Hi folks,
I hope it’s been a good week for you. It’s been fairly stellar here.
I wanted to share a quick epiphany moment, for what it’s worth.
As many of you know, I run the business department at my high school. (I should say that I am the business department - a department of one.) This means I wear a lot of different hats. I run the student store, oversee a merch and apparel shop, do all of the procurement for these programs, and teach three to four different classes each term.
Having been an administrator, I actually really love the multitasking of it all. I would be terribly bored teaching the same one or two classes all day.
However, I realized that I was trying to do so much that I really wasn’t teaching all that well. In fact, I’d often get a little irritated when students needed a lot of support, because I was trying to do five different things all the time.
A few weeks ago, I made the decision to outsource some of our apparel jobs to an outside vendor so that I could focus more on teaching and preparing really dynamic, engaging lessons. And it feels so good to have my energies going this direction again.
It leads me to be proud of my students, not myself.
Case in point: I’ve been working on an apparel business simulation where groups create a business and sell their items to other classes. It’s been super fun. And one of the mind-boggling, positive applications of AI is taking their creativity and turning it into professional assetss (See below)
Thanks for indulging me a bit.
You know the drill on the rest of the material this week. I’m pretty excited about it. I hope it’s helpful!
Mike
Weekly Video
Use in staff newsletters, encouraging emails, etc.
“Makes me want to be a better person.”
Possible Caption: This is really possible.
Vote below, and we’ll track your favorite videos in our archive.
Looking for a past video. Check our archive.
Weekly Quote
"Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are."
Theodore Roosevelt
Weekly Staff/Student Discussion Question
Use in a staff meeting, student discussion, ask your own kids … see what happens!
Question: What is a pet peeve of yours?
Weekly Emailable PD
Use in staff newsletters, emailable PD messages, etc.
Suggested Email Body:
This week’s resource focuses on student motivation: helping learners see why content matters and how it connects to their lives. Relevance can invite engagement, while curiosity makes learning worthwhile.
The challenge is that students may not see value right away, and one example won’t resonate with everyone. Varied connections and small choices can give more students a way in.
These slides offer practical ways to make relevance visible and pair purpose with choice and progress. By helping students find an entry point, teachers can invite engagement without insisting every lesson has an immediate payoff.
