your students is an integral part in being an effective teacher. Being able to connect with students on an emotional level and help them through the problems that come with growing up is what effective teachers do. For many kids, teachers are the ones they turn to for support when they can’t find it anywhere else. This emotional intelligence and empathy can go a long way in not only helping those students be able to learn but in changing their lives as well. Stamina: As most teachers will agree, it takes a lot of energy to teach and keep students engaged. It also takes a lot of stamina, because you never know what will happen next. Every day as a teacher is an adventure, and you have to be able to handle it in stride and keep on going. Passion: To me, this is the most important characteristic of an effective teacher. Passion in teachers is what inspires students to want to do their best and to dream big dreams. Passionate teachers are not those who chose to teach because they could not do anything else. Passionate teachers are those that find true happiness in their profession and in the everyday aspect of helping kids discover who they are and who they want to be. Teachers are some of the few people who have the power to change the world because the future of the world is sitting in their classrooms. Those teachers who have knowledge, motivation, emotional intelligence and empathy, stamina, and passion are able to make an impact in the lives of their students. They inspire them to dream their wildest dreams while giving them the tools to achieve them and those are the ones who have the greatest impact.   The post Qualities of an Effective Teacher #gesf appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

There is a short, three letter hop from leading to misleading. Having a position of leadership is a paramount calling in life. You have a lot of responsibilities. It is hard to be a leader. The truth is, as flawed humans, most of us who lead in anything have a very short step to being a misleader. Teachers are also leaders of their classrooms. Here are ten ways leaders become misleaders:  First published May 16, 2012. Updated: April 20, 2015 1. You become a misleader when you let popular opinion steal your purpose. Having a purpose will bring you joy. Eric Liddel, the famous runner depicted in Chariots of Fire, said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel God’s pleasure." Purpose gives meaning to your work. "Study after study shows that people who have created meaning in their lives are happier and more satisfied with their lives." (Steger, Oishi & Kashdan 2008) quoted in The 5 Skills that Will Increase Your Happiness.  An educator who loses purpose quickly loses hope. Sometimes popular initiatives run counter to the purpose of why we teach. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it is RIGHT.  Just because someone is a respected authority does not mean you check your brain at the door. Weak leaders hide in the herd even if the herd is heading for a cliff. Afraid to stand alone, they are forgetting the purpose of keeping those in their charge safe and on track. Good leaders break from the herd when it is running the wrong way. Protecting the love of learning is not a line item in the budget. Children can be counted, but they aren’t numbers. Learning can be observed — sort of — but it is as hard to measure as how much I love my husband. Anything that obscures the purpose of our profession should be watched vigilantly like an enemy at the gate. I’m not saying things like data-driven analysis can’t help us — it can help us know our students and personalize learning. But the moment you see numbers and not students, you’ve lost sight of your purpose. Lose your purpose, lose your joy. When I think of this struggle for keeping the purpose of education versus popular opinion, I think of an interview with visionary superintendent Pam Moran  on Every Classroom Matters. Pam said, "A number of years a go we started a path that we needed to do much more than No Child Left Behind, we saw it sucking the life out of classrooms. The more we saw schools get pulled into the "test prep curriculum" that what we saw was both kids and teachers consumed with and worried with and constantly focusing on how to take a four choice, one answer right test. Very soon we said after the implementation of NCLB, we said that isn’t what we want for our students or teachers. We know we’ll have to test but the reality is that we want something more… we looked to see how a school system could implement a balanced assessment system that centered around what we thought was important." Don’t think that Pam is making excuses for poor test scores. Her district (which also has many Title I schools) has a 93% graduation rate and is in the top 3% of all districts in the US and Canada for their AP Test scores. She did not let popular opinion or even mandates keep her from her PURPOSE of doing what is best for students.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the anti-Nazi dissident, said, "If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction." Pam and her district leaders got off the train but still made it to a destination of better learning. Martin Luther King, Jr said, "Our lives begin to end when we begin to be silent about the things that matter." Be brave enough to stand against yourself when you’re wrong. Be courageous enough to jump off the train. Have enough hustle to go out and assemble a new train. Always question popular opinion when it goes against the purpose of helping students. 2. You become a misleader when you become mislead by flattery or too deeply wounded by insults. Pride will kill you faster than a poison blowgun dart in a rainforest. When people start praising you, it is better to turn a deaf ear than listen too much. We may crave recognition, but good leaders would rather be useful. Flattery believed becomes a person deceived. All too often, leaders would rather "be ruined by praise than saved by criticism" (as Norman Vincent Peale says). I’ve found that lousy leaders make poor decisions and then throw out a cast net for validation. They surround themselves with people who agree with them, not people who will offer an opinion and give wise counsel. Samuel Goldwyn, the famed movie producer, said, "I don’t want yes-men around me. I want everyone to tell the truth, even if it costs them their jobs." If you don’t have problems, start worrying about your leadership. Colin Powell, a US general, says "Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership." There are many ways to solve problems. Complaining isn’t one of them. John Maxwell says in How Successful People Think, "The truth will set you free - but first it will make you angry." Criticism stings. But all criticism is not equal. In Michael Hyatt’s "The Real Difference Between the Wise and the Foolish," Michael outlines the three types of critics. Some critics are trolls. They love drama. A recent study on Internet trolls found "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun … and the Internet is their playground!" Hurting people hurt people. Some love the drama. So, you have to learn to recognize the trolls and learn to avoid them. If you have to deal with a troll, keep your ears open and your heart behind a bulletproof vest. The second type of person Hyatt discusses are the critics. These people have no agenda and usually have a valid point. Finally, your friends who criticize should be listened to deeply. They love you and want you to do well. As American politician Adlai Stevenson said, "Flattery is all right as long as you don’t inhale." The American author Mason Cooley said, "Flattery and insults raise the same question: What do you want?" Flattery and insults are all about the person giving them — not you. These people don’t want what is best for you. In the end, problems and criticism are part of life, and the effective leader responds and adjusts to both. 3. You become a misleader when you think you can make everyone feel good about change or when you leave them out of the change making process. There is an excellent chapter in 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done about change. It says if you know you’re going to jump into a river, it is worse to hang on the rope swing than it is just to jump. No matter how inevitable the river of change is, some people are going to hang onto that rope until pushed or pulled off of it. If you wait until everyone feels good about the change, you’ll wait too long. There are lots of smart, legendary people who didn’t like change. The Greek Poet Callimachus said books were "a great evil." Plato didn’t like writing either. His character, King Thamus says that a dependence on written words will "weaken men’s characters and create forgetfulness in their souls." (The Organized Mind p 14) They had always educated orally. Indeed, they had  significant experiences sitting on rocks and memorizing what they heard. But as baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth said, "Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games." But so often the problem is not about change. Ken Blanchard says in Leading at a Higher Level "People often resent change when they have no involvement in how it should be implemented. So, contrary to popular belief, people don’t resist change - they resist being controlled." (216) Todd Whitaker’s 1993 research on the best principals (mentioned in What Great Principals Do Differently: Eighteen Things That Matter Most) says that the best principals "Routinely consult informal teacher leaders for input before making a decision." Most schools have V8 engines running like a V4. If I’m on a mountain in my SUV and I have a big challenging hill to climb, I want all of the pistons in my engine firing! Why wouldn’t I hit the button and engage the full power of my engine? Principals who lead without teacher input aren’t firing with all their cylinders, in more ways than one. Organization change requires a change from everyone in your organization. Leave them out and lose momentum. Expect to make them all happy and lose your mind. Toxic meeting syndrome can cause meetings to be little more than face to face announcement sessions. Highly functioning teams collaborate; they don’t just congregate. 4. You become a misleader when you mistake meetings for action. American journalist Dave Barry said, "If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and will never achive its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’ Economist Thomas Sowell went as far to say "People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything." Highly functioning teams collaborate; they don’t just congregate. Too many organizations are dying because of toxic meeting syndrome.  A syndrome is a characteristic of habits that typically occur together. Organizations with toxic meeting syndrome have dysfunctional meeting habits that poison the organization’s productivity. Symptoms of toxic meeting syndrome include: meeting because you always meet at that time not because you have anything to do, using meetings for low-collaborative tasks like announcements, as a substitute dysfunctional communications, letting participants hijack the meeting for unproductive conversations that demoralize others, an agenda set by the behavior of the lowest-performing employees instead of helping everyone move to higher performance, and even worse- verbal abuse. Why does a meeting need to take an hour? It is because people aren’t aren’t reading their emails or doing their jobs? Some leaders use meetings as an announcement time. Announcements can be handed out on paper. Deal with problems. Collaborate. Hypocritical leaders want classrooms to be exciting but let staff meetings be boredom central. You can use the words productive and meeting in the same sentence. Leaders study how to run effective meetings. They know when to hold them. They know how to engage collaboration and get input. They know how to neutralize time-wasting morale-killing Grumbledores. (OK, I’ll let you in on a private joke. Dumbledore is the master of Hogwart’s school in Harry Potter. He is in charge of everything. In my mind, Grumbledore is my name for the lead whiner. Somehow they think they can straighten out the school by propelling it forward with their whining. Whining is a diminishing activity. It never builds up. Ever. I admit I remind myself when these one or two people corner me that they are Grumbledore, and I should listen at my own risk lest I become one too.) 5. You become a misleader when you pretend. Imagine a beautifully wrapped present under your Christmas tree. What if you opened it and nothing is there but air? I’ve been to rah-rah sessions that were nothing but air - no content. (Sound like testing pep rallies?) Don’t pretend something is what it isn’t. Rah Rah Rah - I’m cutting your pay - this is a good thing. Rah, Rah.I say Bah. Be real. The psychologists who wrote Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change found, "People become far less willing to believe what you have to say the moment they realize your goal is to convince them of something." (59) What are you selling? Why? It is not your job to defend everything that happens because some things stink, and everyone knows it.  A pig in a dress isn’t a princess. SPut a positive spin on everything and people will think you’re phony. Not everything is positive. When talking about hard decisions, my pastor, Michael Catt, said, "If you prune, people are going to resist you. If you don’t prune, they won’t respect you." If you have to do it. Do it. Some people need firing. Some budgets need cutting. Sometimes your best employees or students are going to be mad at you. Sometimes people won’t or can’t understand. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, says, "I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate." One of the biggest mistakes I made when I was a General Manager for a cell phone company was being too open about some of the pressures I was under to make the numbers. When I told my employees too much about that pressure, I put them in a position they weren’t able to handle emotionally. Great leaders are buffers. They are like sea walls, breaking the waves and preventing erosion of morale. They don’t mislead and pretend things are great when they are not. They make hard decisions that just are what they are. They also buffer against the big stuff that will prevent their employees or students from focusing on the main thing that is their task to do. Don’t pretend everything is perfect. It isn’t. Here’s the deal. You’ve got to be honest on one hand and a buffer on the other (and have the wisdom to know the difference). 6. You become a misleader when you handle private issues publicly or play favorites. The teacher who openly "calls out" a child without "naming names" is a coward. Everyone knows. The principal who publicly "calls out" a teacher or group of teachers without "calling names" is a coward too. Cowards are afraid of dealing with issues in the right way: privately and directly. They use their position of authority to deliver a backhanded slap that erodes the respect of all who hear. If you don’t have the guts to deal with a problem face to face then to resort to just "calling out" in public will only make you look even more impotent. If only one person is the offender, deal with that one and let the rest in the room not feel false guilt for something they haven’t done. A woman dealing with an aging parent may need to be treated differently for a time than someone not in that situation. When you make blanket statements in public, you put everyone on alert to see if you’re going to treat everyone the same. It is always best to handle it in private because it isn’t your employees’ job to determine what is fair - it is yours. For example, if you only "call out" the unacceptable behavior of some but put up with it from your "favorites" it reeks of favoritism. Every situation is different, so it is best to handle everything privately — except favoritism issues. Interestingly, I’ve found that people who are impassioned about keeping everything "fair" are the most unfair people I know. They mistake treating everyone the same with fairness. But consider this quote from famed basketball coach John Wooden, "treating everyone the same is the surest way to show favoritism." In the article Favoritism is a Huge Problem, Bob Whipple makes the point that there is a difference between having favorites and playing favorites. Some people have strengths that others do not have. When you ignore this concern of favoritism, you risk problems. Whipple recommends: "Be aware of the issue of favoritism and use the word when a decision might be perceived as practicing it. Say, ‘I’m asking George to do this budget revision again. Since I have done this in the past, I do not want to be perceived as playing favorites. George has the accounting background to do this work. If others of you would like to work with the budget, let me know and I will help you get some training so you can do it in the future." I love this answer because you can help others see what you need to do that task, and you open up discussions. But also be willing to test your bias. I had two students come to me recently and tell me that they thought I was playing favorites with a student. I was shocked and crushed. I totally didn’t see it that way. But after I reflected, I realized what I had done and how that was perceived. I’m grateful that they thought enough of me to tell me. Managers need to be told too. Just be careful that you don’t ask your "favorite." You can be fair without treating everyone the same or playing favorites. Being open about why tasks are assigned to people and to listening to others tell you if you play favorites will help you. When you address behavior issues privately, you give yourself more flexibility in management. 7. You become a misleader when you have no self-discipline. You lead by example. If you can’t get to work on time or stay there when times are tough, you don’t belong in leadership. If you want a comfortable life, don’t sign up to be a leader. Have the self-discipline to show up for work and do your job. James Dashner says in The Maze Runner "You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin’ up. Plain and simple." In this book, the children trapped in the maze had to run and move forward to survive. You do too. Forward progress is progress. Basketball great Julius Irving said, "Being a profession is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them." Passionate professionals still have to do work. Teaching is hard. Leading is hard. Sometimes driving yourself to work when every fiber of your being wants to hit the couch is the most difficult thing of all.   "Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest." Simon Sinek 8. You become a misleader when you use your platform for a personal agenda. These people shout "you’re just a stepping stone, not my home." Full of promise, it is hard to follow them because they are on their way up and out. They’ll do just enough to be able to claim something grand, and they are off to greener pastures, over the hill or on the Hill. We have hard problems to solve and need some consistent leaders who will stay the course in tough jobs for a period. Simon Sinek says in Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’’t "The true price of leadershp is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self interest." Great leaders serve others. Take the time to connect with those you lead. 9. You become a misleader when you care more about words than actions. Words are important. They can hurt. But I’d rather use the wrong word in a sentence that describes what I should do than to do the wrong thing. Good leaders look at meaning and "cut to the chase." Weak leaders consider themselves Semantic Saviors - who have shown up in the nick of time to keep us from using the wrong word that might send us on a path of death and destruction. Words are important (and I’m not counting profanity and gross offenses here) but actions are often more important. In the Forbes  article 12 Signs of Cowardly Leadership, author Jeff Schmitt says "How people live is far more important than what they say. That’s especially true of leaders. When there’s a breach between rhetoric and reality, you’ll find a drained and demoralized organization riddled with distrust, dissension, and doubt." What gets you more upset: a misspoken word or a misdeed? Take care to back up words with action. Words alone are impotent. 10. You become a misleader if you need popularity to lead. Booker T. Washington, one of my edu-heroes, said, "Most leaders spend time trying to get others to think highly of them, when instead, they should try to get their people to think more highly of themselves." Help others see their strengths. Realize that no matter what you do, some things aren’t going to be popular. Human judgment is harsh, and it is meted out to those in authority with an extra measure. Someone is not going to like you. Get over it. Try to be at peace with everyone if it is in your power, but if it is not, be as kind as you can, and move on. In one of my favorite television dramas, Blue Bloods, New York Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (played by Tom Selleck), says, "I’ve got skin thicker than a catcher’s mitt." Popularity is a fickle thing and rarely belongs to revolutionaries until after the war is won. There are times in our lives that doing the right thing means doing the unpopular thing. Thank goodness Winston Churchill didn’t need everyone’s approval to lead. His country needed someone to speak against the widespread pessimism of his countrymen. They needed someone to yank them up out of the ashes and encourage them to fight for existence. We need that in education today. If you’re going to serve in schools as a teacher or administrator for longer than a week, you need to have a thick skin. Pleasing everyone is a recipe to please no one. You’ll have no one’s respect, not even your own. Sometimes you must stand against popular pessimism and lead others into a brighter future. The end of the school year is a hard time of year to be a leader in education. Whether you are in the classroom or the boardroom, everyone is tired, and it is easy for tempers to flare. Just like my other post 10 Ways to be a Terrible Teacher, it is so easy to criticize and many of these things we may all be guilty of doing. There are certainly more on the list, and I challenge you to consider and share in the comments. I have to note that these 10 are a compilation of things I’ve observed over a long period. You’ve told me your stories, and I get them over email. I have good leaders at my school as proven our results in the classroom and on the athletic field. Also, remember that sometimes the dysfunction starts way above the leader’s head. If you’re in an organization (like a board of directors or school board) that works with leaders to LET THEM LEAD but hold them accountable. A board that micromanages is creating an unhealthy organization stymied by the whims of a diverse group of people who may or may not be an expert in the type of organization they are intended to advise. Boards should set policy and leave day to day operations to those in charge. If you’re fortunate enough to have a great leader at the helm or in the classroom, appreciate them and treat them well, leadership seems to be a scarce resource these days. Be a great leader. Serve. Have vision. Lead on. Photo credit: Bigstock The post 10 Terrible Traits of Lousy Leaders appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

8 Top Tips for Highly Effective Professional Development Vicki Davis on Edutopia April 15, 2015 Highly effective classrooms can result from highly effective professional development. Recent research (Butler et al., 2004) has shown that effective professional development includes creating classroom content, modeling techniques for teachers to use in their classrooms, and feedback on lessons (Harris, Graham, and Adkins, 2015). It’s not enough to teach the right things to your teachers — you have to teach your teachers in the right way. Here are some top tips for delivering highly effective PD to your teachers. 1. Use What You Are Teaching If a method of teaching works, that method should be used for teaching the teachers in your PD sessions. For example, if you’re teaching cooperative learning but you’re lecturing about it, that’s undermining the message. Teachers notice what you do, so model what you’re teaching by teaching with it. If you don’t have enough time to use the methods that work, then you’ve just given an out to the teachers who will say that they don’t have enough time to do it either. Read the rest of this article on Edutopia Edutopia is a fantastic resource. I appreciate the opportunity to write for them. Make your PD awesome! The post 8 Top Tips for Highly Effective Professional Development [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.