Dr. Harry Alvis

" Engagement is the product of motivation and active learning.  It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either is missing.                                                - Elizabeth Barkley Student engagement/motivation is the holy grail of education.  Those educators that have found it seem to have abilities that border on superpowers.  Those that haven't reached that level are completely confounded on how to get there. The most common battle cry to increase student engagement is make it "real world!"  They will often make some sort of comment about how they make the problem or lesson about cell phones or some other superficial topic to get kids interested.  Inevitably, teacher frustration kicks in when there is no real change in student engagement.  This approach will eliminate the classic quest...

  "It isn't that they can't see the solution.  It is that they can't see the problem."                                                                            - Gilbert K. Chesterton Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Thompson Executive Leadership Institute.  During this training Dr. Thompson made a statement that made me reevaluate how I approach solving problems and how I engage with people whose help is essential to successfully navigating challenging situations.  He said, "sell the problem, not the solution." Most who choose administration as a career see themselves as problem solvers or "fixers."  Once we identify a problem, we work on solving it with tunnel vision level focus.  Most problems though, can't be solved by one person.  It takes a coor...

  " Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."             - Colin Powell. The primary responsibility of good leadership is the welfare of the entire organization or group, which means that some people WILL be angry at your decisions and actions.  This is unavoidable if you lead with integrity and honor.   If a leader's primary goal is to get everyone to "like" them or to be "happy" all the time, they are building a system where we take those that are in our charge and "love" them into mediocrity.  This happens because the leader will avoid tough decisions, avoid confronting people who need to be confronted, and they will avoid rewarding high-performers because some people will be upset that they did not receive the same reward.  The leader will be met with cries of "that's not fair!", or "How dare they treat me this way after all the years I have given to this place?" and the like.  However, by holding ba...

  A fellow superintendent shared a quote that resonated with me. “…the highest form of leadership: servant leadership.  They give you what you need.  They have hard conversations.  They hold you accountable. They push you outside your comfort zone.  And they do all those things from their heart, because they care about you.” - Steve Jones and Lucas Jadin  It made me consider not only my role as superintendent, but the role of ALL educators.   We are all servant leaders in every sense.  The only difference is WHO we directly lead.  Some lead adults.  Some lead children. The form and function of that leadership is the same.   When you first read the quote, it is apparent that those are the qualities of a great leader.  It describes someone who can lead people to become the best versions of themselves.  Hopefully, that is the experience that we would want for our children and for ourselves. However, when the quote i...