Friday, January 6, 2017

Reading 2017

I stumbled upon a fellow educator's blog (I think it was Mari Venturino) that talked about how she reads so many books each year. I made it a goal to read more last year and I noticed how much better I felt.  Reading serves almost as an escape for me.  It is an opportunity to forget about the dishes and anything else on my to do list.  I read a lot of education and inspirational books (I agree with Mari that this term is better than Self-Help) and both of these genres improve my teacher and how I approach each day.  I love the opportunity to learn and grow and reading helps this process.  I also read for entertainment and one of my goals for 2017 is to read more "fun" books.  By fun, I mean fiction books. This is a genre that is usually lacking for me. 

In order to make sure I have time to read, I took some time to think about a schedule that would be realistic. I usually read multiple books at a time: an audio book for during my commute, a book, and an ebook. As part of my 2017 fitness goal, I plan to walk more, so I am going to use this time as time to read "fun" books.  I also want to step outside of my reading comfort zone by reading books that are outside of my typical genres.  I would like to read more Classics and Fiction books that made it to "Top of Lists."

My goal is to read 52 books this year (a book a week).  Regardless of how many I actually finish, I will learn a lot and enjoy my time.  I also want to model to my children the joy of reading.  Kiddo 1 has starter "reading" books by herself and it is a sight that makes my heart happy.

What are your reading goals for 2017?  Happy Reading!

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Dixon Police Department

Dixon, Illinois is a town near to where I live and their police department started a Twitter account this year.  Their tweets update the community on arrests and town information, but they also share hilarious stories.  From what I can gather through their tweets, one or two officers are in charge of the account.  An officer thought of the idea and was given permission to do it.  

This is a great reminder that the people doing things do not need to be at the highest level in an organization.  People at the top need to give the people below them permission to come up with new ideas and to think outside of the box.

This summer, Northern Illinois was hit with a heat wave.  The Dixon Police Department asked parents to tweet their address with the emoji of police lights. Officers showed up with water guns and had a water gun fight with kids in the community.  What a great way to build positive relationships and reach out to the community!  They also handed about freeze pops.

Some supervisors hear about these two ideas and come up with reasons they won't work, but these officers were given permission to think outside the box.  The water gun fights and their tweets have gained attention from more than just their local community and they are great reminders for all organizations.  Let your people think outside the box and don't make it impossible to try new things.

Teacher as a Business Owner

A family friend became an Edward Jones Advisor last year and I learn something new about the Edward Jones company every time we meet with him. Many aspects fascinate me and I think there are many parallels to education.

1.  Although it is a large company, each agent works as their own entity.  They work independently (classrooms) but each individual's success leads to the success of the whole company (school/district). To help ensure success they provide each new agent with mentors and advisors who help the new agent build their business. There is always someone only a phone call away who can answer questions and give advice. This is an area I think schools could learn a lot from. Often we hire who we think is the best for the job, but we don't always support them. Burn out rates for teachers in their first five years is incredibly high.

2. Edward Jones has a thorough screening process. Our friend told me about his interview process and sounds intense. A phone interview, mock client meeting and other meetings/interviews. I got the impression from talking to him that they care more about personality and how you handle situations than background knowledge.  Yes, teachers need to know their content in order to be successful, but I also believe most successful teachers can learn new content if they need to teach a new class.  Many of the best teachers I have had all had similar traits: passion for their subject, ability to build positive relationships, clear communication and they cared about their students.

3. Each Edward Jones Agent is required to have their own facility. A new agent starts working in the same building as another agent and after a year or so they transition to their own facility. What is each teacher treated their classroom like a separate entity?  What if each teacher spent as much time on parent/family/student buy in as a business owner did?  

I know there are many differences between a business and a classroom and in many ways there should be.  I also think that there are many ideas we can learn from the business world.