SamTastic Weekly Tip – 2/28/22: Revisit your Target Descriptors

Today’s Tip: Revisit your Target Descriptors When you started the SAM process you selected three target descriptors…three things you could do with teachers that would help them get better faster.

Did you pick the right three? Can you see improvement of practice as a result?

You can change your target descriptors by clicking the TimeTrack logo, upper left, select settings and then general options. You can also set a goal for each descriptor. Once you’ve met the goal the descriptor will turn green.

Most SAM teams change their target descriptors annually when they are setting monthly instructional time goals. Some teams do this more frequently. Thinking about what will best improve teaching practice, and spending frequent time with teachers, makes you a successful school leader.

SamTastic Weekly Tip – 2/21/22: Try Behavioral Activation

Today’s Tip: Try Behavioral Activation

Feeling stuck? The press of the work, the weight of the responsibility and the seemingly endless pandemic can make feeling stuck an everyday experience.

How can you get unstuck?

You might try behavioral activation: taking action to create motivation. Brad Stulburg, an executive coach, recommends:

“If you don’t know where to begin, a good place to start is by reflecting on what matters to you most, what provides you with a sense of well-being and groundedness. Then ask yourself how to apply that activation energy strategically. What actions will give you the oomph you need?”

This is a good question to pose in your SAM Daily Meeting. It might be taking personal time to work out, meditate or take a break. It might be going in a classroom to help a teacher you know is struggling. It might be starting that task you have been putting off.

Stulberg, author, The Practice of Groundedness, explains:

“The challenge with behavioral activation is mustering enough energy to start acting on the things that matter to you: Make that phone call, schedule that walk with friends, write that email, get off social media and start on the creative project you’ve been procrastinating on. This may sound simple, but when you are languishing, simple does not mean easy.

But a mind-set shift can be a powerful tool. When you feel down, unmotivated or apathetic, you can give yourself permission to feel those feelings but not dwell on them or take them as destiny. Instead, you shift the focus to getting started with what you have planned in front of you, taking your feelings, whatever they may be, along for the ride. Doing so gives you the best chance at improving your mood.

It can be helpful to think of this initial oomph as activation energy. Sometimes we need more, and sometimes we need less. For many of us, even the little things require more these days, and that’s OK. It won’t be like this forever. If anything, the more we get going, the easier it becomes. Just as rest and languishing can create inertia that builds on itself, action and energy can be self-reinforcing. It just takes some extra work to overcome the initial stasis and friction — it can feel like the laws of physics apply to our psyches, too.”

SamTastic Weekly Tip – 2/14/22: Access Data Three Ways

Most SAM teams access data and charts about their work with individual teachers by going to the Dashboard.

There are two faster an easier ways.

Look for the three blue DOTS. When you open an event you can click Associations and type in the name of any teacher. Next to their email icon you will see three dots. Clicking the dots opens an options menu.

Clicking the show breakout time spent shows time spent with the teacher.

This opens the record of time you’ve spent with this teacher.

You can also access the data chart for any teacher you’ve associated with an event by clicking the quick link:

Congratulations to SAM Principal Robert Kaufman, Michigan’s Elementary/Middle School Principal of the Year. Robert has done the SAM process since 2017 at Hillside Elementary School, Farmington, Michigan, near Detroit. He has been instrumental in sharing the SAM process with others in his district and state.