Feb 214 minWhy is Discussing Teacher Pay Important?The idea of discussing teacher pay has long been largely ignored. At the root, it seems that as a society we underpay professions that...
Dec 30, 20204 minCan We Change the Lens in Which We View Parents?I was a young mother. I had my eldest son a few months after turning 21. Having dropped out of college to do so, I was not my school...
Dec 22, 20194 minEmotional EquityI’ve been reflecting on several of the relationships in my life lately that are frankly emotionally uneven. Up until now, I’ve been ok...
Oct 15, 20193 minWhat Story is Your Communication TellingOur brains love stories. Especially stories filled with drama and intrigue, a villain, a hero and other pieces that make us talk...
Aug 28, 20198 min5 Ways to Create Professional, Supportive RelationshipsAs I’ve worked with more and more people and my PLN has grown, I’ve realized that I have a knack for creating quick, deep relationships...
Apr 16, 20192 minThe Things People Do When They Don’t Know You’re WatchingSince I’ve been in my current role, I have focused my efforts on what I have believed to be important supports for my department and the...
Mar 11, 20193 minThe Importance of Communication in Climate and CultureWhen I work with districts on the ideas in #DivergentEDU, communication is one of the most common areas recited as either supporting the...
Jan 9, 20194 minWhen Your Actions Are Misaligned With Your Core BeliefsWhen I taught I used to joke about how I wished I would have kept a book all along about putting together words that I never thought I’d...
Dec 2, 20184 minStudent Managed School Social Media AccountsRecently, one of my favorite teachers in the high school approached me about students starting student managed social media accounts for...
Nov 21, 20181 minLeadership and the Art of Quiet RedirectYes, I know I had the phone the wrong way. 🙂
Nov 10, 20185 minFive Questions to Aid in Deep ReflectionWhile going through the editing process for Divergent EDU my editor left me a comment in an area where I alluded to divergent thinkers...
Nov 3, 20183 minThe Value We Place on Leadership TraitsI have been paying special attention lately to what I need to do to be a good leader and in order to do that, I need to reflect on the...
Oct 19, 20183 minWhen Distrust Follows the PositionI’ve been the Director of Innovation and Technology for two full years in my district and I’m a few months into my third. When I began my...
Sep 1, 20184 minPeople Are More Than Their RolesI am a Director of Innovation and Technology. That is my role title. For people who don’t know me in my “every day” position, that...
Jul 6, 20183 minWhen Doing Nothing Causes DistrustI believe that it is human nature to want to trust people, but it’s definitely a feeling that when broken, takes a great deal of time to...
Jun 16, 20185 minWhy Do Teachers Disengage?A few months ago, I wrote a piece called The Rules of Teacher Engagement which discussed teacher engagement and what it means when...
Apr 16, 20185 minLeadership & The Depth of RelationshipsThe other day I was working with the administrative team at a school district near Chicago. We were dissecting the Hierarchy of Needs for...
Jan 17, 20183 minBuilding Trust with Challenging ConversationsEducators are nice people. We are taught to be positive and complementary and to give feedback that people can feel good about. What we...
Dec 4, 20174 minHierarchy of Needs for Innovation & Divergent Thinking Series: Effective LeadershipThis post is the third in the #HierarchySeries. You can find the first post here. Updated 10/9/2019 The area of effective leadership...
Nov 30, 20175 minHierarchy of Needs for Innovation & Divergent Thinking: Climate & CultureThe idea of the Hierarchy of Needs for Innovation & Divergent Thinking came to me at a time when I was looking for a more concrete way to...