#e2L Hustle: A Day in the Life
by Shannon Buerk, Founder, and CEO of engage2learn. When I was the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in a district, we often had people ask what we did all day in…
#EducatorsChoose – Vote in the 2018 Texas Primaries!
engage2learn works with partner districts across Texas and even the United States. We often hear our partner districts talking about the importance of molding students to be active, contributing citizens. The foundational principle of this citizenship in America’s democracy is…
3 Ways to Ensure Teacher Attrition Doesn’t Impact Your District
Whether you are aware of it or not, teacher attrition is an issue worth examining. You may be thinking, I only have to hire a few new teachers each year, so I don’t really have an attrition problem. Or, maybe…
4 Best Practices for an Amazing School Culture
Everybody wants to have a fun, positive culture. You can implement all the strategies you want, but at the end of the day, a strong culture trumps strategy. Culture enables teams to work more efficiently and produce higher quality results….
4 Effective Strategies for Teacher Support & Retention
Addressing teacher burnout is critical for public education today. This month, 16 innovative district leaders from across the country put their heads together to collaborate on teacher support and retention strategies. Here are some key takeaways.
4 Things Leaders Can Do to Influence Culture
We know that the leader influences the culture of an organization more than any other factor, whether they realize it or not. In fact, 70% of the variance between lousy, good, and great cultures can be found in the knowledge,…
5 Tips for Making Meetings Matter
The Meeting Madness How often have you had a meeting on a topic only to realize you had already met on this topic previously and no decisions had been implemented yet? Employees are spending more time than ever in meetings;…
A Call to Action: The Case for Public Education
By Shannon Buerk At a breakfast on Saturday of TASB last weekend, I was once again inspired by a talk Dr. David Vroonland gave, declaring his support for public, community schools and referencing the original concept for these schools in…
Accountability is not a Four-Letter Word
By Kammi Green I have been in the public education system for over three decades as both a student and an educator. During my time in public education, the focus has always been on using standardized tests to hold campuses…
Align Behaviors to Your Beliefs with These 5 Steps
By Shannon Buerk I will never forget our first Strategic Planning retreat as an organization. It took place in 2011, a mere seven months after we launched engage2learn; the location was our living room. With an intimate group of e2L…
Cultural Tenets: Why, What, How
By Shannon Buerk Anyone who knows me well understands that I feel called to be leading engage2learn. Quite frankly, I did not set out to own an organization, to be an entrepreneur, or to ever leave the classroom. When I…
Diversity and Courageous Leadership
By Shannon Buerk Have you ever heard the saying, “Great minds think alike”? At e2L, we believe that great minds think differently. In education, however, there is not currently diversity in the superintendency. Even though 77% of educators are female,…
e2L is a finalist in the Employee Engagement Awards!
Did you hear the news? e2L has been nominated for the Employee Culture & Purpose Award in the 2018 North American Employee Engagement Awards. e2L made it on the EE’s shortlist for companies that put workforce engagement at the heart…
Education is Life Itself
One classroom. One teacher. An average of 30 students per class. Deadlines. Curriculum. Pacing guides. Formal exams. Gaps. Grades and report cards. Add to that, the expectation that students must learn, “How to learn” in contrast to “What to learn”…
For this, I am grateful…
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein The psychology of being thankful is interesting…it is all a matter of…
Growth mindset as a leader
Growth mindset isn’t just a skill for learners and educators. It’s a crucial component of effective leadership. It’s possible to be in a position of authority without a growth mindset, but that makes you a boss, not a leader. See…
How Campus Culture Influences Classroom Culture
Leaders are the heart of their campus. A leader’s decisions can determine student outcomes, teacher success, and even the campus culture as a whole. A campus culture is a unique outlook or set of behaviors that defines a school–but did…
How One-on-One Meetings Changed the Way We Do Business
by Shannon K. Buerk People often ask me if I had always planned to own my own business. The answer is surprisingly no! I thought I would be a classroom teacher until our children graduated and then become a professor….
How to Add 13 Years to Your Life
by Shannon Buerk, Founder, and CEO of engage2learn. Plato Said It Best Distraction and lost productivity in the workplace have many harmful consequences, including added stress, longer working hours, and low morale. Acclaimed public speaker, Brendon…
How to Hire the Right People Every Time
Job, Career, or Vocation Every person deserves to spend their working life doing something they enjoy. Unfortunately, not all people get that opportunity. There are three different ways people label their work. One way is to think of the 40…
How to implement badging and micro-credentialing for innovative learning
It’s a new year, and it’s a fresh chance to make and meet new goals. As we dive headfirst into 2018, one thing is for sure: technology will continue to play a huge role in education. Although tech can’t replace…
How to pass a bond: A tribute to FWISD leadership
Back in the summer of 2017, Fort Worth ISD had a problem. Its schools needed an updated infrastructure and the district experienced overcrowding at some campuses. To solve these issues, Superintendent Scribner and the Board of Trustees hired engage2learn, an…
How to Set Up a Virtual Meeting System and Protocols
During this unique time, many companies and organizations are being forced to pivot their workload to a virtual environment, and for those organizations that do not have experience with virtual work environments, this may seem like a very overwhelming feat….
How to Tell When a Business Partnership is Right for Your District or Organization
By Shannon K. Buerk Have you ever heard educators say they have a lot on their plates? When I was a teacher, I remember trying to juggle all of the initiatives for the school district in which I taught. For…
Introducing the Game Changers 2017 – 2018 Cohort
I’m so excited to start our Game Changers series again this year! This is one of my favorite things that we have ever done. I love to learn from other people so much, and being able to learn from the…
Lessons From Game Changers
On October 25 – 26, over 70 superintendents and principals convened at Rackspace in San Antonio, TX for this year’s first Game Changers event. Game Changers gives public school leaders the chance to tour and learn from innovative business leaders…
Linking Learning Environments and Culture
Culture is critical in producing the results you want from your educators and learners. While leaders can take a starring role in building a school culture, the learning environment itself influences culture as well. Here’s how you can help create…
Modeling Is Powerful: 5 Ways to Be Intentional
by Shannon Buerk I still remember the first time I saw myself teaching: it was when I gave an assignment to my 11th graders to teach a math lesson to the class. As each “student teacher” proceeded with the lesson,…
Modernizing Continuous Performance Management
Organizations spend a fortune purchasing performance management tools that often fail to meet their unique needs. At engage2learn (e2L), we set out to develop a fully customized performance management system that leveraged existing technology adoptions. The result was an agile…
My “Why” for Choosing Public Education
By: Shannon Buerk, Founder and CEO of engage2learn I have always loved memorials that serve as reminders of pivot points in our history. When our path is challenging, we need reminders of why we do what we are doing, especially…
Out Of The Norm: How Norms Influence Culture
Norms aren’t something we always think about, but they’re everywhere. Norms are the reason we wait in lines at the grocery store, make eye contact while chatting with a friend, and brush our teeth before work. A norm is simply…
Recognition Systems with Growth As An Outcome
It’s important for people to feel recognized. No matter their age or occupation, humans spend much of their daily lives collaborating with other people to accomplish their goals. While the notion of recognition is most popular in the workplace, it’s…
Responsible Campus Rollout
Responsible Campus Rollout Classrooms decorated from floor to ceiling, check. Campus fully staffed, check. Schedules completed, and students are eager to return to school on the first day. But, are you and the campus really ready? Each year, schools around…
Responsible District Rollout
Communication literally rules the nation right now. We all walk around with a direct source to our news and access to contacts at our fingertips. Even with all the advancements in technology communication can be lost. It is important to…
Shifting the System We Have Inherited
Because my husband coached college basketball, we moved 10 times in the first 16 years of our marriage. As a high school teacher, I taught all secondary grades and every English level, including remedial and AP classes, in two different…
Spring Break Challenge: 4 Things
by Shannon Buerk, Founder, and CEO of engage2learn. For a few years now, I have taken on a health challenge over Spring Break that has made the time even more beneficial. I have challenged people I…
The e2L Process–Magnetized
The e2L Framework is known for helping in turnaround situations. While our partners have had impressive results in this area, the e2L Framework is also used to overhaul magnet programs. e2L’s work magnetizes a school’s growth. Our process helps districts…
The Gift of Learning from Our First Teachers
By Shannon K. Buerk The fall of 2018 has afforded me several occasions to reflect upon how I acquired certain skills and knowledge. My Papaw passed away in August, my last remaining grandparent, and that gave me pause to think…
The Importance of Being a Data-Informed Leader
Data-Informed… Not Data-Driven It has always bothered me to hear people talk about being data-driven. Recently, I even heard the term “data-driven culture.” Seriously? Who wants to live in that type of culture? Clearly, data is critical, and we don’t…
The Importance of Culture
Or: Striving for a Mickey Mouse Operation by Amanda Stephens Long before I had ever heard of organizational culture or began to consider its importance in developing an innovative workplace, I saw a sign on my college campus: the distinctive shape of…
The importance of executive coaching
Too often we hear that school districts struggle to recruit and retain stellar educators. After all, it’s teachers in the classroom who influence student achievement and growth – we need to invest in stellar teachers. So why do great teachers…
The Secret to Effective Coaching
Lauren Hurt-Ashwin is the e2L Growth Catalyst and her primary responsibility is to provide leadership development to our team of e2L Certified eGROWE Coaches and our district partners. Our district coaches express how Lauren has made a direct impact on…
Three Key Factors in Planning for Next School Year
It seems unreasonable to think about planning for next school year when our current, rapidly-evolving reality is occupying every educator and school leader’s mind right now. In fact, this suggestion may even prompt some to say: “Are you out of…
Virtual Meetings That Work: 5 Quick Tips
This is the second blog of a two-part series on virtual meetings. If you do not already have an effective video-conferencing, project management, and shared calendaring system for your organization, I recommend you go back and read part one first:…
What exactly is coaching and why is it so important?
We’re all humans, and that means we have the potential to learn and grow. Growth takes shape in so many forms, whether it’s as simple as remembering a traffic shortcut or as amazing as curing a deadly disease. Sometimes we’re…
What is a High Performance Culture?
When e2L partners with a district, we strive to create a High Performance Culture. But what exactly is a High Performance Culture (HPC)? Is all this talk about culture just fluff, or is there a measurable return on HPCs? Too…
What kind of leader are you?
Leaders are essential to running our schools effectively. However, leadership comes in many shapes and sizes. It’s important to understand your own leadership style as well as how to improve it. Take this quiz to see what kind of leader…
What kind of learner are you?
Everyone processes information differently, but there are three main categories of learners. The most common learner types are visual, auditory, and tactile. Your learner style will influence how you break down information as well as the best way to absorb…