SamTastic Weekly Tip: 3/27/23 - Use SAM National Conference HD Videos for Staff PD

This week’s tip: Use SAM National Conference HD Videos for Staff PD

We are pleased to release today the first of five keynote presentations from the 16th Annual National SAM Conference.

Ken Williams' presentation, No Passive Path to Equity, is entertaining and engaging. It is also thought and action provoking. 500 SAM team members got to see this presentation last month in Tucson. Many have been anxiously awaiting the release of the HD video as they plan to use segments in PLCs, admin team, staff and parent meetings.

Here’s the link for the video: http://bit.ly/3z83NCn

You can find HD videos from past national SAM conferences at:

https://www.samprocess.com/conference-and-workshop-materials

PS: Congratulations to SAM principal Elisa Brown, The Caton School, Brooklyn, NY, honored by the National Center for Urban School Transformation as a 2023 Best School Award winner. Elisa wrote:

Hi Mark & Team.

We won another award. I will present a workshop at their symposium. Thanks so much for TimeTrack which allows me to stay on task and stay in classrooms. Special thanks to SAM Time Changes Coaches Debbie & Arnie. They are awesome. https://ncust.com/2023-americas-best-schools-award-winners/

SamTastic Weekly Tip - 3/20/23: Lead to Win in Difficult Times

March 20, 2023

This week’s tip: Lead to Win in Difficult Times

Principals and staff are navigating difficult times as extremists place schools in a cultural war zone. Education Week reports 14 states have already enacted legislation restricting how educators address issues like racism and sexism.

Effective leaders are careful to hang on to the core values of our country without engaging in argument or hyperbole.

Dale Carnegie, in his 1936 book How to Win Friends and Influence People, wrote: “I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it. Avoid it as you would avoid rattlesnakes and earthquakes.”

Avoiding the argument does not mean agreeing with things you know are not true or conflict with the basic values of our country.

Instead, assume a good intention. For example, “I know you care about this and value freedom and fairness.”

Extreme groups use social media to state things are happening in schools that simply are not. This manufactured outrage is designed to incite and mislead. Many leaders simply respond by asking a person making a false claim to examine the curriculum to see if they can find anything. Again, avoiding an argument is the best way to avoid an argument.

The SAM Communications Protocol, used with First Responders, can also be effective when dealing with false claims. This three-step guide is easy to use and provides a roadmap for getting school community members assistance. Validate ~ Say What You Can Do, Not What you Can’t ~ Refuse to argue

Leaders also have a right, and, perhaps, responsibility, to protect education, staff, students and parents through advocacy, individually and with the groups to which they belong. Leaders must help elected officials understand curriculum, teaching practice and the critical role schools play in transmitting the values of a democratic society. “With liberty and Justice for All” does not happen in a society that does not value equality. Schools and families are where children learn their freedoms, and responsibilities, as American citizens.

SAM Principals understand their work, and that of teachers and support staff, has great importance. School leaders work every day to improve the lives of students and better our communities and nation. Stopping manufactured outrage without engaging in argument allows the focus to remain on student achievement and social/emotional well-being.

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 3/13/23 - A Leadership Lesson from St. Patrick that will keep you in the Green

This week’s tip: A Leadership Lesson from Saint Patrick that will keep you in the Green

With St. Patrick’s Day this week it is a good time to consider how leaders can move their work forward by repairing relationships.

In SAM training, Mark Shellinger shares that good leaders are strategic in building positive relationships with staff, students and their school community. They have friends and potential friends—never enemies. They get it. Leading a school requires humility. Being willing to forgive a transgression, or letting go of a grudge, can improve a relationship, elevate the leader’s reputation and benefit students.

So what does this have to do with Saint Patrick? Lee Cockerell, retired Vice President, Walt Disney World, explains in the article below how Patrick, after being enslaved as a teenager, forgave his captors, showed compassion, and, in the process, acquired and great deal of influence over an entire nation.

THE LIFE OF SAINT PATRICK: A STORY OF FORGIVENESS

Born to a wealthy British-Roman family, Patrick was kidnapped by a band of Irish marauders as a teenager. The raiders carried him off to Ireland where they pressed him into servitude, tending their flocks and fields. Isolated and alone, Patrick clung to his faith to endure the cruelty of his masters.

After six years in captivity, Patrick summoned the courage to risk escape. He ran away from his captors, surviving a 200-mile trek across Ireland to the sea. Upon arrival to the coast, he talked his way onto a shipping vessel bound for his homeland.

Lesson #1 – Don’t harbor grudges After being enslaved in Ireland, you would think Patrick would have embittered at the Irish for stealing six years of his life. However, he dedicated the next 15 years to studying theology in preparation for a return trip to Ireland as a missionary. Despite being kidnapped and cruelly mistreated, Patrick chose forgiveness and showed compassion to his former captors.

Lesson #2 – Go the extra mile to make amends Patrick was not exactly a welcome visitor back in Ireland-especially when he began teaching a religion that ran contrary to the beliefs held by druid priests. However, Patrick won favor by returning to his former master and paying the full ransom price of a slave as “compensation” for his escape. This generous gesture astounded the Irish and appeased them, giving Patrick a platform to share his religious views.

It seems as if Patrick should have demanded an apology from his prior masters rather than paying them for having been a runaway slave. However, his goal wasn’t to make accusations, but rather, by extending forgiveness, to acquire influence with the Irish.

Lesson #3 – When reconciling a relationship, speak the other person’s language During his six years of force labor in Ireland, Patrick gained a working knowledge of the Celtic language. When he returned as a priest, he could speak directly to the Irish in their native tongue. Furthermore, Patrick understood the religious sensibilities of druidism from his time in captivity. Accordingly, he was able to communicate the message of the Christian faith in images that made sense to the Irish.

As legend has it, Patrick created the Celtic cross in an effort to connect the significance of Christ’s death on the cross with the Irish people’s veneration for the sun. Another popular legend holds that he used the shamrock, another natural symbol, to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity. Whatever the case, Patrick’s ability to deliver his message in ways the Irish could understand had a profound impact. Within a century, the entire nation of Ireland had converted to the religious faith of one of its former slaves.

Summary

Regardless of a person’s religious beliefs, there’s no denying Saint Patrick’s enormous influence as a leader. By harnessing the power of forgiveness, the one-time slave persuaded his former captors, and their entire nation, to adopt his Christian faith. By studying the life of Saint Patrick, we find lessons about forgiveness that can be applied to our own lives and leadership relationships.

Think about a staff member who has treated you badly or unfairly. What would you lose if you followed Patrick’s example? What could you, and your school, win?