Saturday, June 30, 2018

So long June. Hello July!

The month of June has been pretty awesome for the Posick family.  Lauren graduated from high school.  We got to hang out at Fox Lake.  Lauren signed up for classes at UW-Oshkosh.  We had Lauren's graduation party.  I had the honor of attending the ISTE conference in Chicago.  July is just around the corner and we'll be hanging out more at Fox Lake and visiting friends in Atlanta.  We're taking a vacation that has nothing to with running a marathon or a dance competition.  It will be great!  I hope that you all get to have a chance to continue connecting with your family and friends during July.  There's still time for you to relax, recharge, and reflect before we kick off the 2018-2019 school year.

New 2018-2019 calendar from Google (Thanks, Mary!)
Please let me know if there are any events that need to be added to the list.  Many events are already on the calendar.

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere that I needed to be.
Douglas Adams,
writer



It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don't like something, it is empirically not good.
Tina Fey,
entertainer, writer and producer

Flipgrid is now free for all educators!  Check this out!

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.
Sydney Smith,
clergyman and writer

3 goals for next year (from my blog)

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do.
Khalil Gibran,
writer, poet and artist

A pleasure is full-grown only when it is remembered.
C.S. Lewis,
writer and academic

2 Questions to Focus on Long-Term Learning in Classrooms (from George Couros)

A culture is made -- or destroyed -- by its articulate voices.
Ayn Rand,
philosopher
Optimism is true moral courage.
Ernest Shackleton,
explorer
(from Pinterest)

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I cannot reach them: but I can look up, and see their beauty; believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
Louisa May Alcott,
writer
All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.
Mitch Albom,
journalist and broadcaster

Keep enjoying your summer!
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

3 goals for next year

In preparation for my summative evaluation, I was charged with coming up with three goals for next school year.  Here they are.

It's a novel concept, right?  Not at all.  It should be what we're about as educators all of the time.  So what can I do to accomplish these three goals?

Be better for the kids
Get into more classrooms to learn with the kids.
Sit down at a different lunch table every day.
Join in a game of basketball or kickball at recess.
Greet as many kids by name every morning and in the hallways.
Attend more basketball and volleyball games.
2X10 with our new kids to start the year. (2 minutes, 10 days in a row and let the kids lead the conversations)
Restart our Sphero/coding club and learn with the kids.
Play my trumpet in a concert, if our band director will allow.
Start up a before school Homework Club that's like our after school Homework Club.

Be better for the staff
Be more intentional with feedback after classroom visits.
Meet more regularly to celebrate, discuss concerns, and offer support.
Remember birthdays.
#GoodNewsCallOfTheDay for staff more often.
Listen more than I speak.
Visit as many classrooms a day as possible.
Cover classes so that teachers can see each other teach or collaborate or...
Make our meetings more kid focused and uplifting.
Share the great things staff are doing with and for our kids more often.

Be better for the families
Be out at drop off/pick up at the Intermediate School instead of at bus duty at the Primary School.
Communicate more frequently by phone than email.
#GoodNewsCallOfTheDay regularly.
Hold a Principal's Chat or Coffee once a month.
Invite families in to help out in classrooms or find other volunteer opportunities.
Attend all PTO meetings and share the great things happening in our school.
Remind staff to use Mustang Medals and send them out monthly.
Connect with more families at concerts and sporting events.
Attend more family/teacher conferences and just listen.

What do you think?  Did I forget anything?  Are there too many items to focus on?  Can I do it?

Monday, June 18, 2018

How did you relax?

Good Monday afternoon!  I promise that now that I have all of my work for the 2017-2018 school year completed, I won't be emailing you again until after June is over!  I wanted to share how I have relaxed since you all left.

  • Lots of family time, which included watching my brother's beast of a dog.  No need for the chiropractor as he readjusted my back every time we went for a walk.
  • My daily run, or runs, have allowed me to just let my mind wander.
  • Mowing the lawn to try to keep up with all of the other neighbors' yards.
  • Golfing and finding more golf balls than I lost.
  • Dinner out with friends, sometimes even without my phone.
  • Serious discussions with two co-authors about a potential book.
  • Summer Spark presentation and learning with some great educators from across the country.  Maybe we can present together next year?
  • Spreading six yards of mulch in one 4 hour span of time.
  • Talking to Lauren, without our phones!
  • Planting the community garden with Patrick and some students.
  • Hanging out by the pool in Fox Lake.
  • Dinner with family and friends.
Important Calendar Dates!
Tuesday, September 25th
Boosterthon pep rally

Thursday, October 4th
Boosterthon fun run

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming -- well, that's like saying you can never change your fate.
Amy Tan,
writer
(sketchnote from @woodard_julie of WoodStock Images)

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Aesop,
fabulist

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind."- Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and inventor

It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Paulo Coelho,
writer

(from @smartinez, my favorite quote from Summer Spark)

You won't be happy, whatever you do, unless you're comfortable with your own conscience.
Lucille Ball,
entertainer and producer

This is the last nuts and bolts of the 2017-2018 school year.  Thanks for your willingness to read my sometimes random thoughts, reading an occasional blog which resonated with me, reading a quote or two, and hopefully gaining a little inspiration along the way.  It has been an honor serving our community with you this school year.
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself!- John Gunnell

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Thank you!

The school year seems to start so quickly, but it ends even more abruptly than it begins.  I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your dedication to our kids, for your dedication to each other, and for your dedication to your passion.  It was a great year!

Great things I saw this week...
Becky, Carey, and Barb doing so much behind the scenes work for graduation.
Students still reading, writing, mathing, and all other types of academic work, even on the last week of school.
The graduation ceremony, with awards handed out at the ceremony for the first time in a long time.
Brainstorming ideas for next year to make it an even better year.

Calendar
Enjoy the next few days, or weeks.  You deserve it!
Friday, June 8th
I'm at school, at least until noon

Monday, June 11th and Tuesday, June 12th
I'm at Summer Spark all day

Wednesday, June 13th-Friday, June 15th
I'll be in school all day, or at least most of the day


Tweets, quotes, and blogs
Lessons From Ten Years of Trying... (from Pernille Ripp)

"Enjoy the little things in life because one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things."-Kurt Vonnegut


Pushing Past the Organizational Plateau (from George Couros. Take note of the highlighted line in the last paragraph, and the Bruce Lee quote is pretty great, too.)

It has been my personal experience that the true flavor, the real fun, the continuous excitement of work lie in the process of doing it rather than in having it over and done with.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
statesman, scientist and engineer

3 Questions To Challenge Practices That No Longer Work in Education (from George Couros)

Tell Your Story (from Todd Nesloney)

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.
Anne Lamott,
writer

What We Can Give (from Pernille Ripp)

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Andre Gide,
writer

Any kind of creative activity is likely to be stressful. The more anxiety, the more you feel that you are headed in the right direction. Easiness, relaxation, comfort -- these are not conditions that usually accompany serious work.
Joyce Carol Oates,
writer
Take the time to focus on yourself, and your family, this summer.  Read a book that you want to read.  Find a happy place to be all by yourself.  Unplug from your phone and any other device you might have that connects you to email, voicemail, and social media.  Write someone a letter.  Go surprise a friend with their favorite beverage.  Go for a boat ride.  Go for a bike ride.  Go for a walk in the woods.  Do whatever it is that you do to find your happy place and do it.  If you do one of these things, or all of them, you will come back next year ready for the opportunities that a new school brings.  Have a great summer!
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

Friday, June 1, 2018

Hidden strength

Men are accused for not knowing their own weakness, yet, perhaps, as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold, which the owner knows not of.
Jonathan Swift,
writer and cleric

I want you to really think about the quote above.  As educators, I think that we focus more on the negative than the positive.  As you reflect upon the entire school year, focus on a hidden strength, that vein of gold that you don't often consider.  It's there in all of us, we just need to look for it.  I would say that my hidden strength is the ability to stay calm, at least most of the time.  I'm really like a duck on a pond, calm above the water but paddling like crazy under the water.  For the most part, I think it serves me pretty well.  What's your hidden strength, and if you don't know, go find it this weekend.

Great things I saw this week...
Roller skating, skateboarding, long boards, rip sticks, and scooters in PE.
Kids creating documentaries.
Country reports in Social Studies.
Watching 8th graders bust open their pinatas.
The anticipation of Celebration Day.
6th grade portfolio conferences.
Staff eating lunch at the picnic tables.
Kids creating in Science classes.

Calendar
Saturday, June 2nd
Lauren graduates!

Monday, June 4th
1:30  family tour
3:00  portfolio conference

Tuesday, June 5th
8th grade Day Away
9:00  A-team meeting
7PM  8th grade dance

Wednesday, June 6th
8:45-9:15  Recognition assembly
10:30  Graduation practice
7:00  Graduation (It would be great if you could come and see the kids!)

Thursday, June 7th
Half day- noon release (Make sure you've had your end of the year meeting with me!)
Ice cream and yearbook schedule

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
4 Reflection Questions for the End of the School Year (from George Couros)

"You have to try the impossible to achieve the possible."- Herman Hesse

To be good and lead a good life means to give to others more than one takes from them.
Leo Tolstoy,
writer

Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back.
Diana,
Princess of Wales
Family smore for 6.1.18

Today is Celebration Day, a day to truly celebrate the progress of our students, and each other.  Find the good in everything, even when it might be difficult.  The kids have come a long way, and so have you.  None of us, students or staff, is the same as we were when the school year started.  Hopefully we're all a little better at something.  I can't wait to celebrate the day with you.
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell