Friday, August 27, 2010

Rise and Shine...It's Time to Get in the Fields!

At Chets Creek Elementary this year we are "Cultivating a Community of Excellence".  As a family we have been challenged to till back into the soil on which our strong foundation has been built, yank out any weeds that are threatening our work and plant a crop that will yield our best harvest to date.  This will only be accomplished by focusing on and then strengthening each area of our Guiding Vision.  During our opening day I shared some simple, but powerful ways that we can grow ourselves professionally as well as personally in each of these areas:

Bountiful Relationships: By understanding one's Emotional Intelligence you can greatly improve your ability to relate and deal with others and in turn improve your opportunities for success.  In Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry and Jean Graves describe EQ in four skills.
1) Self Awareness - Your ability to understand your own emotions and typical reactions
2) Self Management - Your ability to control your reactions to others, or not
3) Social Awareness - Your ability to perceive the emotions of others and understand them
4) Relationship Management - Your ability to use your own emotions and your understanding of the emotions of others to manage interaction with success
What have you done to improve or build your EQ with students, parents or colleagues?

Fruitful Risks: In Seth Godin's book, The Purple Cow, he describes how companies create that special marketing idea that dares to be so different from others that it takes the business to a whole new level of success.  It requires the risk taker to be REMARKABLE.  Remarkably innovative, driven and authentic.
Have you dared to be PURPLE?

Grade A Results:  In How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins investigates why highly successful organizations fail.  It was determined that over time that they lose sight of lose sight of what made them so unique and special in the first place and get complacent about their successes.  To keep from falling into this trap you have to look  at the Underlying Factors that affect your work, undertake Disciplined Creativity, participate in frequent and purposeful Fact-Based Dialogue, and embrace the Disciplines of Greatness.
What data have you gathered to guide your work? Have you engaged a colleague in conversation about the standards?  Have you volunteered to lead or participate in a rewrite of homework or assessments?  Which one of our Core Values have you modeled for your students?

The land's been turned...
the water and sunshine are ready...
the seeds have been placed in your hands...
there's 175 days left for this year's growing season...

6 comments:

Maria Mallon & Cheryl Dillard said...

The Mall-ards Hog Heaven is ready and raring to go in first grade. The students love the theme and so do the parents. We are getting back to basics - planting, watering and getting our students the sunshine they'll need for fruitful year!! MM

Mrs. Metzger and Mrs. Morris said...

LOVE the new format! First day picture show is great - reminds me of how much fun it was! Thanks for everything you plan and do for us!
Lori Metzger

JJ Brown said...

The first week was great. Ready for another great year!

Anonymous said...

I am proud to be farming with such an amazing group of peeps. I am also very glad to see the focus on EQ rather than just on IQ. We can all improve, and most of the changes needed to improve one's EQ are pretty simple.

Anyway, I loved my first week. I think my kids loved their first week. What more could one ask for?

Peace,

T-Cubed

Anonymous said...

The official first day back during pre-planning was fantastic! I laughed, cried, played, pondered, and then rolled up my sleeves even higher ready to tackle any weeds threatening our precious crops. I felt inspired, motivated and privileged to be in the midst such an amazing group of colleagues and friends. Heck, my Chets Creek family! We Creekers encourage and support each other in many ways that ‘udderly’ set the stage for cultivating excellence. As for the first day of school… Wow! Y’all really know how to throw a shindig. It was amazing!

The first week with the kids was fabulous. My little farmers are eager to plow there way towards a successful harvest. I am truly looking forward to a blossoming school year. Yee Haw!!

- Patricia Wallace

Dorry Lopez said...

I love so many things about this year already! I am so excited about our new theme this year, which is perfect for what we do every day of every year: cultivate, nurture, and grow crops of students and teachers. The school looks remarkable, the best it has ever been! I look forward each day to coming to our Chets Creek Farm and seeing our garden of flowers and growing crops. This is such a happy place to work! Thank you everyone for all of your hard work and allowing us to be surrounded with beauty.

Thank you for sharing all of your reading that you did over the summer. I love the fact that we are delving into understanding and improving our Emotional Intelligence which will help us to grow even more professionally. Please keep teaching us new things, so that we can continue to flourish.

With much appreciation,
Dorry Lopez-Sinclair