Principals Refresh Their Skills and Knowledge--Answer to Wednesday's Challenge

Do you wonder what principals do all summer? Administrators as well as teachers take the opportunity to refresh their skills and knowledge in numerous ways. Some teachers take classes in the arts such as guitar and music. Others refresh their technology and math skills. 

Principals attend many conferences and training sessions as well. Elementary Director, Julie Warren, had an exciting welcome back training where the theme was “Peace & Happiness”. 

Shawn Achor tells us in his book the “Happiness Advantage” that, “The formula is broken because it is backward.  More than a decade of groundbreaking research in the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience has proven in no uncertain terms that the relationship between success and happiness works the other way around.

“We now know that happiness is the precursor to success, not merely the result.  And that happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement - giving us the competitive edge that I call the Happiness Advantage.” 

Principals learned from the Happiness Advantage about five tips to stay happy each day: 
1. List three gratitudes,
2. Journaling,
3. Exercise, 
4. Meditation, and 
5. Random acts of kindness. 

Other important training topics included Nebo’s 12 initiatives for Student Success: communication; collaboration; community relations; elementary reading, arts, and math; evaluations; positive behavior support; gifted and talented; and College and Career.

The Arbinger Institute states in their book “The Anatomy of Peace” that, “I become an agent of change only to the degree that I begin to live to help things go right rather than simply to correct things that are going wrong.

“It is the secret to success in business and family life as well. The state of your heart toward your children -- whether at peace or at war -- is by far the most important factor in this intervention we are now undertaking.”

Principals dressed up for the occasion in their 60's outfits to coincide with the “peace” theme. 

Congratulations to David Boyack for winning this week's challenge sponsored by Wiggy Wash.