Personal Influence and Lollypop Moments!

Good morning Steer Nation and happy first football Friday!  To begin I want to give a shout out to our Lady Blues Volleyball Team for the outstanding job they did representing themselves and Graham ISD in this past weekends Lu Allen Memorial Tournament. A big thanks goes to the ton of volunteers and local businesses that helped the event be a big success. Specifically, a BIG THANKS to Meredith Sanders for coordinating the tournament! 

Good luck tonight to the Graham Steers as they take on Vernon Lions in Vernon.  “Break a leg” wishes to the Graham High School Rompin Stompin Big Blue Band as they perform their inaugural performance under the direction of our new Director of Bands, Joshua Kidd. 

Best of luck to our Lady Blues Volleyball in the gold bracket of the Argyle tournament this Saturday and our Lady Blues & Steer Cross Country Teams as they compete in Burkburnett this coming week!

Today’s message:

Thought on leadership.... To many times in education we too narrowly define leadership. 

Many see leadership as something provided by those with titles such as assistant principal, principal, director, superintendent, school board, etc.  Those terms are really more about management.  James C. Hunter’s, The Servant states, “Management is what you do; leadership is the person you are and the influence and impact you have upon the people you come in contact with.  Management is not synonymous with leadership.  Leadership is synonymous with influence.”

Are you leading or just taking a walk?

Regardless of title we all possess the ability to influence others.  I believe it is an individual decision regarding how we choose to use our power to influence others.  As educators, this choice is critically important as our guidance has the possibility of stoking or extinguishing the aspirations of our students.

I encourage you to be mindful of your influence when planning learning experiences for our students.  With that said, often times, our most influential moments occur without our realization.  The TEDx/YouTube video, Leading with Lollypop, highlights this thought.

Corny Joke of the Day:

What do you call a group of unorganized cats? (scroll down for the answer)

A Cat-Astrophe