Where to begin...................

As my Spring is quickly flying by, I've been working on balancing all of the exciting things that are happening in my family's life, my 4th grade classroom, my community and my personal life. While doing this I have started the mental transition and mindset of being a principal for the Griswold Tigers. As my mind has started to do this, I've begun to create checklists, notes, questions and to-do lists to ensure that my transition for the Griswold staff, students and community is as seamless as I can make it. As I've prepared I've asked myself, “What are my core foundational beliefs and what do I need to do so that my new staff and students can find the most success?”

Honestly, this question has more answers then I could ever write in a blog post. There will be things I never saw coming, experiences I can’t prepare for and challenges that nobody could have warned me about.  With that said, at this point in my career I know and believe that if someone asked me to simplify it, I’d do it in 3 ways.

First – My main objective and first mission is to create an environment where staff and students wake up in the morning and can’t wait to be at school. Having the privilege of working at Treynor Elementary has taught me that if a student loves their teachers and loves coming to school the opportunity for a student to grow is endless. At the core of achieving this objective are relationships. It is my job for me personally to create relationships with staff and students that focus on trust and respect. As I’m building these relationships, it’s my belief that a teacher has one of the greatest gifts in the world and this is to create a relationship with a student that he or she may remember for the rest of their lives.  It’s up to the teacher to decide how they want to be remembered and my job to provide the environment for it to be a positive memory. 

My second core objective is to create an environment where the staff is committed to learning and growing. One of my favorite quotes is one I heard recently that went something along the lines of “I’m not saying what you’re doing doesn't work, I’m just asking if you are willing to see if we can find a way to get a better result”. This approach means you have to take risks and be willing to accept change, which are two of the most difficult things we as humans are asked to do. Having people willing to learn, share their thoughts, ideas and new learnings with others is the mark of people who are OK with taking risks and accepting change. Great ways to do this are through Twitter EdChats, blogs and most importantly from collaborating with the people around us. 

My third objective as an educational leader is to work tirelessly to find student growth. Anyone who has spent any time around me knows I am not concerned with where the student was, what the teacher last year has said about a student or how far below proficiency a student is. My objective and driving force, as a classroom teacher has always been to assess students to find out where they are, and continually monitor the student to make certain that growth is occurring.  As an educational leader I will be no different; help staff to assess, determine weaknesses, monitor growth and commit to making the necessary adjustments so all students can find success.

In a perfect world, this happens seamlessly. In the real world, the staff at Griswold Elementary and I will learn, grow and go through hardships and tireless days together. When the day is over though, it is always our job as educators to reflect back and ask if we've helped our students learn, so that they can be the leaders of our communities tomorrow.

Why the change?

As I begin the next chapter in my life, many people both in the education field and my personal life have asked me, "Why would you make the change to become a school principal?" To answer the question simply is impossible. Much like my decision to accept the principal position in an incredible school district in the Griswold Community School District; a couple of words don't do the decision justice but the thing I'm most excited about is the fact our family gets to be a part of two great communities. For those of you who know me closely know how I'm humbled and blessed to share with you a brief glimpse into my decision to making the change.

I think my hope and dream to become a school leader started before I even knew that I wanted to be involved in education. My desire to be a leader started as a junior high student when I had a man who would become my lifelong mentor tell me that I was a leader. He believed in me so much, he got me out of bed some random school morning when I was in 7th grade at 6 a.m. and drove me to Des Moines to a leadership conference for students. I distinctly remember thinking, "Why me? Why does he think I'm different?" To this day, I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know I was inspired to attempt to live a life where I could help lead and influence people. It's incredible to think of the difference those simple words made.

My journey took me to a place where I would eventually get involved in education and I knew from the first time I worked in a school building I eventually wanted to be a principal. My first "boss" was someone whom I've blogged about before and she instilled in me the passion it takes to help every single student in your building succeed. It means you're up late, you wake up early, people talk about you behind your back and sometimes your ideas make zero sense to anyone but yourself. As I began in education I learned through reading that principals, second only to teachers, have the most dramatic impact on student achievement. (You can read more about this here ---> Principal Impact). Some research puts them on equal footing, if a principal can create a culture and environment where kids love coming to school and learning.

The challenge of being a great principal, and doing it differently became something that ate at me daily.

Eventually, the dream became real and my goal had the possibility of becoming reality after a colleague told me about a leadership program based in Omaha through Doane College.  Early on, I thought pursuing my goal meant I needed to have various types of professional experiences and I had to have my life carefully planned out and I was in charge of it all. It wasn't until recently I learned how wrong I was. (More about this later.)

As I began working towards my goal I feel like I got "lucky" in finding and participating in the most incredible experience of my life.  The last 2 years of my life in the Educational Leadership Program through Doane College changed me. I've grown, changed, learned and had more sleepless nights in this program than I'd care to admit. It was intense, life changing, organized, individualized and frustrating all in one. I've many times shared with my wife, I'd pay triple for this experience because of the things it has taught me. I can't say enough great things about Jed Johnston and Doane College for this journey (but DON'T triple tuition :) ). As the end was drawing near on my master program I began to wonder what was next and how should I plan my future?

As a couple of opportunities arose in the winter of 2015, I began to work on "my plan" and decide where it is I should be. During this time I had a conversation with someone who was first my boss, later a mentor and finally a friend and he shared with me that, "There is a plan for you & you're not in control of it and once you can accept this; life will make much more sense". This conversation caused me discomfort for days as I didn't know what it meant. Sure I got the words, but the deep meaning didn't make sense until later. Eventually it did - eventually things fell in place and I know that my plan fits with my ultimate goal...

So in a couple of words? Why the change? 

 "To continue my dream of helping all students find success socially, emotionally and academically"