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Administrators: How are you supporting yourself and your school?

  Three years into the pandemic, the teacher shortage shows no signs of abating.  But now, another educator shortage looms.  A February 16, 2023 Edweek article asks, Is This The Beginning of the Principal Exodus?   Unsurprisingly, it points to pandemic stressors and increased responsibilities as reasons for administrator burnout, but I think there were already other factors that were exacerbated in response to recent years’ events. Just like teachers, administrators are human beings who are vulnerable to stress.  National Association of Elementary School Principals ED David Griffith states,  “I think the other part of that is that leaders are also burned out … They have been on the go for three years. That’s also been an under-appreciated part of the pandemic.  The increased job demands, staff shortages, and politicization of education have also all contributed to a decline in job satisfaction and job retention.  Griffith went on to say that, “district officials and policymakers have t
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How can educators who aren't in the classroom best support teachers?

  As someone who just transitioned from school administrator to independent consultant, I’ve had an existential crisis of sorts this week.  I really began to question my new role after some other aspiring teacher influencers/consultants got dragged on social media.  They were even called grifters by some teachers. I was taken aback by the strength and tone of teachers’ reactions.  I didn’t necessarily agree with these guys either, but weren’t they just trying to help teachers? It made me question everything I’m trying to do.  Was I just a grifter?  Was I just trying to make money off the teachers while languishing at home, safe from all of the chaos of school today? A few things are true: yes, I burned out and resigned as a new administrator last year.  Yes, I am an aspiring influencer looking to make a living doing consulting. Earlier this week I was in the process of negotiating some professional development for a small local charter school.  The director was enthusiastic about my pr
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To address student mental health, first we need to address teachers' mental health

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If you're an educator or you read the news, you know that for teachers, as well as for our youth, times are tough.  A recent USA Today article states "Overworked, underpaid?  The toll of burnout is contributing to teacher shortages nationwide".  Another states that "The Sunday Scaries are at an all-time high".  Their students, aren't faring any better.  From NPR : " Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide have risen in recent years.  NY Times  reporter Matt Richtel says we lack the therapists and treatment centers to care for teens who are suffering."  When therapists are lacking, many students look to their teachers for support.  As a teacher, I experienced this countless times, and I made serveral reports to social services over the years.  But for all the publicity that both issues are generating, there seems to be little or no discussion of the relationship between the two. While the debate continues about whether teaching Social E
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We need to do better with Social Emotional Learning, and Positive Intelligence is the answer.

 It's taken me a week to feel ready to write this post.  In the previous weeks, our nation's out of control violence was hitting a little too close to home.  On Saturday, November 19, a University of New Mexico Student was killed outside the dorms where my two children reside.  The following day, news broke of the Club Q shooting  in Colorado Springs, near my childrens' birthplace in Southern Colorado.  Sickeningly, the Walmart shooting in Chesapeake, VA took place the following day.  According to Gun Violence Archive , there were 10 mass shootings in the US that week.  Aside from continuing calls for common-sense gun legislation, as educators, we often wonder what we can do to prevent this kind of tragedy.   It's well documented that schools lack the resources to adequately address youth mental health in school.  First, students are struggling more than ever.  In fact, the Surgeon General has declared a youth mental health crisis .  To make matters worse, there is a
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So...what is Positive Intelligence, and why is it so important for schools?

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 In my last post I discussed the concept of toxic positivity, and how sometimes our best efforts to promote positive culture in schools can backfire and actually make things worse.  Now that you know what Positive Intelligence is NOT, I want to help you understand more about what it is and why I think it's going to be crucial to strengthening school systems. Positive Intelligence was founded by Stanford neuroscientist and Fortune 500 executive coach Shirzad Chamine.  After creating and leading CTI, one of the world's foremost executive and leadership coach training schools, Shirzad wanted to investigate why the insights people gained in coaching often did not lead to a lasting change in habits.  Research indicated that insight is only a small factor in changing behavior: instead, we need to build "mental muscle".  Just as analyzing how to make a layup in basketball is not the same as practicing it every day, gaining insight is limited in its application if the brain i
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 Positive Intelligence (PQ) Is NOT Toxic Positivity! If you have been an educator during the last few years, chances are you have experienced toxic positivity.  According to verywellmind.com, toxic positivity is " the belief that no matter how dire or difficult a situation is, people should maintain a positive mindset. While there are benefits to being optimistic and engaging in  positive thinking , toxic positivity rejects all difficult emotions in favor of a cheerful and often falsely-positive façade." Sound familiar?  On top of an already unsustainable workload, educators now are expected to soldier on through a global pandemic, sudden shifts to remote learning and back in person, political unrest and climate disaster.  Administrators are often at a loss for how to support teachers through it all, and may unwittingly resort to toxic positivity in an attempt to keep everything from crashing down.   Maybe you have been told to hide your negative emotions and put on a happy f
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