The Flourishing Principal: Strategies for Self-Renewal

by Kathleen Adams, Rosemary Lohndorf

Overview

The work of a school principal is a blend of nonstop demands, heart-opening connections, near-constant stress, passionate commitment, and a merry jumble of projects that flop or flourish. It’s easy to forget that the principals own health and harmony are among the things that also need attention.

In this innovative workbook, you’ll be expertly guided through The Flourishing Principals eight strengths-based, solution-focused strategies for self-renewal are designed to support principals like you. You’ll connect with core values, find and sustain healthy balance, acknowledge current reality, and set clear intentions. You’ll rediscover innate creativity, refresh healthy communication skills, focus on self-care, and call upon guiding wisdom. You’ll flourish!

More than 70 well-crafted writing prompts guide you to self-renewal. Each is illustrated with the voice of a flourishing principal who has embodied these strategies. A facilitator’s guide featuring a step-by-step curriculum prepares you to lead a writing group with peers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475802962
Publisher:	R&L Education
Publication date:	06/03/2013
Series:	It's Easy to W.R.I.T.E. Expressive Writing
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Kathleen Adams MA, LPC is one of the leading voices in the field of expressive and therapeutic writing. A psychotherapist and registered poetry/journal therapist, she founded the Center for Journal Therapy in 1988. She is the author/editor of nine books on expressive writing and the series editor for the It’s Easy to W.R.I.T.E. Expressive Writing series for Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Rosemary Lohndorf has been an avid journal writer for many years. She was a principal and award-winning elementary school teacher who recently retired from Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District. She has taught children and adults for over 30 years.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Why Write?

Why Write?
It’s Easy to W.R.I.T.E
Suggestions for Satisfying Writing

1. The Flourishing Principle

The Principle of Flourishing
Warm-Ups

1. Who am I?
2. The Flourishing Wheel
3. Finding the Flourishing Zone

Reflections

1. Core Values

Core Values
Warm-Ups

1. Naming Values
2. Defining Values
3. Making Art from a Core Value
4. Values-Based Problem Solving

Reflections

1. Balance

Cultivating Balance
Warm-Ups

1. The Balance Wheel
2. Balance Inventory
3. Core Values and the Balance Wheel

Reflections

1. Realism

Telling Yourself the Truth
Warm-Ups

1. Transforming “Stinkin’ Thinkin’”
2. Reality Cards
3. The ABCs
4. Current Reality

Reflections

1. Intention

The Power of Intention
Warm-Ups

1. What Do I Want?
2. Setting Intention
3. 100 Action Steps
4. Categorizing Your List
5. Taking the Next Step

Reflections

1. Creativity

The Creative Process
Warm-Ups

1. Creativity Current Reality
2. Unblocking the Flow
3. Creativity Scavenger Hunt
4. Feeding the Muse

Reflections

1. Communication

Communicating with Self and Others
Warm-Ups

1. The Quality of My Listening
2. Rewriting the Script
3. Dialogue with the Self

Reflections

1. Self-Care

Taking Time for Self-Care
Warm-Ups

1. Self-Care Inventory
2. Advice from My Flourishing Self
3. My Self-Care Action Plan

Reflections

1. Wisdom

Keeping a Wisdom Journal
Warm-Ups

1. A Note of Appreciation
2. Forgiving Self and Others
3. Captured Moment of Joy
4. A Story of Kindness

Reflections

1. Obstacles into Outcomes

Putting It All Together

1. A Current Obstacle
2. Applying the Tools
3. Heart-Centered Communication
4. Action Plan for Outcomes

Reflection

1. The Flourishing Principal

Flourishing
Warm-Ups

1. My Flourishing Plan
2. One Year From Today

References
Gratitudes
About the Authors
Facilitator’s Guide

Editorial Reviews

Each chapter in this useful workbook has merit and potential insight on its own, but taken as a whole, the practice of honest reflection could result in not only flourishing rejuvenation but life changing self-knowledge and efficacy. Examples from principal Rosemary Lohndorf were very helpful, particularly for new or reluctant writers. I also see application of many of the tools to an entire staff—happy, self-aware, healthy teachers are better for students and their learning. The Facilitators Guide enriches the possibilities of book study and substantive collaboration for building principals. It makes me want to un-retire and facilitate a group of learning leaders.

Joan Watson

The sub-title of this welcome book by Kathleen Adams and Rosemary Lohndorf chimes at the heart of its usefulness. Realistic and compassionate, The Flourishing Principal provides highly effective and accessible strategies for self-renewal designed for those of us in educational leadership who may be most susceptible to depletion—those who, like many in servant-leadership positions, may shortchange one's needs or repress one's own doubts in order to address multiple levels of challenge while accounting to multiple constituencies. Excerpts from Rosemary Londorf's journal build upon the framework of Kathleen Adams' journal therapy approach to create a refreshing and insightful experience, one that can bring back the creative flow and the joy of being a school leader. From its step-by-step guide through the eight components of "The Flourishing Circle" through its helpful "Facilitator's Guide," The Flourishing Principal can help re-invigorate the internal forces that nourish the souls of new principals, and those in mid- and late career and those in retirement. After each engagement with the ideas and writing prompts contained herein, readers will find themselves reflecting on the strands their own wisdom to which they've been reconnected and carrying a renewed sense of purpose well into the school day and beyond.

Diane Richard-Allerdyce

Kathleen Adams and Rosemary Lohndorf have captured one of the essential ingredients of successful school administration: taking time for reflection. Reflection, of course, is the key to being a thoughtful leader and a creative problem-solver. By offering strategies for regular journaling, Adams and Lohndorf create the framework for regular reflective opportunities within the busy schedule of a principal.

Phil Katsampes

The life of the principal is busy and fast-paced. At any given time it feels like we’re doing a hundred different things at once. The Flourishing Principal gives real strategies to slow down, ground ourselves, and focus on core values for making decisions and trying to keep our heads above water. And, what better model is there for both staff and students than for us, as principals, to be writing and reflecting?

Kent Cruger