Reclaim Your Freedom: Breakthrough Strategies To Create Intentional Space 🌌

🎇 Ready to spark fresh ideas and disrupt the status quo?

This week’s edition is packed with bold moves and actionable insights to shake up your leadership game—because playing it safe is so last year.

Let’s Do School Different.

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OFF CAMPUS

• 🎧 Don’t be basic. This week’s RuckusCast explores why we need to teach AI fluency to our students. Listen here.

• 😀 That was easy: check out this offer, expiring tomorrow.

• 🔮 The future is now! Discover which visions of 2025 hit the mark from these 100 year old predictions.

• 🧠 Have you every wondered what synesthesia feels like?

A MESSAGE FROM CLASS COMPOSER

Your Teachers Will Thank You

Want to know why Ruckus Makers love Class Composer?  Because it turns the dreaded end-of-year class placement meetings into a streamlined, data-driven process.  

Your teachers will save hours of time while ensuring that nothing is overlooked, including student separations.

DO SCHOOL DIFFERENT

Your First 90 Days: Making Decisions That Matter

The decisions you make in your first 90 days shape your entire school year — and possibly your entire tenure.

But here's what no one tells you: Most principals spend those crucial early days putting out fires instead of building momentum.

While your peers are drowning in reactive decision-making, Ruckus Makers approach those first 90 days differently.

They use frameworks like this Decision-Making Dashboard to make choices that create lasting impact.

The Decision-Making Dashboard: A Tool for School Leaders

Effective decision-making is crucial for school leaders navigating complex educational landscapes. The Decision-Making Dashboard offers a structured approach to assess and improve the quality of your decisions.

Start by identifying a recent or upcoming decision. Then, use the following framework to analyze it:

1. Define the Problem

   • Clearly state the issue you're addressing

   • Ensure you're tackling the root cause, not just symptoms

   • Consider perspectives different from your initial view

2. Identify Key Variables

   • List factors that matter most in this decision

   • Recognize potential blind spots and assumptions

   • Consider both quantitative and qualitative aspects

3. Explore Options

   • Brainstorm alternative courses of action

   • Challenge yourself to think beyond obvious solutions

   • Seek input from diverse sources

4. Assess Risks and Trade-offs

   • Envision worst-case scenarios and their implications

   • Identify potential short and long-term risks

   • Consider trade-offs you're willing to make

5. Consider Long-Term Impact

   • Project how this decision will affect your school in 1-5 years

   • Align with your core values and vision

   • Would this decision make your successor proud or give them headaches?

6. Perform a Clarity Check

   • Simplify your decision if it's overly complex

   • Ensure consistency with your educational mission

   • Could you explain this decision to a fifth grader?

By systematically working through these steps, you'll gain deeper insights into your decision-making process, uncover overlooked factors, and ultimately make more informed choices that benefit your school community.

Remember, great leadership isn't about pleasing everyone, but about making decisions that are best for students. Use this dashboard to navigate tough choices with confidence and clarity.

Want more frameworks like this to help you nail your first 90 days?

I'm launching the 90-Day Accelerator – a comprehensive system to help principals create momentum from Day 1. This training is perfect for:

• New principals (who feel overwhelmed)

• Veteran leaders (who were never shown the way)

• Veteran leaders (who tried in the past, but abandoned their plan)

• Assistant principals (preparing for future roles)

ALBA

CLASS DISMISSED

Whenever you’re ready, here’s 3 ways we can help you Do School Different.

1. Want free leadership coaching? Join Danny on the RuckusCast and solve a challenge you’re facing. Apply here.

2. New principal? New job? We’re releasing a digital course helping school leaders create a solid 90-day plan. Join the waitlist here.

3. Our flagship experience is the The Ruckus Maker Mastermind. Apply here.

Keep Making a Ruckus,

Danny and Dan