My name is Chris Loeffler. I am currently in my fifth year as the assistant head of Wilmington Friends lower school in Wilmington, Delaware. I am also a partner, father, sibling, Friend, and more. I taught elementary school for twelve years, mostly in third grade, before starting this blog. I have coached football and basketball, as well as a little soccer and baseball, with students from 4 years old to college. Fortunately, I am able to call these passions my job and love every opportunity I am given to work with children.

I believe in the power of children. I think that kids are able to view our world in a way that adults are often too inhibited to understand. Conversations with children are a chance to see the world through their eyes, which enlightens and empowers us as adults to make better decisions.

This blog initiated a new chapter in my educational career, connecting me with new people. I started it during my work with AJ Juliani and the Innovative Teaching Academy. It became a place for me to build ideas and share them with others, a reflective tool that continues to help me learn and inspires me to think beyond the office, the classroom, and the school building.

Since then, I have joined the Guiding Principals Mastermind, led by Danny Bauer at Better Leaders Better Schools Mastermind. As part of this group, I am fortunate to work virtually with incredible school leaders from all over the country every week. This ongoing professional development has been so valuable, I hope to lead my own Mastermind-like group someday soon.

I am a huge geek when it comes to Design Thinking and Social-Emotional Learning. Educational authors that inspire me are Carol Dweck and David Jardine, as educators who care about the psychological well-being of children, not just content. While I have not attended an EdCamp in a while now, they inspired me to connect with educators in new and innovative ways. Please feel free to reach out to connect on these ideas with me more.

Some of my favorite reads within the past few years:

• Troublemakers by Carla Shallaby
• The First Book of Rhythms by Langston Hughes
• Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
• The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann

Some of my favorite educational-ish podcasts:

• Code Switch
• Better Leaders, Better Schools
• Freakonomics
• The Sporkful
• The Real Question