SamTastic Weekly Tip: 11/25/24 - Make your SAM Daily Meeting Effective

Make your SAM Daily Meeting Effective

Of the four non-negotiables in the SAM process, the SAM Daily Meeting is may be the most important.

You do the other three non-negotiables during the SAM Daily Meeting: 

• Schedule at/above goal

• Use your data to drive your work

• Work with your Time Change Coach

The SAM Daily Meeting is when you reconcile each event so you have record of what you actually did…discuss what kept you from doing the work you intended…and then decide what follow up makes the most sense.  The SAM Daily Meeting is when you begin to look at data to consider if the work you are doing is taking you in the direction you intended.

If your SAM Daily Meeting includes each element above, great!  If not, use this template:  SAM Daily Meeting Seven Elements

Congratulations to Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, Illinois’ Superintendent of the Year.  Sharon, superintendent of schools in Peoria, has done the SAM Process daily since 2015. 

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Reminder:  Travel information is due December 1 for the 18th Annual National SAM Conference.  Please send to:  Travel@SamsConnect.com

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 11/18/24 - Fall in Love Again with the Teaching Process.

Fall in love again with the teaching process.

Sometimes it helps to stop for a few minutes to get centered, focused and to make sure you are in the moment.   Great leaders take time to do this throughout their day and week. 

Smart leaders help staff members get centered and focused, too.  Here’s four ways:

• Help your teachers fall in love again with the teaching process.  Listen to teachers and help them reflect and find satisfaction with their work each day. Too often we look for a future big win without considering the smaller wins that are necessary each day.  Supporting the teacher’s enthusiasm, passion and commitment each day is central to success.

• We often ask applicants why they want to teach.  We look for passion and commitment.  What would a conversation on this topic be like for a PLC…or at the start of a staff meeting?  Do your school’s mission and visions statements align with each member’s purpose?  How could alignment occur?

• Try starting, or ending, a one-on-one conversation with a teacher with this question: “Tell me about an interaction with a student, or class, that made you feel happy today?  Tell me about something that gave you joy.”

• Make a list of things you require of teachers that are not directly tied to teaching students.  Consider if anything can be reduced or eliminated. 

• Limit the time you spend observing to evaluate to what is legally required.  Shift to working with students.  Be the teaching assistant while you observe so you can better support the teacher’s growth.  Make the time you spend formative, not evaluative.

Teaching can be a lonely experience.  Helping teachers connect with purpose can lead to connecting with each other.  Building support for each other may be your best leadership move today…and every day this year.

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Reminder:  Travel information is due December 1 for the 18th Annual National SAM Conference.  Please send to:  Travel@SamsConnect.com

Haven’t registered?  There are 23 seats still available:   

REGISTER HERE

Tentative Draft Agenda (with descriptions)

Pre-Conference Session Descriptions

Keynote Session Descriptions​

Breakout Session Proposal Form

• Wednesday, 1/15/25:  NSIP Board Meeting; arrival of pre-conference attendees; evening welcome event

• Thursday, 1/16/25:  Pre-conference all-day sessions; arrival of conference attendees; evening welcome event

• Friday, 1/17/25:  First Conference Day; evening event

• Saturday, 1/18/25:  Second Conference Day, evening event

• Sunday, 1/19/25:  Departure day (Attendees may elect to stay Sunday night and depart Monday at a reduced resort fee.)

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 11/11/24 - What you can do. Not what you can’t.

What you can do.  Not what you can’t.

SAM teams focus on what is important:  Improving teaching and learning.  Effective leaders avoid spending a lot of time stressing about things they can’t control.  Instead, they focus on the mission and what they can do next.

The election demonstrated that the country is divided on lots of things.  This isn’t new, but the divide is far more pronounced than any time in US history.

The good news:  The current president and the president-elect agree that principals are key to improving teaching and learning.  Here’s a quote from Donald Trump’s website:

“A 2022 study from the University of North Carolina School of Education found that efforts to “recruit and retain high-performing principals are likely to have large payoffs.” A study by the National Association of Secondary School Principals showed that school leadership is “second only to classroom instruction as an influence on student learning”—or as another study from Stronge & Associates Educational Consulting put it, “There is no high-performing school without an effective principal… Principal leadership matters. And it matters substantially.” Furthermore, according to the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, “schools with the highest learning gains had principals who promoted a strong school climate.” Great principals empower great teachers—and great teachers empower great students.”

The president-elect’s website also proposes a lot of changes in schools that I see as counter to my values. It is important to look for points of agreement and demonstrate faith in the American representative government process that depends on compromise and careful consideration at every level, federal, state and local. 

Like all Americans, principals and district leaders will, and should have, a voice in the legislative process.  At the same time, principals know that they must stay true to the first rule of school leadership:  You have friends or potential friends.  You can’t have enemies.  Doing otherwise hurts your ability to improve teacher practice and student performance.

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551 SAM team members and guests have registered for the 18th Annual National SAM Conference.  The conference is a celebration of your work and an opportunity to learn from authors and national speakers as well as your colleagues. 

·      The deadline to submit travel information is December 1.  Send to Travel@SamsConnect.com

·      The deadline to submit a breakout session proposal is this Friday, 11/15.  Breakout Session Proposal Form

·      You can still register to attend:  REGISTER HERE