School Culture Quiz
School culture impacts everything we do as educators, and reflects our ability to meaningfully engage students. How is the school culture in your building? Below are questions to help you reflect. 1. Think about the first-person people see when they enter one of your schools. Does this person accurately represent the tone and mood of […]
Cell Phones in Schools: One No-Nonsense Nurturer’s Perspective
I train coaches in schools around the country to support teachers with student engagement. This year, more than any year before, I have been consistently surprised by how many students have their phones out in middle and high school classrooms, and how difficult it is for teachers to get students to put them away. For […]
The 5 Rules Every Happy Teacher Follows
Happy Teacher Rule #1: Don’t look at discomfort as a negative. Teaching is hard, and it should be. If you are doing it well, it means you are actively pursuing and working towards getting 100% of your students engaged, 100% of the time. That takes a relentless pursuit of continuous growth that will include making […]
Selling Your Team on Professional Development
How do you sell your team on teacher professional development? You know your school needs coaching to raise expectations and increase teacher effectiveness, but how do you get teachers and school staff on board? In education, coaching is often viewed as a necessary evil, aimed at new or struggling teachers. It shouldn’t be! You owe […]
Repost: Every Teen Needs a Champion
This post originally appeared in ASCD Express on May 9, 2019. “Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists they become the best they can possibly be.” — Rita Pierson While teenagers sometimes act as if they know everything and don’t need anyone, […]
Three Relationship-Building Strategies Found in Your Classroom Library
It’s commonplace to hear the phrase “student relationships” in any school you walk into across the country. At CT3, we take it one step further as we ask teachers and school leaders to think about building life-altering relationships. Think back for a moment to the teacher you had that truly made a difference in your […]
Repost: How to Have ‘Courageous Conversations’ About Race That Can Help End Inequities in Our Schools
Courageous Conversations Training This post originally appeared in The 74 on September 18, 2017. With the election of our first black president, many clung to hope that we had entered a post-racial America. The recent events in Charlottesville proved that we are not as far along in this journey as we had hoped, a […]
Using Game Tape for Coaching
The Importance of Using a Game Tape I watched all of the March Madness games with my husband and was excited to see number two seed, Michigan State, beat number one seed, Duke. The Michigan State coach, Tom Izzo, attributed their win to two things: mental toughness and the team’s intense game tape analysis. As […]
Repost: Do You Care Enough to Save a Life?
This post originally appeared in ASCD Inservice on February 27, 2017. As a turnaround principal of a high school in Washington, D.C, I lost more students to violence than I ever would have imagined. After losing five students in one year, I made a vow that I would tell all of my students, especially young […]
How to Build a Great Leadership Team
A leadership team is a group of people who lead organizations and work together to collaboratively serve organizational purposes in which they hold themselves accountable. It’s no secret that principals set the tone for an entire school community, driving the goals, culture, and practices of every staff member. I’ve had the opportunity to work with principals across the […]