Principal Pulse Check | We asked: What part of your job feels most overwhelming right now, and what are you doing to overcome or cope with that feeling?
Check out responses from your peers. Next week, consider contributing an idea and resource for a new next prompt. Student mental health. I work with obtaining signed permission forms and changing placeholders to classes for students taking online, DE, and independent study classes. What is most overwhelming to me is set deadlines and our counseling team not following them. To cope, I keep telling myself that if this is "What's best for…
QUICK TIPS November 2025 | Time to Check In and Show Gratitude
November brings cooler days and the wrap-up of the first quarter. It’s a season that often brings the very real fatigue of fall, but also a chance to pause in gratitude for the hard work of staff, the growth of students, and the support of families. With a holiday break on the horizon, this month’s checklist will help you stay focused by keeping up with teacher observations and feedback, reviewing student progress…
Principal Pulse Check | We asked: What is one thing you’ve done to improve or support student attendance this fall?
Check out responses from your peers. Next week, consider contributing an idea and resource for a new next prompt. We started doing conferences early with families that had chronic absenteeism last year. Once they already hit 3 absences we scheduled a parent meeting this quarter. It has helped us come up with creative solutions to help get students to school more often. Every five weeks I send an email to all students…
From the Classroom to the Office, and Back Again
Principal Jessica Vanderbrook left Lake City High for MSU as a teenager and discovered some students had an advantage: AP classes. Returning to LCHS as a teacher, she vowed that wouldn’t happen to other Trojans. The school offers six AP classes – and she teaches one of them. Walking from the office to the conference room her five senior AP Calc students call home, kids say “Hi!” as they pass by after…
Principal Pulse Check | We asked: What instructional practice is working really well in your classrooms right now?
Thinking Classrooms. They are getting students engaged and visually learning. Vertical learning spaces (math). Student dialogue supported through Building Thinking Classrooms (Math). A & B partner protocols to help scaffold student talk with discipline specific content. Query Based Instruction Using AI to differentiate learning for students. Restorative circles from Ali Hearn is a districtwide goal and we are also including more student choice/autonomy. We had a teacher share a great grouping strategy…
Principal Pulse Check | How are you addressing the needs of students who are struggling to adjust this fall?
Check out responses from your peers. Next week, consider contributing an idea and resource for a new next prompt. We are using PD and Staff meeting time to scan EWS data and placed teachers in grade teams to look for issues. We take referrals from staff for students in need of extra support via our MTSS form. Our team reviews the submissions and schedules student Intervention meetings as warranted. RESOURCE: Generic SIM…
QUICK TIPS October 2025 | All About Fall
October is the last full month before January, so now’s the time to make the most of observations, student meetings, and planning for some state requirements. This is the month to plan ahead and be proactive with your schedule. While October can be bumpy, it’s also the time to focus on your “Big Rocks” and get things scheduled and done! Nicole Carter, Principal, Novi High School Schedule monthly check-in meeting with new…
AP Sarah Wasilk Leads with Communication, Coaching & Culture Building
Taking on five preps as a new teacher at Clarkston Junior High more than two decades ago may have prepared Assistant Principal Sarah Wasilk to take on the simultaneous challenges and responsibilities she’s faced there every day for nearly a decade as a middle level administrator. Early in her teaching career Sarah earned a Masters in Administration and started working in the office on her conference hour. Spending time with students individually…
Principal Pulse Check | We asked: What is one strategy you’re using to build positive staff culture as the school year kicks off?
Tomorrow is drive your tractor to school, so we are all wearing flannels and boots! As a Capturing Kids Hearts school, we start each meeting with "Good Things" so that people can share their wins, whether in school, home, family, etc. Builds a great sense of community, and allows us to celebrate each other. Monitoring enforcement of revised electronic device policy. Teachers see it and know we are all in this together.…
Leadership in Motion | Early Wins, Lasting Momentum: Shifting from Hustle to Leverage for a Strong, Sustainable Start to the Year
Opening Reflection August is already in the rearview mirror. The welcome-back breakfasts are finished, the to-do lists checked off, the PD slides clicked through. What remains now is something more enduring. The first-week buzz is settling (or already has), and the rhythm of the real work is taking hold. By now, you’ve answered a thousand questions, reset expectations, and reminded yourself once again that you can’t do it all. But here’s the…