ASCD Empower 18: Day 4

Wow, it's the last day! Today kicked off with a session by Lee Ann Jung about "Goal Attainment" strategies. The big take-away from this session was:

All students belong to all of us!

We need to think of all students as starting out on a level playing field. Each student deserves to be supported and receive the support suits them best regardless of their IEP status or accommodation plans.

We talked about a method of goal setting that is focused less on the goals themselves and more on the process for achieving those goals, the setting in which those goals need to be accomplished and the data needed to track measurable progress to those goals. Another key point was that just slapping a number onto something does not always make it measurable.

The nest session was the general session with Collin Powell. He was humble, down to earth and also HILARIOUS. I just want to share some great quotes from his talk.

On kids and education

"Every child should having a responsible caring adult in life"

"Every child needs to have the opportunity to give back"

(In response to yesterday's "March for our lives" ) "I couldn't be more proud of those bright young kids speaking eloquently"

(In response to yesterday's "March for our lives" ) "While we are protecting our right to bear and we need to protect our children as well"

"I want to see a country where we respect each other"

(Talking about the political climate) "You can listen to all this stuff but it's not enough to just listen and hear the latest shout it scream from the order or the right. We are educating you so that you can make your own judgments."

On leadership

"To be a good leader: inspire rather than motivate, take care of your subordinates: give them what they need, and most importantly create conditions where they believe in you and you believe in them."

"Empower your line of subordinates. Give them freedom and the trust to act on their own"

"All a good leader is, is someone who had followers that believer in her."

"You can motivate people with dollars, you can't inspire people with dollars."

"If you trust people they will trust you."

"You can only be secure if you have people telling you the truth all the time."

"I didn't come to the army to be the best. I came in to be my best."