Cain's Corner

Choose Hope "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness". - Desmond Tutu The last few days have been difficult for us educators and parents as we saw the news out of Parkland, Florida and Stoneman Douglas High School. We all have ran the gamut of emotions: sadness, anger, frustration, worry. Then something happened that shifted everything. The students of Stoneman Douglas High School rose up and spoke out. Emma Gonzalez , Cameron Kasky, David Hogg and countless other students brought light to darkness. After such heavy loss, they made a choice. They chose hope. In the toughest hours of their lives, they chose hope. Hope will motivate them and others to bring forth change that impacts lives. These young people will not be defined as victims, they seek to be victors. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better. It takes a great deal of courage to have hope and these young people have it in spades. They have provided our nation...

Believe 2 Achieve "If you believe, then you can achieve; just look at me!"  2Pac The single greatest gift you can give to another person is to believe in them. Nothing can replace belief. It's the fuel to the fire that propels you to greater heights.  Belief offers hope. You show me a person that believes in themselves, I will show you a person who has hope for their future.  As a Leader: Believe in your vision Believe in who you are Believe in your mission Believe in all the people whom you serve Jesus once said "it is impossible to do anything without belief." I believe that. You see, belief is the foundation for all positive and possible things in your life. You hear all the time people say "there is no silver bullet to increasing student achievement." I am going to disagree with that statement. The one thing that you absolutely must have without a shadow of a doubt is BELIEF. Without belief, there is no hope. With no ...

“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”  ― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead Yesterday, I finished reading "Stories From Webb" by Todd Nesloney. The book features courageous and deeply personal stories from Todd and his team at Webb Elementary in Navasota, Texas. Page after page, warmth, humility, care, passion, dedication, desire and love jumped off my Ibooks screen. Demographically, my school is very similar to Todd's and similiarly by measurement of the State Department of Education we have been deemed a  low performing school    I really enjoyed the book and as always after reading something I reflect on takeaways. There is a chapter in "Stories From Webb" called "Scars". In the chapter, Todd writes about an experience from high school where he was brought into the principal's office while he was running for student council president. ...