CCEA Plus 2025 Surf's Up! Riding the Waves of Opportunity

The beauty of a school year is there is a beginning, middle and an end. Students and teachers are accustomed to this cycle from an educational standpoint. School leaders can sometimes forget to utilize the educational calendar to their advantage when it comes to building - and maintaining - staff and student morale. There are key large group, small group and individual engagement opportunities to be built into a school’s master calendar that go a long way in reaching the masses with the potential to strengthen individual work/school relationships. This workshop will highlight two key mantras: “Culture is what you allow” and “People respect what you inspect”. If school leaders inspect, by paying attention to the way the organization socializes, then that group has the potential to build respect and a strong, identifiable culture at the school site. With some intentionality, local flavor, staff/student input and organized implementation, school leaders and support staff can create excitement and positive experiences for their hard working but tired staff and the students they are expected to serve. This series of events can provide a dose of motivation when they need it the most in the different seasons of a school year. Learning Objectives ● Participants will analyze an example of a need to unify a staff and student body ● Participants will review a school calendar of seasonal events ● Participants will hear anecdotes about the positive outcomes of a school year worth of staff unifying events ● Participants will walk away with specific idea