Living the DREAM: Behind the Scenes of the Book PERSONALIZE
Fate has a funny way of bringing together people with similar views and passions. In March 2022, my team and I were invited to a school where I had been providing professional learning. Our mission was to observe, provide feedback, and present at their school board meeting to help them break free from the traditional system. I was told I’d also meet “the” Eric Sheninger.
When we arrived, my teachers dove into their work with the local teams. Eric and I were sent to another school to do drop-ins, and he suggested we compare notes after each visit. It felt like he was testing my knowledge—challenge accepted! As we walked from class to class, we identified similar strengths and areas for improvement. Watching Eric's keynote later, I was instantly hooked. His vibrant speaking style and ideas resonated deeply with my team and me. Finally, someone who shared our passion, vision, and ideas. I was intrigued.
Let's rewind a bit. Six years before meeting Eric, I became a secondary principal. My directives were clear: increase enrollment, improve test scores, and retain teachers—no big deal, right? During my first month of drop-ins, I realized we needed to ditch the traditional system. My goal was to remove teachers from the front of the room and create a more meaningful, personalized experience for our students. I was on a mission, and every decision was for the students, with no time to waste. I dove in 100%, year one focusing on school culture, eliminating the “game” of school in year two, and emphasizing voice, choice, path, place, and pace in the subsequent years. It has been exhilarating, to say the least.
Throughout the journey in transforming from a traditional model to a personalized model, I lost some teachers but gained incredible ones with the same passion and energy. As a team, we realized that breaking the status quo required taking risks and creating an environment where it was okay to fail. I was always researching schools, looking for one to learn from, but we couldn’t find another school doing what we were doing or an educational consultant that I could trust to elevate us to the “next level.”
Fast forward to March 2022. Eric's energy and knowledge of personalized learning captivated me. He listened to my teachers and me at that school’s board meeting and later said, “Nicki, I am impressed. You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” I knew right then and there that I wanted him to visit Quest Jr. High. I was confident in our work but also recognized the need for feedback to grow as a leader and level up!
Eric and I hit it off immediately, sharing a love for challenges and confidence in our work. He was the missing piece of our puzzle, pushing us to the next level. Our serendipitous meeting in March 2022 has led to learning more about competency-based learning and developing strategies to help all students, regardless of grade.
For the past twenty years, I have been experimenting with and implementing a variety of ways to provide voice, choice, path, place, and pace, contributing significantly to our book.
Meanwhile, “the” Eric Sheninger has been working with schools not only in our country but around the world doing the same! I love that Eric, as a principal many years ago, was implementing these ideas and is still doing so while working with school leaders and educators at K-12 schools. Eric has seen it all, experienced so much, and is an expert in this field.
Guess what? My DREAM has always been to create a significant impact in education. I want students to love school, form strong relationships with their teachers and leaders, and feel like part of a family. I also want all staff to feel celebrated, recognized, and treated as professionals. Creating an environment where everyone loves coming to school no matter what my role was, was my main goal, my DREAM, and sharing it with the world was the next step.
So, when Eric asked me to co-author a book on my passions, my heart exploded with excitement. I often asked him, “Are we really doing this?” and I am still saying to him, “Pinch me now!” My DREAM is now a reality!
I will forever be appreciative and grateful for my experience in education and for all the amazing people I have met and continue to meet. Education is the coolest career choice and wow, I am one thankful woman.
Let’s now talk about PERSONALIZE, the beauty of our book is that there is NOT ONE RIGHT WAY to PERSONALIZE. The ideas we present have been tested in my elementary classrooms as a teacher, other classrooms while I was an instructional coach, at Quest Jr. High the past 8 years, within schools that I work with, and with schools across the globe with Eric.
We have found and created various strategies, avoiding a “cookie-cutter” approach to personalization. I love that educators and leaders can read our book and choose what best fits their current position, no matter what it is and know HOW to do it! You do you, everyone! Trust your gut and use our book as a tool to follow your DREAMS!
Shout out to you, Eric. Thank you for believing in me, coaching me, guiding me, for mentoring me. You are not just an educational consultant on a mission with one tool; you personalize your approach and meet the needs of ALL your schools. That is why you are a success!
I am thrilled to do the same with everyone I meet and work with! Becoming a published author, educational consultant, and continuing to be a principal is the best. I am “living my dream!”
Follow your dreams- Nicki Slaugh
