The Love of a Leader...

How are you making a difference?  You can help here.  Join these students as they believe they can change lives and I believe they will.  It is going to take a Village to Support a Village. UNLOCK is a class designed by students at Eminence to fulfill their desire to serve others in impoverished areas.  They came to me as the principal after some discussions around the importance of service to others and expressed a desire to frankly, just do more.  Their persistency and my passion for missions resulted in an opportunity for a needed response to our Next Generation Learners who were asking for something different.  I don't think either stakeholder had any idea of what it would look like, but we all knew we were moving forward.  The first fifteen weeks of this school year have looked very different for the students in this class from the integrated approach to credits (they are earning Language Arts, Technology, and some History credits in the course).  The course is wall to wall

My morning began with a young man entering the office in his clearly pressed and prepared army attire.  It nearly took my breath away as I sat thinking about what day it was and here was this young man, clean cut and proud standing in my presence.  I immediately thought in my mind, this is someone's son...they must be so proud.  He introduced himself as Brandon Lane and I then saw his name displayed on his shirt.  I knew this young man, but we had never met.  This young man is spoken of at Eminence with high regard.  During my time here at Eminence, I have heard this young man's name from time, enough that I recognized him based on stories.  Stories of hardship overcome by success.  I shared with him that while I did not know him, those who do are proud of him and especially one person particularly.  He went on to name Mr. Nethery.  He shared the impact that Mr. Nethery had on him in some of his most difficult times.  The first place this young man went when he entered the bui

The buzz lately seems to always be about transparency and change.  I have shared before that the work to create an innovative environment is hard for everyone...even for students, who request a different type of learning experience.  "Sitting and getting" is much easier for a student then to actually "create and engage", if you think differently...keep reading.   Tonight I write only to introduce you to a student in our school who I can say without a doubt is going to change the world.  She is an inspiration to everyone who knows her as her smile will make you melt.  Her passion is evident and she is real.  She is brave beyond words and her actions show her strength every single day.   When you need to know the challenges are actually worth the work...I invite you to read a blog from a student in our school participating in the UNLOCK class.  A Project Based Learning Class designed to build a partnership in Nicaragua and beyond that will allow opportunitie

It is easy to lose site of the "The Main Thing" in the midst of the busyness of the days.  Today I found myself observing awesome lessons around annotating bibliographies, hearing the always inspiring UNLOCK class story being presented to visitors, creating ecosystems, talking with students ecstatic about the playhouse they designed, built and delivered to a local preschool, and writing scary Halloween stories....all awesome, yet I left overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done.  Being a school of innovation is insanely fun most of the time, but it requires being out of my comfort zone a lot and not always knowing the answers.   As I was dealing with concerns around providing appropriate interventions for various populations, PGES (KY's new evaluation system), ILPs (Individual Learning Plans), and addressing general issues I thought about how blessed I am to have a wonderful team to serve along.  They are problem solvers who love teaching and they love children.

It is the time of year when students earn ice cream, money, or a stash of other fun items based on the number of "A's" that appear on the report card.  I challenge you to ask what does that "A" on the report card tell you as parent?  Ask yourself, how much of the grade is a reflection of behavior? What about compliance, nicely organized material, or extra credit?  Bringing in items for extra credit would be academic in what way?  How does the percentage/grade reported reflect academic performance of your student?  What skills are strengths?  What skills do they need to continue to practice?  I am guilty as a teacher of offering extra credit and grading students based on well-organized content or even worse lack there of versus focusing solely on what students know or did not know.  I have learned better over the last several years and must acknowledge that if I am going to produce Next Generation Learners that are College and Career Ready it requires me to know

The tiny moment when you take a breath for a moment and realize how far we have come in the work.  It is not a surprise, implementing change is difficult and the story is written for better or worse. It moves forward faster than I can think somedays, it seems.  But, I am thankful to be at a point where I feel comfortable sharing our work at Eminence.  Today we hosted over 100 individuals from all over the country in our school and it felt great!  I do not want to ever speak for our team, but I think I can say that we have pretty much been at a dead run upon our marriage.  I arrived at Eminence, July 1, 2012 and the School on FIRE was stoked and ready.  There was no shortage of work and thankfully a team of individuals committed to making a difference.  I have said more than once, "we may be small, but we are mighty." Today really felt awesome! Our team has struggled, stressed, and smiled at various times and today reiterated for the better that the instructional experience

You know, that day you need to really remind and reiterate why we do this crazy hard innovative work? Well, today was that day for me as a Next Generation Leader .  It was a morning exhibiting what can happen when we are willing to let go of the control and empower our students in the learning process .  A student presentation by our UNLOCK Class (students in grades 9-12 who desire to change the world, literally and very seriously) this morning in front of a group of administrators was the culmination of their classroom experience to date, hard work, and commitment and I cannot stop smiling.  It was just INCREDIBLE.   Now, there are dark days as our UNLOCK group has begun to reference them and we do not love them, but they happen.  Rarely, but they do happen.  Those days make you want to throw in the towel...but days like this when it comes together and you can see how much these students have accomplished in nine weeks is just nothing short of amazing! They have partnered with a vi

The role of a principal is rewarding, yet demanding.  It requires having the tenacity to deal with homecoming fun interrupted by fire drills, tears with a student who is experiencing more than they should in their teenage years while a teacher designs the most engaging lesson packed with technology all while phone messages are left and meeting requests pile on the already lengthy "to do" list that never turns into a "to done" list.  Most days are overwhelming and packed with more than any human being can accomplish, be encouraged...you are changing lives. I love my role and stand firm on my belief that service in the field of education is the most rewarding profession in the world, except for being a mom! The mom role is a little slice of heaven and requires me to balance my life.  The struggle of family and career is way more difficult than I ever imagined and the needs that present themselves daily burden my mind, heart, and soul.  Over time I have learned the

The trends in education around innovation have required me to think differently.  I have pondered at length why education has been slow to transition to what our next generation learners will need for successful futures.  Public educators across the country currently deliver standards and assessments and continue to question why our outputs haven't change.  I have the privilege of engaging in conversations with educated folks and rarely these conversations end without statements that point to the necessary inquiry, ethical decision making, responsible and respectful behaviors that our students should possess upon graduation.  The puzzling piece is that educated individuals in the profession know what next generation learners require to be prepared upon graduation and yet we haven't changed our approach.   Courses are still taught in isolation, "A's" is the letter we use to gauge success knowing that an "A" for one teacher is a "C" for another,

In 2030, what will life look like?  It is crazy to think about as technology and life has evolved at an exponential rate of change.  Why 2030? No reason other than it is my reference point from the time I graduated high school to now and I often ponder changes what life will look like for our students currently graduating.  What are we doing to better prepare them?  I have come to realize that there are those who believe status quo is acceptable and those who realize that status quo is not good enough for lifetime learners.  I am in the latter and am committed to keeping up with the rapid changes taking place in the competitive educational realm to provide the students entrusted to Eminence Middle/High School with a first-class level of education.  The vision of Eminence encompasses the quest to produce world-class citizens. We strive to achieve this everyday. To the question in the Blog Post: Who is on F.I.R.E? That would be Eminence Independent Schools and we are in fact on F.I.R