#BMEC2023 Reflection

I hate missing school.  I get that guilty feeling that if I’m not there, things just wont go well.  I had to get over that when I saw the pictures from #BMEC2022, I knew I wanted to attend the next one and I would miss as much school as necessary to be part of #BMEC2023, November 16-18, 2023.  BMEC stands for Black Men in Education Convening.  The images and sounds that brought me to in were the testemonials chronicaled by one of my favorite educators, Mr. Raymond Ankrum, of men discussing their connections, seeing their small groups and large sessions, hearing the music, and the overall visual of Black educators, mostly men, coming together focuse on how to support each other and our Black children.  The convening is organized by members of the Center for Black Educator Development, and their CEO Mr. Sharif El Mekki.

Intro music with Kuf Knotz & Christine Elise

 

Kuf and Christine did an amazing job setting the tone during breakfast with their beats, lyrics, and harp.  Every breakfast should have live music in the background! I sat with a team from the Baltimore Montessori Charter School (Assistant Principal and 6 teachers) and we had the opportunity to share our experiences as educators in our current roles.  I shared that I spent time in BCPS and HCPS, so we shared some experiences.  We compared the demographics and socio-economic communities that we serve, and one of the team asked me what my biggest challenge is and I said entitlement.  I shared my most recent challenge of stadium construction and graduation, and they were floored.  They couldn’t believe the opportunity that we have to rebuild a space and the community pushing back.  It was grounding to hear how our situations contrast.

 

Libations with Dr. Greg Carr

Dr. Carr is one of my favorite educators.  I have been watching him for over 3+ years every Saturday morning with Karen Hunter on In Class with Carr.  He’s a genius.  He knows so much about so much and participating in my first libation with him leading was on another level.  Our acknowledgement of our ancestors, those who set the foundation for our current existence.  Africans created education.  The languages, the courses are African and we’re in a current system built on our creation.

Black Teacher Pipeline Part I: Dr. Watlington, Senator Vincent Hughes, Dr. Robert Simmons III, Naeem Jenkins-Nixon, Dr. Tequilla Brownie

Dr. Brownie started off talking about 50+% of our students being non-white, but our teaching population is so low because we are not tapping into the parents that created these students.  I have had several interactions with Black families whose children have had multiple negative experiences in our school. From microagressions to out-right racist acts.  How could I utilize those parents to help educate our community and support their children? Could I get a coalition of families together to share their experience with the greater community?  Do I just want to help these students and families navigate this system or do we change it? Would it be more worthwhile to bring those parents together and create a space where we support our children, without other community members?  Do I have a different role (or even a more important role) in the process as the Black administrator?

One of the biggest takeaways from the panel was Senator Hughes‘ emphasis on political action.  Policy and funding matter.  We must go on the offensive.  We must assert ourselves to make the changes that our students need, to grow and sustain the pipeline through financial means.  What does political action look like from the building principal desk?  Is it getting a better understanding of LCFF & LCAP, or district budget, or our site budget?  Is it getting active with ACSA and their political arm?

Empowering Educators through Affinity Conversations: Kim Lopez, Dr. Tawanda Bond, Khayree Bey, and Natika Hartstock

The panel, led by Ms. Lopez of Rodel, spoke about their role in bringing affinity spaces to their districts in Delaware.  They felt the spaces helped them become a voice for their peers, students, and community.  They were allowed to intentional create a common space.  Mr. Bey mentioned the process his district went through “a journey” creating their “Educators of Color” space.  They participated in Courageous Conversations which led to creating more “Brave spaces”. He felt that the process of growing the spaces has been productive, but it is crucial to have continuous movement.  Don’t stop fighting.  Dr. Bond addressed how affinity spaces are benefitting their districts.  She jumped into the quantitive data that she had gathered about the experiences of staff members, not feeling supported, connected, valued, before they brought affinity spaces to her district.  One of the first steps she took was a form of equity audit, what she called focus groups, to gather data from all staff.  She asked questions to non-Black staff members like, “What does it feel like to be in a radicalized space?”  She found that, “people are tired.” She asked the questions: How do we sustain? Are we preparing our replacements (the next generation of teachers)? Are we institutionalizing the process of affinity spaces for BIPOC and Non-BIPOC groups?  In her district they’ve developed spaces for both groups, with two different sets of goals.  Belonging, retention, and growth (BIPOC). Speaking your truth, understanding and seeing that there are other experiences, (I missed the third goal in my notes) (non-BIPOC).  Dr. Bond shared 2019 research that describes 5 reasons that Black male educators leave the profession: antagonistic work environments, lack of support, being undervalued as educators, and having to pay a higher cost/lack of compensation.  The panel talked about the extensive training (6-months) necessary to lead affinity spaces.  If the leaders are not trained well, then there is a strong possibility that participants can be re-traumatized when discussing impactful topics.  When trained well, facilitators can create a space for healing radicalized trauma.  I really want to tap into Dr. Bond and Ms. Lopez, because laying the foundation for affinity spaces could be very impactful for my site and our district.  The idea of an audit really speaks to me because it would allow us to hold up a mirror to ourselves and our practices on campus.

Tell Us How to Make Teaching the Job Everyone Wants: David Rosenberg, Dr. Nicole Hughes, and Chong-Hao Fu

This session was designed to be interactive, to allow us participants the opportunity to discuss how to improve the framework that the presenters designed (Picture #2). The presenters showed their Educator Resource Strategies support structure and asked, what is missing that educators would need to make the teaching job more desirable?  When we shared out there were some great ideas:  Safety, both Psychological and Physical. One leader shared that she feels “duplicitous” because she recruits Black educators, but does not want to recruit them into spaces that will cause them harm.  I understand that feeling.  Another participant mentioned that in his district, the majority of new hires have not gone through a teacher preparation program, yet they hire them and forget who they hire because they do not provide adequate support.  Someone else brought up that it is easy to leave the profession when newcomers do not have relationships with peers or administrators.  Besides the need to provide safety, the other big takeaway for me was the importance of have a strong adult culture.  Having a staff that is connected to one another, is celebrated, and actually wants to work together, makes a difference.

Becoming an International Leader: Connecting Multicultural Education with Global Narratives: Abeer Ramadan-Shinnawi, Jad Evangelo-Nasser

I can’t say enough about the importance of intentionaly centering the stories of the Global Majority.  The key to liberation is global education.  There were so many Black ancestors and elders highlighted in this session that I just could not keep up with my notes and stay fully present.  We need to teach Black history from a global lens, Africa, Haiti, Congo, Sudan, Palestine, as just a few examples.

Thank you to Jad and Abeer! 

Fireside chat with Taye Diggs, Johnny McInnis, and Horace Ryans, w/Dr. Will Hayes

Taye Diggs had my favorite quote from this session.  It was actually an echo from a previous discussion during the day.  He encourged those in the room to encourage young people to, “Figure out what you love and do that.”  Our kids, teachers, and staff are constantly questioning themselves, “Am I enough?”  You are!  We are!

Closing Keynote – Dr. Chris Emdin

So so powerful.  Dr. Emdin is a hip-hop educator focused on the impact of curriculum.  We (Black people) are a spiritual people.  We allow our children to be taught by those who are focused on themselves and to not recognize their own or our spirituality.  Why do we allow systems that are below us to be seen as the standard?  Children see the spirit of those in front of them and respond, usually through disengagement, in kind.  He used the metaphor of a peacock and a lion.  The peacock expands its plume in response to a threat and can scare away a lion.  Our children have been beat down and are often unable/too tired to continue to raise their feathers.

He railed on the concept of co-conspiritors in the work of freedom and asked the question: What is my vision for my legacy?  My legacy = resist oppression. “Their” legacy = inflict oppression.  Seeking abolition from slavery with the slaver seems like a contradiction.  Conspiricy denotes negativity and it reinforces the current structure.  As such, how do we show Black and Brown students the way to freedom: You be free.  We have sacrificed our gives for the comfort of the system.

The Oreo – America’s favorite cookie.  The white filling can’t hold up without the strength of the black cookie.

Healing Circle: Healing in a Time of Crisis: Abeer Ramadan-Shinnawi

I had originally planned to attend this session, but got caught in another.  That other session just wasn’t doing if for me and I felt a pull toward the circle.  I thought it was going to be a session where we talked about/learned circle strategies for students, but it ended up being a session for the practitioners.  To respect the members of the circle I will not share their stories, but I will just say that it was very powerful to be in their presence and for them to share so openly.  It meant a lot.  I will say that I did get to meet Ms. Joyce Abbott, the 6th grade teacher that the sitcom Abbott Elementary was named for.

Leadership Journey by Big Picture Learning: Mike Africa, Shavar Jeffries, Sharif El-Mekki

I had never been in a space that was party/storytelling/community like this Leadership Journey session.  It is something that you just have to experience.  There is an MC, a hosts, a DJ, and 3 speakers.  The speakers are asked questions, then are able to share an image and tell a story as answers.  These three men were asked some very specific and challenging questions and I so appreciated their vulnerability and passion for not only life, but the impact that their life has on others.

 

I learned so much from this three day experience.  I felt connected.  I felt whole.  I felt powerful. I felt and feel proud to be a Black Male Educator!

#oneword2021: Perspective

I was driving home one night a couple years ago listening to The Brilliant Idiots Podcast (Warning: explicit content) and the conversation revolved around finding joy, doing the thing you love, and how we often get caught up in the trappings of life and forget about the importance of maintaining that love and passion that we discover.  How important is loving your family, or the love we have for supporting a specific project or developing a particular skill.  In our pursuit of “success” we can lose our way, losing our meaning and our purpose.  But, when you are able to figure your “self” out (your purpose), the world opens up to you because the possibilities of what you can accomplish are endless. It’s a very convoluted concept to explain, yet can be so simple to understand.  Our “self” is constantly evolving because of the knowledge that we gain through reading, learning, and personal experiences.  Hopefully we are evolving into a better version of ourselves.  Depending on how “successful” (according to the world) we become we can lose our “self.”  We become trapped by the “American Dream” or any other construct of success developed by someone else.  One of the most powerful quotes from the show was, “Perspective is the only superpower.” (I can’t remember if it was Charlamage or Schultz that said it). When you understand that there are other perspectives besides yours you can start to be more understanding of others.  You can have empathy for their situations.  You can begin to see that one person’s breakdown is another person’s breakthrough.  When we don’t understand someone’s perspective we immediately call them crazy.  “What were they thinking?!” “Why would they do something like that!?” “That was stupid!” “They don’t know what they are doing to themselves!”
I found my purpose, to serve others, years ago. That purpose, to truly serve others, requires the ability to have perspective.  I have to understand who I am, and who I am not.  Through a lot of mistakes and self-reflection I feel like I have done a pretty good job of identifying my strengths and weaknesses.  One of my favorite tools for identifying those strengths is the Gallup StrengthsFinder.  I took it twice in two different school districts and my strengths seemed to evolve in the time between the two tests.  My top strengths are pretty telling: Developer and Maximizer.  I’ll let you dig into what those are, but from the trainer that went through the reflection, that’s a very unique combination of strengths.
I think I’m growing my perspective daily.  As a leader I hear feedback and criticism pretty consistently.  Sometimes it is about decisions that I have made, or decisions that I enforce.  Sometimes I hear perspectives on current events, politics, social movements.  I find it interesting too that folks have s sense of comfort around me and let their guard down and really expose the perspectives that they may hide from most.  Yes, I’m talking about bias and racism.  Some folks are completely oblivious to how ignorant they sound, but the perspective taker in me often says, “That’s fascinating! Can you tell me more about why you feel that way?” And they do!  Folks want to be heard.  Folks want to share their perspective, but often do not have the platform.  No-one really takes interest.  To serve well though, I have to be interested.  I have to invest the time that it takes to get to know the needs, wants, and perspectives of the people that I serve so I can serve them better.
I  also need to enact the true superpower of having perspective in my life, while welcoming the perspectives of others as well.
If 2020 taught me anything, it’s that there are a whole bunch of perspectives out there that I do not think make sense, perspectives that I agree with whole heartedly, and there are all sorts of perspectives in between. This year I am going to focus on understanding these multiple perspectives and sharing what I learn to help shape my growth and the growth of those around me.

Liberty and Justice For All

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I struggle with carrying on traditions, just because they are long held.  That goes for religious, patriotic, even family traditions.  I may or may not express that struggle verbally, depending on my comfort level in the situation, but there is always a bit of resistance.  I struggle because I find that the further away that you get from the establishment of such traditions, the original meaning is lost, unless you continuously come back to the the origin story.  You can even build on the original or establish new/greater meaning and ownership when you collectively or individually connect the the history of those traditions to your own experiences.  I guess that’s my problem.  We don’t explicitly teach the meaning of our rote traditions and we don’t add to their meaning as we participate day-to-day.  Two traditions that I have struggled with since I left the Army is the rote singing of the Star Spangled Banner at sporting events, and when I entered education our reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school.  With all the uprisings that have occurred over the last month and with the recent celebration of July 4th, I’m not the only one that is questioning the singing of the anthem.

As a military veteran the Anthem and the Pledge have significant meaning to me.  As an 18-year-old I raised my right hand and committed to sacrificing my life in service to this country.  As I began my military career I began learn in detail about the soldiers that served Our country in war and peace time from the Revolutionary War through Kosovo. Then my time to serve in combat along with my college classmates and unfortunately lost 12 of them in gave their lives. When I hear the Star Spangled Banner it evokes some emotions as I think about my classmates that have died and those warriors that sacrificed before me.  When I moved to Maryland and attended any sporting event (professional through high school) I used to cringe every time I heard the crowd draw out the “O!” in “Oh say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave.”

When I recite the Pledge I get chills thinking about all the experiences that I had in the military that shaped who I am.  Just 2% of teachers are military veterans, and obviously none of our students have served, so folks with direct ties to the military are few and far between that are in our schools.  I feel that it is my responsibility to have a staff that breaks down the meaning of those two texts, so that our students can have multiple perspectives, and can make informed decisions on why we do what we do and what the implications are.  Along with developing that knowledge in our students we have to be honest about the complex context these documents were written in.   The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, as part of a patriotic program for schools around the country to coincide with opening ceremonies for the Columbian Exposition in October of that year, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World.  The original Pledge was revised to specify the pledging of allegiance to the U.S. flag, along with the addition of “under God” as a statement against “godless communism” in 1954.  I write this in the midst of a movement to remove all statues and symbols (like the Confederate Flag) of a white supremacy around our country.  Reciting a pledge originally written to commemorate the anniversary of Columbus is extremely problematic.  Again, why I struggle with the recitation without understanding.  Does our current status change the meaning or sentiment of the Pledge?  As I write this I am beginning to question myself about my shortsightedness on patriotism.  Just because I have a specific perspective on these two traditions, it does not make me the authority on what patriotism should look like for all of my students and staff.  Though a teacher has not served, it doesn’t make them any less willing to pledge their allegiance to our flag or connection to our country through a family member or friend that served.  How do I know that the singing of the Anthem doesn’t spur a young person’s emotions to eventually serve our country?

Reciting the pledge is a part of California Ed Code.  I’m not a rule breaker, but we will focus on understanding the meaning as a school community.  To me the last few words really get to the heart of what it means to be an American, and unfortunately we are living in a time where the struggle to make sure that there truly is “Liberty and Justice For All.”  So what do those words mean and how will they connect to education?   Liberty is freedom.  As difficult as it is to admit, I’m part of a system that doesn’t teach students true liberty.  A school that teaches liberty, builds community, helps students discover who they are, welcomes in their family and culture, teaches them not only skills, but to find their identity, the importance of intellectualism, and to think critically and ask critical questions of everything.  Justice is equal treatment under the law.  The law has to see everyone as human first of all.  If those creating the laws do not see the humanity in every individual, then we have the responsibility to get that person out of the law making role.  The same goes for those that execute the law as well.  This goes directly to our current movement to reform our criminal justice system.  Many say that it is too flawed to simply reform it and call for the abolition of the police and to rebuild the system.  There is even a movement for abolitionist teaching with our education system.  From a school admin perspective that requires me and my team to take a hard look at how we truly feel about all students, especially those that are oppressed by our policies and the enforcement of our policies.  I know these are both highly controversial topics, but does anything truly change without first being broken down?  Those that oppose the abolition movements call the abolitionists crazy thugs or terrorists that are committed to ending “our” way of life in America.  For those that are not negatively impacted by law enforcement or school systems it may seem like the worst decision possible, but for those that have been oppressed by the systems, ending the systems and giving the oppressed the opportunity to experience liberty and justice would be a relief.   Even considering those that aren’t negatively impacted by our systems, would they notice a difference if the systems were changed?  Does liberty and justice for all correspond to less liberty and less justice for those that have always experienced it?

My goal moving forward is to create a school that pursues “Liberty and Justice for All.”

This Is My Race: To Be Anti-Racist and Move My Community Forward

I’ve been at a loss for words, overwhelmed, anxious and tense over the last month, more so than usual.  It almost feels like Baghdad in ’04.
I’ve been pretty tense with leading a school through a pandemic, then the news of Ahmaud Arbery, then Breonna Taylor, then Christian Cooper, then George Floyd and the uprisings across the country and a couple towns over.  I’ve been processing and trying to put into words all of my emotions while also figuring out the pace for my race to be anti-racist and move my community forward.
I‘m exhausted.  Since I was in middle school I’ve been trying to make sure strangers around me are comfortable.  During COVID-19 going out in public in a mask doesn’t help much.
I run and I race as my release.  I run to clear my head, and most days it works.  I like running when it’s cold, in the predawn hours, that’s what makes me comfortable.  I wear more reflective gear than most would imagine, reflectors on my shoes, ankles, flashing red light on my waist, my vest, and a headlamp, to make those around me comfortable.
I run through my neighborhood to clear my head, but my head is sometimes clouded with thoughts that someone may call the police because there aren’t many black men running around San Ramon period, let alone at 4 & 5am.  That is part of my race.
I just moved into a brand new neighborhood and they are still building houses and condos across the street. At the end of my run last week I peeked into one of the condos that’s under construction (Could my family have fit into this space instead of the one we bought?), and when I walked back across the street I thought, “What are you thinking?! You can’t do that just because you see all those other people do it.” My wife and I talked about those condos later in the day and she almost jumped out of her skin when I told her what I did. “Are you crazy!?” she exclaimed.  “I know,” was my reply.  Neither one of us had to say it, but we were both thinking it: Ahmaud.
I ran again a couple days later.  I waited until the sun was up, just to be safe. I run in the bike lane and a guy looking down at his phone swerved into the bike lane about 25 yards in front of me. I saw him looking down at his phone, but my initial reaction was, “Was that on purpose? Am I going to be the next hashtag?”  That is part of my race.
I think about my children.  I have three black sons and a black daughter.
I do not know why, but it is automatic, that I go out of my way to make sure SRPD knows who I am when I see them in the community.  I have never had a negative interaction with law enforcement, but I know it only takes one time.  I make sure that SRPD knows who I am when I see them in the community, and every time they are with me, I introduce my kids to them.  I don’t want them to be seen as just some more black kids.  That is part of my race.
I’m in a professional development group with other school leaders. We take turns leading the group each week and last week was my turn. I showed a picture of my boys putting together their new bed and asked everyone to write down what they saw, and what the picture made them think about. One of our members said, “Those are beautiful boys, I hope they never have a negative encounter with the police.”  I have three black sons and a black daughter.  I hope they never have a negative encounter with the police, and it is my responsibility to prepare them for that possibility.  It is exhausting.  I’m reading Stamped (Reynolds) with my two oldest boys.  We finished Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community (Dr. King) a couple months ago. They are still in elementary school.  It’s been hard to explain some of the vocabulary and answer their questions, but it’s necessary for all of us to understand the history of race in America and be prepared to talk about it and become anti-racist.  As a husband, father, and educator that’s what I have to do.  That is part of my race.
One of the biggest problems we have as a society is that we’ve avoided talking about race & racism for so long that so many of us are just plain ignorant, are afraid to talk about, or even acknowledge that racism exists.  When we are in that spot mentally there is no way we can combat racism. Racism & racist structures are the air we breathe.  They are part of the fabric of our life.  Look at our economic system, our government, the legal system, housing, and our education system.  Really examine how these systems were built.  Who were they built for?  Who were they built to exclude?  I’ll be honest, I’ve been afraid for a long time. Afraid of being too Black.  Afraid of being the “angry black man” as a Teacher, then an AP, and now as Principal, that only wants to talk about race.  I have been afraid mainly because I’ve been the only or one of a handful of black men in my district or on my campus, and I could not let anyone have that perception of me.  I’m so over that right now.  I have no choice.  I have to be my authentic social justice educator self every single day.  That is part of my race.
I’m not waiting for some leader above me to condemn the actions of the systems that do not value the lives of Black and Brown people. Systems that have led to the deaths of thousands including Ahmaud, Breonna, and George, or for them to call out the White privilege that Amy Cooper attempted to exercise to put Christian Cooper in that very same position.  I waited in 2015, when I lived and taught in Maryland, for my leaders to respond after Freddie Gray was killed, but they were peculiarly silent.  I can’t wait this time.  My community, my staff, and my students need me to lead.  We are creating the space on my campus to have these “difficult” and “courageous” conversations.   I refuse to allow the fear and doubt to creep in and keep us breathing this same racist air.  We are going to face the fear and doubt and move through it, together.  This Book is Anti-Racist is my staff’s summer read, our next step.
This race is so challenging, exhausting even, and I’ve only just begun, but I know that I have been put into my position for such a time as this.  This is my race.

Reflecting on my 2019: #focus

I had a great plan to take on 2019!  Please take a look at my blog post with my 2019 plan.

Here is how I did:

Family (Daily/Weekly Focus)

We were consistent with nightly prayers this year.  It is so telling and interesting to hear what is most important to your little ones.  I’m luck to have such thankful and reflective children.  They always give thanks for their friends and family. For the time they got to spend with their grand parents and cousins, for their grandmother taking care of them, for their fun activities in school, and so many of the fun day trips we were able to take on weekends and longer breaks.  or the fun activity they did in class.  I rarely have to remind them to be thankful for who we have and what we have.  That makes me so proud as a parent to hear my children say “please” and “thank you” to our family, and all the adults they interact with.  We were able to dig into many Bible stories and got into some other books as well.  Raising a Modern Day Knight, which gives fathers a game plan for raising their boys.  I debated wether or not to read this with my boys, but I think it’s important for them to know that there is an intentional plan for how I as a dad interact with them.  Hopefully they remember the lessons from the book, but more so that they see them play out in our relationship together.  We are currently in the middle of Where Do We Go From Here, the last book published by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Reading this book is allowing us to discuss racism in our country along how to overcome with economic empowerment as a catalyst for equality.  These are heavy topics, but our children are ready to start digging into them.

Fitness (Spiritual and Physical) (Daily/Weekly Focus)

One of the most important components of my success and ability to perform at a high level is my daily morning routine.  I woke up every day at 3:45am, took 30 minutes of quiet time for prayer and journaling.  I went through a series of devotional and tried to take a scripture to help focus me through the day.  That verse is the start of my journaling, then I went through some of my goals for the day.  Following my quiet time, I got in my daily workouts, consisting of 4-5 days of running and two days of CrossFit.  I’ve taking to long distance running and I can’t describe the positive impact that it has had on me.  I ran over 1010 miles during 2019!  I ran 100 miles in February for the Taji 100 challenge, completed my first marathon in Oakland in March, the Armed Forces Half Marathon in May, the San Francisco Half Marathon in July, the San Ramon Valley Education Fund Run For Education 10K, the Berkeley Half Marathon in November, and the Brazen Almost New Year’s Eve Half Marathon in December.  So that’s 1 10k, 4 half marathons, one 100 mile month, and my first Marathon!  I’ve found that running is much more of a mental activity than I thought.  Obviously I have to do a really good job of taking care of my body, but my body will keep going as long as I tell it to.  Before 3-years ago I would’ve told you that I’d never run a marathon.  Now I’m planning on doing multiple marathons in 2020!

Fraternity – (Monthly Focus)

I’ve been a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. for almost 18-years, but I was inactive for almost 3-years.  I met my goal by staying current with my annually dues, attending at least one meeting every other month, and joining a committee to continue to growth of our organization.

Community – (Monthly/Quarterly Focus)

I really wanted to connect further with my community by attending or watching the live stream of our City Council and School Board meetings, so that I would be informed on the decisions that are impacting me and my community.  This also allows me to have informed discourse with local community members.  I did watch/attend 3 school board meetings, but I didn’t take in any City Council meetings.  I stay connected to local social media, but I really didn’t get a great sense/understanding of how our local government is conducting their business, so I’ve got to keep this goal for 2020.  I also wanted to continue my podcasting efforts including my school and community podcasts.  I kept my school podcast going strong, and produced an episode for all but one week of the 2018-19 school year.  I did not do as well with re-initiating Power in the Valley Podcast with interviews of Tri-Valley area leaders.  I only produced 4 more episodes, but I’m not giving up in 2020.  Ive got a little more access, and hopefully will be able to grow the show.

I did pretty well with my stated goals for 2019, but I exceeded my expectations in a couple other areas as well.

AP Testing Coordinator

I faced one of my biggest leadership challenges as an educator in April as I served for the first time as the solo AP Testing Coordinator at my school.  It is a daunting task, especially when you have 4000+ tests that you have to administer!  It was really a year long process to get to testing, and it is stressful, but we had an amazing team of experienced staff that made it go as smoothly as imaginable.  So many moving parts, so many testing rules to follow, that there could have been so many things that went wrong.  I was really pleased with how things turned out, and the things that didn’t go right, I was really the only person that knew about it.

Principal Ball

In 2019 I was poised to continue to serve in my role as high school assistant principal.  I was the senior AP and was having a blast mentoring the new members of our team as well as supporting our other staff members and students.  But in January I literally had a dream about becoming principal of my neighborhood middle school.  I really had no second thought about it until the principal of the school announced that he was leaving the district at the end of the year.  I thought back to my dream, then began to learn more about the school, and realized that the school would be a great place for me to serve in my first principalship.  Well, I ended up applying, being offered, and accepting the Iron Horse Middle School principalship.  I spent the summer putting my entry plan together, and that helped propel me into what has been, what I feel, has been a successful first semester.  My focus has been on relationship building with staff, students, and families (mainly through clear communication), and learning how to lead a school.  We’ve had some challenges thus far, but overall, this has been my dream job!

School Leadership Series

I was also fortunate to be part of an amazing podcast team put together by my man Daniel Bauer for the School Leadership Series.  He put together a diverse group of 12 educators, from across North America, to share our thoughts on school leadership for the 2019-2020 school year.  This was one of the coolest experiences that I’ve ever had, and such an honor to be part of this group. I look forward to seeing how our season of the show turns out, and how we can grow as a community.

#BMEsTalk

If you are a black male educator, you should be following the hashtag on social media.  Getting on Twitter was a game changer for me as an educator and participating in #BMEsTalk weekly Twitter chats has been another step of growth for me.  Being an educator can easily lead to isolation.  Being a black educator and bring even more.  We only make up 2% of the education force, and often times we are the only on our campus or in our districts.  Having this group to connect with and share experiences with on a weekly basis has allowed me to realize that although I maybe the only black male educator at my site or at a particular meeting, I’m not alone.  There are men across the country with similar experiences and we have a safe space to talk about our challenges and successes.  I love all the brothers in the group and am truly thankful for the connections established over this past year.

Mentorship

I’ve always been blessed to be in the role of mentee or mentor throughout my journey in education.  I have had some great ones since 2007 when I left the army and started my student teaching.  As I mentioned previously, I was able to mentor the new assistant principals and my last site, and the cool thing is that since I transitioned to my own building, I’ve still been able to share my knowledge with them to help them grow.  In the Spring, the formal mentorship that I had with Mr. Don Loflin ended as I completed my admin certification program with him as my guide.  It was an awesome two year experience that helped me understand and strategically apply the my skills to the standards that school leaders must follow.  This time also showed me that I was ready to lead my own building.  And as I’ve transitioned I’ve picked up several new mentors, that I’m meeting with on a consistent basis to continue to grow, especially now that I have my own building.  As a building principal, I find myself in a more clearly defined mentor role to my assistant principals, my teachers, and my students and even their parents.  I love this role of helping support others in the attainment of their goals, and moving forward, I believe mentorship will continue to be one of my highest priorities.

I was able to keep my #focus during 2019, and the results were great.  I’m in the process of developing my 2020 goals and looking to keep the momentum going!

The Culture Code – Reflection 3

This is a series of reflections on the book that my Mastermind group is currently reading, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

Chapter 2 – The Billion-Dollar Day When Nothing Happened.

As a teacher, imagine walking into the staff lounge at school and seeing this on the bulletin board:

These Lesson Plans Suck

Posted all around that sentence are lesson plans from every department at your high school, marked up with comments in red pen.  As an educator, I couldn’t imagine it!  Teachers’ heads would explode!  The embarrassment! Cell phone cameras would be out snapping pictures to be posted on social media, with captions like, “Can you believe this!?”.  The union president, the head of HR, and the local news vans would descend on campus so fast the principal wouldn’t know what hit her.  Take it a level up, and you’re a principal that walks into be the monthly principal’s meeting to see the director with a PowerPoint slide with school test scores, by site surrounding the title:  These Test Scores Suck.  Those principals would shutdown for the rest of the meeting, then afterward come together to discuss the poor leadership displayed by “throwing them under the bus.” These responses remind me of that Erykah Badu song “Tyrone” where in the intro she says, “Imma test this out.  Now keep in mind that I’m an artist, and I’m sensitive about my (stuff).”  As educators we are artists, and we can be very sensitive about the units/lessons/results that we and our student produce.

“These Ads Suck” is the sentence that Google founder Larry Page pinned a note on the wall of the company kitchen (along with the Ads) to describe the products that were being produced by the folks working on the AdWords project.  (This project was all about being able to find ads in the search engine).  Obviously this wasn’t a typical note that would be found in the kitchen of a traditional business (and definitely not a traditional schoolhouse), but because of the culture that Page had created, no one was about being “called out” in front of their colleagues.  The AdWords project solution was eventually solved by a member of the company, Jeff Dean, that was not part of the project at all, but saw the note and the Ads and it reminded him of a problem that he’d seen before, so he just jumped in to try to solve the problem.  And he did, without any prompting or encouragement.  The day Dean completed this work became the unintentional billion-dollar turning point in the history of Google.  This is what can happen when you have a cohesive unit.  A unit where anyone can identify a problem and attack it.  “Cohesion like this happens when they (members) are lit up by clear, steady signals of safe connection,” which Page had done.

Now imagine the same scenario of lesson plans or test data, posted on the staff lounge wall. Instead of teachers and principals being offended or upset, they are now excited.  In this new scenario we have created a culture where putting our work on display is not an opportunity for embarrassment or shame, but an opportunity for growth and collaboration.  Imagine that decent lesson that you have for acceleration in physics begin seen by that biology teacher who is an Army veteran and artilleryman.  He has some ideas that could enhance the lesson with some of his practical experience firing artillery shells.  What about the English unit on All Quiet on the Western Front being seen by the AP Psychology teacher and now they can collaborate on a unit that addresses the psychological affects of war.  Or the Spanish culture unit dealing with Spanish art is seen by the art teacher and they are able to trade classes to integrate their curriculum.  And those principals decide to share best practices or get their curriculum teams together to help each other determine how to best support all students’ success on standardized tests.

I would love to part at a school where creating The Billion Dollar Day is an intentional part of the culture for the benefit our staff, students, and the community.

 

The Culture Code – Reflection 2

This is a series of reflections on the book that my Mastermind group is currently reading, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

Chapter 1 – The Good Apples.  We have to create a safe environment that says, without saying:  You are safe here.  To create this safe environment where community members feel safe to share their authentic selves, be vulnerable, and make mistakes, leaders use Belonging Cues.  The cues are non-verbal actions that signal that this is a safe space.  The Belonging Cues:  (1) Energy:  They invest in the exchange that is occurring. (2) Individualization: They treat the person as unique and valued. (3) Future orientation: They signal the relationship will continue.

As I write this post we are in the middle of the second semester of the school year and the heart of the second round of teacher observations. I can’t help but focus on the cues that we as instructional leaders, and myself specifically, are sending to our teachers during that stressful post-observation meetings.  Are our phones silenced, and screens turned off? Are we moving in close and making good eye contact? Before we dig deep into the lesson or during our review, are we making a personal connection over a common interest?  Are we discussing not only the structure of the lesson, but the thought that went into planning that specific lesson for that specific group of students? Are we not only talking about next steps for growth, but are we also talking about teacher-leader opportunities or preferred schedules for next year?  I feel like the discussions around questions like these are triggering that sense of belonging and safety that will help build and maintain the positive culture within my school.

 

The Culture Code – Reflection 1

This is the first in a series that I’ll be doing to reflect on the book that my Mastermind group is currently reading, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

Introduction – This book is going to focus on the author’s experience researching some of the most successful groups to identify the skills necessary for long term success.  There are three mains skills:  Skill 1 – Build Safety – Safety is the foundation on which culture is built.  Successful cultures use established signals of connection to generate bonds; Skill 2 – Share Vulnerability – Mutual risk drives trusting cooperation; Skill 3 – Establish Purpose – narratives create shared goals and values.  The introduction tells the story of a scenario where different groups are given the task of constructing a tower with uncooked spaghetti, transparent tape, string, and a marshmellow.  Groups consisted of business school students and some groups were kindergarten students.  I, like many others would think that the business school students would build the tallest tower, but trial after trial showed that it was the kindergarteners that built the tallest structure! “We focus on what we can see – individual skills.  But individual skills are not what matters.  What matters is the interactions.”  The business students have a ton of knoweldge and experience, but they are also worried about how they are perceived with in the group, afraid to offend other members, and their individual role, while the kindergarteners are constantly experimenting and not worried about the formalities.  This makes me think of one of my favorite quotes, “Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle.”  To me those that hustle are focused on getting the job done no matter what.  They’re not worried about the formalities or the way that things have always been done.  Hustlers attack the challenge relentlessly and will do the little things that it takes to be successful.  For the hustler there isn’t just thinking outside the box, often they don’t see a box.  I feel as though the more formal educational experiences we have, we allow ourselves to get stuck in the box.  Those business school students were stuck in the box.  If I’m in a space where I feel safe, I’m more likely to use my creativity to get the job done.  As a leader, I want to create a culture that encourages creative solutions to the problems that we face as an organization.  We live in such a dynamic world and as an educator I am responsible for supporting and preparing students for an increasingly evolving work world.  If I’m not just as dynamic in my thinking and problem solving, then I’m probably not doing enough to support my students.  One of the main reasons I’m in the Mastermind is to learn from some of the most dynamic and innovative leaders around who want new strategies and tools to solve old and new problems.  It’s hard work stretching your thinking, but I’m here for it’s and I’m exited to dive deep into the three skills that make a long lasting and consistently successful organization.

 

 

Close the Loop

Clear communication is an ongoing challenge for me.  Specifically, closing the loop/following through on conversations and requests.  In my roll as an administrator, things come at you at such a fast and furious pace that it is easy to begin a task, then get distracted with another immediate need, and forget all about that original item you were working on.  I’m not making excuses, just putting forth my reality.  When your overall focus is supporting students and staff, and you don’t do that in a timely manner, it gets frustrating and can be stressful.  Part of my solution is improving my organization.  I struggled early this school year with tracking what I needed to do and where I needed to be, but I’ve gotten much better by focusing on documenting my weekly tasks, appointments, and critical conversations that need my follow through in my notebook, which I affectionately refer to as “my brain”.  I owe a lot of this new found organization to my Mastermind group, “Guiding Principals,” because we are able to share our challenges and brainstorm solutions to support one another.

I missed one instance a couple months ago that didn’t come to my attention until recently, and that spurred this post.  My principal approached us assistant principals and asked if any of us remember an interaction between one of our staff members and a parent that also works in the district.  As previously stated, there is always something going on, and I often forget interactions that I had a couple hours ago, let alone a possible interaction from a couple months ago.  Anyway, the message was communicated from our staff member to district leadership and back down to my principal, that our staff member didn’t feel supported by admin. My principal dug a little deeper and found out that I was the admin that didn’t provide the support. Ouch!  I take pride in making staff feel supported, but in this case I didn’t.  I had handled the situation with an angry parent after this staff member had to deal with them initially, but because I didn’t come back to my staff member to let them know that they had handled it appropriately on their end, they didn’t feel like their effort was validated.  In such a face paced role, things fall through the cracks, but it is important to mitigate that as much as possible, especially when it comes to making your people feel valued and supported.  Since finding out about this situation I’ve added a section to my notebook titled “Close the Loop” where I keep track of the people who brought something to my attention, so that if not the same day, then the next day I am able to follow up with them.  It seems to be working because over the course of a couple weeks I’ve received several pieces of positive feedback from families and staff members.  Focusing on closing the loop is now an integral part of my daily leadership journey.

#Oneword2019: Focus

Intentional, Greatful, and Present. These have been my #oneword to motivate me to be my best each year over the last three years.  Each and every year I’ve grown as a man, husband, father and leader by increasing my focus, so this year Focus is my #Oneword2019.

This year I’m going to be very strategic, much more so than in previous years with my Focus on my Family, Fitness, Fraternity and Community. Here is my plan.

Family (Daily/Weekly Focus)  Nightly Prayer.  The highlight of my day consistently is bedtime with my children.  Not because I’m able to put my crew down for the night, but because we read a bible story or bible based story, talk about some of the challenges we’ve faced that day, and pray for each other, friends, and extended family members.  We are also going to initiate a Weekly Family Dinner on Sunday nights.  The nature of our family has been to eat at staggered times while watching TV or a tablet, but my wife and I want to take an hour or two to make a meal and eat together each week.

Fitness (Spiritual and Physical) (Daily/Weekly Focus). From a Spiritual aspect, daily I will take 30 minutes of Quiet time & Prayer. Physically, I will stay in fighting trim with Marathon (1/2) Training and healthier eating habits.

Fraternity – (Monthly Focus) I’ve been a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. for almost 17-years, but I have not been active in almost 3-years.  I’m Focused on paying my annually financial dues, attending at least on meeting every other month, and joining a chapter committee to take our organization to another level.

Community – (Monthly/Quarterly Focus) My fraternity is part of the community, but I really want to be conscious of what is going on in my city.  I’m going to attend or watch the webcast of the monthly City Council and School Board meetings.  This Spring and Summer I will focus on building my connection with my community by re-initiating Power in the Valley Podcast with interviews of Tri-Valley area leaders.

I’m putting this out to my community because, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I need and want a level of accountability.  If you read this post, please take a moment to ask me how well I am able to Focus in 2019!