Friday Focus-Admin Style
8-23-13
What's A Friday Focus
I've used the Friday Focus as a Principal off and on for the past 13 years. I first learned about the concept from Todd Whitaker noted author, motivational speaker and principal.
The purpose of the Friday Focus is multi-faceted and I believe that many of the goals are applicable not just from a principal to a school site, but also from the Instructional Services Department to the Principals. Specifically, the "Friday Focus-Admin Style" will be a place for me to communicate weekly with each of the principals about upcoming district events and reminders; acknowledgment of "EduAwesome" things that are happening in our district; and a place for us to have our own PLN- Professional Learning Network. Essentially, it is just a format to keep us all moving positively in a forward direction. (If you are interested in Principal samples, I have some and so does Jerry Jones)
The Friday Focus has evolved over the years from a xeroxed copy put in every teachers box, to a weekly email, to a Smore's format and I am working on creating a blog format!
I like the blog evolution, because it becomes dynamic and collaborative as opposed to stagnant one way communication. I hope that you find this weekly "newsletter" as uplifting, informative, inspirational and mostly thought-provoking. I also hope that it will include information that you can share with your staffs and information that will be useful in your daily walk. The contents will be centered around the district's main goals for this year: Common Core, 21st Century Learning, Effective Instructional Strategies/Classroom Walkthroughs/Feedback and Positive School Climate.
So Let's Get Started with "The First Friday Focus-Admin Style..."
Quote for the Week
Kevin Honeycutt
Looking Forward-Things You Need to Know
8-26 First Day of School-I'm Jealous!! Have a GREAT day!!
Board Topics Due & Board Updates! Kristie will LOVE you if you get these in on time!
8-27 Strategic Planning Meetings for SP and SSF (Bring your draft agendas-long version)
8-28 Strategic Planning Meetings for CC, SH, SV, Skyline and CDC (Bring your draft agendas-long version)
8-29 Tech Job-Alike-This will be important for your Techs to attend, as so many of them will be new to the position!
EduAwesome Drops in Our Bucket...
- A Great big shout out for the Solana Pacific Staff for hosting the Buy Back Days!!
- And how 'bout Monica and Melanie for their incredible organization! The days ran soooo smoothly!
- Mega Drops for all of the presenters! Our own teachers were EduAwesome!! So much talent!
- Thank you to Terry Decker for all of your pre-planning to make sure that these days were informative and meaningful to our staff!
- And of course we must give a round of applause for the Tech Staff! Not only were they able to get all of those laptops ready and in the hands of our teachers, but they provided two great sessions that will allow our teachers to effectively use the devices-not to mention all of the iPads that are ready for students at the sites!
- YUM!! Thank you to Shabir and his staff for organizing the wonderful Back to School Welcome BBQ!!
- I think that Susan Jensen absolutely out did herself with the Benefits Fair this year! We are certainly off to a very healthy 2013-14 School Year!
- Kudos to all of the Principals who were active participants at the Buy Back Days-I know that you all had a thousand other things to do as you prepared for teachers return! It is so EduAwesome for the teachers to see you learning right along side of them!
- I don't know how many new teachers and aides that we hired this summer, but it was A LOT!!! Thank you to Casey and Sal for keeping on top of this and making sure that the late hires were processed in a VERY timely manner!!
- Speaking of new teachers-Thank you to Jerry for being so open and positive about opening a new TK class at Solana Highland at the last minute!
- And...A huge Thank You to everyone on our team for making Solana Beach School District the BEST place to work AND more importantly, the BEST place for students to attend school! Here's to the 2013-14 School Year!
Video of the Week
Probably NOT appropriate to show your students...but definitely worth watching and maybe sharing at a staff meeting. Inspirational Video to combat Bullying.
Blogs, Tweets and Pins-Our Very Own PLN
- Hoping to get the Friday Focus up and on a blog in the near future...You'll be the first to know!
- One of my favorite people to follow on twitter is Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) His goal is to create a website dedicated to cataloguing the MANY Educational Websites that he can find for Educators, Parents and Students. Check out one of his tweets/pages that he has created-this one is linking to his Internet Catalogue on Common Core Resources. Follow me on Twitter (@julienorby) and don't forget to include #sbsdedu on all of your tweets, so that we don't miss anything! https://twitter.com/
- Do you have a Pinterest Acct? No, it is not just for pinning recipes! Pinterest has quickly become teachers #1 PLN source! Sign up and see what all the buzz is! Follow me: Julie Norby-I have created a great Technology Board that has many useful resources as we move toward 1:1 implementation and the 4C's! http://pinterest.com/julienorby/
- Timely Articles/links to send out to teachers: "Why Empathy is the Most Important Back-to-School Supply!" And "How to Tackle Digital Citizenship During the First 5 Days of School!"
Final Thoughts to Ponder...
If you had to describe your school to a parent in less that 140 Characters, what would you say?
Why not share your 140 Character tweet in the comment section below...or better yet on twitter #sbsdedu!
Have a GREAT first week of School! Such an exciting time!