This past Sunday I traveled to Phoenix in order to present at a national conference for school business officials. When my teenagers found out where I was going, my trip quickly took on new meaning. To them, the conference was really only a means to a loftier purpose, which was to shop at a local clearance store called Last Chance.

For the uninitiated (which included this author until very recently), Last Chance is Nordstrom’s only true clearance store in the country (as opposed to Nordstrom Rack, which offers savings when compared to Nordstrom stores but not to this degree). Clothes, shoes and accessories that end up here are sometimes new, sometimes used, and often damaged. This merchandise comes to Phoenix because it was accepted as a return somewhere along the way and could not be sold in any other Nordstrom store. Last Chance sells it at steep discount, and offers shoppers hope that they might to get their hands on high-end Italian and other products that would otherwise be cost prohibitive for them. As you might imagine, shopping at this store has the feeling of being part Marshall’s, part Grand Central Station, and part Black Friday.

For me, it was quite the experience. Shopping for my children with my outdated sense of style is hard enough (especially as one is a girl, for whom I was told that I have no sense of fashion). To do so while navigating through the bustling store made matters all the more interesting. Suffice it to say that any return trip to Phoenix will go unmentioned to my kids.

Tips for a Successful School Year (For Parents and Teachers)

Children and young adults will soon be heading back to the classroom for another year of schooling, if they haven’t already. The excitement is palpable. Children and parents are busy purchasing and labeling school supplies, clothing, lunchboxes, and other related items. Teachers have been working diligently to ready their classrooms, organize materials, and foster an engaging, productive learning environment. Administrators have toiled throughout the summer to have everything in place for day one, including back-to-school programming for students and professional development for teachers.

6 R's of Summer School

While school administrators are typically not “off” from school to the same extent as teachers (there is still plenty of planning, ordering, interviewing and the like that occurs over the summer months,) the relaxed days of June, July and August present school leaders with a special opportunity that is unique to this time of year. I like to think of them as a principal’s own set of summertime “R’s.”

4 Learning Lessons from the Garden

My time outside gives me much opportunity to think and reflect. As a former educator, a few ideas come to mind. The first relates to the eighth identified intelligence – naturalist intelligence — from Howard Gardener’s famous list. In its most literal terms, a naturalist is someone who shows expertise in the recognition and classification of plants and animals. From an educational vantage point, it describes a child who possesses naturalist inclinations while sharing many traits of kinesthetic learners. These children flourish from being able to touch, feel, hold and try practical hands-on experiences, but generally prefer to do so outdoors, surrounded by nature and animals.

Huddle Up Each Morning

No project of scale or meaningful work across channels can occur without clear communication. Everyone involved must know what needs to be done and how they’re expected to do it. Otherwise, you’ll quickly get a silo effect, under which team members learn to work independently and without consideration of the greater group goals.

To help facilitate team communication, consider scheduling daily standing meetings (often called morning huddles or daily check-ins). These meetings are ways for teams to convene in a brief, focused way and ensure the day starts off happy and productive.

What Do You Need To Be Productive?

The last component of this first productivity step is to assess what is needed, in terms of materials, systems, knowledge and skills, to get the job done. Perhaps you’re lacking a sufficiently powerful computer system or CRM option. Maybe you need to learn something additional. Whatever it is, position yourself in advance to hit the ground running so that you experience the fewest interruptions and setbacks possible before getting started.

While the range of tech instruments and resources is beyond our scope, it should be obvious that you want to be using the right tools to get things done. Investments in proper technology and information systems will increase productivity while decreasing frustration that comes with doing today’s work with yesterday’s tools.

Asserting Parental Authority Without Being Authoritative, Part II

The second necessary component for parental success is influence.

Our job is to become as influential as possible in the minds and lives of our children. Here are three ways parents can become more influential:

Become great listeners and create a safe space for children.
Demonstrate love, not a desire for control.
Personalize relationships and approaches with each child.

Asserting Parental Authority Without Being Authoritative, Part I

Many of us hold a wistful view of parenting.

Back in the “good old days” childrearing was simple. Parents used an authoritative approach, and their kids would listen and comply. By contrast, today’s parents have it much harder, and must deal with a myriad of challenges that our parents never faced.

But that thinking, too, has its flaws. Until the 1960s, authoritarian parenting was the way to go. It started to fall out of favor as society became more democratic and respect for authority began to show signs of cracking.

How to prepare your teachers (and yourselves) for a year of uncertainty

While uncertain times demand flexibility, growth mindset, and industriousness from all parties, it’s the leaders who need to create the nurturing, supportive environment for people to do their best work, while setting expectations for others to rise up to. Particularly in times of ambiguity, leaders are looked to for strength, clarity, guidance, and direction. Even when they, too, are unclear about how best to proceed and perhaps even scared, school leaders need to project feelings of confidence and calm and find ways to communicate them with others.

To lead in these conditions, start by controlling your own fear. Your people first need to believe that you’re in control of yourself if they're to have confidence that you can make smart decisions in tough times that affect others. One independent school headmaster I know made a calculated move back in March (just before the lock down) that he quickly came to regret. Apparently, some teachers had acted lackadaisically early on with their student supervision as the scope and severity of COVID was still being understood. The headmaster responded by raising his voice at a teacher meeting as a way of impressing upon his staff that COVID was serious and that children’s lives were at stake. The result was a fearful staff and an admonition from the school’s lay leadership.

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