Nurtured Heart

“There is NOTHING you can say or do that will dissuade me from believing in your ability to be successful.” 

Friday's staff meeting was exciting to me.  I heard from Anne what I have always known.  We have a special, unique thing at Parma Elementary School, and it starts with each of you and the relationships we build.   I think we can take this for granted at times because we just don't know any different, but then I talk to colleagues from all over who have so many issues with the adults in the building.  Good grief....that just seems crazy to me.  We are here for the kids, and I am so thankful you allow that to be our focus....not adult issues!  When I first approached Anne to talk to her about Nurtured Heart, her first response was, "Sue, Parma is such a nurtured heart school.  I think you all just do that naturally."  I think she is right, but I also know we can do better if we make it a focus and a collaborative effort where we are all using the same approach with our students.  I appreciate your openness and willingness to listen and perhaps give it a try for the remainder of the school year.  I heard some success stories from Friday from some of you who tried the reset after our staff meeting.

After I met with Anne last week, I came back to school and realized that I had gotten in the habit of using a lot of energy on negative behavior.  I was naming the negative behavior.   I was walking past the positive things happening without pointing them out, but when I saw something going wrong, I became animated and suddenly put a lot of energy into that.  What if we all put energy into the great things that are happening?  What if those students who usually don't get a lot of our energy because they are always doing what is right suddenly got so much positive attention from us?  What if students who tend to be defiant or disobedient suddenly got little or no energy for the poor behavior, but when he or she did something great or right, we celebrated and made that a big deal?  My purpose in looking at this has multiple reasons.  One, I feel we need to be aware of where and how we use our energy.  As Anne stated, we have a limited amount of energy to use in the day.  If we use it all toward negative behavior, that is the culture and climate we continue to have.  My other reason is that I see many of us leaving school dragging, defeated, even feeling negative on many days.  Maybe if we alter our approach during the school day to focusing on the positive, our stress level and energy level at the end of the day may actually improve.  Also, I believe that students need to hear a common language and have a common approach from year to year in regard to curriculum and behavior.  Both the Leader in Me and Nurtured Heart offer that.  Many of our students need Behavior Modification.  They have gotten far too much energy and attention for negative behavior from home and school, and we need to reroute that behavior.  As Anne stated, they are just on the track heading in the wrong direction.  Let's reroute that energy and behavior.

The premise of Nurtured Heart is that we all possess qualities of greatness, and that the building and naming of these qualities are critical to our ability to demonstrate resilience, to handle mistakes, to recover our innate greatness.  It is not our flaws which make us powerful - nor the naming of them.  But rather it is our strengths, our qualities of greatness, which pull us out of mistakes, back to that best version.  Every day, even on the days we make mistakes, we do a lot of things right.

So, let's give it a try.  The Nurtured Heart Approach....a system of relationship where all energy and attention is directed to what is going right, and little or no energy is given toward negative behaviors or choices.  Rules are clear.  Consequences are swift, emotionless and consistent.  Welcome students back from a reset....spirits are renewed quickly back to the best version of each person.  Always fight to find the positive in any moment, and put your energy into it.  Refuse to put any energy into anything negative, and always deliver a consequence when things go wrong....but don't give it a lot of energy.

I plan to start small.  I have been practicing just really focusing on pointing out the positive, the greatness I see all around me.  You can almost see the students "puff up" with pride.  Name the behavior, not just "good job".  Building kids up.  Helping bring out their greatness....truly Honoring their Greatness like our front wall says.  Nurturing their hearts.  Wow!  What a great job we have!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine…It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. We are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson

Nurtured Heart Links and Articles:

Honoring Greatness...Beginning with Yourself

Spring Fever and the Nurtured Heart Approach

Recognizing qualities of Greatness: Substitutions for good job and thank you


Videos worth your time:

Nurtured Heart Rocky River Elementary School

Nurtured Heart Approach

This week at a Glance:

Monday, April 29th:  2:00 Elementary Principal Meeting at Admin.
Tuesday, April 30th:  3:45 Staff Lighthouse meeting
Wednesday, May 1st:  3rd - 5th Assembly
Thursday, May 2nd:  5:30 Top Teacher Award Ceremony at Ella Sharp Museum
Thursday, May 2nd:  7:00 Spring Music Program @ WCAC grades 1, 3 and 5
Friday, May 3rd:  Ganton Residence Visit at 11:00
Friday, May 3rd:  1:00 School Improvement Meeting

Have a great week!

Simply The Best

“ The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. ”

— Leo Tolstoy

This week we celebrate Pam.  It is Secretary's Week, and Wednesday is Secretary's
Day.  I often watch and listen to Pam doing her job, and I honestly don't know how she does it.  She is able to maintain composure in the most chaotic times.  She juggles the needs of so many of us all at the same time without batting an eye.  She takes care of upset stomachs and headaches, and bandages scrapes all day.  She listens to kids proudly read while grabbing the phone or helping parents or staff members.  She takes calls and keeps all the changes in pick up and drop offs straight.  62 bottles of medicine, inhalers, and just as many ipads, ipods and cell phones somehow are kept in order under her desk.  The copy machine....well, you know how she feels about the copy machine, but she still can take it a part and put it back together to make it work better than anyone else.  I love watching her with our kids.  Whether it be the child reading to her, or the ones who come in for a hug every day, or even the ones who aren't feeling well or just need some time in the office.  She handles all of them with such love and kindness.   Then, I have to shamefully admit, she deals very calmly with me often yelling from my office when I need something or someone.  Somehow she manages to do all of this and so much more with a positive attitude and a smile. 

A smile is something you can’t give away; it always comes back to you – Maya Angelou


Did you know that a smile is contagious so is a mood?  There have been many interesting studies conducted over the past few years which speak to the magic and power of a single smile, and how something so seemingly simple and effortless can inspire, affect, and set the tone of a person's day.  We all need to keep this in mind as we approach our day and our students.  I believe that a student's approach to learning is directly impacted by the way they are treated and the way in which we all interact with them during the school day.  I am so grateful every child in our building has the opportunity to interact with Pam Garver.  So, in honor of Pam, please take some time this week to watch the videos and read the links.  Let's remember to smile more, to be great to our kids, and good to each other.  Pam Garver, you are simply the best!!

Videos worth watching:


Simply The Best:

Ted Talk:  The Hidden Power of a Smile

What Pam would like to say:  

Jeanne Robertson:  "Hiring Toni - The Administrative Professional"

Links worth reading:

Power of a Smile

NPR sound bite and article: Happiness: It really is contagious

The untapped power of smiling

Have a great week.....keep smiling!

Common Core...Choose Your Attitude

I have been reading Pathways to the Common Core by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth and Christopher Lehman.  Sounds exciting, I know, but honestly, I am gaining a great deal of information.  And...lucky you, I'm going to share some of the highlights.  The authors state that it is safe to say that "across the entire history of American education, no single document will have played a more influential role over what is taught in our schools."  They also admit that there are two ways we can view the standards.  We can view them as a curmudgeon - or as if they are gold.

One of the stories told in the book is that of Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey.  It is a story he told during his commencement speech at Williams College in 2011.  Booker told the story of how, as a young Yale law student, he decided to become a community organizer and thought the best place to start was Newark, the city that Time Magazine had called "the most dangerous city in the nation."  People in Newark said to him, "If you want to help this city, you don't need to learn from all those Yale professors.  You need to learn from the Queen Mother."

"The Queen Mother?"  he asked.  He said that it was suggested that he visit a woman who lived on the fifth floor of Brick Towers, one of Newark's most notorious developments.

Cory Booker climbed the stairs and knocked on the door of Virginia Jones' apartment.  A seventy-something-year-old woman came to the door.  Retelling this story, he recalled saying "Ma'am, I am Cory Booker.  I am from Yale Law School, Ma'am.  I am here to help you out."

The Queen Mother, unimpressed, responded, "Well, if you really want to help, follow me."  They walked down five flights, through a courtyard, past a group of drug dealers, and into the middle of the street.  "Tell me what you see around you," she instructed Cory.

In his speech, Cory began to describe the scene around him:  "I see an abandoned building filled with people doing nefarious activities, I see graffiti..."

The Queen Mother stopped him.  "Boy, you can't help this city," she said and stormed off.

Cory ran behind her, stunned.  "Ma'am? Ma'am?"  he asked.  "What just happened?"

Virginia Jones wheeled around and said to Cory, "You need to understand something, boy.  The world you see outside of you is a reflection of what you have inside of you  If you are one of those people who only sees problems and darkness and despair, then that is all there is ever going to be for you.  But if you are one of those people who sees hope, opportunity, and love, then you can make a difference."

If we are going to play a role in shaping the future, then we need to take the Queen Mother's adice to heart.  We need to see hope and opportunity.  As part of this, we need to embrace what is good about the Common Core State Standards - and roll ou our sleeves and work to make those standards into a force that lifts our teaching and our school.  There is good in them.  We would be very happy if students in our school could do the level of work independently that is required in the Common Core.

So...are we curmudgeons or do we see the standards or any initiative as if they are full of potential and with eyes of hope?  I can answer that about Parma Elementary School Staff.  We are full of hope and have always seen the potential in every child and every initiative.  I know the Common Core will be no different as we work together to implement.

This week at a glance:

Monday, April 15:  Smarter Balanced Assessment begins for 5th grade
Tuesday, April 16:  3:45 Lighthouse Team Meeting
Tuesday, April 16:  6:30 PTA Meeting
Wednesday, April 17:  Grades 3 - 5 Assembly
Wednesday, April 17:  3:00 Grade 5 Standard based Grading Discussion in Board Room
Thursday, April 18:  School Improvement Conference in Lansing
Thursday, April 18:  6:30 Board Meeting, Our students will be presenting
Friday, April 19:  2:45 Pizza with the Principal

Links worth Looking at:

25 Apps that Support Reading and Writing for Struggling Students
Seven Must Have Centers for Math Class
50 Useful apps for Students with Reading Disabilities



Videos Worth Watching:

Three Minute Video explaining the Common Core:

Blooms Taxonomy according to Andy Griffith:

What is 21st Century Education:

21st Century Education:  The Changes in Education

The 4 C's....Making 21st Century Education Happen

Have a great week!

LEADING the way to the Final Stretch

Welcome back from a much needed and much deserved spring vacation.  I hope you were able to rest and rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit.  We enter the final stretch of this school year, and to be honest, I can't believe it.  I hope you are able to look back at the first 3/4 of this year and realize the accomplishments we have made.   I am overwhelmed with gratitude over your willingness to take on The Leader in Me for our students.  It has been extra work, and it has taken extra time, and it has added roles to all of us.  Right from the beginning, when this program was presented, and you heard how it would be benefit our students, everyone was all in.  All in included 4 days of training during your summer, several days of cleaning and painting, and many hours planning and taking on additional roles as leaders of leaders.  There have been two school wide "ideas" throughout my career that I have felt strongly about the potential to impact the school culture.  One was Professional Learning Communities and the other is Leader in Me.  I feel that we continue to become stronger and create a better school for our students and staff through our work and focus on transformational changes such as these.

I would like to share with you an email and photo I received from one of our parents while on vacation last week.  This is from Erica Sponsler :  (notice the tshirt)

"On the night of the MLKj assassination, RFK was in Indianapolis on a campaign stop. At this corner he got on the back of a flatbed truck and implored the people of Indianapolis to live the dream. To not react to the murder in violence but instead in peace. Indianapolis was one of the few major cities which 45 years ago today did not erupt in violence. MLKj and RFK working together one last time. This is what Leadership looks like.

This is my second favorite moment in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. So lucky to be here.

Stella told me about MLKj today and I told her about RFK."

Here are a couple more picture of a couple of our students on vacation:

This was posted on facebook this week by one of our parents:

Here are a few more Parma Leaders.....

I would follow these three anytime.....especially to the beach!

Our effort and work make all the difference in the world in the lives of our students.  This is year one, and it is having an impact.  I guarantee that our students are thinking more about leadership, being a leader, making good choices than ever before.  

We have leadership day coming up in May, and we have much to show for our first year as A Leader in Me School.  Let's help each other focus on the positive.  Do we still have work to do?  Absolutely, but we have come so far already.  I love that Parma Elementary is always striving to be better, to do better!  We are leaders, and don't you forget it!  : )  

This week at a glance:

We will be having random emergency drills this week, so please review procedures with your students.

Monday:  9:00 SE Team Meeting
Tuesday:  3:45 Lighthouse Team Meeting
Wednesday:  Grades Y5 - 2 PLC Assembly
Thursday:  1:00 - 3:00 School Improvement Meeting
Thursday:  7:00 Kindergarten Parent Orientation
Friday:  8:00 Staff Meeting

Video worth viewing:

These are leaders in their field who were almost overlooked.  Just shows we never know and can never, never, never give up!

Have a great first week back!  Enjoy our kids.  They will be so happy to see you!