1. Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

2. Whitney Meissner, ed.d. West sound Summer institute 2016
ROCK’in the Schools
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
Whitney Meissner, ed.d.
West sound Summer institute 2016

3. Learning Targets Remember to express gratitude regularly
Set personal, professional goals
Understand resiliency, optimism, curiosity, and kindness as it impacts our personal and professional lives
Build the foundation for ongoing reflective practices
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

4. Success Criteria I said “thank you” to at least one person today.
I established at least one personal, professional, or student growth goal and a first step toward achieving it
I understand the concepts of ROCK and how to bring it to my work
I participated in reflective practice and know how to include it in my daily work
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

5. Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

6. Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

7. Start with Gratitude Someone made your life a little easier this year…
A friend?
A student?
A colleague?
A parent?
A son or daughter?
A spouse?
Let’s say THANK YOU now….
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

8. Saying “Thank you” is a gift you get to give away AND keep.
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

9. Time Audit Think of a typical work day and a typical weekend day.
Use a pie chart, bar graph, whatever works for you
Make 2 graphs: one for a weekday, one for a weekend day
What % is work?
What % is family?
What % is personal wellness?
What % is home chores?
What % is personal time/interest/passion?
Other categories?
How much do the above categories overlap for you?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

10. Ask yourself:
What is my passion?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

11. What is most important in my life?
Ask yourself:
What is most important in my life?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

12. Ask yourself:
How did my time audit match my passions and what I said was important?
Align your time and priorities
What you spend your time doing is what you value.
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

13. Goal Setting For this exercise, focus on your professional work.
Reflect on these questions:
Where do you and your students consistently succeed?
Where do your students struggle?
What in your practice would you like to improve?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

14. Feedback How do you like to receive feedback?
How do you give feedback to your students?
Keep Eduardo Briceno’s comments in mind: praise the hard work
Feedback structure
Strengths
Short term growth
Long term growth/professional development
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

15. Feedback to yourself What are your strengths as a professional?
What is something you’d like to try next year that you could do with no additional support from anyone?
What is something you’d like to try next year that will take training and/or support from others?
These are the beginnings of your professional goals for next year.
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

16. Student Growth Student growth = Student learning
Schools exist to facilitate learning
We must get better at answering the question, “How do I know students are learning in my classroom every day?”
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

17. Relationships & Communication
Dysfunctional
Victim
Rescuer
Persecutor
Healthy
Creator
Coach
Challenger
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

18. How will you continue to foster growth mindsets and healthy relationships?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

19. Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

20. Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

21. R.O.C.K.’in The Schools
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

22. Resiliency Why do we even need to talk about this? Economic challenges
High stakes test scores
Trauma or tragedy
Difficult people
Conflict
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
How do we celebrate when times are good?
How do we recover when they are hard?
How do we ask for and accept a helping hand?
How do we say we are sorry and let others know we are ready to move on?
Resilience is all about pulling from a place of inner strength to struggle through tough times. Life isn’t easy, but sometimes it’s the hard stuff that really lets us know what is important and what we can do.

23. Resiliency From what do you need to recover this year?
Or…What do you hope to improve in upcoming years?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
How do we celebrate when times are good?
How do we recover when they are hard?
How do we ask for and accept a helping hand?
How do we say we are sorry and let others know we are ready to move on?
Resilience is all about pulling from a place of inner strength to struggle through tough times. Life isn’t easy, but sometimes it’s the hard stuff that really lets us know what is important and what we can do.

24. Optimism
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

25. Optimism Do you spend more time celebrating or complaining?
What gets you back to the positive side of life?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
One wish I have for all of us here today is to spend more time focusing on the positive.
Emphasize what you have
Look for what’s working.
See what is right.
Count your friends.
When you catch yourself complaining about something or someone, check yourself and ask yourself what it will take to return to the positive.

26. Optimism
How do you redirect others when they are negative or complaining?
How do you differentiate between positional conflict and adversarial conflict?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

27. Curiosity
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

28. Curiosity When frustrated or defensive, ask yourself why?
What is motivating your thoughts and actions?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
A skill I have consistently tried to develop this year is checking my own emotions when something happens that may rub me the wrong way. I’ve been working – somewhat, but not entirely successfully – at being curious. So I might ask myself:
Why am I feeling this way?
What do I need to know to better understand this situation?
Is there something happening here that I need to know more about? 
What do I need to do to move past this situation?

29. Curiosity Are you seeking to understand, or be understood?
When do you take a stand, and when do you let go?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
Forgiveness….

30. Kindness
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

31. Kindness
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

32. Kindness: A Word about Rachel Scott
Eliminate Prejudice by looking for the best in others
Dare to Dream: Set Goals, Keep a Journal
Choose your Influences: Input determines output
Kind Words: Small acts of kindness = huge impact
Start a Chain Reaction with family and friends
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

33. It’s always the right time to be kind
Kindness
It’s always the right time to be kind
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

34. Notice anything?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
Point out ROCK….

35. R.O.C.K. Who, or what is your ROCK?
For whom, or what, are YOU the ROCK?
What happens when that ROCK isn’t there any more…
What happens when you are the ROCK and you are affected?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

36. It’s about balance…. Physical Emotional Mental/Cognitive Social
Financial
Spiritual
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

37. Stress and Recovery
We grow when we expand ourselves through stress AND allow for adequate recovery
Do you feel adequate time for stress and recovery for all areas?
Physical
Emotional
Mental / Cognitive
Social
Financial
Spiritual
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner
Most people feel excessive stress in mental and emotional areas, insufficient stress in physical and spiritual, with LITTLE emphasis on recovery.
In times of crisis, RECOVERY IS KEY

38. Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

39. Goal setting Make, or continue, a commitment to yourself.
In each area: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, what is ONE thing you can commit to doing in the next week to provide you enough stress to grow and improve, with adequate time to recover?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

40. Letter to Myself
On the notebook paper, write a letter to yourself. What do YOU want YOU to know and remember:
About the presentation
About your goals
About what’s important
Seal the letter in the white envelope
Address it to yourself
On the back, note the month & year you’d like me to mail it to you
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

41. Closing Activity Thinking about ROCK
Thinking about Personal Goals (Physical, Mental/Cognitive, Social, Financial, Emotional, Spiritual)
What do you want to remember?
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

42. Learning Targets Remember to express gratitude regularly
Set personal, professional, student growth goals
Understand resiliency, optimism, curiosity, and kindness as it impacts our personal and professional lives
Build the foundation for ongoing reflective practices
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

43. Success Criteria I said “thank you” to at least one person today.
I established at least one personal, professional, or student growth goal and a first step toward achieving it
I understand the concepts of ROCK and how to bring it to my work
I participated in reflective practice and know how to include it in my daily work
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner

44. Whitney Meissner Principal, Chimacum High School 360. 316
Whitney Meissner Principal, Chimacum High School
Copyright 2015 Whitney Meissner