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~ J Clay Norton, Ed.D.

The Book Chamber

Category Archives: Useful

Looking in the peripheral? You’ll lose your center focus…

14 Friday Oct 2022

Posted by The Book Chamber in Actions, Decisions, Importance, Know Your Why, Leader, Leadership, Passive-Agressive, Purpose, Useful

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This past weekend, Breana and I installed a Ring security device on her apartment. Nothing major, just another level of security. As a dad, that’s important… 40854404

The Ring security device… it’s pretty cool how it works. If Ring asks, I’ll do commercials for them. The security measure I am most impressed with is its panoramic range. It can cover a good bit. I stood in the same spot and could not see what the device could see. I’m like, “How can that work?”

Anyway… as usual, it got me thinking.

Let’s change out the word panoramic to peripheral. How much of our leadership vision is so focused on stuff on the side that we do not see what is going on right in front of us? How many leaders do you know whose vision is so focused on the nuances of the side that they miss what is right in front of them that they do not see or maybe do not want to see?

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I would dare say that most leaders I know focused on the side stuff are micro-managers. Focused so much on the trivial, they believe impactful results can happen here. Small things on the side can help a leader create mini successes. They get caught there because it’s an area where they can flex their leadership the most; be seen and heard. Let’s say passive-aggressive also. However, if most of their effort is placed on the peripheral, what action is being taken on matters that mean the most at the core?

Eventually, our peripheral vision will max out. We have all followed the pen to the side of our head at the eye doctor. But that still does not excuse us for not knowing what is happening. Great leaders know how to move in and out of the peripherals. Be a leader that understands the things on the side while knowing the important things are in front of us. If a matter on the peripheral becomes important enough, it will move to the center area.

I equate peripheral vision to a side for a meal. I don’t go to a restaurant to order a side dish only; it’s just what I want to eat while I’m focused on what I want to order to begin with.

I’m glad the Ring security device has great peripheral/panoramic vision. It catches every movement within its range, helping solve a security issue. It would be nice if leadership could be the same way. I guess that’s why they say many cannot see the trees because of the forest.

Let’s go fight the good fight of leadership. Someone has to…

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 Need for Student-led Leadership…

22 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by The Book Chamber in Communication, Importance, Influence, Intentions, Leader, Leadership, Opportunity, Presence, Relationships, Students, Teachers, Useful, Value

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This past Wednesday was our school’s monthly FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Huddle meeting. As I sat in the back of the room with some other coaches, I realized we have a great group of students. Not just in FCA but all around in our school, belonging to other clubs, or just attending school. Yes, we have some great students.

However, what I realized sitting back, watching and listening, is the value of leadership and the opportunity these students have to be leaders in our school. So… that brings me to the thought of the need for student-led leadership in our schools…

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I believe there is somewhat of a direct correlation between the culture the school wants and the one that the student body embraces. One question that might have to be asked is how to get students to “buy-in” the culture school leaders want.

For this to happen, I believe it is essential for students to experience leadership opportunities that put them in positions to actually lead. Whatever, wherever, whenever that is, it must be an opportunity where the platform establishes quality leadership that coincides with the vision and the mission of the school.

When students are given the opportunity to lead, more relationships can be fostered. Our students are the best customers to sell the product of leadership that we want as educational leaders. They will reach far more than a single teacher ever can. If we want positive leadership to be a mainstay, our students are the best communicators, translators of our message. They are the ones who can “carry out” the leadership wants and needs of the school.

Just like quality adult leaders, students who communicate and lead effectively can be found to have many of the same traits; honesty, responsible, serving, open-mindedness, etc. But… they need examples, and we have to make sure we are doing and showing what we expect.

Having students who lead in our schools demonstrate an earned empowerment. In turn, they demonstrate and promote leadership at a level that encourages involvement and creates a positive atmosphere for the whole school setting. As the educational leaders of our school, let’s find ways to help empower our students to be leaders, and I believe it starts in the classrooms. Yes, they will need to be supported and encouraged, but is that not part of “jobs” as educators?

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

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

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To Read or Not To Read?

07 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by The Book Chamber in Purpose, Reading, Standard, Useful

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For those of you who know me, you know I love to read. I do not really remember reading a whole lot as a child, but in 1986, Tom Clancy’s book, The Hunt for the Red October, was given to me by a friend of our family. That’s when, for some reason, I remember liking and wanting to read. I was a freshman in high school, and my parents would make me turn out the lights to go to sleep. The book fascinated me. From that point on, I’ve been an avid reader.

Sometimes, people gravitate toward “things” at different times in their life. I read in school because I had to. As a child, I can remember enjoying being read to, but I would not read “on my own.” Fast forward to now…

As an educator, I know the value of reading. I know how it helps people think, learn, be open to new ideas, etc. I know kindergarten and elementary schools promote reading to the highest levels. High schools, the same. However, what I do see, as a personal observation, is most students at the high school level do not read as much. Now, don’t get me wrong, they can read social media and everything else on that platform, but to just read to be reading, not so much. Trust me, I have asked my classes, and the majority say no. A few students even said that reading was so much “forced” on them in the early years of school that they just don’t enjoy reading anymore.

Diverse Elementary Children

Wow… and I thought reading was going out of style or something? Stanford University conducted a study on “This is your brain on Jane Austen” that actually shows how reading can stimulate the brain. If nothing else, reading can help you increase your knowledge in areas of interest. But… has school taken the fun out of reading? Are students reading for the purpose of testing, or are they reading because they want to; for the fun of it?

I guess what I’m thinking, is back to that same question that I keep asking, “What is school for?” I still believe, and it will be hard to change my mind, that school should equip a person to be a better functioning individual in society. I understand that schools must have standards, high standards, and I’m good with that. Why would we want low standards? Yes, those literary classics that must be read, and I even enjoyed a few of them. However, at what point does reading become more of a chore for students instead of desire in them to read?

I realize there is a fine line here. Every person needs to know how to read. Reading does open the world to our minds. Mark Twain is credited for saying, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read,” and Thomas Jefferson said, “I cannot live without books.” Either way, we all function better when we read…

Here are a few stats from Literacy Project…¹
Forty-five million Americans are functionally illiterate and can’t read above a fifth-grade level.
Fifty percent of adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
Three out of four adults on welfare can’t read.
One in four children in America grow up without learning how to read.

These stats show the importance of learning how to read, and schooling is a vital part of that. At the same time, we must remember that when we force an issue, people can become hesitant. As we continue to educate, let’s still encourage reading. You never know when someone will gravitate toward liking it for the first time or again.

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

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

¹ Source: https://literacyproj.org/2019/02/14/30-key-child-literacy-stats-parents-need-to-be-aware-of/

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Having a “wha-ha” moment… Abner Doubleday, Baseball, and The Civil War

27 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by The Book Chamber in Connections, Education, Engagement, Teachers, Useful

≈ 1 Comment

Do you ever have that moment when you run across “knowledge” and have the “wha-ha” moment? Well, I did the other day. First, let me say that I love trivia… useless and useful. Random facts of this and that, knowledge of who, what, when, why, and where… yep, that’s me; sign me up for the daily email. I tell my classes that one of my goals in life is to be a Renaissance Man – master of nothing but knowledgeable of everything. Learn something new today that I did not know yesterday – success.

Anyway… here is where I’m going. You history people are going to love this…

Right now, I am listening to the audiobook Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears. As the Battle of Gettysburg unfolds, Abner Doubleday shows up… Yes, that Abner Doubleday, the inventor of baseball (some say that is a myth, but nonetheless). My first thoughts were, “What’s he doing there?” “What was the union army doing playing baseball?” “Did they want to get a team together?”  Yes, I know that Abner Doubleday of baseball.

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Here is the Abner Doubleday I did not know… He was a Major General in the Union army. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter. Doubleday had a pivotal role in the early fighting of Gettysburg. Interestingly, he was relieved of his duty by Major General George Meade. Also, he obtained a charter/patent on the cable car after retirement while he lived in San Francisco.

Ok… I had the “wha-ha” moment. Go figure. As usual, it “got me to thinking…”

How many times as educators do our students have the “wha-ha” moment in our classrooms? How many times do we help them find a connection to something that will bridge misunderstanding or just add to something they do not know? How many times do we take for granted they already know something? How many times do we find ways for those connections to happen? What are we doing to help expand our lessons for “take-a-ways” they can remember?

Call me an idealist educator (and I strive to be one)… but I still believe that students are impressionable. Those “wha-ha” moments don’t have to be huge or drawn out. They don’t even have to be tested. However, I’m willing to bet when students go out of your room, they might possibly talk about it. Odds are, they might even tell someone else what they “learned.” Do yourself and your students a favor; find “wha-ha” moments.

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

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

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