You Are What You Perceive.

Have you ever heard the statement, "The camera adds 10 pounds"?  The video below and the article with it illustrates why this phrase is true in our minds.  We are what we perceive.

So why is perception so important? 

Well our kids are what they perceive they are.  Perception is self-fulfilled prophecy, and it is their

reality in the making.   If kid feel they are weak, they will be weak, but if they have a strong sense of efficacy, they will be strong and ultimately successful.

The point is this. Motivation adds 10 more points on the test.  Believing in yourself will make your time faster, your execution more precise, and your overall success even higher.  What kids believe is what they will achieve.

Our job as school leaders and teachers is to create the conditions that foster motivation in every child and every adult.  If a culture of motivation is strong, performance will no doubt mirror the perception in the minds within that culture.

How Much Do You Love Your School? #LoveMySchoolDay

The 6th year of #LoveMySchoolDay is coming up on Thursday, April 11, and I am excited to see once again all of the wonderful stories of how awesome your school is.   Each year, the hashtag inspires educators and friends of education around the world to believe in the transformational power of education.   To kick this yearly event off, I have a quick question for you.

Just How Much do you Love your School?

The reason that I ask this is simple.  Some love our schools to a point, and that point defines how much we are willing to take a stand for the people inside that school.  If we like our school, then we are just fond of it.  We respect the leaders and associates who we work with in a safe manner, but we may not go far enough to say that we love the school.

If We Love our Schools, Let's Stand Up for Them.
That means that while we know that not everything is perfect inside our school, we sacrifice for our school.  We take a stand when others would remain silent.  We acknowledge the fact that like every other organization, we don't always do everything right, but we also don't sit there while the critics on the sidelines use our shortcomings and mishaps as weapons to attack the school.  We do this because we believe in the progress that we are making to educate all students.

The Bottom Line is This.

No one will ever know just how much we love our schools until the educators inside them tell people
outside the school just how much they love what they do, the students they do it for, and the colleagues they do it with.  #LoveMySchoolDay is our choice to take our stand, to raise our collective voice, and to join educators around the world who also love their schools in telling the real stories.  Schools don't exist to merely teach kids; schools are designed to transform communities, states, and nations by shaping both the young and adult minds within them. 

At the end of the day, when we actively demonstrate our love for our schools, schools have the potential and the needed support to instill faith, hope and love in all of our students, of which the greatest of these three is love.  (1 Cor 13:13)  I hope to see your story on April 11, and I look forward to inspiring the world with you as we unite to tell the world just how much we love our schools.

The Difference between Expectations and Nonnegotiables

Nonnegotiables... things not up for discussion. Obviously, they’re not up for discussion. They are not negotiable. Or are they???

Leaders set expectations, but expectations aren’t nonnegotiables until the failure to meet those expectations is called to account until they are met. Have you ever had a leader expect something that you knew they were not going to follow up on?  If we’re honest, the answer is obvious. The challenge in all of this is creating expectations that we can guarantee. 

• Plan for Accountability - The first step to turning expectations into nonnegotiables is to make plan of how those expectations will be monitored and responded to if not met. 
• Time to Monitor - If expectations are importer. Enough to assign, they are important enough to dedicate time to see if they are being met. 
• Systems of Support - If they are not being met due to lack of skill, leaders must proactively provide a system of supports to help people meet the expectations. 
• Confidence to Confront - If expectations are not met due to lack of will, leaders must demonstrate courage and commitment to both the expectations and the organization by addressing the person and their lack of will. 

Expectations without a plan to guarantee them are nothing more than a leader’s aspirations. Nonnegotiables are expectations accompanied by a plan to guarantee their success. The difference between expectations and nonnegotiables is essentially a leader’s determination to see then through. The question weleaders must ask ourselves is if we have the grit and determination to see them to fruition. 

Those, Who Can, Teach

It has always been most frustrating listening to someone who has never taught a day in their life make the following statement.

Those, who can, do, and those, who can’t, teach. 

This statement could not be more inaccurate and more insulting to the tremendous people who commit their lives to serving children. Here’s the deal; the statement above is completely false. Teachers don’t know the word, can’t. You know why? It’s because they don’t like failure at all, and they like excuses even less. Furthermore, teachers can and they do make a difference because they take full responsibility for every student that walks through their doors regardless of issue, background, disability or zip code. Teachers do what few can do. 

For those who truly don’t understand what it takes to be in the profession, let me ask you a few questions. 

• Can you motivate and inspire 25 students for 6 hours per day every day?
• Can you teach kids while also serving as their mother, father, counselor, friend, and sounding board?
• Can you prepare every student to perform successfully under the highest standards in the history of education?
• Can you ensure that all, not some, kids learn and grow?
• Can you do all that even as funding dissipates, benefits erode and retirement looks less and less solvent?

Are you getting my point???

Teachers are the lifeblood of our democracy. Better yet, they hold the future of our democracy in their hands, but here’s the real story. They can and they do all of this without the full support they deserve. 

So What Can We Do?

In this time, we can advocate to our legislators the critical importance of legislating on behalf of all teachers and the education profession as a whole. We can persuade legislators to take meaningful action on their behalf, not just in funding, retirement, and accountability, but also in restoring respect and reverence for the profession. 

Those, who can, teach, and they do it everyday. The question is whether we can and will do more to restore respect and reverence to the profession, so that teachers can do even more for all kids. 

Let’s Take Care of Texas Retirees

Recently, I visited the Texas Capitol and had the opportunity to advocate for education. It’s was a great honor to talk with our legislators and share my thoughts on education. After my visit I shared pictures of my memorable day on social media which garnered words of thanks and congratulations from my friends. But there one comment from my history teacher, Mr. Oliver, that stopped me in my tracks.

"John, please get your old retired 

Texas History teacher some help."

Here’s the Deal. 

Mr. Oliver was an amazing teacher. He was so much fun and made a tremendous impact on my life as well as 30+ years worth of students. What bothers me is this.  After putting his heart and soul into the noblest career which not only transforms minds but also lives, he retired with the understanding that he would not have to worry about the solvency of his retirement nor the security of his health insurance. He had a plan and that plan has changed due to no fault of his own. 

Here’s the Bigger Deal. 

Mr. Oliver is just one of the thousands of retired teachers who have seen the negative impact of the Texas Retirement System. There are countless other life-changers in the education profession who dedicated their lives to kids and now their plans have also been negatively impacted by the solvency of the Teacher Retirement System. 

But Here’s the Biggest Deal!

There are future retirees who are working in the classroom right now. Some are near retirement age, and some are in their first year of teaching. The reality is this. If we can’t take care of our teachers after they have sacrificed their lives for the children of our state, there won’t be any teachers left because they won’t choose the profession due to poor salaries and even poorer benefits.

Mr. Oliver is not the only teacher who shaped my life. There were countless others who molded me into the educator I am today, and I can’t thank them enough for their efforts. Furthermore, Texas can’t thank educators enough for all that they do for Texas kids, but here's what Texas can do.  Texas can do what’s right for Texas educators and the future educators who will follow in their footsteps by providing them with a retirement system that works as hard as the educators have worked and will continue to work for Texas. 

You Can’t Get Engaged without a Relationship First.

Have you ever met someone who got engaged to someone they didn't have a relationship with first?  The reason that I ask this question is because relationships kind of drive whether or not you will choose to get engaged in the first place. 

Well, apply that same idea to student engagement. Relationships are everything when it comes to engaging students into the learning.  Sure some kids may not be interested in us personally, but they must develop some relational connection to either our content or to us before they will choose to learn. 

So do you want better student engagement?  Better yet, do you want your most struggling students to get engaged in your classroom?  Well, it won't happen without strong relationships for learning first.  

Here is a list of questions to reflect on students who are least engaged in your learning?

1. How well do I call my students by name daily?
2. How consistently do I greet students coming and/or leaving my class daily?
3. How well do I listen attentively to my students?
4. What do I know about my students' lives, hobbies, and interests?
5. What do I know about my students' personal and academic challenges and interests?

How did you do?  
Do you have the knowledge of your students to meet them where they are?  Relationships are about reaching out, making them feel valued, and showing them that you care more about them as people than you do your content.  Without them learning is a struggle.

At the end of the day, we teach kids not content. And when we make consistent efforts to cultivate amazing relationships with our students, especially those reticent to learning, engagement is rarely a battle. The reason is simple. Taking time to learn the students inspires them to take the time to learn the content. 

Some Thoughts and Feelings about Leading with Thoughts and Feelings

Impulsivity is probably one of the greatest detriments to both leadership and life.  Have you ever witnessed some destroy their life or career simply because they sprung to action based on their immediate thoughts or feelings?  Of course, we have. 

Consider these tidbits of advice when it comes to everyday events in life.

• Never go shopping for groceries when you’re hungry. 
• It makes no sense to pull out your credit card for new clothes when your bank account is low.
• It's not very wise to make life-altering decisions when your life is in chaos.  

The main idea to these pieces of advice remind us that our lack of order and self-discipline negatively impact our future.

So let’s apply these same statements to leadership. 

• Never make decisions based on solely on your thoughts.
• It doesn’t make much sense to confront a difficult personnel situation with only your feelings. 
• Don’t act when you’re angry. 
• Your hunches and your gut are right 50% of the time. 

Sure, thoughts are obviously important to our leadership.  We better think before we create solutions or analyze problems, but thoughts by themselves serve as a bad barometer for gauging the reality of a situation or developing a positive response. Feelings are even more unreliable, as they are merely a thermometer of our current and ever-changing mental state. In fact, our thoughts are often influenced by our immediate feelings and if that’s all you have to lead with, you’re in trouble as a leader. 

So how can we lead more effectively with ours thoughts and feelings?

Well first, we must remember that when we lead with preplanned systems, our responses have a greater chance of being consistent, effective and ultimately successful. Furthermore, if we reflect on our daily work, we can anticipate 80% of the problems we will encounter; therefore, leaders make their work more efficient and effective when we create a system of automatic responses to those problems. Second, we can anticipate that people will attempt to handoff their problems to us or infect us with their negative or irrational feelings.  In these situations, we create a system or responses to ensure that their monkeys don't shift from their backs to ours.

Thoughts and feelings are powerful in both constructive and destructive ways, but if we develop plans to respond to the majority of problems we face on a regular basis, our thoughts and feelings can be leveraged around those systems to ensure that we transform the ineffectiveness of going with our gut into the certainty of leading with confidence and competence.

So what other thoughts or feelings do you have about leading with your thoughts and feelings?