Hey Advocates,

I hope you had a great week and are in good spirits. This morning, I'm sending this message before heading out to day two of the Idaho Out-of-School Network's Power Up Summit. Yesterday, I taught a group of out-of-school program leaders about harnessing their advocacy skills.

How's your social media looking at your district?

This week, I came across an article on "How District Leaders Can Make Social Media Work for Them." Managing school/district social media accounts may be complicated due to our political climate and the scrutiny of everything we post. The article suggests three tips for district leaders on social media.

1. Be Transparent: Informing your stakeholders about your district's direction will create more buy-in. Keep the community informed about the district's mission, vision, beliefs, and change initiatives. My only addition to this tip is that we need to remember that there are levels to transparency. 
2. Throw out the script: Instead of...

Hey Advocates,

Last week, I discussed my Livestream episode with Dr. LaTisha Smith, "Finding the Right Professional Development for your Staff." Well, I received a few inquiries regarding the Leading Equity Center's training. As we are still in the early stages of the school year, I assume you have already identified some areas for growth for your school/district. I want to help.

I'm attaching a PDF of the Leading Equity Center's services to support your needs. Feel free to share it with your colleagues.

Here's a brief rundown:

Services Available: 

• Purposeful Teaching Academy
• Student Affinity Group: The Advocacy Room
• Equity Audit
• Keynotes
• Leading Equity Book and Book Study Hours
• DEI Activities Playbook
• Additional Training Options
• Online Courses

Equity Audit

This audit will guide you through seven essential components of equity within your organization: (1) Mission, Vision, and Beliefs, (2) Leadership, (3) Staff and Staff Development, (4) Instructional...

Hey Advocates,

I want to begin by recognizing the start of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15). I share my thoughts regarding “tokenized celebrations” in my book. 

The bottom line is we are doing our kids a disservice if these are the only times students learn about other cultures. Furthermore, we also have an opportunity to celebrate the great impact that various cultures have in our society as a whole. 

Cultural Story Telling is a great tool to use in your classroom.

Each of us has a story. As our classrooms are becoming more and more diverse, students must share their stories and cultures to make learning relevant and authentic.  Here are some tips:

Integrate cultural storytelling in both monocultural and multicultural settings. 

To grow as individuals and as learners, we need to hear various perspectives on ideas and engage with people who are different from us. Suppose student learning occurs only within the silo of a...

Hey Advocates,

I'm at the airport waiting to board my plane back to Idaho. I had the pleasure of keynoting for the Ames School District yesterday. I noticed how fired up the school district staff was about the upcoming school year. 

I want to check on my school administrators. I found an article that said one out of two principals are considering a career change. Many administrators plan to leave within the next three years. I must admit that I haven't been checking in on my school leaders as much because many of my conversations have been around teachers. It makes sense that as a result of teacher shortages, there would be added stress on administrators to fill vacant positions.

My bad principals, technically, I forgot about you for a minute. Yesterday, I sat in a middle school library and engaged in a deep conversation with a room full of school administrators in primary and secondary schools. The topic: Dealing with racial slurs in schools. This is a challenge at...

Greetings Advocates,

I'm just getting home from a trip to Arizona. I had the pleasure of keynoting yesterday at the Pendergast "Power Up" back-to-school event. As the educators prepared for the upcoming year, there was so much positive energy. Thanks for such an incredible experience!

I'd love to come to your school/district. If you are looking for a speaker, let's chat! 

I'm writing this reflecting on how quickly summer is moving - and recognizing that for some of us, the 2022-2023 school year begins in August, which is Monday! By mid-August, most school systems will have their professional days and, in some cases, will have students back in the buildings.

Why does this matter? I've been thinking about teacher vacancies lately and have written about them. I read something recently, and at first, I thought it was satire. The piece I read said that military veterans and their spouses could teach in Florida without a teaching license or certification. I know people who are...

Hello Advocates,

Today is the last day to join the FREE book club. You can sign up here.

I don't know about you, but the summer is just flying past. Here we are in July, and I know some school systems go back in August. This reminds me that I wrote about teacher resignations and retirements last week.

The Washington Post had a story on local retirements and resignations in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Check it out. The report included the remarkable fact that 3% of teachers in the U.S. were leaving the profession. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that's 300,000 teachers. It didn't mention support staff either. Think about that number in light of your school district or your local town or city. That's a lot of teachers.

I know that many districts are looking to fill positions. As I said last week, some are considering creative solutions, such as allowing people who have not yet completed undergraduate degrees to teach. Some districts are offering money to new teachers....