Finding the "SWEET SPOT"

picture: www.ryosports.com

I originally wrote this in November 2010


I just read this post http://ht.ly/2RLX3- by Leadership Freak AKA Dan Rockwell about finding ones Sweet Spot.
Here are some quotes from the post:
“Finding the sweet spot may take patience and persistence.
Finding the sweet spot is about helping others reach their own goals and achieve their own dreams.
In my opinion, the greatest obstruction to finding another’s sweet spot is imposing our own agenda on others.”

I asked myself how can educators or more specifically Principals help teachers reach their own goals and achieve their own dreams?

Then as fate would have it I was listening to Deborah Kenny being interviewed by Bill Cosby and one of the points she made was about how she empowers her teachers to make certain decisions on their own about the curriculum etc.

Based on that interview and some of my own thoughts I came up with a list of what I can do as an administrator to help my teachers reach their goals without as Rockwell said imposing my own agenda on them.

1. Empower them. Let them have control over what goes on in their classroom
2. Find something they are passionate about and let them take the lead in that area. For example of one of the issues we have in my school is getting students more involved in our Prayer program ( we are a religious school) If a teacher had a certain passion about Prayer I would ask him/her to head up that committee
3. Offer choices for areas of Professional growth.
4. Be supportive
5 Value the contribution they make to the school and to the team. We are all individuals with different talents and everyone plays an important role. I often use a sports analogy in speaking with my students. Tom Brady may be a great quarterback but you can’t have a whole team of quarterbacks and if you do you probably wouldn’t win too many games. Every person is unique and important.

What I didn't realize then but realize today is that "Finding The Sweet Spot"  is not about your own dreams and potential but it is about helping others reach theirs.

We talk about transparency, openness, collaboration etc. How great would it be if we each of us  tried to help find that sweet spot within their school community or community.
Imagine how much true collaboration and transparency there would be if we truly wanted our friend to reach his or her potential.

During these days of Repentance we focus not only on our relationship with G-D but in  our inter personal relationships as well.  Imagine if we took upon ourselves to help out family friends find their sweet spots.

As educators we are in the profession of helping others and therefore I think one of our goals should be t help others meet their goals and help others find the SWEET SPOT

The Small Things Count

Jews the world over find themselves now between Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These days are known as the 10 Days of Repentance.

What should our focus be during these 10 days. Most people will tell you that we need to look at what we have done and try to change our ways and repent. However that could be a daunting task. Where does one start in the process of repenting?

The first place to start is to make a list. List the areas that you would like to improve and work on and from that list Rabbi Yisroel Slantar says take only 3-4 things and preferably the small things so that you could actually achieve your goal. Too often if we take upon ourselves something too big we end up not being able to accomplish our goal and we get discouraged.

While I believe this is makes a lot of sense and we see it all the time with concept of creating SMART goals which are small and attainable, how do we know that this is what G-D wants?

On Rosh Hashanah we read from the Jeremiah. We read how  that it will be the tears of Rachel that will cause G-D to forgive the Jewish people and allow them to return to the land of Israel. The obvious questions is what grey act did Rachel do that her tears and cries are answered while the prayers of the Fore Fathers and that of Moses were not answered. What did Rachel do she showed compassion to her sister Leah and avoided her sister  from being embarrassed. Rav J.B. Soloveitchik asks, why does this act out weigh more dramatic and other presumably greater acts. He answers the following, "Sometimes it is the seemingly insignificant act, private and hidden from public view. which is more significant than the greatest acts of courage and heroism." ( Teshuva Lecture, 1972, Derashot HaRav, p 58)

The same could be said for our acts of repentance often its the simple things that we do and the things that are done privately without all the fanfare that have the most meaning both to us and to G-D

May we all merit a Gmar Chatima Tova! ( May we be sealed in the Book of Life)

AN END and A BEGINNING

Picture: bodiesthatwork.com

Today will be my last post until Sunday. Tomorrow begins Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which leads into the Sabbath. I will be unplugging from sundown tomorrow until Saturday night. It will also end my streak of blogging for 67 straight days.
So I find it interesting that as this streak comes to a temporary end ( I will continue to blog on Sunday) it also marks the beginning of the Jewish Year and a time for reflection as well as hope for the new year.

Perhaps there is a deeper message in this coincidence. Perhaps as we go through life certain things end; relationships, friendships, jobs, and sometimes lives. Life is also full of new beginnings; new friendships, relationships, new careers, and new lives.

So I will never be able to blog for 100 days straight but that's OK.  And during this past year certain things in my life did come to and end. Some of those things were good and some not so good, but I have had a lot of great beginnings.

• Started blogging more  
• Started a Blog challenge 
• Increased my PLN in a more meaningful way
• Made new friends for life
• Worked on kicking off my consulting business 
• Created a newsletter as part of my consulting business
• Spent more quality time with my family 

I have a lot to thankful for as we end this year. My family is healthy, my daughters have turned into some amazing young women whom I am so proud of, and I have good friends who are hoping and praying I succeed. 

I definitely still have a lot to pray for; continued health, a job, peace and security in Israel and throughout the world. 

So as we face endings and new beginnings, I pray that the new year brings health peace and prosperity to all. 

Wishing everyone a Shana Tova

A Happy and Healthy New Year 

A Journey

My last few posts have been somewhat related to the upcoming Jewish Days of Awe which begging with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and day we are judged.
It gives most people myself included  time for reflect and personal retrospection on what has happened during the course of the last year and how we can and need to improve on the past.

At the same time we are told that we are not expected to be like Moses but rather to be the best we an be and therefore no one is going to change overnight and that life is journey filled with ups and downs and we hope that when faced with a challenge we are not only ready for it but will react in a better or perhaps more positive way then we did when we faced the challenge at an earlier time.
just ti give a simple analogy a child deals with the challenge of being hungry much different than an adult deals with it. But there are times and challenges that force us to be in this constant state of flux if we will sometimes growing and sometimes slipping back and loosing a few steps.

I recently saw the following tweet: JoAnn Sternke ‏@jsternke  Sep 20

This picture of success sure puts it all in perspective. #psdleaders pic.twitter.com/tQqAW48dCa

This is the picture associated with that tweet

I would venture to say the picture really represents all of life's struggles and that Life isn't just a simple line moving us in an upward direction but life as in success is truly much more complex and that at times in life it seems or looks like we are moving backwards.

We must remember that as in success, life is about a journey filled with ups and down but in the end we achieve success and hopefully our life long goals.

May this New Jewish year bring about much success, health, and happiness. While that is our wish and our prayer and ultimately we hope to granted that the journey to achieving it may not a straight path but rather a twisted one filled with many ups and downs.

MAY WE ALL BE INSCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF LIFE

MORE THAN JUST A GROWTH MINDSET

picture: Amazon.com

I have blogged, tweeted, posted on Facebook the importance of a growth mindset. Yes having a growth mindset is very important. It allows us to be resilient, learn from our mistakes and understand that we are not stuck in the place that we currently find ourselves. However the idea of Mindset is so much more and permeates almost everything about our lives and careers. A while ago I read   "Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching"  by Angela Watson and I would like to share with you some of the highlights from the book.

"The only factor that you have complete control over is your mindset: the way YOU think and perceive things, and the way YOU choose to respond. If you want to create meaningful and lasting change in your job satisfaction, the best place to start is with your own thought patterns and attitude....

Your mindset is ultimately the reason why you love teaching or despise it. There is no such thing as a “good school” or “bad teaching position”; workplaces and jobs are not inherently good or bad. I finally understood that whether you enjoy your work or not is completely within your frame of reference.

Will our negative feelings ever go away completely? No. It’s not possible to feel happy, content, and undisturbed during every moment in life. We’re fallible human beings, and negative emotions are a natural part of our lives. We experience loss that brings sadness, and injustice that brings anger. Feeling these emotions can be a very healthy experience. It can help us to bring about positive change in ourselves and the world."


Watson in her book quotes Dweck and at the root of her ideas is that we need to adopt a growth mindset as she says;  "Carol Dweck has written extensively about how our basic abilities are not fixed from birth, but can be improved through hard work and dedication. The belief that this development is possible is called having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. I encourage you to adapt a growth mindset as you read this book, believing that you can, in fact, improve your ability to handle stress and manage classroom challenges if you put forth the conscious effort to do so."

The real take away I had from Watson's book was that whether our job s good or bad and how we approach stress and, negativity also is our control. We make the reality of situation. Only we can create happiness for ourselves and only we can determine if we are in a good school or not.

While this sounds so simple it is often forgotten. How often my self included would say, "Oh that's a bad situation." Well it's a bad situation because I determined it to be bad situation.

As Jews worldwide approach the day of judgment, may we merit the ability to look inward and recognize that everything that G-D does is for the best and is good and that it our mindset that determines how we in actuality view what is intrinsically good. 

A Rosh Hashanah Message

Originally posted Sept 2010

A New Year's Resolution- My Personal Oath as an Educator

A while ago I was reading a blog post from Mr. Rice entitled “My Educator's Oath" he ends his blog with the following "I challenge each of you to write your own educator’s oath. Forever consider it to be a work in progress. Revise it often. Throw it away and start over. As you evolve, it should too."

Therefore as tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New, I thought it would be appropriate for me to make my New Year’s resolution today in the form of “My Personal Oath as an Educator”. 

(Please note that the list is no particular order of importance since I believe that each point is important)

As an Educator I promise that I will:
1. Develop a close relationship with my students. I will know my students strengths and weaknesses and I will meet the needs of my students to the best of my ability and help each one realize and maximize his/her potential 
2. I will love my students and treat each one fairly. Fairly but not necessarily equally. (I once heard a lecture on the concept of fair but not equal.) 
3. I will have a student centered classroom that engages students and pushes them to think and question. 
4. I will incorporate technology in my classroom to help engage them and bring the learning we do to life. 
5. My classroom will be a safe place for students to learn and students will feel comfortable taking risks. Failure will be seen as a learning opportunity and not as a cause to be down on one's self
6. I will incorporate 21st Century skills and Differentiated instruction to meet the needs of more of my students
7. I will act as role model for my students and that my students will learn that I don’t know everything and it is OK to make mistakes and ask for help. 
8. I will commit myself to always be growing and constantly learning 
9. I will develop a PLN to help me grow. 
10. I will be flexible and be willing to change and grow. I will also be flexible in my teaching approach knowing that at times I may need to change my lesson based on my students’ readiness.  
As Mr. Rice` said I will be flexible in knowing that this oath will need to change as I grow and change. 

As I enter into the days of Awe on the Jewish calendar I hope that I am able to fulfill my oath and that G-D gives me the strength, wisdom, and insight to continue to have a positive effect on the lives of the children that I teach. 
Akevy

Not Ready

picture: View Source : holidaysoftheworld.wordpress.com

This is the last Shabbat of the Jewish year with Rosh Hashanah just days away. We actually begin saying selichot this Saturday night.

I will be the first to admit I am not ready to stand before the King of Kings to be judged. I am a bad person, I don't think so. Am I perfect for sure not and I have a lot I could do better. 

This week I went to hear Charlie Harary speak. He mentioned the following points (to the best of my recollection) 

Rosh Hashanah is not about asking for forgiveness rather we are coronating G-D if you will as the King of all Kings. 

It i s a day of din of judgement. Judgement is order and as human begins seek that order in our lives and are upset when we don't understand why G-D acts sometimes the way he does. So in heaven on Rosh Hashanah the evil inclination is prosecuting our case against us and the power he has Harary said comes from us, our insistence on order and judgment gives him his power. 

How do we defend ourselves? 

The Shofar breaks the prosecutions case. How ?

Harary said that the shofar recalls Abraham's ultimate willingness to sacrifice his son. That willingness Haray said is ultimate Chesed when we say it's not me but you G-D. We give up on the idea of order and Din. Therefore the Evil Inclination looses its power. 

Here is the takeaway. Haray said as long as I factors into the conversation what's in it for me then we are still focused on Din and the case against us is huge, however if we give up the I and focus on the We, Us , and them and in this case on Him bring G-D then we are using the attribute of chesed and Din Judgment has no power. 

So while I may not be prepared for the awe of the day I know that I can and need to be there more for others. I need to give up some of the me and focus on what is good for my family and community.  I also know that all I have and all my blessings come from G-D so on this day of His coronation I say that  I will try to be better at giving up of myself and that what I have is really Yours. 

I hope that if we all give up a little of the I and me and invite more of the We we will not only be granted a year of health prosperity and peace but we will have a more fulfilling year as part of a community and as part of the greater Jewish community.

Wishing everyone a Kesiva Vchasima Tova may we be inscribed for a year of good health,wealth and peace .