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 As the principal of an urban alternative ed high school with 100% of our children on free and reduced lunch, more than 70% of our children with single parents and an easy 60+% of our female population dealing with sexual assault, learning about trauma is essential. Compound that with the current pandemic and every single student, their families, and the entire staff will be coping with trauma. Knowing that is, and will be the case, going into the 20-21 school year I’ve learned 3 important things about trauma.
First, If I were to put the definition of trauma into my own words, trauma: a dramatic event that is perceived by an individual to be physically, mentally and/or emotionally damaging. The reason this description is somewhat vague is that all of us have different barometers of how a specific event could be negatively impactful. Below are the first three things that I learned after the definition. Acute Trauma This is the type of trauma someone experiences one time. An example of this could be a car accident, a single fight, or the peaceful passing away of a loved one. These are events that occur once in isolation. Covid 19, for some, may be this type of trauma. Especially if you’re privileged enough to escape any immediate personal impact. For an individual in a stable environment the effects of this type of traumatic event passes over time. As a principal observing our students and staff we might not notice a big change in behavior. Chronic Trauma Based on student behavior, trauma that falls under this heading is more easily visible. Trauma in this category is repeated. It could be something like domestic violence or street violence. It also doesn’t have to be physically experienced. It can be observed. Students who are experiencing chronic trauma may be distractible and have a hard time transitioning from one activity to another. For those stuck at home due to the coronavirus there may be an increase of this type of trauma. As principals these are often the students that end up in our office for being non compliant and refusing to follow directions. As we move into next year there may be an increase in this type of behavior. Knowing this and having a plan to proactively address these situations is key. That’s why creating a safe space and listening without judgement is important as it can help students get to a place where they can think logically. Remembering that staff may also display some of this behavior in more subtle ways is also important and having a way for them to take a break is a priority. Complex Trauma Complex trauma is an interpersonal, continuous cascade of traumatic events. Students living in this type of situation have normalized these events and have developed coping mechanisms that help them survive in those elements. Being able to switch from those defensive maneuvers to acceptable school behaviors is a challenge. These students are also spending time in the office and disrupting the school environment. You’ll see noncompliance and oppositional defiance, as well as anger, agitation and irritability. Again, we may see even more of this from both staff and students. As the principal creating an opportunity for these students and staff to practice mindfulness and/or yoga might be a way to help mitigate some of these behaviors. As the leader of the building we need to be able to recognize when our staff and students are working through trauma. Knowing how acute, chronic, and complex trauma manifests can help as we work to provide the best environment for our community. What experiences have you had teaching and or creating an environment that supports traumatized students and staff? Share your tips in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection please follow me and share with your friends. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs, as voted by readers, by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.
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 It used to be that every Tuesday of the week we’d have our staff meetings after the students left for the day. Now it seems that there’s some type of virtual meeting every day. As a Principal I’ve tried to avoid the things I didn’t like in zoom meetings hosted by other parties. But sometimes the glazed eyes and virtual body language of the staff as I scan the row of Brady Bunch positioned faces let me know they’ve had enough.
These three tips are helping me improve my virtual staff meetings. Start on time and end early This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish. Having only two or three things on the agenda makes this more attainable. With just a few items staff can anticipate logging off in a timely manner. You also have the opportunity to delve more deeply into a subject. When this happens and you have to end the discussion the staff may carry the conversation forward on their own. I’ve found that occasionally ending prior to a clear outcome creates a cliffhanger that will keep the meeting energized. That chat box As the leader of the staff meeting it is important to set the agenda and begin the conversation. It is even more important to be a facilitator in the meeting. Usually you have a few people who always dominate the conversation. As the principal you must make sure to guide the discussion and ask good questions. Use the chat box as a place for the introverts to place the questions and input. I use a designated chat box monitor to keep an eye on the discussion there and bring forth those ideas that aren’t necessarily vocalized. Flexibility During this time our staff are dealing with their own personal struggles. This creates even more perspectives with which to view both problems and solutions. While keeping to a tight agenda and timeline is important, sometimes sitting in a particular conversation past the allotted time is an opportunity for creativity to flourish. These are the meetings we leave feeling purposeful and connected, even a digital meeting. Having a culture that is flexible allows these slight deviations. Endless Zoom meetings seem to be temporarily (I hope) necessary. Our meetings, at least, don’t have to be boring and repetitive. Make meetings shorter than announced, include as many perspectives as you can in the conversation by checking that chat box and be flexible. These three tips may help you get the most out of your Zoom meetings. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.
Growing up in a competitive society it’s difficult to wrap your mind around losing. As a former All American Athlete at the University of Michigan, failure was something that got you blasted by your friends and teammates. In the athletic arena failing teaches you that you have to try harder, work out longer, change your techniques to compensate for weaknesses and rely on your teammates and coaches to put you in the best possible position to win.
In business failure can be even more cut throat and means you could lose your job. In education, the stakes are even higher and failure could mean destroying a child’s life. Under these circumstances it’s hard to risk failure and try new things. However as a Principal you are in a leadership position in order to make decisions in which failure is a real possibility. Below are three reasons you should want to fail and fail quickly. Demonstrates Courage Trying innovative programs and ideas can galvanize your staff. If your building is filled with stale ideas from the past and cynicism about the future, the courage to try something new can help break you out of the malaise. During this corona virus opportunity, and the drastic changes it is forcing, we can put new ideas into place. Shows a Growth Mindset Schools are not too big to fail. And with the massive budget cuts to education this will be truer than ever. As the Principal trying new things, failing at them and then learning from them is an essential part of leadership. We need to institute changes, collect and reflect on the data and change course accordingly. Right now is the time to shine and demonstrate the power of being a continual learner. Models Vulnerability Being vulnerable is an exercise in courage, especially when you're exposing yourself to criticism. Your staff will, in turn, be comfortable telling their truths and be open to asking for help. Mutual vulnerability creates a culture of community. According to Brene Brown, who was quoted in Harvard Business Review, Vulnerability here does not mean being weak or submissive. To the contrary, it implies the courage to be yourself. It means replacing “professional distance and cool” with uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. Failing at something and being truthful about it is an example of vulnerability. It will give your staff and students the courage to try new things, fail and try again. Being a great principal means you will often be in a position to fail. Failure demonstrates courage, shows that growth mindset and models vulnerability. Embrace that fact and embrace failure as an opportunity to create your future. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.  Staff was seated in a circle and I listened behind their backs as they talked about me. My heart beat faster and I felt myself break into a sweat as they spoke about how I performed my role as a facilitator. I almost had to bite my tongue as I felt a need to jump in and defend myself. I knew this would happen and I took some deep breaths and concentrated on what they said, furiously jotting down notes.
Having staff critique you, even when you’ve asked for it, is a challenging experience. When it was mentioned that I needed to do a better job of communicating when staff meetings were, I had to bite back my excuses. I quickly had to remind myself that, if they didn’t receive the message, it was my responsibility. When advice was given to have a more linear thinker review my plans for activities I reminded myself that, that was why I had a diverse leadership team. Finally, when I was told that I needed to do a better job of asking questions so that staff could flesh out their own ideas, I realized that just saying yes to a good idea wasn’t always enough. There were many more helpful observations but those three stuck out to me. Getting to the point of staff openly critiquing my skill set began with this year’s goal of having teaching staff record themselves in their educational practice. The purpose of doing so is to improve their skills as classroom instructors. As the building leader I couldn’t have them do something that I wouldn’t do or haven’t done. As I prepared for this moment I asked a few of the more vetern staff if they would be willing to record themselves and go through the process of reflecting on teaching. Once they said they would I knew I couldn’t put off recording myself any longer. Being vulnerable as a leader and putting myself out there as an example of a continuous learner was not easy. There’s almost nothing worse than watching the video of yourself and hearing yourself lead a meeting. Wondering, “Do I really sound like that? Is my voice really that high?”. The answer of course is yes. Before showing the three minute clip of myself facilitating a meeting I discussed my reasoning for engaging in this process. I told them of John Maxwell’s Law of the Lid, which I interpreted and will paraphrase as, the team can only be as good as I am as the leader. In other words, If I’m a C + leader, we’ll only be a C+ school because I’ll be the bottleneck even if we have A+ staff. I’m the lid. So, I let them know that I needed their help in being a better leader so that we could be a better team. After explaining my why for this particular task, I passed out a rubric that I adapted from Rubric for Evaluating Small Group Facilitators that had a place to collect data. The two data collection boxes where titled: What did you see and What did you hear? Beneath that was a list of behaviors that could be checked with either, solid, needs a tweak, or needs work. (You can see the adapted copy of it here.) I also explained that my purpose as the facilitator of our staff meetings was to meet whatever the purpose or objectives of the agenda are. I want them to walk away from our staff meetings having learned something, having connected to each other and or feeling heard. With that as their context I showed the video clips. Once that was done I turned the video off and gave them time to finish filling out their rubric. As they completed their sheets I told them that I would move out of the circle and sit behind them so they could discuss what they saw with me symbolically removing myself from the group. My objective in doing so was for them to feel more comfortable discussing me. I also made sure to keep my head down so as to not make eye contact as they talked about what they saw. They were hesitant at first but as I prompted and asked clarifying questions they seemed to relax, giving more feedback. Once they had gone over what they had seen and what they had heard they went through the rubric grading my performance. They started with the things they felt I did solidly, moved on to things that needed a tweak and ended with the things that needed work. I ended that portion of our staff meeting by thanking them and collecting their rubrics for further review. Listening behind staff’ backs while they talked about me was difficult at first. As the process went on I learned valuable information about what I could do to be a better facilitator and better building leader. What practices do you have to help you improve? Share you thoughts in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife   In my last blog, Principal Plans For First Day Back With Staff, I talked about the purpose for that first meeting. I wanted to develop a team atmosphere, make sure we were all on the same page and plan for that first day and the first week. I sketched out a rough draft of the agenda a few days before writing the blog and finished the final draft a few days after posting.
Below is an excerpt of what I’d prepared for the first third of our meeting: First Staff Meeting 19-20 School Year Agenda 12:40-4:00 Purpose/Connect, Update, Plan, Refresh and Learn
Welcome everybody as usual and thank you for coming in on time. Explain cameras. On the agenda are 4 topics (look at agenda pause after reading each topic. Turn to the group, freeze bod and count internally 3,2,1, Before we start (walk a few feet away from Agenda) I imagine some of you are feeling a bit low in energy after lunch, and maybe from waking up earlier than you have the past few weeks, some would probably love to be in your classrooms putting the final touches to your welcoming space. (gesture outside the classroom) At the same time, given your love for ACCE, building relationships and providing the opportunity to learn in engaging ways you may be wondering what can happen here that can make this worth you while. The first topic welcome and check-in will help get us focused and centered. The second item, team building will help us to build and strengthen the relationships we have together. The third items will give you information about changes as well as get input for our first day and Friday mornings, and our final topic will get us ready for building those relationship bonds with our students. I’m excited about the expansion of our team with Mr. J, Ms. W, Ms. Ml and Ms. M who will have a chance for a mini intro during our check in. For the newbies We typically have our staff meetings in this physical arrangement as the circle intentionally symbolizes our unity and focus on creating a family here. Physically it also allows us all to see each other without a physical barrier between which helps to create psychological and emotional safety. Touch on working agreements and seven norms of collaboration Our check in today:
T- summary of feelings S- give a brief summary paraphrase of expectations Variation Draw two names out of basket to summarize The first two paragraphs where I give myself physical direction as well as the format is adapted from the book The Adaptive School. I told the staff that the cameras were up so I could record myself facilitating a meeting in order to do some reflection and improve my skills. I also told them if I was stilted or came off a bit odd it was because I knew I was recording myself and felt awkward. Explaining the cameras is where the bombing came in. It turns out that this is all that recorded for 32 minutes. All I could see was the two boards and all I could hear was an occasional outburst of loud talking when I’d gotten passionate. I had completely set the cameras at the wrong angle. Both of them! I sent the staff the same picture and let them know that my first attempt at digital recording and reflection was a dud. I want them to see and understand that taking risks is a learning process and doesn’t always start out perfect. I hope to set an example of that growth mindset that we talk about so much. What’s something you tried and failed forward at with your staff? Share your experience in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife  Today I’m planing for the staff's return to the building and the message I want to convey. The purpose of our first meeting is to begin to develop a team atmosphere, make sure we’re all on the same page and get input on plans for the first week.
It’s important to our school culture that staff members all work together and have fun doing so. I start this process the first day we’re together with a team building activity. Two years ago we had a card tournament, last year we had a rock paper scissor tournament and this year the staff will be combined into small teams and have a competitive scavenger hunt where they’ll have to solve clues that I’ve written in order to move on to the next location. I’ve also included mini ice breakers at each location. For example, at one spot they’ll have to come up with seven adjectives that describe their hopes for the upcoming school year. At another they’ll have to come up with three non obvious things they all do. The reason for this activity is that it creates physical movement and problem solving, while also creating bonds based on similarities. Once they’ve completed the scavenger hunt we’ll debrief as an entire staff and I’ll use the adjectives that the three teams have selected to transition to plans for the upcoming year and specifically that first week. So that’s what I’m planning for the first third of our staff meeting, creating an atmosphere and an expectation of collaboration through a team building activity. As the instructional leader I’m also modeling what they can do in their classrooms. Team Building, creating a culture of innovation and play, is one of the most important things I do as a school leader. What do you prioritize as you plan your first day with your staff or students? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife 3 reasons school changes are trash: Reflections on Blueprint's Diving Deeper Level I Training Module4/17/2019  I’ve recently enrolled in the Blueprint’s Diving Deeper Level I training module. The purpose of this particular module is to give an overview on systems thinking and why the status quo and traditional methods of implementing change in a school are not sustainable. I’m taking the course because I want the “turnaround” on my alternative ed campus, which serves grades 6-12, to be sustainable when the inevitable staff turnover occurs. If you want the hard work you’re doing in your school to last watch out for these three reasons school changes are trash.
Too many tasks The definition of a task is a piece of work to be done or undertaken. Teachers too often are given tasks that are not aligned to a larger vision. These things like turning in lesson plans (that rarely if ever get checked) and common assessments are items on a checklist that can be marked off. However, just like a lot of evaluations that principals give, these are only looked at to see if they are completed. Teachers are tired of doing things that don’t matter aren’t attached to their “why” and seem like busy work. These tasks just become part of the drudgery and do not lead to dramatic increases in student outcomes. Initiatives interrupted Educationally, initiatives are defined as a specific project or program undertaken to achieve specific objectives in the short term. An example could be a mandate from the district that all 5th grade science students will be doing interactive notebooks. The general idea is passed on and teachers know students will place their notes from the teacher on one page and process the information with hands on activities on the other page. If she’s lucky, the science teacher even gets a one hour district pd in which she is shown how to make one. Later in the year at a union meeting she realizes that she’s essentially played the telephone game and missed a step because of a combination of poor note taking, chatting with her colleagues at the pd and the siloing in her building. Initiatives are often given lip service and get interrupted because of a lack of fidelity. They get thrown out in frustration. Programs! Get your programs! Programs are often distributed by the district like a guy slinging football programs at the big game. They go here, there, and everywhere and eventually end up in the trash. Programs are a set of instructions or actions taken to teach skills or strategies in a subject area. An example of this from my district is Scholastics' Read-180. This program helps level up struggling readers. This is a great program that I’ve seen work. But, it’s going away because it’s costly, there was little training in it, and with a new Assistant Superintendent of K-12 Instruction, another program could be coming down the pipe. Programs come and go just like football seasons and you’ve always got to be ready for a new one. These three common school strategies for impacting students, tasks, initiatives and programs are rarely sustainable. They are relics of past practices and when implemented in a haphazard way wind up in the dustbin of your buildings educational history. There is, fortunately, a way to dramatically impact students in your school. Please stay tuned to the next blog from my studies of the Blueprint Diving Deeper Series Level I where I reflect on systems, system thinking and how that can create the change we’re looking for. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can be edutained as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out more blogs at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife #blueprintsymposium #swft_livechat #disruptingthestatusquo  A couple of weeks before we went on winter break the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that would assign letter grades to schools.
It seems like a majority of public school educators think this is a horrible ideas. There are some who believe that this will unfairly stigmatize urban schools. Additionally, in a local article on MLive, titled Michigan House approves A-F school grading system in marathon session a local Michigan Democrat representative said, “adopting the A-F system would put Michigan in line with the systems of lower-performing states in education, not the high performers.” Both these sentiments align with my own thoughts and as a Principal at an Alternative Ed High School, where test scores are consistently low, my school would most likely fall into an F range. Regardless of that, there are three reasons schools graded on an A-F scale is beneficial to school leaders. Reminder Getting an F as a school administrator is a reminder of how our struggling students feel when they are not successful. There are always circumstances outside our students’ control that impact their education. Getting a failing grade is an opportunity to discuss social issues that might otherwise get brushed under the rug. In receiving a failing grade we are forced to reflect on the difficulty that some of our students face. It also creates the opportunity to try new things that those stuck in a traditional school mode might not otherwise have the political capital to attempt. Community Accountability If a school receives an F, the local media will run the story. Local businesses and families will have to make a decision if this is acceptable. Realtors and local political players would work hard to drive resources to schools in the hopes of raising the value of property and their own reputations. In this way more community resources would be funneled into the school system as people come together, as it would be in their best business interests to support the schools. Readability With the way people are able to twist language or use different words to soften the impact of failure an A-F scale makes it easy to see where you stand. Everybody knows what an A means. Everybody knows what an F means. There is no hiding behind political language. If a traditional grading scale is how we rate our children we should have the courage to rate ourselves in the same manner. No system is perfect. A scale that rates our schools A-F at least reminds us what it feels like to be students, impacts community accountability and is easy for everybody to read. Perhaps if we don’t like using such a scale to judge ourselves we shouldn’t use such a scale to judge our students. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur. To join the podcast as a guest email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.
It’s dark. You’re in bed. You look at the clock. It’s 10:00pm. You flip over. Sigh. Look at the clock. It’s 2:00am. You’re still frickin’ awake. What the hell? You know, logically there’s nothing you can do now about the upcoming start of school that is only 3 weeks away! As a principal our monkey minds are forever chattering in the wee hours of the morning. Especially at the start of a school year. These five strategies may help you trap that monkey and help you get some sleep. It’s 4:00am .. . maybe not.
Notepad This is one strategy that I recently heard about on a podcast by Tim Ferris. He talks about when he can’t sleep the process of writing down your thoughts prior to going to bed is helpful. He found that the mere act of writing them down traps those thoughts on the paper. Somehow his brain realizes that he understands what he has to do and so no longer goes through a repetitive loop. Having a notepad by the side of your bed so you can jot down your thoughts could help you finally get those z’s you’re missing out on. Meditation I have a staff member who is enthusiastic about mindfulness. During our icebreaker and team building of the last year she mentioned meditation and how it helps center her. I don’t do a formal version of this when I’m trying to sleep, but I do focus on my breath. I find that if I breath deep until my stomach expands for a while for two or three minutes my brain starts to chill out and I’m able to sleep more quickly. If I find myself going back to something that I can’t change immediately I tell myself to get back to breathing. For me, this technique works better than the notepad one. I’m prone to losing pens. :-) Optimal Exhaustion Working out after a day at school might not be for everyone, but getting some type of exercise in before you go to bed may help you sleep. I sometimes do a combination of stretching and breathing exercises before bed. In my stretching I make sure to cross my limbs to stimulate different parts of my brain as a way to calibrate everything. If you’re interested in learning how crossing the midline helps calm you down, you can read more about it here under the subheading Hookups. The science shows exercising helps reduce stress. In turn this might help you get a good night sleep. Blue light My wife has trouble going to sleep and I keep telling her it’s because she’s steady going through her phone, or using it to read. She’s put a filter on her screen so it no longer emits the blue light that can trick our brain into thinking it’s still day time. I do a decent job of shutting done my electronics before bed but I know many collleagues use the evening times to finally get to their emails. This will definitely keep your mind engaged and make it harder for you to sleep. If at all possible, set a time that you will actually stop replying to emails and be disciplined enough to stick to it. This will help you brain realize it’s time to shut down and rejuvenate. Night Routine This is as simple as it sounds. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. By having a set physical routine and practicing it habitually we can train our brains to shut down when we want it to. With our chaotic evenings often times we don’t know when we’re going to be home. Sometimes there’s that emergency that we solve by 7 o’clock but we spend the rest of our night reflecting on it. We wonder if we took the right steps, contacted the right people or may have missed something. Having a set physical routine alerts our brains that it’s time to sleep and makes the chances of it actually happening greater. About a million things happen in a typical principal’s day. It makes sense that a couple of those are going to stick with you or you’ll project into the future trying to problem solve. Doing it while you’re trying to get a much needed nights sleep will cause you to crash and burn. Trapping your thougths in a notebook, meditation, exercising, shutting down your electronics, and having an established physical night routine are all great strategies to try when sleep escapes you. What are strategies you use when trying to get to sleep? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection please follow me and share with your friends. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs, as voted by readers, by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce |
AuthorI'm a Principal and an Entrepreneur. I'm the former owner of a food venture Hustling Hoagies, the author of the children's picture books Detective Dwayne Drake and the Alphabet Thief, Detective Dwayne Drake and The Case of the Mathematical Misfit and the ebook Making it as a Male Model in Michigan. I've worked professionally as a model and commercial actor...... Archives
May 2020
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