What’s that? Am I writing something in ADVANCE?? Or is it that I couldn’t sleep and decided that the 4am hour just might could be a productive one? 
There is a voxer group of my PLN peeps that have genuinely become friends. We voxed pretty much every day for a good two years before we’ve kind of drifted into random/occasional voxes…and me so much more so than them. One of the greatest take away from that group was the idea of “Fabulous Fridays in February”, from the awesome Melinda Miller. Knowing that February can potentially be a dreary long month, she peps it up with fun activities each week…just a lil’something to look forward too. Each year I’ve added, adjusted, adapted to the campus I’m at to help being some of this fabulous along with me! Plus, you know I love a good theme!!
Now, I know I post a lot of “culture” building posts…please know for every one of these I post, there is a PLC meeting, a 504 meeting, or some kind of PD convo that is also taking place. There are walk-throughs, there are coaching comments, and there are deep conversations. All the roles and responsibilities of a school principal are important. I just also happen to feel that a positive school culture is imperative. School culture is the heart of improvement and growth.
School culture is the heart of improvement and growth.
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It is the deliberate decision by the leaders of the campus to create a positive school culture that enables the other areas (effective, intentional instruction for student success for example) to also achieve noteworthy outcomes. Notice, I said leaders, not just the principal.
I think teacher leaders are just as, if not more, important than a principal.
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They have a power amongst their peers that is hard for an administrator to replicate.
Now, that being said, back to the fun stuff. February is a long month. No holidays immediately in sight, the Christmas break has worn off, and typically, the spring testing has started to rear its ugly head. I want my teachers to WANT to be at school.
I want them to look forward to being with our Wolves, and to know that I value what they do for…
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Creative little celebrations don’t take much money, just some foresight to plan ahead. You can recruit PTA moms, involved moms, local churches, local businesses, team leaders, office staff…anyone to help you lighten the load. Something as simple as a thank you note can make a world of difference to a teacher who is tired. I have some special Wednesday incentives as well that I will be handing out for various things, which will be new for me this year that I’ve gotten from a new Plano principal, Mrs. Taylor. I’ve attached those below my fabulous Canva picture below! (If you haven’t started using Canva to rock your world yet, get to it!!)
Are you doing Fab Fridays? Or Marvelous Mondays? Terrific Tuesday? Tweet me your great ideas! Here is my 2014 version, and my 2015 version as well!
Stay fab,
Amber
This is cross posted at www.amberteamann.com.
from Connected Principals http://ift.tt/1nk76za
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