Doing many different things

Last weekend I was lucky enough to fish all day with my brother on Saturday (together we caught 7 keeper largemouth bass) and on Sunday I attended the Brewers game with Jen and Lauren.  It was a family weekend, for sure.  I did check emails once in a while, especially on Sunday morning, and found this quote.

(from Inspiring Quotes)

On Saturday, the guide my brother and I fished with, Wally Banfi, put us on a number of spots.  Two of my favorite lines he said throughout the Saturday were "This spot looks juicy" and "I've got a story for you, and this one is true."  We tried a variety of presentations, lures, and live bait.  On this Saturday, Wisey Worms thrown into the shallows and near piers was all that was successful.  We stayed with what was best for that day.  As educators, we try a variety of things to make an impact on our students- engaging activities, support individually or in small groups, individual conversations.  Every day with our students is a new day and the "presentation" that we use might be very different today than it was yesterday or even from morning to afternoon.  Keep trying new things and you'll find the right one for the day.  And while you're at it, you should share some of your best, and worst, with your colleagues.  It's so awesome when we can learn from one another.

This week's family smore

I put this together early due to my personal day on Friday.  Just thought I would share it with you, especially with regards to the first paragraph.

Calendar

Friday, May 26th    Jeans for Troops Day ($5 to GIGo Fund for Veterans for wearing jeans)

Monday, May 30th    Memorial Day (No School)

Wednesday, June 1st    PTO meeting 8:45AM

Thursday, June 2nd    Celebration Day (This is a "no letter" day!)

Friday, June 3rd    Celebration Day rain date/ 4th to 5th grade transition afternoon

Monday, June 6th    8th grade Day Away and dance/ 5th, 6th, and 7th grade Day Aways from 9AM-2PM

Tuesday, June 7th    8th grade graduation 7PM

Wednesday, June 8th    Last day of school (half day)/ Yearbook signing and ice cream sandwiches

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

"Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever."

Margaret Cho, comedian, actor, musician, writer

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"I just want to live the moment.  I don't want to know how it's going to be, or how it's going to be there at the end.  I just want to live it."

Jo-Wilifried Tsonga, professional tennis player

(from Upworthiest)

(from @teachergoals)

BLT presentation at Student Achievement Committee on Monday night

You would all be proud of our BLT on Monday night.  Our team is Becky O., Carey, Janine, Melissa, Colleen, and Bekah.  Becky F. and Michelle joined the team on Monday to share much of the amazing work that you do every day.  Erin was there to support the team, too.  Here is the presentation.

Something from LaVonna Roth from Ignite Your S.H.I.N.E.

In the spirit of celebrating our communities in education - our mentors, our coaches, our teachers, our paraprofessionals, our administrators -  we want to make sure you know:

• Someone woke up today thinking about the impact you made on them last week.
• Your time, your effort, and your continued perseverance is changing this world.
• You deserve a moment to yourself - you deserve many moments; try not to feel guilty about taking them.
• You deserve the empathy, patience, and understanding that you give each and every day.

We hope you feel celebrated always - your work is invaluable and limitless!

Just so you know, I feel the same way about each of you every day!

A week of lasts...

As I look back at this week, I noticed that I had a week of lasts.  It was my last Student Achievement Committee meeting, and it was great to share it with our BLT, Becky F., and Michelle.  It was my last School Board meeting as a Principal and I was able to reflect on these meetings with members of the A-team after.  It was my last Band concert, and I got to play my trumpet with the Jazz Band in their final song.  It was my last staff meeting on Wednesday morning, or at least I think it was.  It has been an honor and a privilege to be your Principal.  It was my last indoor recess, or at least I hope it was.  It was my last NJHS induction ceremony.  There are a few more lasts coming up in the next couple of weeks and I have only one hope- that you are all there with me during those last few lasts.  As I said on Wednesday, it's been an honor and a privilege.

Have a great long weekend, and I'll see you on Tuesday.

Jay

Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

How was your week? (new blog/same title)

Today ends our second to last 5 day week of the year.  Kind of hard to believe, isn't it?  So how did your week go?  Did you zoom out to see the highs and the lows?  I encourage you to do that.  Some days this week I had to zoom out to find the highs because there were a couple of lows that kept coming into my thoughts.  Other days I was able to reflect and the highs were easy to see, and to celebrate.  This week had two "lasts" for me- our last BLT meeting and our last Culver's Night.  The coming weeks will have more of these "lasts".  My good friend Joy, a principal from Connecticut (that's where I was born, by the way), told me not to think of it as retirement.  She said it's "refirement".  I am fired up to support my parents on their life journey.  I'm also fired up to support Lauren as she continues her education journey.  She has a big "last" today- the FORT exam this morning.  I know that she'll do well and I know she'll be happy when she's finished with that test.  And tonight she and I will celebrate with dinner, just the two of us.  Now that's a great way to end a week!

Calendar

Monday, May 23rd    Jay will be out in the morning attending a doctor appointment/ Student Achievement Committee 4:30PM/ School Board meeting 6PM

Tuesday, May 24th    Final Band Concert 6:30PM

Wednesday, May 25th    NJHS induction ceremony 5:30PM

Friday, May 26th    Jeans for Troops Day ($5 to GIGo Fund for Veterans for wearing jeans)

Monday, May 30th    Memorial Day (No School)

Wednesday, June 1st    PTO meeting 8:45AM

Thursday, June 2nd    Celebration Day (This is a "no letter" day!)

Friday, June 3rd    Celebration Day rain date/ 4th to 5th grade transition afternoon

Monday, June 6th    8th grade Day Away/ 5th, 6th, and 7th grade Day Away from 9AM-2PM

Tuesday, June 7th    8th grade graduation

Wednesday, June 8th    Last day of school (half day)

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

(from MindShift)

"There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets credit."

Ronald Reagan

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"One has to realize one's limitations.  Why kid yourself?"

I. M. Pei, architect

(from Inspiring Quotes)

(The 5SWs from Andrew Marotta. It's worth the 90 seconds, I promise!)

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"Your greatest mess may be the very thing that qualifies you the most to help other people."

Ed Mylett

(from Inspiring Quotes)

(from @WeinsteinEdu on the Twitters)

(from Inspiring Quotes)

BLT notes

Before we get to the shared notes, I'd like to thank Bekah, Janine, Colleen, Carey, Becky O., and Melissa for their honesty and openness during all of our BLT meetings this year.  I know they have shared your concerns with me so that we can get better.  They also shared your successes so you could be shouted out to all staff.   They will also represent our school well at the Student Achievement Committee meeting on Monday.  It has been an honor.

That being said, here are the notes for our BLT meeting.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out.

To fully answer the question I posed in the title, my week was really just okay.  Jen has been in Sanibel all week and is driving home with her brother.  We have had our daily phone calls, and were on a webinar together yesterday, but I can't wait for her to get home.  I got to spend more face to face time with my parents this week because I made time to go see them.  The week got better yesterday when Lauren came home for the weekend.  I know I say "family first" a lot and you know that I mean it.  We aren't promised tomorrow, but we can definitely make it a goal to make today the best Friday of the week!

See you all soon!

Jay

Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

How was your week?

Do me a favor.  Look back on your week and write down the three best things about the week.  Only one must be school related.  Here are mine...

Lauren had her final class in Oshkosh (but she still has student teaching).

Two of my cousins from Connecticut made a surprise visit to see my parents.

I was able to coach a group of 8th grade girls, and they are one of my favorite teams of all time.

Why am I asking you to start this list?  I think that often we look back on a week and don't notice the good things that we've done or that we've been a part of.  I witness you doing great things every day.  Some of them are "big" things and some are "little" things.  The list you make should make you happy.  Imagine the list you'll have if you do this daily instead of weekly.  It makes me think of the quote below.

(from Inspiring Quotes)

Now go make this the best Friday of the week!

This week's family smore

I'll be adding some pictures from today a little later, but here it is for now.

Calendar

Friday, May 13th    Career Day in the AM/ District Celebration after school

Friday, May 13th-Sunday May 15th    PTO Scavenger Hunt

Tuesday, May 17th    7th and 8th grade Mega Math Meet in Madison

Wednesday, May 18th    Content meetings 7:45AM (BLT is in charge)/ PTO Culver's Night

Thursday, May 19th    5th and 6th grade Mega Math Meet in Madison

Monday, May 23rd    Student Achievement Committee 4:30PM/ School Board meeting 6PM

Tuesday, May 24th    Final Band Concert 6:30PM

Wednesday, May 25th    NJHS induction ceremony 5:30PM

Monday, May 30th    Memorial Day (No School)

Thursday, June 2nd    Celebration Day

Friday, June 3rd    Celebration Day rain date/ 4th to 5th grade transition afternoon

Monday, June 6th    8th grade Day Away/ 5th, 6th, and 7th grade Day Away from 9AM-2PM

Tuesday, June 7th    8th grade graduation

Wednesday, June 8th    Last day of school (half day)

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

(from @teachergoals on the Twitters)

"It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err."

Mahatma Gandhi, lawyer, social reformer, independent movement leader

Increasing Confidence to Accelerate Competence from George Couros

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"Most of the time, everyone deserves more than one chance."

Celeste Ng, writer

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"Everything was worth looking at more closely."

Celeste Ng, writer

(from Todd Nesloney's blog)

"We are a landscape of all we have seen."

Isamu Noguchi, sculptor, designer, landscape architect

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"We are a landscape of all we have seen."

Isamu Noguchi, sculptor, designer, landscape architect

(from @teachergoals on Twitter)

We Are Teachers

I get an email from this group a few times a week and thought this was too good to keep to myself.  Check out all of these teacher giveaways.  Good luck!

Jon Gordon email (I get these almost daily, and the BEST just caught my attention.)

9 Things The Best in Business and Sports Do

I’ve been very fortunate over the last two decades to work with many of the best leaders and organizations in business, sports, healthcare and education. I’ve found that the best in these different fields implement the same principles and practices. Here are some of my findings: 1. The best know what they want. They have clarity that drives their actions. When you are on a mission with a vision you won't give up when faced with challenges. It’s essential that everyone in the organization is clear on the vision and mission and knows how they can contribute to it. 2. The best build a great culture. Culture drives expectations and beliefs. Expectation and beliefs drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits. Habits create the future. If you want the fruit you must invest in the root. Culture is the root. Culture creates sustained success. 3. The best do ordinary things better than everyone else. Success is all about the fundamentals. Vince Lombardi once held a 4-day coaching clinic and spent 2 full days on one play: the power sweep. Opponents knew it was coming but still couldn't stop it. 4. The best are mentally stronger. Through adversity their belief is greater their circumstance. Research at Duke University shows that optimists work harder, get paid more and are more likely to succeed in business and sports. Because they believe it, they take the actions necessary to create it. 5. The best overcome their fear of failure. Everyone has fear but the best overcome it. They don’t allow it to control, limit or paralyze them from taking action. The greatest success strategy is to focus on the love of what you are doing instead of fearing the outcome. 6. The best build great relationships and teams. No once creates success alone. We all need a team to accomplish something great. The best leaders and teams utilize the 4 Cs. They communicate, connect, commit and care. 7. The best transform negativity. They allow negativity to sabotage their team and mission. One person can’t make a team but one person can break a team. Great leaders and teams feed the positive and weed the negative.

8. The best think like rookies and overcome the curse of experience. They don’t expect a bad outcome because it happened before. They don't long for the good ole days. They work hard, believe anything is possible and create the good ole days right now. They innovate, adapt and turn challenges into growth opportunities. 9. The best care more. In a world where most don’t care those who care stand out and perform better. They put more time and energy into their product, design, service, and/or craft. Joe DiMaggio said there’s always some kid seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best!

"'Til You Can't", a song by Cody Johnson

Coming back to school from my mom's appointment on Wednesday I heard this song.  There have been too many coincidences that have happened in the last 10 days, I'm thinking they were Godwinks, that make me know that I chose the right time to retire.  If you have a few minutes, please listen to this song.

I am so looking forward to being with you after school tonight.  Let's promise not to talk school but instead let's talk about our summer plans, our families, or the book you're reading.  It has been an exhausting week, both physically and mentally, and the weekend couldn't be happening at a better time.  I hope to see you at Ironwood after school, the Bucks game will be on, and the first one is on me.

Have a great weekend!

Jay

Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

Zoom out

You have heard me talk about George Couros from time to time.  I share his blogs with you in our weekly nuts and bolts and he joined us in December via Google Meet for our staff meeting.  Saturday morning I read his latest weekly email and this quote struck me.

The quote and accompanying visual were what I needed as I reflected on the week.  The quote is from Dr. Will Deyamport while speaking about financial literacy with George.  Think about a point in time from this week or a day this week.  It might be a high or it might be a low.  But that's just one point on your weekly timeline.  Hopefully you've had more highs than lows (the visual on the left above) but I know that the trajectory of your week is on an upward trajectory (the visual on the right above).  I encourage you to reflect on your days and your weeks and find the good in each of them.  The school year is quickly coming to an end and we have so much good to remember.  And those good moments are what help us come back to school every day for our kids.

Here's our family smore for the week.  I'll be adding more pictures before I send this out to families at 2:00 today so if you have any pictures you'd like to share, please do!

Calendar

Friday, May 6th    Merton only Student Senate Dance

Wednesday, May 11th    District meeting 7:45AM/ AHS visits our 8th graders 1PM

Friday, May 13th    Career Day for 6th-8th grades in the AM/ District Celebration after school

Friday, May 13th-Sunday May 15th    PTO Scavenger Hunt

Tuesday, May 17th    7th and 8th grade Mega Math Meet in Madison

Wednesday, May 18th    Content meetings 7:45AM/ PTO Culver's Night

Thursday, May 19th    5th and 6th grade Mega Math Meet in Madison

Monday, May 23rd    Student Achievement Committee 4:30PM/ School Board meeting 6PM

Tuesday, May 24th    Final Band Concert

Wednesday, May 25th    NJHS induction ceremony 5:30PM

Monday, May 30th    Memorial Day (No School)

Thursday, June 2nd    Celebration Day

Friday, June 3rd    Celebration Day rain date/ 4th to 5th grade transition afternoon

Monday, June 6th    8th grade Day Away

Tuesday, June 7th    8th grade graduation

Wednesday, June 8th    Last day of school (half day)

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

"Made for the Moment" 

We are all made for every moment we encounter.

Whether the moment makes us or we make the moment.

Where we are helpless in it or on top of it,

The predator or the prey.

We are made for that moment 

-Matthew McConaughey (from his book Greenlights)

(from Inspiring Quotes)

"You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

William Blake, poet, painter

(@graceandcompany)

"Everyone has to figure out their own line in the sand."

David Henry Hwang, playwright, screenwriter, librettist

(from Inspiring Quotes)

(from George Couros)

Educator Effectiveness

How are you doing with Educator Effectiveness?  Do you have any questions?  Have you thought about setting up a time to meet for our end of the year meeting?  I have already had some of these meetings and look forward to meeting with all of you before the end of the school year.  Please do your best to set up these meetings between now and Friday, May 20th.

Next week...

I have had the honor and privilege of coaching one of our volleyball teams this year.  It's a great group of girls who have fun and want to get better.  We talk about doing three things well each game- get our serves in, cover the floor, and have fun.  Our last practice is Tuesday morning before school and our tournament is on Thursday after school.  I'm not mentioning this so you can come watch us play (but if you want to we play at Arrowhead at 6:30ish) but instead to let you know that I will have more time for before and after school meetings if that fits better into your schedule to meet with me.  I wrote a blogpost titled "Call Me Coach" in 2017 with my friend Dennis Schug, a principal from NYC, about being a principal and a coach.  As the season has progressed, the girls have started calling me coach more often than Mr. Posick.  I must admit I really like that, but I like even more the reflective conversations that we have about your impact on our kids.

This weekend is Mother's Day, a weekend that I always spend with family.  Jen and I are spending time in Fox Lake this weekend with her family and Lauren.  I'm also running a 5K in Pardeeville (Isn't that a great name for a Wisconsin town?) on Saturday morning.  It's also opening weekend for fishing.  Running and fishing are two of my favorite things to do to relax and reflect.  I'll be with my mom and dad on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day.  I encourage you to spend time with your family and friends this weekend.  It's a great weekend to make the moments count instead of counting the moments.

Have a great weekend!

Jay

Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell