10 Revolutionary Ways to have a Free Mind

Do you want a revolutionary change in your life? You are the one who can make it happen. Don't wait on others. What you want to do may never fit in their schedule. You must be the captain of your ship and commit to going in a new direction. In each of us is the possibility that we might create something innovative or unique that the world has never seen before. When should you start? Today is the best time to grant yourself permission to get busy. Here are more tips.

1.  Use the digital recorder on your cell phone to record things you want to remember.

2. Forgive people who have hurt you and move forward. Other people can cause you mental stress.

3. Periodically take a long weekend vacation by taking off Friday and Monday

4.  Write things down that you need to remember to get rid of the stress of remembering 

5. Leave your home and take a brief vacation at a local hotel. Reduce the stress in traveling by airplane or car

6. Start a new project that you have been promising to start the last five year

7. Don't close the door on the new opportunity. 

8. Be joyful. Being angry will only increase your stress

9. Volunteer your time and contribute to something you enjoy 

10. Read positive quotes and books and create your own quotes that will inspire you toward success

You are a highly capable person. Say what you want to become in the next few weeks. Take each day as a chance to learn something great that you can incorporate into your vision. Your greatness is waiting for you!

Dr. Stephen Jones is a success coach who can help you to revolutionize your business and life. Contact him to arrange one on one coaching at Learn@DrStephenJones.net. Or visit Dr. Jones’ website at http://bit.ly/1MDHUs9

Should K12 Schools Prepare Students for College

Many K12 school principals and teachers think that high school is the best time to prepare a student for college. A child's elementary school education experience is actually laying the foundation for success while enrolled as a college student. Parent's play a key role too. They create the expectation that their child will go to college. That's why I wrote the Parent's Ultimate Education Guide. The right elementary school experience will plant the seed of enthusiasm for learning in a child. That enthusiasm will sprout again and again in middle school and high school. Students that read with great comprehension are on a pathway that can lead to good preparation for college.

Here are 10 creative things the K12 school administrators and teacher's can do to prepare students for college:

1. Start a chess club. It teaches problem solving.

2. Create a 100 book reading challenge. Children build their vocabulary by reading.

3.  Teach kids underwater robotics. Consider the MATE competition

4.  Design student projects that focus on the environment. It can create an enthusiasm for science.

5. Create an entrepreneurship club for students who want to start businesses.

6.  Invite college students to regularly talk about their major and to do fun things with the students.

7.  Arrange for students to visit a college campus.

8. Get local college students involved in tutoring.

9. Form a science club and enter the student's into a competition.

10.  Encourage students to play music. These students have very high rates of graduating from college.

The middle school years should not be ignored with regard to college preparation. A middle school student should pursue any honors classes that are available. Teachers should talk to students about their college experience. Students enjoy having conversations about their teacher's college experience. Let your middle school student select a college that they want would like to research and give a presentation about. All of the students in a classroom can benefit from their research paper or powerPoint.

College focused high schools should encourage students to speak with a college counselor during the 9th grade. The students should not wait until the last minute to develop a plan. It is amazing how four years of high school ends so fast. A ninth grader can take a career test to get some ideas regarding their job interest. It is also important to inform ninth graders about summer programs that are held on a college campus. Encourage all students to take advanced placement (AP) classes and explain their value to parents and students. Students should also understand that they must maintain good grades throughout their high school experience. Encourage all seniors to complete the common application for admission to college.

Get your elementary, middle or high school geared up for college. Have college displays and banners throughout the school. Invite a fun professor to do experiments at an assembly. Promote a positive expectation that students will do well in your school. Put famous motivational quotes on display in your hallways. 

Yes your student should go to college or a trade school to receive a post secondary education. A child's education determines their occupation and their occupation determines income. It is important to get children ready for 21st century careers early. Our current K12students are the leaders of tomorrow.

Dr. Stephen Jones is the author, worship presenter and consultant. Get his books which are the Parent's Ultimate Education Guide, the Seven Secrets of How to Study and the Ultimate Scholarship Guide. Get my books at http://www.studyskills2u.com.  Send your questions to stephenjoness@rcn.com or to order call 610-842-3843.

How Principals Can Change Failing Schools

One of the critical aspects of transforming a school is selecting the right leadership.  The expectation that there will be new  leadership that will result in a successful school must be in the hearts and minds of the principal, staff and teachers who see students every day.  Why do some schools turn around while others flounder?  It is because some principals and teachers continue to lead the same way they did last year.  They expect different results but they keep doing the same things that caused the school to fail.  Successful principals and teachers see change as a good aspect of their schools success.  There must be leadership with a positive vision and measurable outcomes that inspire students to be successful. There must be a commitment to moving forward with new ideas and actions.

     The principals, staff and teachers in a school that’s progressing has very good communication and cooperation among the entire professionals who are running the school.  There is an expectation that all communication has a purpose and motivates everyone to raise the level of energy that is invested in student instruction. A better school will come from everyone knowing how to carry out the vision of the principal.  Teachers in this school should feel free to talk to each other and to develop some of their own strategies to improve student motivation. This includes reviewing the way that they communicate their lessons to students.  The teachers must also feel confident that the principal understands them and takes time to teach students too.  A principal who takes time to teach will have a better sense of what students are learning in their classrooms.

     The students must understand that everyone at the school expects them to do well.  There must be a strategy to totally abolish the culture of low expectation.  Students must be applauded and recognized for their accomplishments in the classroom.  A whole school culture can change if the students who maintain a “C” average are challenged and rewarded for raising their performance to a “B” average or higher. Success is evident in a school when the principal and teachers make learning fun and engaging.  The school not only celebrates their success of its athletes but has a bigger celebration over students who excel in the classroom.  A school atmosphere can change so that athletes want to become a scholar athlete.  Better grades and academic performance will get all students excited about coming to school.

     There must be a level of compassion by the principal and teachers.  A school must be a welcoming place that is aware of the neighborhoods and cultures that influence the students.  Schools administrators that ignore the child’s problems are ignoring that they are affected by a number of struggles.  The challenges that a student can face when there is one parent in the home are tremendous.  Even if the student has two parents it does not guarantee that they will focus their energy on the student’s academic success. The principal and teachers must understand these challenges and work on some solutions that help each student to position themselves to learn when they are in school.  There are some very bright students whose home situation is not good.  It is better to meet the challenge head on than to hope that it will go away.

    It is important to lead from the front and not from the back. What is meant by this statement? It is better to have a plan that the school is following than to constantly respond to conflict and problems that were never fixed.  When the principals, staff and teachers lead from the front schools become better.  The teachers are excited to come to school because they feel supported. The students get the benefit of the teacher’s enthusiasm.  The principals and teachers can be role models of what good leadership looks like.  They also inspire students to become leaders at the school and in their community. 

     Positive changes can come from principals, staff and teachers who know how to get parents involved in the daily life of the school.  Parents often do not know how they play a positive role because their own parents were not involved in their school.  The school staff and several parents should come together to discuss how other parents can be involved.  These meetings can be held in the school, at a community center or at a church.   An effective parent involvement program includes meeting the parents where they live.  It’s great when a principal can find a pre-existing group of parents that meet and find a way to get on their agenda.  This saves the parent’s time but the principal can share important information with them. Persistence and a significant improvement in the students success is the key to improving parent involvement.

    Finally an inspired principal and staff can change a failing school by promoting career awareness to all at all K12 levels. Too many students are drifting in schools where they have no idea what their future could look like.  I firmly believe that career exploration should occur all year.  The K12 students need to explore careers to sustain their enthusiasm and the vision to explore how they can work in professions such as medicine, engineering, government, business and other professions.  The principals and teachers are the catalyst that motivates students can educate students about some of to pursue the top careers.  It is time to try something different at the failing schools. It is time to take action and to fight for successful schools.

Dr. Stephen Jones is an education expert who you should consider for your school.  He is the author of the Seven Secrets of How to Study, the Parent’s Ultimate Education Guide and the Ultimate scholarship guide at http://www.studyskills2u.com. Contact him right away at 610-842-3843.

Back to School Success tips for Principals

It's important for a principal to have a back to school plan that gets the entire school and neighborhood involved. Remember to begin the school year with the end in mind. Know what you want to accomplish by the end of spring 2015? Then identify partners who will help you to take your school to higher levels of academic performance. Clearly outline your goals and the steps to get there with your staff, teachers, parents and students. You are the leader and people want to hear from you. Here are some other tips.

1. Get parents involved in the school during August start up.

2. Appoint a parent liaison for the year. This liaison will contact parents and get them involved in the school.

3. Get staff and faculty to talk about their vision for the new school year.

4. If you are a high school principal establish a 9th grade transition program where students get two credits.

5. Make career exploration a fall and spring monthly effort.

6. Be flexible get school change insights from your staff, faculty, students and parents.

7. Make more tutoring available for students. (College students, retired teachers, corporate representatives).

8. Plan trips to visit companies at all levels of the K12 experience.

9. Have a stress reduction plan for the school year. (Healthy eating, exercise, yoga, walk, run, occasionally a long weekend.

10. Create student academic success plan and get staff, faculty, students and parents involved.

One of the biggest positive changes in a school occurs when the students know that you care. The principal should be the biggest cheerleader that students see every day. Visiting classes and acknowledging student accomplishments, getting students to have a school pledge, special shirt, art gallery, school song or having students highlights each week. The principal can raise the level of enthusiasm throughout their building. A dedicated principal can be the difference that leads students to a brighter future. Dr. Stephen Jones is a professional development and student presenter, author and

Educator at http://bit.ly/19Vg9ew or call 610-842-3843.

How an effective Professional Development helps your School to Prosper

Did you get all that you wanted from your last professional development?  An effective professional development must involve more than a one day seminar at your school. You want a professional development experience that will help your staff, teachers and students to prosper throughout the year. All change takes time. Sometimes it's important to have a professional development theme for the year. In other words there are some consistent things that you want to develop over the entire school year.  Invite a presenter to come more than once or have several presenters focus on the same theme.   You want to maximize everyone's chances that they will grow as an outcome of the professional development sessions. You and the professional development person can come up with some themes that will be introduced during each session. When staff and teachers feel supported they will respond and the entire school can change. Here are ten things that will change your school.

1. Show staff your goal for the year and how you all can measure progress. 

2.  Be a visible leader with students, staff and teachers.

3. Change starts with you

4. Visit another school to see how they implement a good professional development 

5. Have a monthly conference call with your professional development presenter

6.  Don't give up change takes time

7. Ask the presenter what resources will help your school to become better

8. Expect great things for your school. Your energy will spill over to everyone.

9.  Ask your teachers and staff for suggestions. Express appreciation and let them know when you are implementing their suggestion.

10. Try a new professional development presenter 

You should select the professional development that fits your school.  Find ways to move the items that are in the way of your student's progress.  Seek to strengthen the resources that teachers will need to help students to achieve. Don't look at change as work. Look at it as an opportunity to make your school function better. Move forward with purpose there is nothing you can do about the past. Dr. Stephen Jones is a professional development presenter and author. To reach him email stephenjoness@rcn.com or 610-842-3943. Visit his website at http://bit.ly/19Vg9ew. 

How to Create Inspired and Effective New Principal

The ability to become an effective new principal is not the end it is only the beginning of a fantastic journey.  The need for professional development for new principals is critical to a schools success. There are more demands on principals than ever before.  Putting a new principal into a school without preparation is dooming them for failure.  Superintendents of schools must have a plan that incorporates training and mentoring for more than one year. A new principal needs to know that he/she is supported by an administration that cares about a new principal’s success.

For the new principal it is time to get ready to change the lives of thousands of students.  The new principal is a catalyst for innovation where school staff, teachers and students adapts a new culture.  Here are a few things that new principals can do remain inspired and to excite their entire school about academic excellence:

1. Have a career day every month to expose students and staff to new possibilities

2.  Write down your goals and make them measurable

3.  Join Pinterest and get information from Pins on education, STEM, student activities and other topics

4.  Read inspirational leadership books each month and purchase them for staff too

5. Partner with a seasoned mentor who can offer you good advice

6.  Involve your students in STEM activities throughout the school year

7.  Pursue additional education. Consider an executive MBA or a Ph.D

8.  Join an association of secondary education leaders and attend conferences

9. Join Linkedin leadership group for K12 administrators

10.  Make it a goal to highlight the success stories of your staff, teachers and students

The key to effective organizational leadership is having clear goals that you are following. These goals can influence your teachers, students and parents to take action. They can improve the academic engagement and foster a positive relationship with the local community. Also, since you are the leader you will need to stay on top of new technology and trends that affect your schools performance. You can share articles and other information with your staff and faculty that help them to do their job.

One great assessment tool that you can use is called SWOT analysis.  This analysis will reveal your schools strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Use the SWOT analysis to map out a plan regarding how to address challenges that your school is facing and highlight your successes too.  You should get everyone involved to get your best picture of how you can move forward with new goals. Involvement will help everyone feel happy that they have contributed to your plan.  Focus on opportunities to make your school the best that it can be.

If you are a new principal the best is yet to come for you.  Every successful leader understands that good things happen over time.  Don’t be afraid to ask people questions. You can influence young people to become future leaders by your own leadership style.  Often people may not remember what you said but they will remember what you did to make a difference in their life.  Pursue excellence and you will find that being a principal is not a job it is the rewarding experience that you always expected.  Dr. Stephen jones is a professional development presenter and the author of the Seven Secrets of how to Study, the Ultimate Parent’s Guide and the Ultimate Scholarship Guide at http://bit.ly/19Vg9ew

Keys to Maximizing Your Student's Motivation

One of the biggest challenges for any school is how to keep students motivated.  It's challenging to create a school environment where everyone wants to show up every day. There are some key things that you want to keep in mind. Students are not always clear on their goals. School should be a place where they can find their purpose. Students need an opportunity to express themselves and school is a great place to do it.  If all classes find a way to incorporate interactive projects and group efforts and friendly competition you will get better results. Allow students to offer suggestions. Here are more tips: 

1.  Offer tutoring throughout the day and encourage students to earn better grades

2.  Hire teachers who believe that the students are going to be success

3. Incorporate current events into all classes

4. Have a school wide community project

5.  Visit cultural locations with students in another city

6. Have a council of student leaders that represent each grade

7.  Give students an opportunity to teach a part of your lesson.

8.  Develop an exchange of idea program with another school

9. Get your local college's small business office to help your students with starting their own small businesses

10.  Create many ways for parents to participate in the school with conference calls and meetings at the school and in the community.

Don''t stay stuck in the way that you've done things with your students. They are waiting for you to be innovative and engaging. There is a lot that you can do differently and it won't cost money. Always ask your students questions. They want a good school environment too. Seek to uncover your leaders.  Some disruptive students are leaders who have not found the right way to express themselves.  Ask them to help organize the right thing and this student will change.  Every student needs a spark to ignite their enthusiasm for learning. Take time to listen to your students and you can uncover all that's necessary to raise your students motivation.  Dr. Stephen Jones is an professional development/workshop presenter http://bit.ly/MjQ16z and author of the Seven Secrets of How to Study at http://bit.ly/19Vg9ew.

Vice Principals the Aspiring Leaders of Tomorrow

The leaders that we need for tomorrow are the vice-principals that we see in schools today.  There is a fertile group of administrators who are often one step away from the principal’s role.  The experiences that will lead to a successful role as a principal must be a daily task.   There are decisions about the administration of the school, teachers and the academic success of students. These all combine into a tangles web of decisions that require forethought and immediate responses.  Some vice- principals serve as the Dean of Students while others manage the academic affairs of their school. All leadership opportunities add up to experience s that help’s the vice-principal to grow into a future leadership role. There are ten things that you can do to develop your skills as a leader:

1.  Identify a mentor who has plenty of principal experience

2.  Pursue a master’s degree in management with an emphasis on leadership

3.  Attend leadership seminars whenever you attend a conference

4.  Take on a project that’s important to your school district and do a good job

5. Have a plan for your physical fitness

6. Meet and connect with people who attend district wide training sessions for principals

7.  Participate on a panel during a workshop discussing school management

8.  Write an article concerning your role in your K12 school and distribute it

9.  Create a plan of action concerning your timeline for becoming a principal.

10. Take a technology course to enhance your skills

You are on a journey that requires an open mind to everything that will lead to your success. Never allow yourself to be isolated. You will need people to help you to succeed.  While you are a vice principal you have a good amount of time getting people to know you.  You can often listen to concerns that the principal does not hear from staff and students. Effective communication starts with listening.  Listen to the concerns of your staff and parents.  Always seek to find a solution to problems and don’t let carry on for weeks and weeks.  You are the captain of your goal to become principal.

Dr Stephen Jones is education consultant, author of three books the Seven Secrets of How to Study, the Parent's Ultimate Education Guide and the Ultimate Scholarship Guide available at http://www.studyskills2u.com.

Professional Development the Key to Leadership

The key to being and effective leadership in education is the determination to never give up. A good leader will know that when something goes wrong it is an opportunity to learn. It's actually a time to do something different then you've done in the past.  Her are somethings you can do to take your leadership to another level:

1. Read a leadership every three months

2. Read leadership ebooks

3. Attend an online seminar on leadership

4. Pursue a masters degree

5. Work on your listening skills 

6. Make a commitment to change

7. Download a MP3 recording from blogtalkradio

8. Attend a leadership and motivation conference

9.  Serve as a leader in a local education association

10.  Identify a mentor who is a leader and stick with him/her

It takes time to become an effective leader. You must accept all of the stages.  You will gain more wisdom

with each year that goes by. Stay steady and look for ways to keep yourself motivated by talking to others. You can make it. Dr. Stephen Jones conducts professional development workshops. You can contact him at 610-842-3843  or at stephenjoness@rcn.com.