Sunday, January 21, 2018

Episode 90: Getting Organized

In this episode, Theresa and Spike discuss how 2018 is going while Jessica is Ice Fishing! As the discussion unfolds, Theresa talked about how she has been using the app Todoist. She uses Todoist to organize all of the tasks that she has to do throughout the week. Todoist connects with her gmail and allows her to schedule time to get the important things accomplished. Theresa also talked about she continues to use Evernote. She takes all her notes, articles, tasks, and documents and scans them to Evernote.

Spike shared how he stays organized throughout the day by using the SAMs Time Tracker System. This system, developed by former Principal Mark Shellinger, creates a calendar for Principals to track their time and work on improving their time spent with instruction.

Please share any apps/tips/tricks you use for staying organized. We'll be tackling email next, so share those things, too via twitter, email, or commenting on the blog post.


                               

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Thursday, January 18, 2018

Episode 89: Principal in Boots, Lindsy Stumpenhorst


In this episode, we chat with Lindsy Stumpenhorst, elementary principal in Illinois, also known as
“Principal in Boots.” Lindsy shares all about leading an amazing staff, living in the country, balance,
using social media, and her one word for 2018: Awe. Have you heard of Instagram? Spike and Lindsy
both work hard to convince Jessica to revitalize her Instagram account and connect where the action is.
Something interesting about Lindsy is her family was in Josh Turner’s music video for his song, Find
Me a Baby! Check it out here: Josh Turner (about 30 seconds in). Not only does Lindsy have horses, but
she also has dogs that size too (we got to see them while were recording, so couldn't help but ask for
photo evidence to share!

Spike discussed his use of the SAMs Time Tracker System for Principals. He is going to their National Conference in a few weeks. For more information the SAMs Time Tracker System, check out their website.

She also recommended the app Pocket, a handy app that lets you save tweets, posts, articles to return to later.
We hope you enjoy listening to Lindsy as much as we did. You can connect with her at:

Principal_in_boots on instagram



                               


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Sunday, January 7, 2018

Episode 88: What's the Weather?



In this episode, we warm up with hot coffee and blankets to stay warm in this frigid winter. Spike talks about the Bomb Cyclone in New Jersey, which caused his school to close for two days, we compared temperatures and talked about indoor recess/school closure decision making. A fun app share to enjoy your weather is: WTForecast - Caution, the profanity can be offensive in this app, but you can change the setting.

We also talked about what happens when staff have a countdown or stir up excitement for a snow day...what message does that send our students and families? Thank you Tom Murray for this tweet:
Spike talked about "One word 2018." Have you picked "One word?" Spike's is Gratitude, Theresa's is Aware, and finally Jessica agreed to one word… Balance

We talked about pop news and how a youtube video caused quite a stir for students when a famous youtuber recorded a video from the suicide forest in Japan:  http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/health/japan-suicide-forest-intl/index.html


On a much more positive note we celebrated Adam Welcome, our crazy running principal friend, for completing 103 miles in 24 hours!


Jessica shared a discussion activity she used in a recent staff meeting with the purpose of building shared understanding and then brought up an issue that happens in staff meetings...do you have this issue?

                               

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