Episodes
Sunday Oct 05, 2014
Episode 35: The Law of the Inner Circle and Team Building
Sunday Oct 05, 2014
Sunday Oct 05, 2014
According to John Maxwell, "A leader's potential is determined by those closest to him."
John notes, "When you have the right staff, potential skyrockets."
The team or organization leader needs team members he/she chooses. Many times they can inherit and/or have someone from higher up in the organization want to add people to the team. This is unfortunate and can cause issues of with results orientation and effectiveness. When given the opportunity to select his/her own team mates the leader needs to take advantage of this to select the best and the brightest that will bring their special attributes to the team.
It is important for the leader to recognize that he/she wants to select those individuals who address the weaknesses of the leader not clones of the leader.
( Patrick Lencioni )
The leader has to take time to support and develop that team that will become his inner circle. This is the group that will connect with each other and will develop a deep sense of trust to the organization, the leader and accomplishing the mission. Check out Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of the Team.
This does not happen overnight it requires the leader spending time developing his team.
This means interacting with each other not just in meetings and eating together. It means having an opportunity to laugh and play together and to experience turmoil and difficulty together.
Check out my thoughts about playing soccer, racing cars, the fluer-di-lis, and the lightening bolt.
It also means that the leader needs to find out what training and coaching they need and insure that they get it.
As a note, it is possible that you will make a bad selection for the team, the leader has to be willing to address that because it is a weakness for the team that will disrupt success.
I hope that you enjoy this episode and I challenge you to take the time to examine your organization and ask yourself …
Do you have an inner circle?
Do you support them?
Does someone not need to be on that team?
Some words of wisdom from John Maxwell:
"One of the mistakes I often made early in my career as a team leader was that I thought everyone who was on my team should remain on my team."-John Maxwell
"Hire the best staff you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them."-John Maxwell
Recommended Reading:
John Maxwell's:
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
Patrick Lencioni's:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Also, you can subscribe to John Maxwell's Minute with Maxwell.
A daily dose of leadership advice from John at no cost to you.
Enjoy!
Length: 31:21
Thursday Sep 25, 2014
Thursday Sep 25, 2014
This November, Georgia will elect a State Superintendent. The group has been down sized since the campaign trail started. The candidates for the office have been reduced to two: Valerie Wilson and Richard Woods.
I recently attended The State of Education in Georgia Conference at the University of Georgia. During lunch the two remaining candidates were each given 15 minutes to speak.
The podcast today is my recording of their talks. Listen to their thoughts and comments. Keep in mind that if you are a Georgia registered voter that you will have a chance to vote for either candidate this fall.
I refrain from doing too much editorializing. The only edits involve the time between candidates and then at the conclusion of each talk. Otherwise, you are hearing exactly as the audience heard them.
I have included links to each candidate’s websites as well as a link to my blog article about the coming election.
Enjoy!
Length: 34:04
Wednesday Sep 17, 2014
Episode 33: Six Apps for the Classroom with David Lockhart
Wednesday Sep 17, 2014
Wednesday Sep 17, 2014
David is a high school teacher at North Atlanta High. This summer we met at the Georgia Virtual School Symposium in Athens, Georgia where I had the chance to attend his awesome class titled,
…30 Apps in 30 Minutes.
David has always had an interest in Tech… he says, “I found something that I was good at…”
In our interview we focus on four points…
1) His 6 favorite apps
2) The cost of apps (In a word…cheap!)
3) Engaging!
4) Ease of use…
David advises…in looking for apps, “Find what works in your classroom…and then find an app that will help you. If it doesn't work…then adjust.”
Most importantly…David comments, “Don’t be afraid!”
He has amazing advice for apps to use and why as well as how to find the best apps.
I know that you will find this episode brain food!
Here are the 6 Apps that we talk about and their websites.
1) TouchCast http://www.touchcast.com/
2)
Google Drive https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2424384?hl=en
3) Symbaloo http://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOcK1fiV
4) Weebly https://education.weebly.com/
5) Tackk https://tackk.com
6) 81dash http://81dash.com/
Follow David on Twitter @ld112265
And read his blog at www.edtechspeeddating.com
Seasame Street Song, “There’s An App for That! Find it at www.sesamestreet.org or on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhkxDIr0y2U
Enjoy!
Length 30:37
Monday Sep 08, 2014
Episode 32: Planning-A Key to Better Teaching
Monday Sep 08, 2014
Monday Sep 08, 2014
Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
This is so true in every facet of our lives and especially in the world of teaching.
Too often colleagues will act as if no planning is necessary. They will fly by the seat of their pants…...doing whatever hits them at the moment. This is a terrible way to work with kids. The better teacher needs to take time to purposefully plan and the best plan is developed with the big idea in mind.
As Stephen Covey said, “Start with the end in mind.” What is it that you want the kids to know? To get to this takes time to develop unit plans that are used to guide the teacher in working with the kids. These plans should contain at least the following six elements:
1. Essential Question (What is the point/purpose of this unit?)
2. Content Vocabulary (What words are necessary for understanding the subject?)
3. Formative Assessment (How do you know that the kids understand or get it?)
4. Engagement (What activities will you use to engage the kids in the lessons?)
5. Connections (How will you connect the topic to the real world?)
6. Use of Time (Are there any special considerations?)
It takes time to create lessons that engage kids and move them to learn and grow academically. The better teacher understands that planning and preparing leads to success in the classroom.
Bear Bryant once said, “It’s not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
Some excellent resources for developing plans and understanding why you should plan with the end in mind have been developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in Understanding By Design and Essential Questions.
(Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe)
Here is a link to an overview of UbD at grantwiggins.org
Here is a link to an overview of UbD at JayMctighe.com
Here are links to YouTube clips of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe explaining Understanding By Design.
Here is a link to the excerpt from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Example of a Frayer Model for learning words...
Example of a Unit Plan
Time to start planning…
Enjoy!
Length 35:09
Wednesday Aug 27, 2014
Episode 31: Trust- The Key to Team Building
Wednesday Aug 27, 2014
Wednesday Aug 27, 2014
When a leader is assigned to an organization…success or stumbling is determined by the individual's plans for making change.
Is it... I am here to save the day and we will proceed according to my plans or is there an attempt at creating a team mentality which means that the leader is working to create trust?
Leadership requires more than a plan but time spent purposefully building trust.
As Seth Godin, in Tribes, comments... “Leadership is not management.”
This means that you have to get others on board…you have to spend time building a team…and creating a trusting organization…avoiding…It’s my way or the highway…Not just thinking that I only have to tell people what to do and they will do it.
Throughout this episode I reflect on comments from the works of Dan Pink, P. Lencioni, and J. Maxwell.
After listening, I hope that you will spend some time evaluating your team direction and decide whether you have created real trust. Ask yourself…Do your members really interact with each other or are they simply complying for fear of retribution or being wrong?
Enjoy!
Listed below are the links to books that I mentioned as well as the opening YouTube clip. I hope that you will take time to explore these wonderful tools for developing your teams.
Patrick Lencioni YouTube Clip from Opening
Winning With People by John Maxwell
The 17 Indisputable laws of Team Work by John Maxwell
To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink
Length 28:30