Leader In Me

I'm starting close to home. 

Both of my sons attend public school in Alabama. I call them my "book-ends" because there's close to an eight year age difference. 

Having said that, my oldest will be a high school sophomore this year and my youngest is entering the second grade. 

It's the latter that brings me to this post.

Many of you have probably heard about the much acclaimed self-help book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by author Stephen Covey. 

Every chapter in the book discusses  one of the habits. In short, those are: 
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

If you've talked to anyone who has read the book (or read it yourself) and put its recommendations into practice, you will find that it's been a game changer in a multitude of environments.

Being that I have school-aged children and another first day of school is fast approaching, I have been periodically checking our school websites for  updates.

While checking last week, it caught my eye that my son's primary school (1st and 2nd grade) announced that it is now going to be a "Leader in Me" school.  

Exactly what is a Leader in Me school? 

I wanted to find out too, so I clicked on The Leader in Me website to find out more.

I found out that it is a "whole-school transformation model and process developed in partnership with educators that empowers students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century."  

It uses content from Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and makes it the key component in The Leader in Me transformation process for students and schools. 

I immediately thought...Game.Changer!

What I really loved is that The Leader in Me takes the 7 Habits and makes them "kid friendly". 

Take a look:

I have heard from some who are familiar with The Leader in Me for schools and the reviews were all really positive which reinforces my excitement about this for our primary school students. 

I have also heard from a few of the teachers at my son's school and they are sharing in the excitement as well. One teacher had this to say: 

"I am SO excited for PPS to be a Leader In Me school! In 19 years of teaching, I’ve seen so many trends come and go that it takes something pretty special to impress me and make me buy into it. I bought into this philosophy after 1 thirty-minute meeting about it. Everyone on the planet should know and live by the 7 habits. I feel like this will change our entire school culture, which is already great, and hopefully carry over into our students’ homes and families. It’s going to take time to instill this in our students (and ourselves) but if we do it correctly, it will be life-changing." 

Let me also add that our school has wasted no time in cosmetically updating the hallways as part of the transformation process.

On a recent trip to the school, my youngest and I got to have an up close and personal look... 

My little model was happy to point out the new update to this wall

Each one of the 7 Habits is shown on an individual mirror

A teacher recently pointed this out to me regarding the mirrors...💕

"Just like the mirrors, leaders, and children come in different shapes and size so hopefully everyone will and can be able to see themselves in at least one mirror."

My Future Leader 

As you see below, on another hallway was this mural of mirrors. "Mirror, mirror on the wall...see the LEADER in us all!" 

Looks like my son is already seeing himself as a leader. 😍

And, I just love the bulletin board on this hallway too!

Children are never too young to see and learn about what they can also accomplish and be one day. The familiarity of seeing their teachers’ faces with this message is a super positive reinforcement for the students.

To emphasize additional variation, I would also love to see a display with pictures of others in the community that says, for example - "(I am a)...welder, dentist, mechanic, electrician, nurse, HVAC repairman, lawyer, construction manager, doctor, veterinarian, etc. (and you can be one too)." It would incorporate occupations needing college degrees as well as skilled trade jobs which are also vitally important in our workforce. 

We have leaders everywhere, we all just need to stop and take notice - many are standing right there in front of us every single day. Putting it out there for our children early on is such a super idea to build upon and seeing our schools embrace this fact is just great. 

I don't know about you, but it's hard not to look forward to a new school year with such positivity being shared from the get-go. That makes me thrilled not only as a public school advocate, but moreover as a Mom.

Are you a Leader in Me school? 

If so, drop me a comment. I'd love to hear your experience, thoughts/reviews.

2017-2018 Quick Facts

Every school year, the Alabama State Department of Education publishes Quick Facts about our K-12 public schools. 

Click here to download a copy of the 2017-2018 Quick Facts or view below:

A Little Bit About...

For the past 25 years I was involved in governmental relations and public affairs, with close to 20 of those years spent advocating at the Alabama Legislature on behalf of K-12 public education. 

While much of my work centered around education policy and issues affecting our public schools, some of my most rewarding "work" was getting to visit with teachers, administrators and students across the state. Truth be told, getting into our schools and classrooms really enabled me to do my job better as an advocate. Moreover, seeing legislators getting into our classrooms was even better (more about that later).

Over the years, I have always tried to be a reliable source of information for our legislators, our educators, our schools and the public. I delight in highlighting the positives and uplifting the teaching profession, our administrators, and most importantly, our students.

We have some amazing things going on in Alabama classrooms. For that matter, we have some amazing things going on in public education period. Unfortunately, it's not always the positive stuff that gets noticed, highlighted or shared - even among fellow educators sometimes.

Let's be honest, aside from all of the positives (and gulp, even the negatives), there's an abundance of public education issues  just swirling around out there in general - many right here in our own backyard - yet it's difficult to keep up with or be informed even if (especially if) you are smack dab in the middle of education on a daily basis.

I can't promise you this blog will be an end all or be all when it comes to public education issues - there's an internet full of facts and opinions on all sides, and of course there's social media galore. However, what I do  hope is that this will be an occasional (non-trash talking) landing spot where you can find yourself "in-the-know" about some of the things I personally think are worth sharing, highlighting and informational when it comes to public education in our state. 

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. If you have a positive or best practice about your school or classroom you'd like for me to share, just email me and I'll be happy to highlight. If you include a pic(s) it'll make me super happy!