I recently came across a fascinating article called “How to be Great” (Business Life, November 2019) written by Jeroen de Flander, the author of The Art of Performance: The Surprising Science Behind Greatness. In the article, de Flander writes, “We are all in awe when we discover the work of masters.” (And I have to say […]

For some time, I have been considering the connection between vulnerability and trust. I have been exploring the need for vulnerability to generate trust.  My thinking has been that someone needs to make himself/herself vulnerable in order for trust to be formed. When I go out on a branch and hand you the saw, the […]

It’s that time of year again when my schedule often contains “opening day” presentations, end of summer professional development events or planning sessions for administrators and/or teachers. One of the discussions I try to facilitate explores what messages educators want to communicate to students and/or teachers concerning environment and relationships. I believe that consciously deciding […]

Reggie Rivers, a previous NFL player and now motivational speaker shared the following in a TED Talk , If you want to achieve your goals, don’t focus on them. That’s a different approach than most of us are used to hearing, but his explanation makes so much sense. He explained that it is not the […]

I frequently mention the importance of “knowing” in my training and consulting.  Communication increases when people are known to each other.  When a middle school science teacher can’t tell me the name of someone teaching freshman science at the high school, I know that communication about curriculum alignment or student needs is not going to […]

How important do you believe it is for teachers to build relationships with students as a component of students reaching their maximum learning success? How do school leaders and coaches assist teachers in planning for relationship building? How do leaders communicate a belief and value in teachers’ purposeful planning for knowing students? In what ways […]