Educators Among Us

Our desire as educators is to communicate expertly in a manner that grows trust and inspires the desired responses. That means we must master a whole new level of habits and skills because communication doesn't just happen. It involves listening, sensing, and talking in order for us to adapt our methods to the way they perceive and process the world.   Quotes: Robert Frost: "Half the world is comp...

When we sustain our serenity, that inner peace, we gain significant advantages in all circumstances because we make wiser decisions, stay on purpose, and are more trusted as leaders. A sense of security returns to our schools when we have a steadfast heart and mind.   Quotes: Henry Fielding: "I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; and he to whom that is given need ask no more."   Wi...

Breaking bad luck or unfortunate patterns in life is far more likely to happen when we address our own contributions: bad habits, bad attitudes, and bad mindsets. Excellence is not a goal to be achieved, but an attitude to be cultivated.   Quotes: Helen Keller: "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is n...

Survival is the approach some take to each day, just trying to get through to the end. But not Dr. Amy Swann. She has developed a tenacity for achieving the desired goals, no matter what sacrifices and hard work are required to navigate through the obstacles.   Quotes:   Dr. Amy Swann: "As leaders, we need to go, oh that didn't work. Hey team, let's come together. And how can we strategize this? H...

Educators who love what they do have greater joy and are more productive--they know how to unleash potential through that personal touch.   Quotes: Leo Buscaglia: "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."   Plato: "At the touch of love everyone...

The art of teaching, when properly practiced, utilizes the emotion of surprise, helping those we influence see themselves and the world anew through profound truths, reliable principles, and creative solutions.   Quotes: Henri Nouwen: "Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise."   Ashley...

Each day we make subtle choices that move us closer to or further from our goals. Starting the morning with zealous humility and curiosity to calibrate our expertise enables us to listen to our body, to our soul, and even the One who makes us whole.   Quotes: Margaret J. Wheatley: "Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything...

We're all going to fail—that's life—but victory is won by those who seek wise counsel and convert that pain into opportunity to learn, adjust, and grow.   Quotes: Alfred North Whitehead: "No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude."   Jean de La Fontaine: "Nothing is as dangerous as an ignorant friend; a...

In the last quarter of the school year, the opportunities for grace seem to multiply. So we have to dig deeper, stay true to our noble calling, and be disciplined in grace.   Quotes: Friedrich Nietzsche: "He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself;  and if you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you."   Mark Twain: "Forgiveness is the fragrance that the viol...

Few talk about the fact that education is a dirty job that even Mike Rowe esteems. Our real impact is providing the best soil and the conditions for others to flourish.   Quotes: Plato: "People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die."   Howard Warren Buffet: "Soil is a living ecosystem, and is a farmer's most...

Very little about anger produces righteousness. Instead, it most often reveals the worst of us by escalating reckless thinking and actions that violate our core beliefs.   Quotes: Dale Carnegie: Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving."   Epictetus: "Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not...

Conflict is part of the path, but we refuse to linger long there because the cancer of resentment and vengeance consumes a heart made for joy.   Quotes: Ian Fleming: "You only live twice: Once when you're born and once when you look death in the face."   Steve Jobs: "If you live each day as it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."   Bible Verse: Matthew 5:24-25 First go and be re...

Scott Barron dives into the opportunities that we have to be exceptional and why it is important that we seek to stand out as exceptional educators.   Quotes: Charles Osgood: "There are no exceptions to the rule that everybody likes to be an exception to the rule."   Sean Dyche: "Consistency of performance is essential. You don't have to be exceptional every week but as a minimum you need to be at...

Scott Barron encourages us to stay focused and committed to completing the plans that we embarked on at the beginning of the school year so that we may receive the full reward that goes with finishing well.   Quotes: Louis Armstrong: "Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them."   Tony Robbins: "Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibili...

Scott Barron looks into the value that dreams play in our own lives as educators and how we can help propel others around us to pursue their dreams,goals and desires.   Quotes: Louisa May Alcott: "We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing."    Henry Ward Beecher: "We sleep, but the loom...

Scott Barron dissects the way we can add or take away value in a given situation or in an organization and how that implication has an impact far beyond ourselves.    Quotes: John von Neumann: "If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is."   Irvin D. Yalom: "When people don't have any curiosity about themselves, that is always...

Scott Barron explores the leadership potential within everyone and the influence that we, as educators, can have on others, both intentionally and unintentionally.    Quotes: E.E. Cummings: "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."   Steve Jobs: "Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."   Bible Verse: Luke 12:48 "From ev...

Scott Barron dives into the importance of having a humble nature and the value of listening over sharing opinions.   Quotes: Jane Austen: "Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast."   Saint Augustine: "Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist...

Scott Barron explores the dangers of tone deafness and the benefits of tonal awareness in a school or organization that needs to work in unison.    Quotes: Gretchen Rubin: "As goofy as it sounds, I try to sing in the morning. It's hard both to sing and to maintain a grouchy mood, and it sets a happy tone for everyone - particularly in my case, because I'm tone deaf, and my audience finds my singin...

Scott Barron discusses what it means to be prepared to jump in for our colleagues and why it is so important to the overall health of an organization to have a team ready to support and cover for each other.   Quotes: Theodore Roosevelt: "No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause."   Bible Verse: John 15:13 "...

In this episode, Scott Barron explores the fears that plague us as adults and how navigating them wisely can push us to a life worth living.    Quotes: Niccolo Machiavelli: "Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful."   C.S. Lewis: "I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger...

This week, Scott Barron emphasizes the importance of intentional kindness in all aspects of life, and how it can greatly affect the culture of a school or organization.   Quotes: Saint Basel: "A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost;he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love."  Madame de Stael - "Politeness is the art of choos...

Scott Barron discusses the impact that the good news can have on others around us and what we can do to share it with them.   Quotes: Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl: "Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.   William Blake: "If the doors of perception were...

Scott Barron discusses the importance of being able to stay in the moment in the situations that life throws at us and ask wise questions. Being able to learn, endure and grow from challenges will keep you moving forward.     Quotes: Shannon L. Alder: "Courage doesn't happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life."...

Scott Barron explores the promises that were made and fulfilled through the birth of Jesus and the profound changes that resulted from His teachings, presence and example.    Quotes: Billy Graham: "Christmas is not a myth, not a tradition, not a dream. It is a glorious reality."   Jeroslav Pelikan: "Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the...