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Showing posts from July, 2022

The Growth Mindset Coach Review

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The Growth Mindset Coach Review By: Adam Lane, Principal, Haines City High School   Today, I would like to highlight a book titled: The Growth Mindset Coach (2016), by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley. Annie is a k-12 innovation specialist in Holton, Kansas and she is the author of three books: Introduction to Google Classroom, The Growth Mindset Coach and The Growth Mindset Playbook. Heather is a middle school principal in Kansas, and she is the co-author of the books: The Growth Mindset Coach and The Growth Mindset Playbook.  The Growth Mindset Coach is a great read for all educational leaders who are looking to transition the way their staff and students look at challenges, learn from them and make improvements.   The initial foundation of this book starts with understanding the difference between two powerful mindsets. A Fixed Mindset, which is the belief that we’re born with a fixed amount of intelligence and ability, which leads to avoiding challenges and failures, thereby blo

Truth AND Dare: 3 Misconceptions About Instructional Coaching

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By: Shannon Buerk, CEO, engage2learn   The Great Resignation may be the most impactful crisis that public education is facing right now – that’s saying a lot. The reality is that educators are overwhelmed with the responsibilities that are required to keep up with the continuously shifting context of education, yet they ALL still need continued support to be able to address the challenges of unfinished learning and opportunity gaps.    These challenges have left education leaders stuck between a rock and a hard place in determining how to balance professional learning with lightening the load on teachers. At the moment, some districts are considering backing off of professional learning altogether because it’s often perceived and implemented as something “extra” for teachers, during a time when they really don’t need more stress or burden.    However, tweaking just a few things in a district’s coaching model can wholly transform “burdensome” coaching into strategic, just-right

Leading Change During Challenging Times

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  By: Carla L. Sparks, Ed.D., Faculty Lead and Program Director of Educational Leadership Programs at National Louis University’s Florida Regional Center   In my current leadership role, I have spent countless hours during the last two years on the phone and on zoom talking with teacher leaders, assistant principals, principals, principal coaches, school district leaders, charter school administrators, and educational leaders of service provider organizations. These conversations have ranged in emotion from utter despair to gritting teeth until the terror passes, to joy and enthusiasm about leading change. I have had conversations with leaders who are exhausted physically and emotionally and others who are energized and raring to make things happen. Some have cried and they shook their heads while others thrust their arms in the air and laughed. I have wondered about the range of thoughts and emotions among the leaders with whom I work. I have thought to myself: How is this broad