The Struggle is Real

It's no secret that I have struggled to regularly update this blog.

As someone who subscribes to numerous blogs written by educators across the country, my mind was often blank when it came time to compose my own thoughts. I applaud those educators who are able to put pen to paper regarding their thoughts and ideas. Your writings inspire and encourage me daily.

For years I have longed to be one of you. I imagined my blog posts retweeted and thought-provoking discussion in the comments.

But in order for any of that to happen, I had to get the words out.

Unfortunately, the words just aren't there.

Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of words! Fortunately I have a wonderful faculty, colleagues, as well as supportive friends and family who regularly find themselves (patiently) listening to my thoughts.

Reflection is a major part of my day and my work as an educator. It has taken me a while to be able to admit that there are many ways to reflect and regularly writing them on a blog and posting them online is not what works for some people.

When I reflect on this blog, the majority of posts were dedicated to books that I had read and the ideas they had sparked. For a while now I have been thinking about converting this blog to a place where I can share my reading list and recommendations for other educators. Lord knows my book stack is never short and I am usually reading three or four titles at the same time.

The majority of what I read is professional; hopefully my selections will help spark an idea for someone else or just lead them to add the book to their Amazon wishlist. :)

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The Busy Epidemic

The same conversation plays out numerous times per day, with a very predictable script: “Hi! How are you?” “Doing well, just busy, how are you doing?” “I understand, I’m very busy over here too.” It’s like there is an underground competition to show that we are the busiest, most overworked professional within our spheres. “I worked all weekend on (insert project here).” “I can’t meet today, I’m just too busy with (insert another project here).” Guess what? WE’RE ALL BUSY. It may look different for each of us, but we are all overwhelmed with to-do lists that are a mile long. Why do we feel the need to showcase that we are working ourselves to exhaustion? It's as if we have to defend the use of our time. I am a big believer that our words shape our mindset and demonstrate our belief system. I don't want to believe in the system of "busy." My work should speak for itself without me having to explain all of my tasks to everyon...

The Principal Reads

There is a familiar excitement in the air and the school is filled with students and staff who are optimistic about the coming year. If you are an educator, you know the feeling well and it never gets old. I am beginning this year similar to how I have the past three - sharing a book with each class. Scheduling time to read to each class gives me the opportunity to get to know our new students, give teachers a brief break from teaching during the exhausting first weeks of school, set the expectation for when I enter classrooms, and, most importantly, share my love of books. Literacy has been the focus in our division for a year now and we are happily kicking that into high gear at CES. Sharing a love of books and reading aloud to students is an easy way administrators can model the importance of enjoying a good book. A few of my favorite beginning of the year reads are: Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids How Full is Your...

Time and Priority #SAVMP

As you can see from the blog archive to the left, perhaps managing time is not my strong suit. At least when it comes to blogging. :) The problem with managing your time as a school administrator is you never know what your day will be like. There is no scheduling who will walk through your door or what issue is waiting on your voice mail or Inbox. Anticipating the day's events is part of the excitement of being a school leader, it just wreaks havoc on your to-do list. Everyone is busy. We all have items that need our immediate attention, items that we are excited to tackle, and items that we put off until the very last minute. The difficulty with time is that it is limited. The to-do list is never completed, we just chunk away at it a little more each day. I saw the quote below on a blog several years ago and I frequently refer back to it as I am deciding which task to tackle. Everyone is busy. (It was worth repeating.) But our jobs are f...

Mrs. Cromer: Leading & Learning

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