SMS Principal Blog

"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things." -Peter Drucker In education there are some things we have in abundance-- mandates, frustrations, passion, love for our students, etc.-- while there are clearly other things that tend to be in short supply--most notably, time and money. In order to address the myriad of mandates, standards, and needs that fall on our shoulders, we have to be both effective and efficient in everything we do. This is an ongoing process of evaluation and re-evaluation of everything we spend time on.  As we head into this second semester, I encourage all of you to evaluate the assignments that you are giving in class. Make sure that each and everything you are spending time and energy to have students complete gives you a clear picture of what they have learned. If you have an assignment that is not completed by a student, and you don't feel like that missing assignment represents a meaningful piece of asse...

"Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students." -Charles Kuralt This seems like such a simple statement; one that many of us would read without much thought because it seems so obvious that it hardly warrants further thought. However, I would say that there is a lot to unpack from this simple, obvious statement, and it gets to the heart of what I love about working with all of you.  What does it mean to say you bring out the best in students? I think back on my time in the classroom, and I have very fond memories of two kinds of students. There were those kids who came in to class with great attitudes, outstanding work ethic, impeccable organization and time management skills, and a willingness to engage in the learning process. I really enjoyed these kids. They were so fun to have in class and to get to know. Spending time with them was easy and fun. I liked to picture my own children growing up to be like them. They made me feel like a good teacher, b...

"Celebrate what you want to see more of." -Tom Peters This time of year, it isn't hard to find articles about New Year Resolutions and how we should come up with them, keep them, and then ultimately abandon them. I love the idea of starting a year fresh with lofty goals. On January 1st, everything seems possible. My wife and I always joke that we start every year saying it is going to be the best year ever because of all of the goals we lay out for the coming year, but then we invariably get about 30 minutes into the thing before we end up doing the familiar dance of simply trying to survive 24 hours at a time for 12 straight months. I'm sure that if we really reflected, we would find that we actually did accomplish some of those goals, but we were too stressed out and exhausted to realize it. Normally, I'm not one to brag on myself, but in my lifetime, I have actually kept my New Year Resolution for an entire year on three separate occasions. Two of those ...

“I believe that a bad Super Bowl halftime show is still better than a soccer game.” -Ron White Not to belabor the football metaphors (And how could I pass up using a Ron White quote?), but we are past the two minute warning and getting ready to head into the locker room for halftime. Like halftime of a football game, Christmas break is a great time to reflect on the first half, make adjustments based on those lessons learned, and as much as possible, dress your wounds and rest up for the second half. I know that many on our staff are brand new to the building this year, some are even brand new to Sullivan, but I couldn’t be more proud of the effort you have all put in up to this point of the year. Like you, I’m still learning and adapting to our new “normal”, but all things considered, I believe we are in a great place. My one piece of advice as we face this final week is to not let up. I have been so impressed by the number of teachers who have shared with me their plans to rea...

"It's only when it comes to crunch time that people's true character comes out." -Virginia Wade As I participated in my Fall/Winter Sunday ritual of watching as much football as my family will tolerate and obsessively tracking my fantasy football team (undefeated going into this week), I couldn't help but see the parallels between close games after the 2-minute warning and schools after Thanksgiving break. It isn't that we take the first 90% of the semester off, but there is certainly a hightened sense of urgency as the clock ticks down toward Christmas break. It can be a stressful time for teachers and students, so I encourage all of you to remain calm. You've got this. No matter what, we will all head off to Christmas break and return in January to keep plugging away. 

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin Last week, I was walking the building, and I had a teacher invite me to join her class in a little game they were playing, so I did, and it was great. It gave me a chance to interact with kids in a way that I generally don't have the opportunity to do, and from the standpoint of really getting to observe a teacher, doing so in the role of a student was really great. I would like to do more of this, so as you are planning your lessons for the rest of the year, keep me in mind. If you see something that would be a good opportunity for me to interact with and experience your class as a student, send me an email, and I will try to plug it in. I can't promise I will always be able to make it, but I am much more likely to get in there if I can plug it into my calendar. This is not required and is not part of the evaluation process nor do I only want to get into classrooms of teach...

"Commendable: Deserving of High Regard or Great Approval" -Webster's Dictionary The Illinois State Board of Education has officially recognized our efforts here at Sullivan Middle School as "Commendable". This is the second highest rating available, which is a good thing. While I believe that our work here is much more than "Commendable", I have no qualms with the designation. There is nothing shameful about the definition of Commendable, so I am actually quite proud to earn the title, but it is human nature to look at what the next highest designation would be. I am sure that if we really decided to put our minds to it, we could achieve "Exemplary". In case you are curious, here are the descriptors of the designations. Exemplary Performance in the top 10% of all schools High schools with graduation rate higher than 67% No underperforming student groups at or below the "all students" group in the lowes...