Mrs. Cromer: Leading & Learning

Twenty-four days into the new year and I have finally narrowed it down to #oneword. I love words, quotes, and all of the wonderful blog posts that members of my PLN have written sharing their #oneword for 2015.  I appreciate  the thought and effort that went into those posts and the wheels that turned in my head as a result. I appreciate  the fact that I am just now reflecting on my own word because it means that my life is full of activities that keep me busy. I appreciate the phone messages on my desk, students and teachers waiting outside my door, and the emails that steadily poor in because it means that people are interested in what I have to say. I appreciate the noise in the Cafeteria because it means our students are happy and enjoying the time with their classmates. I appreciate the mud in the hallway because it means it was warm enough outdoors for our students to enjoy recess. Throughout 2015, my goal is to pause and appreciate more.  It is...

Last Wednesday Education Week ( @educationweek ) showcased the daily activities of building administrators by encouraging principals to tweet and post images to Instagram about their day using the hashtag #APrincipalsDay .  Here is a sampling of the photos from my day:     It was hard to remember to photograph or document all of the things that were happening that day. Just like any other day as a building administrator, multitasking is the norm and many actions could not be shared with a tweet or photograph.  Student discipline, IEP meetings, phone calls to and from parents/central office/maintenance/transportation (LOTS of phone calls fill a principal's day), and a truckload of emails are just a few of the activities that were not shared Reviewing the posts from that day it was awesome to see the many similarities to my day in rural southwest Virginia.  Although hundreds of principals are in my PLN, I enjoyed the glimpse into their daily routines...

The word "vision" was prevalent throughout my educational leadership coursework.  I actually got quite sick of hearing it and could not understand why it seemed to be something every professor wanted to talk about.  At the time I was finding lots of success in the classroom of a school that lacked a vision.  I couldn't quite grasp why it was so important that a vision be present, much less "shared." Fast forward four years and it is all I can think about. Vision, vision, vision, vision. Such a small word that means so much for schools, businesses, organizations, even families.  Where are you headed?  What direction should you take?  What do you stand for?  How will you grow and get better?  What unites us?  How do we move forward together?  What's our target? I frequently wake up in the middle of the night wondering if I am taking our school in the right direction.  Have I made sure every...