We had the pleasure of hosting a Crowdsource webinar with Courtney Spelber from the Huntington Beach Union High School District on January 19, 2023. Courtney shared ways to use the start of each year and new term to get started the right way by reinforcing your school’s identity with your students and staff.

Implement programs like Roadtrip Nation to give students the opportunity to explore their interests and aspirations while also building ownership of learning skills.

Teach and model self-care to students to include: time, meditation, yoga, exercise, sleep, creative expression, and more. Adults on campus can openly share how they prioritize their own self-care and how it’s not “selfish” to put your well-being first.

Many schools and districts are struggling to hire and retain talented teachers, with small candidate pools and other constraints. In this Crowdsource Coffee, school leaders shared concerns and best practices for the upcoming hiring cycle.

Provide students time and space for processing major life transitions including the change from middle school to high school and the change from high school to postsecondary education.

Roosevelt Middle School principal, Amy Zilk, knows that a new leadership role is both rewarding and challenging. But instead of allowing some overwhelming challenges to steer them off-course, Amy and her team used them to map out a new, and more positive, way forward.

What does it mean to give students a voice? Not just to speak, but to shape the school they’re part of? For us, it starts with the Principal Advisory Council: a space where students move from being heard to feeling truly elevated. This council is more than a meeting. It’s a mindset that builds community, nurtures leadership, and ensures every student feels represented in shaping the future of our school.

During a Crowdsource Coffee on February 8, 2023, Chris McAdoo, Principal at Santa Fe South Pathways Middle College, shared this high school capstone passion project with the group. This schoolwide capstone passion project spans all four years of high school. It places students and their personal passions front and center and culminates with them connecting with and contributing to their communities in positive, authentic, and lasting ways while acquiring and applying academic and 21st-century skills.

A 2019 study on workplace readiness surveyed over 3,000 members of Generation Z (Gen Z), or those born between approximately 1996-2010. Respondents felt unprepared for using communication skills in the workplace such as networking, negotiating, and resolving conflicts, but they are confident in their ability to work on a team and try new things. Led by two former high school teachers, this February 8, 2023, Crowdsource Coffee featured discussions about how education can better equip students with 21st-century skills, and how a strengths-based mindset can utilize the skills our students already possess.

During this January 11, 2023, Crowdsource Coffee, leaders discussed how to identify students who feel disconnected from their community. We brainstormed strategies to re-engage and connect authentically, so that all students feel they are included.

The academic and behavioral needs of most students are met through a continuum of support within a school. Some students, however, require out-of-system support due to extreme or intensive circumstances, such as long-term hospitalization. This January 27, 2023, Crowdsource Coffee focused on the proactive building of relationships between schools, districts, and other organizations to provide the structural support necessary for students and families to succeed in exceptional situations.

Having difficult conversations is, well, difficult. However, these are also often the most important and urgent conversations to have. Many leaders have voiced that it has been hard to have those tough conversations and maybe wait too late to have them. This resource and reflection activity can help guide you toward having these conversations, and at an appropriate time.

Educator (and support staff) exhaustion is nothing new, though it has arguably accelerated exponentially over the past few years with no signs of slowing. In order for teachers/staff to best support and care for their students, they need to feel supported and cared for.

During a Crowdsource Coffee on November 9, 2022, Portico leaders, coaches, and facilitators shared their experiences and discussed new ideas for how we can better address educator exhaustion and work toward preventing this issue in the first place.

While this activity focuses on (fun/ny) emoji use, its purpose is for you and your students to develop a better understanding of any differences in communication styles that exist, why they exist, and how everyone can work towards better communication and understanding.

During a Crowdsource Coffee on December 7, 2023, Portico leaders, coaches, and facilitators shared their experiences and discussed new ideas for how we can all begin taking this challenge on for our students. Not only is it best for our students, but making good and well-informed decisions—and doing our jobs correctly— requires listening to all voices. It is often in that disagreement and tension that we ourselves learn and grow.

Let’s move away from an environment where kids are sorted, packaged, and labeled based on the perceptions of adults that barely knew them. Readiness and success should be defined by students’ engagement, adaptability, and what they can do with their knowledge. However, students need to feel a sense of belonging, connection, and engagement as well as demonstrate self-awareness, self-management, and well-being to achieve true readiness and success. This survey process is an important step in that direction.

This activity was shared by the former principal of Oceanview High School, Courtney Spelber (Huntington Beach Union High School District), in a Crowdsource Webinar on January 19, 2023.

Before students can learn, they need to know they belong and are cared for. A school community that cares about each other, learns together. Not only does this activity foster a sense of caring inclusivity, but it lets staff and students get to know each other on deeper levels. This activity is perfect for the beginning of each school year, and then throughout the year when classes change, when everyone returns from a break, etc. to regroup and recommit to being a caring campus.This activity was shared by the former principal of Oceanview High School, Courtney Spelber (Huntington Beach Union High School District), in a Crowdsource Webinar on January 19, 2023.

Before students can learn, they need to know they belong and are cared for. A school community that cares about each other, learns together. Not only does this activity foster a sense of caring inclusivity, but it lets staff and students get to know each other on deeper levels. This activity is perfect for the beginning of each school year, and then throughout the year when classes change, when everyone returns from a break, etc. to regroup and recommit to being a caring campus.

In education, celebration is far more than a feel-good moment—it’s a powerful practice that nurtures belonging, reinforces growth, and sustains momentum. When schools take time to acknowledge achievements—big and small—they send a clear message to students, staff, and families: your efforts matter, and your progress is seen. Celebrating success cultivates a sense of identity and shared purpose across a school community. It boosts morale, reinforces a culture of learning, and provides the emotional fuel needed to persist through challenges. In an environment that often leans heavily on standards, outcomes, and accountability, celebration brings joy, meaning, and connection back to the heart of the work.
Angela spoke to the power and importance of celebrating progress and not just waiting for students to achieve traditional levels of success like the honor roll. With a little ingenuity, these individual classroom activities can be enjoyed by larger groups with larger audiences (such as grade level, or even the whole school, families, and community). School leaders: #8 includes you.

This activity was shared by Todd Miller, superintendent at Santiam Canyon School District, in a Crowdsource Webinar on October 20, 2022.

School identity is more than school colors and a mascot; it’s how a school community expresses who it is and rallies around their shared vision, values, and purpose. This idea provides an opportunity for staff to be more involved in promoting, expressing, and utilizing the school’s identity/maxims to foster a more unified community and connect the identity/maxims to the classroom and their lives outside the classroom.

The beginning of the school year is a critical window. Before we dive into content, expectations, or systems, we have to invest in relationships. If we want to build a culture of learning, we need to first create a culture of belonging. That means getting to know our students, not just their names or test scores, but who they are, what they care about, and how they experience the world.
Before your school’s culture, Shared Identity, and Vision for Readiness can be realized, the members of your school community need to feel like they are both seen, valued, and cared for as individuals as well as feel like integral citizens who are vital to the success of the team (school). This activity empowers members to identify what they want to know about their community-mates and what they want their community to know about them. Discovering our similarities and differences, successes and struggles, helps us all bond and contribute as a unique community.

This staff activity was shared by the former principal of Martin Luther King, Jr. Junior High School, Angela Stevens-Stevenson, in a Crowdsource Webinar on November 17, 2022. As a school leader, you’re of course there to support your staff, but you can’t be everywhere at once. Providing the space and opportunity for your staff to develop and cultivate positive, empathetic, and supportive relationships with each other ensures everyone feels both supported and useful. Ultimately, a supported staff is better able to support students, and that’s ultimately why we’re all working together.

Use this resource to evaluate and reflect on how you’re maximizing the benefits of your school’s identity work, and then create an action plan for areas of improvement.

Amy Zilk, principal of Roosevelt Middle School in Vista Unified School District, understands that stepping into a new leadership role brings both challenges and rewards. One of the most important and immediate priorities for any school leader is building strong, trusting relationships with staff. Amy recently shared how she has approached this work, and continues to nurture meaningful connections with her team at Roosevelt Middle School.