They're back!

(from the Nerdiverse)

In just a few short days, our students, our kids, the reason we come to school every day, will be back in our school.  The building looks amazing (thanks to our custodial crew).  Your rooms look amazing.  And you look amazing.

(from BuzzFeed)

I'm sure the students will look amazing, too.  Take time this weekend to relax, go over your plans for the first day once today and then again on Monday.  Take Saturday and Sunday to make that one last connection with family and friends.  They are your support and it's important to put a deposit in the bank for the year as often as you can.  You will need them next week and they will be there for you.

They're back, and I've never been so excited!

Calendar
Intermediate School Special Events

Tuesday, September 4th
First day of school! (Let's wear our Merton baseball jerseys and meet the kids outside!)

Wednesday, September 5th
Merton biking club after school

Thursday, September 6th
Grade level meetings (Family Information Night dates/best story of the first two days)

Saturday, September 15th
Choir car wash and grill at Hartland Piggly Wiggly

Tuesday, September 25th
Boosterthon kickoff

Thursday, October 4th
Boosterthon fun run

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
Important Questions to Ask Your Students (from edutopia)

(from @danieldmccabe)

10 Tips for New Teachers (...but the tips are good for all of us!-from George Couros)

(from Daniel Bauer's blog)

One Caring Adult (great video from Josh Shipp)

ShakeUpLearning Quick Start Guide (from Kasey Bell on a Twitter chat Saturday morning)

Without laughter, life on our planet would be intolerable.

Steve Allen, TV personality and comedian

All Toward Supporting Students (from George Couros)

The smile is the shortest distance between two people.

Victor Borge, comedian, conductor and pianist

(from Dan's room)

Focusing on the Time You Have, Not How Much You Have (from AJ Juliani- a heart warming story about his brother)

(from George Couros' blog)

That This Year... (from Pernille Ripp)

#mertonint on Twitter
#MertonProud on Twitter
Merton Intermediate School Facebook page
mertonint on Instagram
Family smore from 8.31.18

Don't forget your "assignment"...

I hope that you have an amazing weekend.  You've worked hard the last two weeks and I appreciate your effort and attention.  Get outside, when it's not raining, or get outside and play in the rain.  It's fun to get back to being a kid, and it will get you in the proper mindset for our kids.
Be the spark!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

Thank you!

Thank you for your time these last 4 days.
Thank you for your attitude these last 4 days.
Thank you for your conversations these last 4 days.
Thank you for your willingness to try something new these last 4 days.
Thank you for connecting with others you didn't really know these last 4 days.
Thank you for putting time and effort into making your learning space welcoming these last 4 days.
We have 4 more days next week that include a cookout at my house, Open House, a chance for me to do a little facilitating of CPI, and the opportunity for all of us to learn about trauma sensitive practices.

Calendar
Intermediate School Special Events

Monday, August 27th- Thursday, August 30th
Summer Academy
Please remember to fill this out and to set up your 5 minute meeting with me.

Tuesday, August 28th
Staff cookout at Jay's house (address included in this email)

Wednesday, August 29th
Open House

Tuesday, September 4th
First day of school!

Tuesday, September 25th
Boosterthon kickoff

Thursday, October 4th
Boosterthon fun run

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
6 Strategies to Help Introverts Strive at School and Feel Understood (from Mind/Shift)

3 Phrases I've Been Rethinking (from George Couros)

On Airplanes (from Pernille Ripp)

Direction not Speed (from Jon Wennstrom)

What's best for kids

I've been involved in a number of conversations these 4 days.  What I keep realizing is that every conversation revolves around our kids.  We talk about IEPs, 504s, and the like, and I wonder this...After the first month of school, do you think that you and your team could develop an IEP or 504 for each of the kids in your grade level?  I really think that you could.  And along those lines, if you are having a difficult time reaching a kid, connect with their teacher or teachers from last year.  If you need me to cover your class, you know that I will.  If you are connecting with a kid, and they mention their teachers from last year or previous years, connect with their teacher or teachers from last year to let them know.  Again, if you need me to cover your class, you know I will.  Let's remember to always do what's best for kids.

Enjoy the weekend!  We'll be back at it on Monday with more opportunities to learn together, grow together, build our teams together, reconnect, and prepare our learning spaces for the kids.

Be the Spark!

Jay

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

Just a few days

We will be back together in just a few days.  I honestly can hardly wait!  There is so much excitement to start the year, and I'd love to find ways to keep this excitement at a high level all year.  This year I'll be challenging all of us to be the spark for at least one student.  Are you ready to take the challenge?  I know you are.  But there are still three days before we are together.  Do your best to fill them with family and friends.  It's how we can make sure that are buckets are full to capacity so that we can be ready for our colleagues next week.

Calendar

Full School Year Calendar can be found here

Monday, August 20th- Thursday, August 24th
Summer Academy

Monday, August 27th- Thursday, August 30th
Summer Academy

Wednesday, August 29th
Open House

Tuesday, September 4th
First day of school!

Tuesday, September 25th
Boosterthon pep rally

Saturday, September 29th
EdCampMiddleLevel at Concordia University

Thursday, October 4th
Boosterthon fun run

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

The Manifesto We Should Read to Students Every Day (from AJ Juliani)

In the Presence of a Hero (from Tom Murray, a friend I admire even more after reading this post)

A Reminder for Those Tough Moments with Students (from George Couros)
The Power of Being Seen (from edutopia)

The NYC skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge

Lessons from the "Bad" Kids (from Pernille Ripp)
Every Opportunity- great video
How to live the life you never imagined- another great video
Take a breath (from my blog)

A great opportunity

The Scholastic Book Grant from Meemic is due September 30th.  It is honestly a super easy grant process for free books from Scholastic for your classroom.

Team time and individual meetings
Either Monday afternoon or Tuesday any time following our meeting, I'd like to meet with each of the grade level teams, the specials team, and all individuals.  The length of the team time is up to you.  I'd like to discuss norms and a few other things with you as well as setting our meeting days with you.  The individual time will only take 5-10 minutes.  I'd like to just catch up, and ask you my three favorite beginning of the year questions- what should I stop doing, what should I continue doing, and what should I start doing.  Here is a link to a Google form that I'd like for you to fill out before our individual meeting.

That's all for now.  I'll be off grid this weekend until at least Sunday night as we're celebrating Jen's birthday.  Powering down to connect face to face with Jen, our family, and our friends.  I suggest that you do the same.
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

Take a breath

Last weekend, my family and our close family friends went to New York City. We were all excited for our 7AM flight, but as our pilot Dan said, "Mother Nature isn't cooperating right now." Our 7AM flight was delayed so we spent time at the airport Chili's and talked about what we would be

After the first delay, we reboarded the plane only to be told that we would be delayed a little longer. We left the plane again, headed back to the airport Chili’s, and readjusted our plans to visit the 9/11 Memorial and created new plans.  We just had to go with the flow.

When we re-boarded the plane the second time, my daughter, Lauren, with a little prodding from my wife, Jenifer, asked to see the cockpit.  Low and behold, not only did Lauren get to see the cockpit, she got to sit in the pilot’s see while speaking with the co-pilot. Always intrigued by flying (Frankly, I don’t really understand how an airplane can get air born and stay air born.), I asked to have a seat in the cockpit and converse with Lauren and the co-pilot.  Jenifer captured the moment in these pictures.

There are times when we need to step back, recognize how lucky we are, and just go with the flow. This was one of those times for me. Mother Nature was in charge, as she often is, and we just had to deal with it.

When I think about education these days, and life in general, I often think about how often we expect something to happen right now.  I know that I get irritated when the wifi doesn’t seem as fast as it should be, or the person in front of me is driving slower than I would like, or the line to get food at McDonald’s isn’t moving fast enough, or I don’t get a response to an email or text right away. Sometimes I just have to wait, because it’s really not that important to have fast wifi, or to get somewhere faster, or to get fast food a little later, or to give someone the benefit of the doubt when responding.

It’s alright to take a deep breath, have a conversation with your daughter and the co-pilot, and just savor the moment.  New York City will come fast enough. Enjoy the time with family, and friends, and strangers who are doing their best. Once the moments are gone, they’re gone, never to be repeated.

P.S.- As luck would have it, our return flight was canceled on Tuesday night. Fortunately we found out in the early afternoon. What did we do? We ate lunch at a cafe owned by our friend's relative, canceled the car we had scheduled to take us to the airport, booked a new flight, found a new hotel, traveled back to our first hotel and took an Uber to the new hotel, visited Times Square, and spent time with our friends at the hotel Sky Bar. And the view was amazing! As the saying goes, we just made lemonade out of lemons.

What have you discovered this summer?

This summer, I've been taking part in three separate book studies- What Schools Could Be, Fair Isn't Always Equal, and Innovator's Mindset.  It's been a juggling act but I have been able to learn a lot about myself and what I believe about education.  The blog posts I've shared below have also been sparks of discovery.  Ultimately, it comes down to relationships- those we have with the kids, those we have with each other, and those we have with our families (both our own and our students').  I hope that you've also discovered that time off in the summer can really help to get yourself refreshed and refocused.  I'm looking forward to our time together in a month, but I'm not trying to speed that time up.  I still have plenty more to discover, including three golf courses in Atlanta and the sites of New York City.  Enjoy the rest of July!

Calendar
Full School Year Calendar can be found here

Monday, August 20th- Thursday, August 24th
Summer Academy

Monday, August 27th- Thursday, August 30th
Summer Academy

Wednesday, August 29th
Open House

Tuesday, September 4th
First day of school!

Tuesday, September 25th
Boosterthon pep rally

Saturday, September 29th
EdCampMiddleLevel at Concordia University

Thursday, October 4th
Boosterthon fun run

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

"We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves."

Galileo Gallilei

3 Ways We Can Learn from Past Success (from George Couros)

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

John F. Kennedy, 35th US president

Come Teach Again- On Teacher Guilt and the Platitudes that Grows It (from Pernille Ripp.  This hit home with me on so many levels.  If you read it, you'll see why.  I'd love to teach with you, or for you, this year.)

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.  Action always generates innovation.  Inspiration seldom generates action."- Frank Tibolt

We Send Our Best (from Pernille Ripp)

We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.

Alan Turing, computer scientist and mathematician

I Know Things (from Dan Rockwell)

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.

Aldous Huxley, writer and philosopher

Model the Way (from George Couros)

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

Frederick Douglass, orator, writer and abolitionist

To get real stuff done, focus on the 20% of your work that leads to 80% of your results (from Thomas Oppong via Joe Schroeder)

I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public -- talent in privacy.

Marilyn Monroe, model and actress

Connected- It's what makes us better for our kids! (my reflection on ISTE and NPC)

The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter -- to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.

Leo Rosten, writer

3 Thoughts on Innovation in Education Heading into the New School Year (from George Couros)

Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.

Mitch Albom, journalist and broadcaster

On the First Day of School (from Pernille Ripp)

Moving Beyond a "Growth Mindset" (from George Couros)

Have a great weekend!  I leave for Atlanta tomorrow morning and will be doing my best not to check emails.  If you need me, please text me or call me.  I'll be back in touch with all of you in a couple of weeks.
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell

Connected- It's what makes us better for our kids!

Due to the support of our Merton Community School District, I was able to attend two amazing conferences in Chicago this summer- ISTE and the National Principals' Conference.  Through the 6 days of learning, I was able to refocus and refine my thinking about what we can do for and with our students every day.  My big takeaway was the power of being connected, and it started with a ride to Chicago from a Park and Ride just outside of lil' 'ol Merton, Wisconsin.  But before I tell you about the journey, I'd like to discuss what it means to be connected.

In checking out Thesaurus.com, I wanted some synonyms for the word connected.  Some of the suggested words are associated, linked, united, banded together, and undivided.  Reading these words also brought into focus my #oneword18 for the school year- connected.  This focus will be something that helps me with my family, our school, and my PLN.  What does that mean?  It means that when I'm with each of these groups or individuals, either in person or online, I need to be connected with them during that time.  But I also need to realize that there are times when our school and my PLN need to take a backseat to my family.  As I often remind our school, family always comes first so that should take precedence over work or friends.  That could probably go unsaid, but I need to remind myself of it more often than I care to admit.  You may need to remind yourself of that from time to time, too.

So here is my learning journey this summer.  It began with ISTE.  I left the Park and Ride lot with 5 staff members, some I've known for a long time and others with whom I was just beginning to connect.  The drive from the Milwaukee area to Chicago can be smooth or it can be full of stop and go traffic.  We were lucky enough to have the stop and go traffic.  There is no sarcasm in that statement as there was lots of time to discuss what we'd be learning and how we would share what we've learned with our staff.  Excitement and a sense of overwhelming opportunities were everywhere.

Once in Chicago, it was time to check in to the hotel and grab some dinner.  We had a blast eating at Dick's Last Resort where I got the nickname "Grandpa", apparently because I was the oldest person in the group.  We got to know one another better and took a selfie to remember the moment.  We spent more time together walking the streets of Chicago and headed back to the hotel for some rest.  Tomorrow was the start of the conference with about 20,000 in attendance and what seemed like 20,000 different learning opportunities.  We learned about technology tools, mindsets for change, creation, collaboration, and so much more.  There isn't one specific strategy or idea that sticks with me other than supporting those staff and students who want to take risk with their learning to make it more relevant and meaningful.  Imagine that going on for 4 days.  It was truly amazing.

Merton crew at ISTE!

Although we traveled to Chicago and back together, we didn't only learn with one another.  We made connections with educators from all over the country.  We connected in their sessions, in the exhibit hall, and in other venues throughout Chicago.  The learning was fun, engaging, and we have already begun sharing what we learned with our colleagues.  Now it's time to focus on what to share and really connect with the educators we work alongside of each and every day.

The second part of my connected learning journey also happened in Chicago at the National Principals' Conference.  It started with a 3:30AM drive to Chicago so that I could arrive in time for a 5:30AM run with #BalanceLAP authors Jessica Cabeen, Jessica Johnson, and Sarah Johnson.  Talk about a great start to the day.  From there came the opportunity to connect with #principalsinaction colleagues and to recruit more colleagues to join us.  It was an amazing experience that allowed me to become more connected with colleagues from across the country.  It was a learning experience I will never forget because I was able to direct my own learning, share some of my passions, and be pushed in ways that I know will make me a better principal for our students, staff, families, and district.  Having a meal with my Wisconsin peeps on Thursday night and lunch with Beth Houf, Andy Jacks, and Hamish Brewer were great learning and sharing opportunities outside of the regularly scheduled sessions.  And the conversations didn't end on Friday, July 13th.  They continue and keep me motivated to be better for our students, our staff, and our families.

#principalsinaction

#dadsasprincipals

But here is the highlight for me.  Below this paragraph is a picture of Darcy Willis (@DarcyWilliz) on her third day as a principal.  She stopped by to speak with Hamish Brewer (@brewerhm), shaking with nerves.  Those speaking with Hamish asked her if she was on Twitter.  She wasn't, and the rest is history.  The next thing you know, we're taking getting her on Twitter, taking over her phone to enter our Twitter handles, and taking this epic photo of Darcy and her new and growing PLN.  Hamish said it best when he told Darcy, "We've got your back.  Just reach out to us and we'll be there."  Nothing could be more true.  I know I feel this way every day with my interactions on Twitter and Voxer with the wonderful PLN that keeps me growing and learning and striving to be better.  I will never take this connectedness for granted.

Darcy's first tweet!

So now I have this goal, to be connected with family, colleagues, and friends when I am in their presence.  Sometimes it might be online but as I've found, the face to face conversations during a meal or moving from place to place or in a Google hangout or Skype are so much more powerful.  When I am connected, I need to make sure that I'm listening and focusing on the conversation right in front of me.  And I need those I'm connecting with to hold me accountable, too.  If you see me disconnecting from our conversation, snap your fingers and bring me back in focus.  We all need a reminder sometimes.  Thanks to my PLN, those from lil' 'ol Merton, Wisconsin and around the country, for your encouragement, support, and friendship.  I am better because of you.  Thank you!

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

The Importance of Rest, Relaxation, and Rejuvenation for Long-Term Growth (from George Couros)

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

#mertonint on Twitter

#MertonProud on Twitter

Merton Intermediate Facebook page

Merton Intermediate Instagram page

Keep enjoying your summer!

Be the one!

Jay

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