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~ J Clay Norton, Ed.D.

The Book Chamber

Category Archives: Momentum

Mississippi Legislators have listened… Now what?

14 Friday Jan 2022

Posted by The Book Chamber in Actions, Choice, Deciding, Decisions, Education, Effective, Leadership, Legislators, Momentum, Teacher Appreciation, Teachers, Value

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“I’m just a bill…” No, this time, you are not…

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HB530 has made it through committee to the House floor and passed 114-6, bipartisan at that. That is great news for Mississippi’s educators. But… what will happen next? The Senate Education proposal has not, as of today’s writing (Thursday, January 13), been introduced. It has until Monday, January 17, to do so. With that being said, if the Senate Education Bill for teacher raises makes it out of committee and passes on the floor of the Senate, what will happen when the House and Senate bills meet?

Now, for a long time coming, teachers have a pep in their step. Many educators are actually following this session of the legislature. If that’s what we want to call it, teacher morale is higher than it has been in a long time… Why? It seems that legislatures have actually listened. We can see that in the two bill proposals and the overwhelming support of how the voting went in the House. We often hear what others are saying, but listening often does not occur. It seems the legislators have listened. Now, teachers across the state are somewhat breathing a sigh of relief in hopes of a salary increase.

Being an election year, I knew that teacher salary would be more discussed. Every session, it is brought up, but now… I would have never thought the House and Senate’s numbers made public would be what they are. One thing for sure, while the bidding war is on, let’s just make sure it is the teachers who win.

So, what happens now… will the Senate approve the House bill? Will the House look at what the Senate proposes? Will it even be taken up in the other House’s committee? Will the topic be tabled? This is the period of uncertainty. No one likes that in their lives. We want to know what is going on and what the results will be. I’m sure negotiations will be made and a compromise offered, but to what cost to the teachers? To add the finality of questions, what will the Governor do?

While we wait, I believe we cannot just sit and hope. We must continue to contact our legislators. We must remain proactive and let our voices be listened to. We must continue to advocate. Legislators have now acknowledged that a salary increase is way past due. Now is the time for them to make good on what they have made public.

I remain hopeful, and I hope other teachers also do. The teacher shortage, teacher retention, teacher “morale,” teachers staying idealists instead of disheartened can take a turn for the better. Now is the time. Too much has been said to backpedal and give reasons why not. Legislators should not use teacher salaries as a “tack on” to another bill to pass a political agenda.

It is time to set aside political differences. It is time for that bipartisan legislation we saw in the House vote and time for the Senate to uphold the value public educators bring every day to their schools. Everyone says they want to invest in the future. What better way to help our future than to ensure that our students have the best and most qualified teachers to educate them. Value does have a price tag.

Legislators, thank you. Now, make good on your promise. This is much more than a bill.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… Twitter @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

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The 4th Nine Weeks Stretch…

26 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by The Book Chamber in COVID-19, Deciding, Encouragement, Intentions, Leader, Leadership, Momentum, Motivation, Purpose, Teachers, Useful, Value

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Well, here we are. We have made it—the 4th nine weeks. Just like the 7th Inning stretch in baseball, the end is in sight. For 27 weeks, educators have taught like they never have before. In our teaching, we have dug deeper, gone further, taught harder, and almost exhausted every bit of teaching methodology we know. And, one more thing… most educators have now perfected what I call “Eduzoomcation.“

With all of that being said, we are still not done. As I have spoken with other teachers, many are trying to fit lessons in on top of regular lessons just to get their students where they need to be to progress to what they need to know. The idea of incremental development of lessons has never been more important, but the time factor has many teachers pressing.

More importantly, what we cannot do is compare our teaching and pacing of our subjects to years past. If you do, it will devalue what you have done and accomplished this year. It may not seem as much, but considering everything, it is much. Many teachers have turned into accepting minor roles of psychologists while they teach, asking themselves what they can do to reach one more student and trying to figure out the best way forward. As I told someone the other day, teaching this year during the COVID pandemic is worthy of a resume bullet.

This time last year, we found out that we would not be coming back to school for the 4th nine weeks. Now here we are at that same point one year later. The good news… we still have an opportunity as educators to make good on what we do. It does not matter if students are still on Zoom or in the classroom. What matters is that we stay committed to the values of what education should do… to help better society by educating students for the future.

The 4th nine weeks stretch… Go ahead and stretch… but know, like baseball, there are a few more innings to play, and they matter. If you get complacent, odds are your students will also. And please do not get into what I call the “hook-slide.” While we are rounding third-base, per se, beat the throw at home plate. Don’t try to “hook-slide” in; you might just get tagged out.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2021 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on…

Twitter @thebookchamber

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The CANNOTs of Leadership

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by The Book Chamber in Actions, Attitude, Authentic, Balance, Choice, Clarity, Culture, Decisions, Humility, Ideals, Inspiration, Integrity, Leader, Leadership, Momentum, Opportunity, Passion, Perseverance, Power, Purpose, Servant, Team, Trust, Understanding, Unity

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“Leadership is an aspect of power, but it is also a separate and vital process in itself.” – James MacGregor Burns

Society has done a terrific job and an injustice of conditioning the minds of many leaders to be shallow and superficial. It distorts our thinking and our ability to make decisions. In some sense, it becomes a drug that is killing the future of what great, quality leadership should be.

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Photo Credit: gettingsmart.com

Unless there is a radical change in our thought process of the way we view leadership, to be for others and not ourselves, leadership will simply fade away.

Here are a few thoughts that we CANNOT allow ourselves to do…

  • We cannot simply flow with the societal trends of leadership.
  • We cannot elevate our leadership and at the same time not hold to the foundational truths of leadership.
  • We cannot promote our leadership by not living out what we say our leadership is.
  • We cannot fall victim not acknowledging that leadership requires humility.
  • We cannot fail to realize that leadership requires enthusiasm.
  • We cannot abandon our desire to want right leadership.

Today’s leadership models promote so much focus on self that we lose sight of serving others. It is self-absorbing. To make matters worse, we buy into it. We accept it as the norm. We allow it to become part of our inner being… ME FIRST!

Our defense against leadership, that is worldly and weakens right influence, relies on distrusting our ego to the point that we must separate the error it causes in our thinking.

Remember… THINK LEADERSHIP!

©2018 J Clay Norton

Follow me on Twitter at TheBookChamber

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Does Your LeaderSHIP Sail?

18 Thursday May 2017

Posted by The Book Chamber in Leader, Leadership, Momentum

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“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find your why.” – Mark Twain

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For a boat/ship to sail, it must have a few necessary items: sail(s), mast(s), crew, oars, etc. The two things that it cannot go without are a rudder and a driver. Obviously, what you do not want to do is to just “float’. Now, there are those who float their way through life but most of us like a destination. Having a destination usually means taking the lead or being lead. Either way, a leader is involved.

Have you ever taken the time to self-diagnose your leadership? How would you say your leadership style is built? Most of the time our style comes through trial and error, being thrown in the fire, or depending upon whom we have worked for or under. I believe to be a leader you have to want to make decisions. Some decisions are easy; some are hard. We have to convince others to follow and have mutual trust. Most of all, we lead by setting an example and serving.

Here is a great example of this week’s thought your you. It is a video clip from the move U-571. Great dialogue between Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey about a Captain’s decision and his ability to make the difficult decisions needed to be a captain.

Remember…  THINK LEADERSHIP

© 2017  J Clay Norton

Follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/thebookchamber

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