VaASCD News
Winter 2014

In This Issue

Leadership Redefined

Three Thoughtful Keys

A Spirit of Pioneering

Write for VaASCD

Beyond the Content

Self-Mentoring

Upcoming Events

Help your PreK and Kindergarten students learn to control their behaviors and emotions. Attend our professional development institute on self-regulation with Amanda Williford. Details here.

If you missed the Partnering with Principals Math Institute for K-8 principals, sign up now! These institutes will be repeated in Newport News and Abingdon in February. Details here.

Spring into inspiration!

Attend Go Beyond the Content with Scott Habeeb on April 9 at the Science Museum of Virginia, and learn to build inspirational culture in your classroom. Details here.

Love Rick Wormeli? So do we!

Details here.

Bruton High School's Stage Band entertains at VaASCD Conference.

Visit
VaASCD.org

Office hours M-F 7:30- 12:30.

Phone 434-466-746

Fax 540-832-7666.

Contact:

Admin. Coordinator

Judy Lam.

Exec. Director

Laurie McCullough.

The General Assembly is reconsidering the number of required SOL tests. Tell your legislator you support reduction of testing in Virginia!

Leadership Redefined: You ARE a Leader

by Dave Weber
Dave Weber, keynote speaker at VASCD's 2013 annual conference reminded attendees that we are all leaders. He encourages educators to take responsibility for leadership no matter their position in the organization.

Some people define leadership by a title. Others define a leader by the amount of responsibility or authority one has, or by how many people a person oversees. Sometimes, a leader has a combination of all of those. I want to reframe the idea of what it means to be a leader, to help people understand that the idea of leadership isn't just some lofty goal or state of being reserved for presidents, CEOs, and the rich. Read more...

Three Keys to a Thoughtful Professional Life

by Daryl Chesley, VASCD President

The success of nearly every venture can be predicted by the level of deliberateness that goes into the planning of the event. An excellent example of this premise is the level of success of our most recent VASCD Annual Conference. A team of dedicated professionals who came together in a very deliberate and well planned manner were able to organize and deliver an incredibly high level product.

Using this logic, I ask each of you to consider employing such a level of thoughtfulness in three areas of your professional career. Read more.

A Spirit of Pioneering

in Virginia?

by Laurie McCullough, VASCD Executive Director

"Once an organization loses its spirit of pioneering and rests on its early work, its progress stops". -Thomas Watson

During Thomas Watson's tenure as CEO of International Business Machines (1941-56), the company grew into an international force, a household word, and the undisputed leader in computer technology. Watson knew that the innovations of the 1920's would not carry his company into the next decade. IBM had enormous success under Watson's leadership. His company shaped the future by understanding not only what customers needed at present, but also what they would need next, and then innovating toward future needs.

Understanding and meeting the needs of the future is the call to educators as well. Read more...

Write for the VaASCD Journal!

We are currently accepting submissions for the Spring

2014 issue of Virginia Educational Leadership. Manuscripts are due by February 21.

Contact Editor Eric Carbaugh at carbauem@jmu.edu.

Teaching and Learning Beyond the Content: A 2013 Conference Reflection

by Robin Hoffman, VASCD Board Member (shown here with her awesome family!)

When I was in the third grade, my teacher presented me with my very own race horse- albeit a paper race horse ready to be decorated by excited third-grade students. Filled with color and doodles, I vividly remember how the letters of my name flowed along the outline of the reins, looping together in some novice version of cursive.

The next day, the teacher invited us to place our horses at the starting gate of the bulletin-board race track which stretched across the length of the back wall. And so began the practice of timed, multiplication quizzes during our morning math routine. Accuracy and speed dictated if and how far your horse progressed along the linear track. Each day I eagerly anticipated those drills which resulted in my horse swiftly moving along the track. The experienced became a cherished school memory.

Years later at a wedding, I bumped into my third grade teacher. Read more

SELF-MENTORING™: HOW TO REACH YOUR LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM

by Marsha Carr,

Asst. Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Self-mentoring™ has gained national and more recently international attention. Self-mentoring refers to an achiever, willing to initiate and accept responsibility for self-development by devoting time to navigate within the culture of the environment in order to make the most of opportunity to strength competencies needed to enhance (job) performance and (career) progression. Self-mentoring is the art of accepting responsibility for personal and/or professional growth through the identification and development of individual skills, aligning internal and external resources to meet goals/expectations, and applying social and professional networking to further support goals. Self-mentors choose the path to reach each goal through collaborations, observations, one-one-one interactions, discussion groups, networking activities, community clusters, and other various identified measures of self-mentoring. Read more...