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229 Search Results for "principals"

  • I was just like you I was just like you

    • From: Spike_Cook
    • Description:

       Originally published in May, 2012

      Dear Administrators,

      I feel like I need to share some really good news with you. And I am not alone. See, I was just like you!

      source: en.wikipedia.org

      During these past few months I have opened myself up completely to the 21st century. I went full board, having never created a blog, wiki, uploaded a video, nor participated in ANY social media prior to this year. I have never been a techie, or desired to acquire the newest gadgets (Honestly, I held out for a long time from buying compact discs).

       

      I will admit it… I was scared. I had nothing good to say about facebook, twitter, google, blogging, and I too felt that I had learned all I needed to know about the computer (Hey, I was a wiz at the Microsoft office suite). As long as I could get on the internet, I was fine. I knew how to search for things. I could find articles, and resources, or so I thought. As an educator, my mind was made up: we are not allowed to participate in this new found social media stuff anyway. It was all “trouble” and the “devil’s playground.”

       

      I was good. All good. I knew a lot more then my predecessors. I have worked with administrators in the past who didn’t know how to turn on a computer. They couldn’t text, or had no idea what a url was. They were just fine, and some almost reveled in their learned helplessness.Let’s face it, I thought, there were hundreds of thousands of effective principals since the beginning of time who never even wrote an email.

       

      source: kerrywills.wordpress.com

      Then a strange thing happened on my way to being comfortable. I found out that as a 38 year old first-year principal, who was a self-described progressive in education, that I was already a dinosaur (insert dinosaur sound). I have called educators dinosaurs before. Gulp. We all know how that story ended: Extinction! Well, I didn’t want to be extinct.  And I don’t want you to be either! I had ask myself some tough questions: Am I modeling 21st century skills for my teachers and students? Am I really progressive? Do I really know where education was going? The answers were clearly, NO. So I DID something about it. I TOOK a LEAP. I got off of the comfortable road!

       

      So, this is your homework assignment for the summer.  You need to start something. Depending on where you want to grow, there are plenty of resources. And I am willing to help, and so are all the connected educators near you, and thousands more are just a click away. Actually, we are all just a click away from you!

      We are not trying to keep anything from you. We want EVERYBODY to be connected. This is not a competition. Rather, it is a privilege that you are in the position you are in. With the gift of being an administrator, there is a responsibility to your teachers, parents, students, and most of all, to yourself. Now, what are you going to do with this precious gift?

       

      Ask yourself these questions….Here are some resources for you.

      I want to know how to access the cutting edge information on education. Where do I start?

      Twitter.com - It is free, and you will have access to Professional Development at your fingertips 24/7. I recommend to start with the following educators:

      @NMHS_Principal, Eric Sheninger, High School Principal

      @stumpteacher, Josh Stumpenhorst, Teacher

      @PrincipalJ, Jessica Johnson, Elementary Principal

      @web20classroom, Steven Anderson, Technology Supervisor

      @gcouros, George Couros, Principal and founder of Connected Principals

      I want to know how tell my classroom, district or school’s story?Start a school blog or a personal blog using (Blogger, edublogs, or Word Press).

      Justin Tarte, Life of an Educator

      Dave Gentile, The Road To Excellence is Always Under Construction

      Pamm Moore, Learning to Lead

      Spike Cook’s RM Bacon School Site, RM Bacon Weekly

      Curt Rees, I know this much is true

      How will I be able to do all this? You have to make time. Just like the teachers you are frustrated with, you can’t punch in and out. You have to be willing to put in the time, and be committed.  The more you are connected, the more you will become inspired by what folks are doing.

      How can I learn all of this? Like the famous book by Anne Lamott Bird by Bird you have to start small and take it one bird at a time.

      I guarantee that you have a teacher in your building or an administrator in another building that can help you out with your transition to being connected. You just have to open yourself up to the possibilities.

      For those of you who are reading this because you are connected, my challenge to you is to print, email, forward, or even read this to another administrator that you feel could benefit.

      Remember, I was just like you!

      Resources:

      My Prezi on Social Media in Administration:

      http://prezi.com/thmleuo19vp2/copy-of-copy-of-social-media-for-administration/

      Great Article on the Power of the Principal:

      http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2012/05/the_power_of_the_principal.html

      Twitter accounts for Technology:

      http://paper.li/DrSpikeCook/1333674940?edition_id=300ef930-a924-11e1-a2b7-00259071bfec

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    • 5 days ago
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  • L2L News: June 2013 L2L News: June 2013

  • An Introduction to WriteSteps An Introduction to WriteSteps

    • From: Suzanne_Klein1
    • Description:

      ntroduction to K-5 lesson plans and professional development that is completely aligned to the Common Core standards for writing and grammar. For elementary teachers, principals, and administrators interested in a common core writers workshop approach that raises test scores and fosters confident teachers and strong K-5 writers. Lessons teach informational writing, opinion writing, and narrative writing.

      WriteSteps Founder & CEO Suzanne Klein is a former K-5 teacher and writing consultant with extensive training in writing pedagogy best practices, especially writer's workshop and 6 Traits. She has taught all elementary grades including a Title I literacy program, and given professional development workshops nationwide on Balanced Writing for the Bureau of Education Research. Klein holds a Master of Arts degree in teaching, is a National Writing Project fellow, and draws inspiration from teachers such as Ralph Fletcher, Barry Lane, Lucy Calkins, Katie Wood Ray, and John Collins.

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  • Great Teachers Using Daniel Pi Great Teachers Using Daniel Pink’s Method “The ABC’s of Selling”

    • From: John_Rimes
    • Description:

      

      

      Great Teachers Using Daniel Pink’s Method “The ABC’s of Selling”

      While reading about Daniel Pink’s new book “To Sell Is Human” I ran across what he referred to as the ABC’s of Selling. 

      A -- Attunement

      B -- Buoyancy

      C -- Clarity

      Daniel explained these three qualities are essential whether you're trying to sell a computer or encourage your child to do his or her homework.  I began to think of how they could be related to education and our ability to engage and excite our students in the learning process and promote added student success.  I believe we can draw some parallels.  

      According to Pink, Attunement is the capacity to take another’s perspective, to understand their interests, and to see the world from their point of view.  This skill is necessary because teachers need to make a connection to their students.  They need to take a step back and truly understand how the lesson or instruction they are providing is relevant to the student.  More learning will take place when the lesson is important and relevant to the students.  To accomplish this the great teachers must practice Attunement. 

      Next Pink touches on Buoyancy.  This pertains to the capacity to stay afloat on what one salesman calls an "ocean of rejection."  This skill is also very important in education.  Teachers work so hard to plan and deliver great lessons, create formative opportunities, and collect summative data that tells them if the student accomplished their learning goals.  When a student fails or learning does not take place teachers must show Buoyancy in their practice.  They must overcome the rejection of having their students produce failing grades and possible low student morale.  When this occurs, great teachers look at their instruction as a possible problem and wonder if they could have taught the lesson or unit better.  They will then explore new ways of instructing students to success.  They show Buoyancy by continuing to stay afloat among the various redo’s and remediation and their students will benefit and learn because of their hard work.  Great teachers are all about student learning.

      Finally, Pink tells us that we must find clarity in things.  Pink explains that clarity is the capacity to make sense of murky situations, to curate information rather than merely access it, and to move from solving existing problems to finding hidden ones.  Why is the student tardy?  Why does the student not do his or her homework?  Why do they show proper levels of understanding on all formative work only to fail the properly aligned summative assessment?  Teachers must use clarity to look beyond the obvious and explore the root causes of the student’s behavior.  Many times the students school and academic success or failures have very little to do with their ability to learn.  These behaviors come about mainly because of the problems and challenges they face away from school.  Great teachers can recognize and help to combat these issues with clarity. 

      All three of the skills Daniel Pink refers to in his book “To Sell Is Human” can be used by great teachers and great school leaders. In reality we are always selling our lessons, our programs, our schools, or ourselves. 

      Dr. Scott Rimes

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  • Winding-Down the Academic Year Winding-Down the Academic Year: 5 Tips for Principals

    • From: Ryan_Thomas1
    • Description:

      academic yearFor students, there are essentially two opening days every year: The first day of school and the first day of summer. In an earlier era, principals and students may have shared similar schedules, but according to a 2008 study by the National Association of Elementary School Principals, more than 70 percent of its members now have an 11 or 12-month contract. Those of you who are currently principals may find yourself envious of your predecessors: A half-century earlier, only 12 percent of principals worked year-round!

      We know that a principal’s summer is a bustle of activity that includes anything from planning workshops, scheduling and recruiting to meeting new students and preparing for opening day in the fall. Before you dive into a new, but equally busy summer schedule, we want to offer a few tips to help you wind down the school year.

      Winding-Down the Academic Year: 5 Tips for Principals

      Send Your Senior Ambassadors on a Mission
      Recall the day you crossed the border from middle school into high school. Even if you were one of the lucky ones who adjusted quickly, there was still a learning curve. Since many of your seniors end the academic year earlier than the rest of the school, most of them will be available to meet with future students who are finishing up their final days of middle school. Recruit your senior ambassadors and send them to a partnering middle school where they can speak with the same students who will be walking your hallways in the fall.

      Don’t become complacent
      When we were kids, often the last week of school was spent watching film strips and hanging out. We loved every minute of it, too. Looking back, of course, it’s easy to see that this was not a productive use of time. There may only be a few days left in the school year, but it’s important to maintain high expectations. Every day is an opportunity to learn. Expect teachers and students to use each day wisely.

      Put that data to good use
      You’ve spent the year collecting data about academic success, student attendance, college admittance, disciplinary actions, and student/faculty awards for excellence. You may not have reached all of your goals, but certainly your school has succeeded in noteworthy ways. Even if test scores aren’t in, take time to highlight other successes. Thank teachers for their effort and let them know that it paid off—you have the data to prove it.

      Give yourself time to reflect
      We can’t move forward without looking back. Take time for introspection: What did you learn about yourself this year? Where did you succeed? How have you changed? How have you grown? Reflect on these questions and write down your thoughts.

      Introduce new faculty
      If you’ve already hired new teachers or staff members, chances are they’ll be around the school throughout the summer, but most students won’t be. Instead of waiting until September, use the last week of school as an opportunity to welcome new teachers and introduce them to your school.

                                                Download our FREE Principal Coaching Gui

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  • How will your child suffer? How will your child suffer?

    • From: Jessica_Bohn
    • Description:

      Normally, I am not one to write on controversial issues, but there is freedom in the provocative, and the time is now (or yesterday) for action in education.  Although this speaks to one state's journey through the massive budget cuts and the looming additional injustices, I think that most educators in the nation have experienced a degree of this.  I humbly share my thoughts with legislators considering budgets for next school year and the community of ASCD advocates: 

      How will your child suffer?  We must stop this ridiculous abomination of a proposed budget now.  The incessant and continuous hit that education has taken in the last 5 years has been beyond reason.  However, this year's proposals fall just shy of criminal.  As a voter, a parent of children in the school system and a school principal, I have many perspectives to offer.  First, as a voter:  We elect officials into office who we believe will stand for the things that we hold close to heart.  Public schools are the birthplace of some of the best minds in America.  What does it mean to be American?  Please ask yourself this, as our elected representative.  Americans value critical opinions and diversity but stand united when someone attacks our home or our community.  To my esteemed elected officials, I say: We are under attack.  Make no mistake... this is a war of interests.  We must not let the future of our children and ultimately our country falter to other priorities.  We know that you are under pressure to invest in the political interests that got you into office, but we beg you not to sacrifice our children, your children or the future of our great nation in doing so.  As a parent:   We cannot provide quality schools without adequate funding to do so.  Should we settle for mediocrity?  Would you settle for mediocrity for your own child?  Absolutely not.  I want my children to get access to teachers with skills that will challenge their minds and inspire their hearts. Teachers deserve pay worthy of the countless hours they spend planning. Let Principals hold them accountable to that. I want my children to have adequate support in their classes as they are acclimated to the rigor of public schools. Teacher Assistants provide this support.  They are educators, advocates and probably teach your child in a center or reading group. I want my child to have access to the equipment, books and materials needed for 21st century learning. As a school principal:   Is the public aware that kids in most counties are still using outdated books, so teachers have to develop their own curriculum materials to match the new standards?  And what justice do we pay teachers when they do this with a smile on their face and protect our children from the perils of society?  We cut their support (TAs), cut their pay (furlough), cut their money for supplies (instructional money), increase their class size (class size waiver elimination), increase their insurance premiums and cut their access to resources and support (district funding going to charter/private schools).   Teacher Assistants are not just secretaries for the teacher, and I wonder if the public realizes that.  They are instructional assistants... they help your children and grandchildren learn.  Also, as a school administrator, one of the ways in which we can provide a duty-free lunch for teachers (which is a state requirement) is through the use of teacher assistants.  Similarly, I wonder if the public understands the correlation between effective instruction and the number of students in a class.  There is an inverse relationship between time for critical learning and the number of students in a class.  This state and this nation is in a dire place of certain demise, if we cannot commit to providing safe, quality schools for our children today, so they can solve nationwide and worldwide problems tomorrow. With the proposed legislation about class size, harsh cuts to public schools (again), elimination of Assistants, sequestration at the federal level, and funneling the leftover pocket change to charter/private schools rather than public schools... I must ask the question... how will your child suffer?

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    • 1 month ago
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  • Complexity: Unpredictability Complexity: Unpredictability

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      When analyzing their school’s organizational context, principals cannot underestimate the unpredictability of the long-term future of the system. Marginalized populations within the school act as a recessive system undermining the efforts of the dominant, legitimate system. The future of the school emerges from interactions within and between the recessive and the dominant systems. A new paradigm that recognizes and makes meaning of the dynamic, nonlinear versus linear nature of the processes and interactions of these two subsystems would help protect principals from unreasonable long-term planning, unproductive and unmanaged conflict, innovative but misguided agents, and wasted time due to superficial work and restructuring efforts not based on emergence (Bower, 2006; Stacey, 1996).

      The dominant paradigm rosily sees success in stability, predictability, and carefully strategic plans (Stacey, 1996). “Predictions are nice, if you can make them. But the essence of science lies in explanation, laying bare the fundamental mechanisms of nature” (Waldrop, 1992, p. 39). Educational complexity is not different. Researchers have to look at explaining how education works with the knowledge that it may not result in predictability since education is emergent based on too many factors to mathematically analyze.

      History and past pedagogy is important to creating effective high-performing, high-poverty schools (HP2S), but vast changes in the sociocultural capital available to students in this decade make research of previous decades null or irrelevant. Even within the same time period, findings in one context will not be generalizable to another setting. Failing schools that are trying to transform cannot hope to perfectly implement what other successful schools have accomplished because of the unpredictability of complex systems (Barr & Parrett, 2007; Berliner, 2002; Brady, retrieved October 22, 2007; Church, 2005).

      Strategic planning in complex environments results in rigid processes such as goal setting and action plans that restrict emergence. Educational institutions should allow for a more flexible process that takes into account causal relationships (Gilstrap, 2005). Small fluctuations would have a harder time permeating multiple boundaries within similar structures across a flattened hierarchy. This redundancy provides stability, robustness, and resilience against small environmental fluctuations (Stacey, 1996).

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  • L2L News: May 2013 L2L News: May 2013

    • From: Meg_Simpson
    • Description:

      ASCD Leader to Leader (L2L) News is a monthly e-mail newsletter for ASCD constituent group leaders that builds capacity to better serve members, provides opportunities to promote and advocate for ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative, and engages groups through sharing and learning about best practices. To submit a news item for the L2L newsletter, send an e-mail to constituentservices@ascd.org.

       

      Your To-Do List: Action Items for ASCD Leaders

       

      Newest Policy Points Revisits A Nation at Risk

      ASCD’s newest Policy Points (PDF) takes a closer look at A Nation at Risk, the 1983 report on the state of U.S. education that launched a spirited and ongoing debate about the quality of our public schools. This issue of Policy Points examines the specific recommendations of the report, the accuracy of its dire prediction about “a rising tide of mediocrity” undermining the nation’s well-being, and the evolving school reform debate the report kick-started three decades ago.

       

      Throughout May on www.wholechildeducation.org: The New Poverty

      In today’s global economic state, many families and children face reduced circumstances. These “poor kids” don’t fit the traditional stereotypes—two-thirds live in families in which at least one adult works and the percentage of poor students in many rural districts equals that in inner-city districts. In the United States, the economic downturn has dramatically changed the landscape, and districts that were previously vibrant are now dealing with unemployment, underemployment, and more transient families.

      Join us as we share what new—and old—solutions we are using to support learning and ensure that each child, whatever her circumstances, is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

      Download the Whole Child Podcast for a discussion on the current economic downturn; its result that many families and children face reduced circumstances; and implications for schools, many of which have seen drastic changes in the populations they serve and their communities. Guests include Deborah Wortham, superintendent of the School District of the City of York, Pa., and former assistant superintendent for high schools and director of professional development for Baltimore City (Md.) Public Schools; Felicia DeHaney, president and CEO of the National Black Child Development Institute; William Parrett, director of the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies and professor of education at Boise State University;  and Kathleen Budge, coordinator of the Leadership Development Program  and associate professor in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Department at Boise State University. Parrett and Budge are also coauthors of the 2012 ASCD book Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools.

      Throughout the month, read the Whole Child Blog and tell us what has worked in your school and with your students. E-mail us and share resources, research, and examples.

       

      ASCD Leader Voices

       

      Arkansas Governor Signs Whole Child Legislation

      Arkansas Governor Michael Beebe signed a new bill into law that promotes a whole child approach to educating the state’s children. The legislation (PDF) establishes a Whole Child Whole Community recognition program and aims to measure the comprehensive well-being of children and how well stakeholders are meeting their needs according to the five whole child tenets and their indicators as identified by ASCD.

      The recognition program will acknowledge and highlight the work of Arkansas educators, parents, community members, and policymakers who support the whole child. The legislation also indicates that one purpose of the recognition program is to help spur systemic collaboration and coordination within and beyond schoolhouse doors and to promote a shift from narrowly defined student achievement and traditional education reform to broader, more comprehensive efforts that recognize the crucial out-of-school factors that influence teaching and learning. A diverse state working group will work over the course of a year to recommend a framework and process for recognizing exemplary whole child and whole community successes.

      Congratulations to Arkansas ASCD, which played a crucial role in supporting the bill’s development and introduction!

       

      Rhode Island Passes Whole Child Resolution

      The Rhode Island General Assembly passed a joint resolution (PDF) supporting a whole child approach to education that ensures each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

      The resolution affirms that to educate Rhode Island’s children effectively, the state must pay attention to factors within and beyond its school buildings as well as integrate efforts among schools, families, and communities. In addition, the resolution expresses the assembly’s intent to model whole child concepts in its own work and to join with other stakeholders who support the whole child.

      Congratulations to Rhode Island ASCD(RIASCD), which worked hard to have this joint resolution introduced into the Rhode Island legislature!

      To help the state fulfill its commitment to whole child education, ASCD and RIASCD offered some initial steps (PDF)—organized by the five whole child tenets—for educators, parents and community members, and policymakers to take. RIASCD also highlighted some of ASCD’s free resources to help the state put its whole child vision into action. 

       

      South Carolina ASCD Featured in ASCD Inservice Blog Series

      Weasked some of our affiliate leaders to tell us how the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has been going in their home states.In the seventh post of the series, South Carolina ASCD leader Josh Patterson writes about the challenges and successes that South Carolina has had with CCSS implementation.

      Previous Posts:Tennessee ASCD, New Jersey ASCD,Alabama ASCD, Arkansas ASCD, New Hampshire ASCD, and Florida ASCD

       

      The Effective Principal

      What we see through our research, reading, and conversations with principals and school staff is that to see what an effective principal is, don’t look at the person; look at the effects of her leadership on student achievement, school culture and climate, teacher effectiveness and satisfaction, and community relationships. As the wearers of many hats, principals are crucial to implementing meaningful and lasting school change. Read more on the Whole Child Blog.

      In April, we looked at what qualities principals in today’s (and tomorrow’s) schools need to fulfill their roles as visionary, instructional, influential, and learning leaders. Listen to the Whole Child Podcast with guests Donna Snyder, manager of Whole Child Programs at ASCD; Kevin Enerson, principal of Le Sueur-Henderson High School in Minnesota (an ASCD Whole Child Network school); and Jessica Bohn, an ASCD Emerging Leader and principal of Gibsonville Elementary School in North Carolina.

      Also this month on the Whole Child Podcast, we talked with educators from Oregon’s Milwaukie High School (winner of the 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award) about how they meet student and staff needs, taking challenges and turning them into opportunities for all. Guests include principal Mark Pinder, assistant principal for curriculum Michael Ralls, assistant principal for student management Tim Taylor, dean of students Donnie Siel, and teacher leader David Adams.

      Have you signed up to receive the Whole Child Newsletter? Read the latest newsletter and visit the archive for more strategies, resources, and tools you can use to help ensure that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

        

      Something to Talk About

      ·         Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

      ·         Mostclicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

       

      Association News

      Killeen Independent School District Deepens Professional Development Partnership with ASCD—Killeen Independent School District (ISD)—whose more than 6,100 staff members serve approximately 42,000 students—is deepening its relationship with ASCD to meet its professional development goals. Read the full press release.

      ASCD Publishes Leadership Guide on Transforming Any Teacher into a Master—ASCD is pleased to announce the release of Never Underestimate Your Teachers: Instructional Leadership for Excellence in Every Classroom by best-selling education author, renowned educator, and professional development expert Robyn R. Jackson.
      Never Underestimate Your Teachers offers school leaders a new model for understanding great teaching as a combination of skill and will, and it's the first book of its kind to support leaders as they facilitate teacher growth in both areas through differentiated leadership. Jackson shows readers how to design and deliver targeted professional development to help each teacher realize his or her potential and achieve great results for the benefit of every student. Read the full press release.

      New ASCD Common Core Academy Supports School Leadership Teams Across the United States—ASCD is bringing its inaugural ASCD Common Core Leadership Team Academy to Chicago August 5–8, 2013. This intensive four-day professional leadership experience offers groups of administrators, teacher leaders, and nonprofit and higher education partners an accelerated plan for putting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into routine practice. Read the full press release.

      ASCD Summer Reading List Identifies 10 Books That Can Transform Teaching and Learning—In the spirit of promoting year-round professional development, ASCD has assembled a diverse list of books essential to educators who seek to improve their practice over the summer months. These books—organized by how they help educators transform teaching and learning—offer readers the opportunity to dive deep into the hottest topics in education, including using data to focus improvement, project-based learning, child development, and neurodiversity. All books are currently available in paperback and e-book formats. Read the full press release.

      Arkansas Governor Beebe Signs Education Reform Law Supporting the Whole Child—Arkansas Governor Michael Beebe has signed a new bill into law that promotes a well-rounded whole child approach to educating the state’s children.“An Act to Establish the Whole Child– Whole Community Recognition Program; and for Other Purposes” (Senate Bill 1051[PDF]) outlines a plan for the Arkansas education system that ensures Arkansas students receive a whole child education. Read the full press release.

      New ASCD Staff Expand Association’s Ability to Design, Deliver, and Evaluate Professional Development Resources—ASCD welcomes three new staff members to the association’s Program Development Work Group. Dr. Andrea Muse has accepted the position of director of research and program evaluation, Jen Thompson will serve as director of program management and process improvement, and Elizabeth Thurman has joined ASCD as director of customer engagement and product support. The additions of Muse, Thompson, and Thurman expand ASCD’s capability to design, deliver, and evaluate the crucial professional development resources today’s educators need to learn, teach, and lead. Read the full press release.

       

       

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  • Principals don’t need personas Principals don’t need personas. They need authenticity.

    • From: Ryan_Thomas1
    • Description:

      principal authenticityHaving the responsibility of shaping a school, managing teachers, students and curriculum—and having to shouldering the blame when things go wrong—has led more than a few principals to project a persona. Principal or not, we all do this to some extent, of course. Under the pressure to succeed, under the pressure to “brand” ourselves with amenable qualities, we often fashion a version of ourselves that minimizes our blemishes and highlights only our best traits. Eventually though, false personas corrode and break down. That’s why we want to talk a bit about authenticity.

      Know thyself
      “What are some of your weaknesses?” This ubiquitous question shows up in nearly every interview. And while most of us have learned strategies to skirt the question, we believe principals should honestly reflect on their weaknesses. You may not necessarily want to share all of them in an interview, but having the ability to reflect critically on your shortcomings is an integral part of becoming an effective principal because it helps you assess where and when to seek help from others.

      Learn to laugh at your blunders
      Principals are under an incredible amount of scrutiny and that can make it hard to laugh. But taking yourself too seriously, denying or beating yourself up when you make a blunder is going to take a toll on you and your relationships. Self-deprecating humor is often the funniest. Laugh and laugh often. 

      Be interested, not interesting
      We’ve all spent time with someone who didn’t understand how the give and take of a conversation works. We’ve all gotten off the phone a half hour later and realized, “Wow. She didn’t ask me a single thing about myself.” We all have our moments, but try not to be that person on the other end of the telephone. Authentic principals ask questions and are focused on being interested, not interesting.

      Don’t surround yourself with yea-sayers
      Praise and concession sure feels nice, but it amounts to little if it is coming from those who offer it out of fear or flattery. Connect with other educational leaders who aren’t personally invested in your school. It’s helpful to have mentors who are encouraging but who also aren’t afraid to give you a perspective that’s different from your own.

      Accept that you cannot do this alone
      You may think that you have to do it all—and certainly you have an overwhelming amount of responsibilities—but trying to do it all on your own is impossible; and it could have the effect of making you look like a control freak or worse—take a toll on your health. Let your “army” of intelligent and perfectly capable teachers help you shoulder the burden. They may gain a better perspective of the scope of the issues you face too.

      Schools benefit from authentic leaders—men and women who engage others and who are working toward authenticity. Being authentic has the added benefit of letting people know that while you’re tough and very capable, you are human too, and appreciate help and support from others.

                                      Download our FREE Principal Coaching Gui

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    • 1 month ago
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  • Avoiding those pesky, first-ye Avoiding those pesky, first-year blunders

    • From: Ryan_Thomas1
    • Description:

      effective principalsDespite the fact that many new principals have spent years—and sometimes decades—in education, they are often broadsided by the new (and unavoidable challenges) that come with the territory. Although we certainly can’t prepare you for all of them, we’d like to offer a few tips to help you avoid a few first-year blunders.

      The first year: Making new principals into effective principals

      Effective principals know that not everyone knows what they do all day
      The expectations placed on leadership have never been more demanding. Sure, principals know who creates the school’s vision, develops curriculum, evaluates teachers, manages the building and collects data. But outsiders are, generally speaking, completely unaware of what principals do throughout the day.

      Here's what Jessica Bohn suggested in a recent article: If your colleagues genuinely believe that your day consists of issuing orders or combing the halls for truants, it makes sense that they would be frustrated when you do not respond to their needs immediately. The best way to let them know what you do is by having them help you do it—which brings us to our next point.

      Effective principals create a community of shared responsibility
      You may think that you have to do it all—and certainly you have an overwhelming amount of responsibilities—but don’t try to be a rugged-individualist. We’re saying this for a few reasons: First, it’s impossible. Second, because it will make you look like a control freak. Third, because you have any army of intelligent and perfectly capable teachers who can help you shoulder the burden.

      If you assign a specific, task-savvy adult to handle every anticipated melodrama—crumbling drywall, for example, or a flock of birds who has made a nest in the rafters of the gym—you can spend your time on “big-picture” issues. Quick fixes may make you look good, but you’ll be doing yourself a disservice when you stay mired in perfunctory disruptions.

      Effective principals make themselves visible
      Like we said earlier, not everyone understands what principals do—and they’re never going to if you hole up in an office all day. One way to make yourself visible is by taking your office with you. If you need access to email, bring along a laptop and set up shop in the library. Is there a study hall going on somewhere in the school? Grab a seat in the back of the room and get some work done there. Try rotating your “satellite office” every day. Doing this not only gets you out of the office, it also gives you the opportunity to speak with faculty and students.


      Effective principals accept the fact that they’ll be compared to predecessors
      Knowing ahead of time that everything you do will be measured against your predecessor will save you a lot of grief and restless nights. Comparisons are going happen. You are going to hear things like, “Principal X didn’t seem to have a problem with this,” or “Principal X would never have done this.” Ditch your gut reaction to react defensively and use these moments to ask questions and engage in an open discussion.

       

      Download our FREE Principal Coaching Gui

      

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  • How about we let the kids figu How about we let the kids figure out the achievement gap?

    • From: Spike_Cook
    • Description:

      We started a Saturday program at my school in order to provide students with additional academic remediation, support, and some fun. I know that some of you might think this is just another "test prep" venture to raise scores considering we identified specific students, and it's April.... You would be both correct and incorrect (or maybe it is just how you define test prep).

       

      Here is a little information about the program. We have targeted about 30 students in grades 3, 4, and 5 to provide math and language arts remediation through a very effective tool. The tool that we use is SuccessMaker which is a digital learning curriculum that is designed to assess, remediate and instruct based on the Common Core and New Jersey Model Curriculum. In addition to the online instruction and assistance, we have teachers who work with students individually on their specific needs. SuccessMaker can develop specific lessons for the teachers and students to master. Additionally, SuccessMaker also facilitates 21st century learning as the students are required to use high levels of Blooms Taxonomy to solve problems while also providing them with the experience for taking the online assessments such PARCC.

       

      But there is more to our program then SuccessMaker. First, team-building and cooperative learning activities are embedded within the structure of the program because we feel urged to not only address the academic needs but also the social and emotional needs of our learners. We want them to feel confident as they approach problems and situations that involve critical thinking. Since we have the students grouped into three teams, we wanted to continue to push the envelope and challenge the students, and that is where Problem Based Learning comes in.

       

      For our "problem", the students are going to have determine why there is an achievement gap and what they can do to "solve" the problem. During the first session, we presented them with the challenge and what the end result could look like (an invention, commercial, iMovie trailer, etc.). We also asked them to define what is a "problem" and why are some students achieving while others are not. For instance, in order to engage them in self reflection (we all know that kids like to point fingers), we asked the students this question, "Who is responsible for the achievement gap... is it parents, teachers, principals or students?" Most, if not all the students said the responsibility falls on themselves. Their rationale for owning the problem included items such as low self esteem, not paying attention, and not taking school seriously.

       

      Over the next few weeks the students in PBL will be presented with data about the achievement gap as well as what adults say about the achievement gap. Ultimately, the students will solve this problem and present their findings to parents, teachers and other students at our culminating event on May 11.

       

      I will make sure to report back on their progress each week as well as their solutions to this age old problem... why do some students achieve while others do not.....

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  • L2L News: April 2013 L2L News: April 2013

    • From: Meg_Simpson
    • Description:

       

      Thanks for a fantastic 2013 ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois!

      Read ASCD Executive Director Dr. Gene Carter’s annual conference reflections here.

      Your To-Do List: Action Items for ASCD Leaders

       

      Register for the Whole Child Virtual Conference: May 6–10, 2013

      Join ASCD for its third annual Whole Child Virtual Conference. This free online event offers thought leadership discussions; presentations from leading authors and experts; and an exploration of the steps outstanding schools, communities, and individual countries take as they move along the continuum of a whole child approach—from implementation to sustainability to culture. No matter where you are on this continuum, you’ll find lessons you can learn and questions you can ask to improve and grow your schools.

      This year the conference will include 24 sessions over 7 days between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. eastern time, with sessions on May 2 and 3 specifically for Australasian and European audiences. This year’s conference speakers include authors and experts Thomas Armstrong, Michael Fullan, Andy Hargreaves, Eric Jensen, Wendy Ostroff, William Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, Pasi Sahlberg, and Yong Zhao.

      Sessions will also feature presentations from ASCD Emerging Leaders, ASCD’s Outstanding Young Educators Award winner, the recipient of Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award, and members of ASCD’s Whole Child Network of Schools.

      Registration is now open. Go to www.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference to sign up.

       

      ASCD Nominations Committee Applications Open in May

      ASCD is seeking ASCD leaders who are interested in serving on the 2013–14 ASCD Nominations Committee. More information—the committee’s charge, qualifications for service, and time commitment—will be available starting May 1 on www.ascd.org. ASCD will be accepting applications May 1–31. We invite ASCD leaders to consider their interest in this opportunity over the next few weeks before the application becomes available.

        

       ASCD Leaders in Action: News from the ASCD Leader Community

       

      ASCD Student Chapters Help Chicago’s Hungry During ASCD Annual Conference

      On March 15, 46 ASCD Student Chapter members volunteered to make a difference in the fight against hunger in Chicago. Working together the Friday morning before ASCD’s Annual Conference, the students packaged more than 15,000 pounds of food to help feed the nearly 678,000 people who rely on emergency and supplemental food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Thank you and congratulations to our ASCD Student Chapter volunteers! Read the full Conference Daily article.


      ASCD Forum Session at ASCD Annual Conference Gives Educators a Voice on Teacher and Principal Effectiveness

      On March 17, ASCD Past President Debra Hill facilitated a discussion of the ASCD Forum topic “how do we define and measure teacher and principal effectiveness?” Ten ASCD leaders stepped forward to help lead the discussion:

      ·         Jason Flom, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Ben Shuldiner, Position Advisory Committee Member

      ·         Amy Vanden Boogart, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Jeffrey Lofthus, Alaska ASCD Executive Director

      ·         Daina Lieberman, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Mamzelle Adolphine, Professional Interest Community Facilitator

      ·         Laurie McCullough, Virginia ASCD Executive Director

      ·         Alice Wells, Arizona ASCD Executive Director

      ·         Matthew Cotton, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Torian White, ASCD Emerging Leader

       

      Session attendees stepped up to the front of the room to share their thoughts and also posted tweets to the #ASCDForum hashtag. Many thanks to the ASCD leaders who participated to make this session a success!

       

      Congratulations to ASCD Affiliate Recognition Award Winners

      Please join ASCD in congratulating the ASCD Affiliate Recognition Award Recipients:

      Two affiliates were recognized for the 2013 Overall Excellence Award: Iowa ASCD, for its increased focus on integrating technology into professional learning opportunities and their influence and advocacy work with ASCD, and New Hampshire ASCD, for its work to increase membership and provide increased professional learning opportunities, such as Common Core workshops.

      In addition, New Jersey ASCD received the Area Excellence Award for Programs, Products, and Services for their leadership in their state as a trusted source for professional learning. Texas ASCD received an Exceptional Progress Award in Influence and Policy, and Alberta ASCD, Ohio ASCD, and Vermont ASCD were all recipients of the Exceptional Progress Award in Programs, Products, and Services.

      Read the Conference Daily article.

       

      Welcome to the “Educating Beyond Disabilities” Professional Interest Community

      Please join ASCD in welcoming our newest Professional Interest Community, facilitated by 2011 ASCD Emerging Leader Christina Yuknis. Please join her group on ASCD EDge.

       

      Tennessee ASCD Featured in ASCD Inservice Blog Series

      Weasked some of our affiliate leaders to tell us how the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has been going in their home states. In the sixth post of the series, Tennessee ASCD President-Elect John Combs writes about the challenges and successes that Tennessee has had with CCSS implementation.

      Previous Posts:New Jersey ASCD,Alabama ASCD, Arkansas ASCD, New Hampshire ASCD, and Florida ASCD


      Congratulations!

       

      Other News

       

      Meet ASCD President Becky Berg

      Becky J. Berg is from a family of educators. "My dad was a school board president; my mom was a career educator; and my sister, my grandmother, and my great-grandfather were educators," she says. Despite the genetic pull, Berg wasn't completely convinced she would follow in the family's footsteps until her experience as a summer camp counselor while she was in college. It was then that she realized how much she loved working with kids. Read the full Conference Daily article.

       

      Congratulations to the 2013 Outstanding Young Educator Award Winners!

      ASCD salutes a new generation’s passion for education excellence through this year’s selection of two Outstanding Young Educator Award winners: Joshua Garcia, deputy superintendent of Tacoma Public Schools (Wash.), and Parkville High School  (Parkville, Md.) teacher Ryan Twentey. Twentey teaches art, photography, and interactive media production and also serves as the school’s technology liaison. Read the full Conference Daily article.

       

      Interactive ASCD 2012 Annual Report Features ASCD Leaders

      Check out the ASCD 2012 Annual Report, entitled “Creating Solutions: The ASCD Revolution in Motion.” This interactive report features videos footage of ASCD leaders, including ASCD Emerging Leader Steven Anderson, Florida ASCD President Alina Davis, Alabama ASCD Executive Director Jane Cobia, ASCD Board Member Harriet Arnold, and Connecticut ASCD President David Cormier.


      Throughout April at wholechildeducation.org: Principal Leadership

      Principals are the key players in developing the climate, culture, and processes in their schools. They are critical to implementing meaningful and lasting school change and in the ongoing school-improvement process. Principals who have a clear vision; inspire and engage others in embracing change for improvement; drive, facilitate, and monitor the teaching and learning process; and foster a cohesive culture of learning are the collaborative leaders our schools need to fully commit to ensuring each student—and school staff member—is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

      What qualities do principals in today’s (and tomorrow’s) schools need to fulfill their roles as visionary, instructional, influential, and learning leaders?

      There are two episodes of the Whole Child Podcast in April for you to download and share. The first episode, “Leveling and Raising the Playing Field,” features school staff from Oregon’s Milwaukie High School, winner of the 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award, and is available now. On April 11, the second episode will be available. It will focus on principal leadership and include guests Kevin Enerson, principal of Whole Child Network school Le Sueur-Henderson High School in Minnesota, and Jessica Bohn, ASCD Emerging Leader and principal of  Gibsonville Elementary School in North Carolina.

      Throughout the month, read the Whole Child Blog and tell us what has worked in your school and with your students. E-mail us and share resources, research, and examples.

       

      The Best-Case Scenario

      As we review and reinforce our schools’ safety measures, we aren’t planning for the worst-case scenario that might happen; we are working to make sure the best-case scenario—where schools are learning environments that are physically, socially, and emotionally safe for students and adults—is an everyday occurrence that does happen. Read more on the Whole Child Blog.

      In February and March, we looked at what we, as educators, believe is crucial to making our schools safe—not just physically safe, but also safe places to teach and learn. Listen to the Whole Child Podcast with guests Joseph Bergant II, superintendent of Chardon Schools in Ohio; Howard Adelman, professor of psychology at UCLA and codirector of the School Mental Health Project and the Center for Mental Health in Schools (a whole child partner); and Jonathan Cohen, adjunct professor in psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and president and cofounder of whole child partner National School Climate Center.

      Have you signed up to receive the Whole Child Newsletter? Read the latest newsletter and visit the archive for more strategies, resources, and tools you can use to help ensure that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

        

      Something to Talk About

      Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

      Mostclicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

       

      Association News

      • ASCD Announces 2013 Conference on Teaching Excellence in National Harbor, Md.—ASCD will host its Conference on Teaching Excellence June 28–30, 2013, in National Harbor, Md. The conference—which will take place over two and a half days—will focus on the topic of teaching excellence and will have more than 150 sessions tailored for educators of all levels, including teachers, teacher leaders, principals, and district supervisors. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Announces New Spring and Summer Professional Development Institutes Supporting Common Core Implementation—ASCD announces new one- and two-day Professional Development Institutes supporting educators nationwide as they implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Read the full press release.

      • The Third Annual ASCD Whole Child Virtual Conference Launches May 6, 2013—ASCD’s third annual Whole Child Virtual Conference, entitled “Moving from Implementation to Sustainability to Culture,” will run May 6–10, 2013. The free and exclusively online event—which attracted more than 900 participants last year—offers educators around the globe 24 sessions to support their work to implement and sustain a whole child approach to education. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Names 2013 Elected Leaders and Affiliate Awards Recipients—ASCD announced Becky J. Berg—superintendent of the Deer Park School District in Deer Park, Wash. —as the association’s new President. Berg took office at the conclusion of ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Ill., on March 18. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Launches Interactive 2012 Annual Report—ASCD is pleased to announce the release of the association’s 2012 Annual Report, entitled “Creating Solutions: The ASCD Revolution in Motion.” This report showcases the association’s achievements and serves as a resource discovery tool for educators who seek programs, products, and services that empower them to support the success of each learner. Read the full press release.

      • Florida Association of District School Superintendents Launches Professional Development Partnership with ASCD—At ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, ASCD and the Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS) announced a new partnership to provide FADSS members statewide with customized professional development that will build participants’ capacity for successfully leading, supporting, and monitoring the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in their districts. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Selects Washington State Deputy Superintendent and Maryland Teacher as 2013 Outstanding Young Educators—At ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Ill., Joshua Garcia, deputy superintendent of Tacoma Public Schools in Tacoma, Wash., and Ryan Twentey, a photography teacher at Parkville High School in Parkville, Md., were announced as winners of the association’s prestigious 2013 Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA). Read the full press release.

      • Oregon's Milwaukie High School Named 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award Winner—ASCD announced that Milwaukie High School, located in Milwaukie, Ore., is the 2013 winner of the association’s Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award. Principal Mark Pinder accepted the award on behalf of Milwaukie High School from ASCD Executive Director and CEO Dr. Gene R. Carter at ASCD's 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Ill., on Sunday, March 17. Read the full press release.
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  • Complexity: Reductionism Complexity: Reductionism

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      Reductionist approaches try to isolate parts of a phenomenon or organism to explain the sum of those parts as a way to predict or replicate viable interventions. Education is not reductionistic in nature. The individual components of education do not add up to learning. Buildings+classrooms+agents+policy+curriculum≠learning. Yet, somehow, learning emerges from the complex interactions of all of these components (Bloch, 2005; Waldrop, 1992). Educational research attempts to explain the interaction of teaching or other behavior in school with specific student or school community characteristics, but scientific research and findings are contextually embedded in human networks and social interactions (Berliner, 2002). The reductionistic approaches have attempted to explain each separate factor in education and made great strides; but those theories need to be viewed through a lens of complexity and weighed against the system as a whole in order to be understood and applied.

      Existing within a certain milieu, schools are comprised of various-sized knowledge communities nested in and among each other giving the school the internal complexity to match the surrounding community. The traditional view of organizational analysis relies on this challenge of accounting for the parts within the whole of school to adapt and change as the community changes to maintain homeostasis while learning to learn as the principal seeks to understand the school in order to facilitate planning, change, and problem solving. In order to view the complex school environment, multiple perspectives or lenses must be used to view and filter school contexts (Beck, 1996; Bolman & Deal, 1997; Bruffee, 1999; Donaldson, 1998; Morgan, 1997).

      A principal can begin analysis by viewing the school system one lens at a time. As principals begin to understand the complex, ambiguous, paradoxical school within its specific context, the principal can strategically plan programs to fulfill the needs of the school. The lenses through which the principal chooses and/or combines to view a school will determine how they view the school’s nature and role over time. Because of this complexity, principals need to be able to analyze and understand their school in breadth and depth (Donaldson, 1998).

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  • Complexity: Sociocultural Capi Complexity: Sociocultural Capital

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      Attention to sociocultural capital in High-Performing High-Poverty Schools (HP2S) helps teachers understand where marginalized students are coming from. Teachers who share a sociocultural identity with students in the school may increase achievement in marginalized students (Chu Clewell & Campbell, 2007). Regardless of the focus on AYP in reading and math, ultimately, education is “the process of cultural transmission” (Rury, 2005, p. 10). The cultural resources imparted to students become capital “when they function as a ‘social relation of power’ by becoming objects of struggle as valued resources” (Swartz, 1997, p. 43). Cultural capital has a positive effect on all educational outcomes (Dumais, 2005). Acting as a resource for social power is why sociocultural capital is hoarded from marginalized groups by the dominant class. The power connected to cultural capital is a valuable resource “intersect[ing] with all aspects of cultural life” (p. 286). Bourdieu’s studies into capital have led him to believe that schools act as the main gatekeepers to capital giving the dominant class access to status, privilege, and symbolic power. “Schools offer the primary institutional setting for the production, transmission, and accumulation of various forms of cultural capital” (Swartz, 1997, p. 189) making restriction to capital through education a likely abuse by the privileged who already control education policy and practice (Nesbit, 2006). Even some reformers intent on social justice follow the dominant class way of thinking, valuing the expertise of professionals and managers over the working class, which presumes that “knowledge deficits” in the working class may be overcome through greater effort to move closer to dominant ideology (Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2005).

      A long-term view of student success by educators recognizes that students are not blank slates waiting to be filled, but “are the products of many years of complex interactions with their family of origin and cultural, social, political, and educational environments” (Kuh et al., 2007, p. 5). The combined SES of students in the school along with differences in sociocultural capital is an important factor in student performance. The resulting push for accountability has narrowed education’s view of what schools should be doing down to reading, math, and science (Henig et al., 1999; Kuh et al., 2007; Rury, 2005).

      Schools are middle class institutions where teachers have high levels of middle class sociocultural capital and reward students who have it, but may consciously or subconsciously discriminate against students who do not. When teacher and student capital is congruent, the performance of marginalized students is more likely to benefit. Popular society and specialists transmit values about the best way to raise children which is generally followed by middle class society aligning them with the beliefs of educational institutions. Working class parents are slower to change child-rearing practices to dominant practice keeping them out of sync with the school’s perception of the ideal home environment influencing teacher perception of the child and the child’s home life (Dumais, 2005; Lareau, 2003; Nesbit, 2006; Chu Clewell & Campbell, 2007).

      The test scores of marginalized students would currently be lower if schools had not already been making progress at reducing the disadvantages of family educational background and SES previous to the passage of NCLB (Henig et al., 1999). Educational leaders, principals in particular, use an understanding of “cultural, social, and the promise of economic capital” to bring competing groups and individuals together to find common goals and shift marginalized interests to the center by “mutual choice” (Watkins & Tisdell, 2006, p. 156). Schools tap into a sense of agency in communities to bring about mutual choice to move toward federal goals, otherwise mandates like NCLB will ultimately get nowhere (Cohen & Ball, 1999, p. 23). Different forms of capital, but sociocultural capital in particular, can operate as lenses principals use to view particular educational contexts. A lens of the middle-class, white norm limits a school’s responsiveness to cultural capital possessed by students (Machtinger, 2007; Swartz, 1997).

      Learning capacity is equivalent to intellectual capital (Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2005). All forms of capital are resources “that can be drawn on for social advancement” (Rury, 2005, p. 13). Bourdieu, one of the world experts on capital, believes there are four basic types of capital: economic, cultural, social, and symbolic with economic capital being the most important form in the United States followed by cultural (Swartz, 1997). While school cannot provide students with economic capital, schools can help students develop the other types of capital. Incongruence between the amount and type of capital students possess and the forms of capital valued in the school community can cause problems for the student (Kennedy et al., 2006).

      Cultural capital has been defined in numerous ways. Church (2005) quotes Nieto’s definition of culture as

      the ever-changing values, traditions, social and political relationships, and worldview created, shared, and transformed by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors that include a common history, geographic location, language, social class, and religion…Culture is dynamic; multi-faceted; embedded in context, influenced by social, economic, and political factors; created and socially constructed; learned; and dialectical (p. 48).

      Or in other words: highly complex. Cultural capital comes in an objectified form such as works of art, an embodied form based in an appreciation and understanding of objectified cultural capital, and institutionalized form found in educational credits and degrees. Cultural capital is a resource used to gain or maintain power and privilege. Based on the assumption that certain attitudes, behaviors, and values are more admired and rewarded in society than others, dominant forms of cultural capital give students who possess them an advantage over marginalized students (Dumais, 2005; Rury, 2005).

      Cultural capital, within the school setting, is the embodiment of the previous experience and learning of a community of people and influences how students accumulate, exchange, and utilize resources they gain from the school. Culture can be verbal facility, general cultural awareness, aesthetic preferences, scientific knowledge, and educational credentials and becomes a power source. Objectified cultural capital such as books, art, scientific instruments, and other tools require cultural abilities to use which can impact student engagement and parent involvement (Cohen & Ball, 1999; Stacey, 1996; Swartz, 1997). Parent access to the educational setting is also mediated by their personal experiences with school and other education-related institutions. In theU.S., where the dominant culture is not as strong as in other countries, cultural capital benefits both students from privileged backgrounds and all students who possess it allowing for “cultural mobility”. As cultural capital is distributed unevenly by society, schools make important decisions based on capital they have or capital they are trying to get which can be attributed to school failure as opposed to the limitations of individuals (Dumais, 2005; Lee & Bowen, 2006; Nasir & Hand, 2006; Schaughency & Ervin, 2006).

      Coleman expands cultural and human capital theories into social capital which is a “community-based support-system network” that is context specific and has the two common elements of social structures and facilitation of individual and group actions within those structures. Social capital is a network of individual human capital. This view seems too limiting to the richness of cultural capital as described by Bourdieu (Musial, 1999). Social capital is the benefit derived from social networks and organizations including relationships within family and community that generates trust and schema to increase the capacity for collaboration (Dumais, 2005; Farmer-Hinton & Adams, 2006; Lee & Bowen, 2006; Rury, 2005; Zacharakis & Flora, 2005).  Agents in the form of individuals and class will “struggle for social distinction” in a form of self-organization (Swartz, 1997). In this light, capital seems destined to be reproduced as “the quality of education children receive is directly related in part to the ability of parents to generate social capital” (Noguera, 2004, p. 2155).

      Obviously, the forms of cultural, social, human, and economic capital are often interrelated. Cultural capital intersects with social capital to give agents more influence. This intersection means agency cannot be separated from the social and cultural contexts within the global environment in which it occurs. While social capital can be a means to a desirable end, the dominant class will most often prevail as they possess more capital (Lattuca, 2002; Lee & Bowen, 2006; Watkins & Tisdell, 2006).

      More simply, “culture can be thought of as a set of behavioral characteristics or traits that are typical of a social group” (Rury, 2005, p. 9). The social setting is an organization of networks between social positions where dominant and marginalized groups compete for control of resources. Capital is specific to setting and does not exist without it. The education system reproduces social inequity where the possession of cultural capital leads to academic success. The most valuable form of capital in school is cultural capital congruent with capital valued within that particular school’s social setting (Dumais, 2005).

      Whereas the social-constructivist perspective makes a distinction between the individual cognitive activities and the environment in which the individual is present, the socio-cultural perspective regards the individual as being part of that environment. Accordingly, learning cannot be understood as a process that is solely in the mind of the learner…Knowledge, according to this perspective, is constructed in settings of joint activity…Learning is a process of participating in cultural practices, a process that structures and shapes cognitive activity (De Laat & Lally, 2003, p. 14).

      Nasir and Hand (2006) explain this complex interaction of social and cultural capital within specific environments as proof that educators need to attend to fostering agency in students’ focus on local problems. The number of students bringing middle class capital with them to school is decreasing and the number of students bringing sociocultural capital from the lower classes is increasing. “As in any demographic switch, the prevailing rules and policies eventually give way to the group with the largest numbers” (Payne, 2001, p. 79).

      Engrained dispositions from previous experience can sub- or un-consciously limit student success. Called “habitus”, these dispositions provide the opportunity to mitigate cultural predispositions by structuring school situations and interactions with positive models and diversity-oriented experiences (Kuh et al., 2007). However, the concept of habitus does not account for the complexity and variety of hopes and dreams of different groups. Humanity is too varied and complex to be perfectly categorized into any model, but habitus does give a vocabulary to talk about how dominant and marginalized groups may be socialized starting at a young age. “Habitus…privileges the basic idea that action is governed by a ‘practical sense’ of how to move in the social world. Culture is a practical tool used for getting along in the social world” (Swartz, 1997, p. 115). Habitus is a collection of cultural habits.

      Field is the social setting organized around types and combinations of capital which habitus operates. Schools act as a field for the competitive investment, exchange, and accumulation of various forms of capital (Swartz, 1997). Struggling within a local environment, schools should reflect the shifting community field. “Education clearly affects the course of social development, and schools reflect the influence of their immediate social context” (Rury, 2005, p. 1).

      Schools are viewed as vehicles for individual social and economic mobility. The education field itself provides mobility of cultural capital for low SES/marginalized groups and is often one of few examples children and community members have of mobility and opportunity. This perception itself may create the reproduction of limited mobility in marginalized groups. In truth, some schools value cultural knowledge while others are more forgiving (Dumais, 2005; Henig et al., 1999; Johnson et al., 2000).

      Empowerment of marginalized communities is collective, not individual. In order to realize change in the face of limited resources, communities rely on social capital for strength and agency. For school communities, this means that improved engagement can have profound consequences in improving achievement, agency, and equality (Schutz, 2006). Communalism helps build and accrue capital, generates “positive emotional energy”, and “may enhance motivation and engagement” (Seiler & Elmesky, 2007, p. 393). The social capital web is comprised of household, neighborhood, and school (Musial, 1999). But “working class peoples’ indigenous learning capacities…have been denied, suppressed, degraded or diverted within most capitalist schooling” (Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2005, p. 111). Overcoming cultural and historical differences “concerns activity and access to tools and mediated learning” (Portes, 2005, p. 176). Literacy, numeracy, and student well-being are practiced fluidly and dynamically across boundaries in social contexts. These pathways between family and community “need to be understood in out-of-home learning communities so that pedagogies, including assessment practices and the pedagogy of relationships can address the complexities related to children’s different life chances and ways of learning” (Kennedy et al., 2006, p. 16).

      “Biological models of deficiency [such as the Bell curve have been] replaced by cultural deficit models” (Nasir & Hand, 2006, p. 451). Private and charter schools can stick to a particular ideology that does not have to concern itself with discipline, ideology, and related social problems. These schools are successful because the students who attend them possess congruent sociocultural capital. The success of private and parochial schools suggests these schools acting as self-organizing units self-organize around the sociocultural capital available within and surround them as opposed to the capital they possess being superior (Bower, 2006; Portes, 2005; Walk, 1998). Capacity becomes a non-issue in middle class schools because the ingredients for success already reside in the boundaries and pathways established within the school community.

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  • Creativity and Engagement in t Creativity and Engagement in the CCSS Era

    • From: Thomas_Martellone
    • Description:

      

      There have been many editorials over the past year or so with strong feelings that creativity and engagement have been taken from students and teachers in the classroom setting.  I had the good fortune this week to have two very excited and proud first grade students come to see me, making me realize that student engagement and creativity are alive and well within the classrooms of my school and within the curriculum based on Common Core State Standards .


      I was just preparing to start one of my monthly literacy department meetings, when my administrative assistant came to get me in my office.  Normally, I hold those meetings in our literacy center, however, on this day, I was holding the meeting in my office due to some testing that was being done in our regular meeting space.  I left my office and went out to the main office area, only to find two first grade boys standing there waiting for me, both looking serious with papers in their hands.  


      Both boys shared that they had done some writing and they were there to share with me.  Knowing that students often times enjoy sharing their work, I invited them to my office where the literacy staff were waiting for me and I asked the students if they would share with me and the other adults I was meeting with.  I was pleasantly surprised when the two boys let me know that they wanted to share some persuasive writing with me!


      The first student began to read his piece, which in fact, was about me.  He shared in his piece of writing that he thought I was a good principal and that I helped students.  I wasn’t sure who his intended audience was, but I gave a small chuckle and appreciated the fact that he was trying to persuade someone to think I was a good principal. It was very flattering.  


      The second student then read his piece, which was writing that was intended to persuade me to buy some soccer balls so that they would have them to play with on the playground.  The student had tried to use a basketball and that didn’t work too well for soccer, thus, his persuasive letter.  After reading his letter, the other student turned to him and told him that he had a soccer ball at home and that he didn’t use it, so he would gladly bring it to school for them to use.  


      My reading specialists, the K-5 ELA department head and I all shared with the two boys how impressed we were with their persuasive writing.  The two boys beamed as they held their papers in my office and were excited that they not only got the chance to “persuade me”, but that adults were pleased with their writing.  Their teacher later shared with me how thrilled they were to come to the office with their writing and she also was very happy with how much her children were writing in the classroom.  


      Providing students opportunities in the classroom to prepare them for college readiness does not equate to learning that is not engaging and it certainly does not equate to teachers not using their skills to provide students with creative ways to learn.  The “art and science” of teaching refers to teachers employing their “art”, which is the creative way they deliver content and instruction to students.  The “science” is the following of aligned curriculum, which over time, helps create well prepared students to leave our schools and go forward into the world.  


      As a school leader, it is important to foster a culture where teachers feel that they can use creativity in the classroom no matter what standards are being taught and no matter what curriculum is being delivered in a district.  Teachers must have latitude to use a level of professional judgement around what will stimulate learning and engagement for students.  


      It is also important, that while promoting creativity, that principals have open and transparent dialogue with teachers about what needs to be taught.  Delivering instruction that will support students after they leave our schools is imperative and should be a non negotiable.


      In the end, it really is about the art and science of teaching, it is about balance, and it is about using good judgement to provide students engaging instruction within a structured curriculum where teachers are able to use the gifts that we’ve hired them to give to students!



    • Blog post
    • 2 months ago
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  • Complexity: Capacity Building Complexity: Capacity Building

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      Capacity building is one of the buzz phrases in education due to the complex nature of how society defines student success: “academic achievement; engagement in educationally purposeful activities; satisfaction; acquisition of desired knowledge, skills, and competencies; persistence; and attainment of educational objectives” (Kuh et al., 2007, p. 10). Capacity building within schools could not focus on only one aspect of development within the school because a single group within the school community could not possess all of the capacity necessary to fuel student success. Research indicates that capacity building increases student achievement (Cooter, 2003). All educators in effective schools take responsibility for improvement and professional capacity (Eaker, DuFour & DuFour, 2002; Chu Clewell & Campbell, 2007). Capacity builds as schools focus on learning and getting resources into classrooms to directly benefit students (Machtinger, 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 1998).

      Many authors have tried to articulate a definition of capacity. Ervin, Schaughency, Goodman, McGlinchy, and Matthews (2006) simply define capacity as skills, know-how, and available resources. Gewertz (2007) describes capacity as “building the school’s and community partners’ skills to improve, securing the resources to do it” (no page #). Fullan (2006) focuses on marginalized students when he articulates that

      capacity building involves any policy, strategy, or other action undertaken that enhances the gap of student learning for all students. Usually it consists of the development of three components in concert: new knowledge and competencies, new and enhanced resources, and new and deeper motivation and commitment to improve things…all played out collectively (p. 28).

      Knowledgeable education leaders understand that capacity building relies on the mission and vision of the local context which probably does not include academic achievement as primary to the futures of marginalized students (Schutz, 2006). Low performing schools do not have the capacity to turn themselves around in academic achievement when principals and communities are simply trying to survive concentrated poverty, low expectations, weak courses, burnt out teachers, run down facilities, overcrowding, and poor student behavior (U.S. Department of Education, 1998).

      Narrowly focusing expectations of schools in the form of AYP for all students as measured by one unattainable and not always relevant standard, when schools were on the brink of realizing the importance of participation by marginalized populations and opening up the possibility of class mobility of these populations, deflected attention away from what should be the true purposes of education (Noddings, 2006). By focusing attention on education’s inability to teach 100% of children to read and calculate on grade level in grade three through eight and the resulting distrust and dissatisfaction of the school community, schools have an even harder time building the capacity necessary to reach a critical mass in affecting true educational reform to create a truly powerful school-community coalition that could realize greater economic support for low SES schools, more democratic decision-making within low SES communities, and ultimately, better informed and equipped citizens of the future from all classes that might disrupt the status quo of the dominant class (Noguera, 2004). Low SES schools that were led by forward thinking and steadfast administrators continued this course of building the capacity of the school community to ensure truly unlimited opportunity for their student populations where the resources were available to students to be successful academically, socially, and culturally (Nesbit, 2006).

      The problem for meaningful and sustainable school reform is not attributable to a lack of energy, ideas, or a willingness to change in education. Fads, competing priorities, and unreasonable mandates deluge leaders immobilizing efforts to sustain and expand promising initiatives (Henig et al., 1999). As funding resources shrink, efficiency and capacity building become more and more important (Kezar, 2006). Teaching specific practices to families over making the effort to build capacity may result in advantages in certain times and places, but a “right way” approach causes action to lose its distinctive character providing the advantage (Lareau, 2000). “We need to reframe our entire reform strategy so that it focuses relentlessly and deeply on capacity building and accountability—a difficult but…doable high-yield strategy” (Fullan, 2006, p. 28).

      Capacity building is closely related to organizational learning. Knowledge and understanding moves from tacit to explicit back to tacit. “Teacher change, like most human change, must emanate from within” (Bonner, 2006, p. 41). Education becomes more than parents deferring to teacher professional judgment and only being involved to the extent that teachers value (Henig et al., 1999). By understanding capacity, the “lonely teacher… reaches out to and joins the community and family [as] school is a network with permeable boundaries connecting it to the other institutions comprising society” (Musial, 1999, p. 120), instead of “erect[ing] barriers with one hand while reaching out with the other” (Schutz, 2006, p. 726). Often, in unsuccessful schools, agents simply “do not know how to improve it, or they do not believe it can be improved” (Fullan, 2006, p. 60) when collective efficacy holds the potential for a better future (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). Authoritative leadership is not sustainable; but collective, collaborative, distributed leadership can build capacity and commitment to changing school culture in marginalized communities successfully through cooperating and competition, boundary conversations, dialogue, and productive conflict (Barr & Parrett, 2007; Copland, 2003; Patterson & Rolheiser, 2004; Stacey, 1996).

      As part of capacity building, principals actively build leadership capacity in others by “broad-based, skillful participation; a shared vision; established norms of inquiry and collaboration; reflective practice; and improving student achievement” (Lambert, 2003, Chapter 1, p. 1; Copland, 2003) and by developing learning communities where staff growth expands their capacity to provide for students (Eaker, et al., 2002). School reform rooted in the efforts of individuals and dependent on individual academic success cannot be sustained and will fail; working class learning is determined by the cultural context in systems dependent on sociocultural capital as opposed to individual capacity (Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2005; Musial, 1999). If capacity relies only on relationships or only on structure, capacity will be too soft or too rigid. Capacity is essential. “Because social systems are uncertain by their very nature, schools are fragile places (Lambert, 2003, Chapter 10, p. 1).

                  Many factors interact to determine educational capacity (O’Day et al., 1995). Yet, education experts agree, capacity building “must become a core feature of all improvement strategies” (Fullan, 2006, p. 104). Education has progressed to the point where discussion about capacity involves lists whose discussion centers around lines of responsibility versus lines of authority. These discussions describe capacity as built through clear accountability, relevant data available for analysis and application, and high expectations for staff with support of professional development (Walk, 1998). O’Day and colleagues (1995) feel “interdependence of organization and individual capacity” contributes to an understanding of instructional capacity (no page #). These authors list the five dimensions of organizational capacity as vision and leadership, collective commitment and cultural norms, knowledge or access to knowledge, organizational structures and management, and resources.

                  McREL (Dean et al., 2005, p. 5) defines capacity in three ways:

      • Leadership capacity: knowledge and skills to fulfill or support leadership responsibilities associated with high levels of student achievement, manage implications of change, establish and maintain a purposeful community, and determine a focus for improvement efforts
      • School capacity: collective ability to address the school-level, teacher-level, and student-level factors that are associated with high levels of student achievement and the ability to maintain a purposeful community
      • Teacher capacity: individual teacher’s ability to help all students succeed, contribute to school-level efforts, and address the teacher-level and student-level factors that are associated with high levels of student achievement

      Complex descriptions alluding to practices evident in High-Performing High-Poverty Schools (HP2S) get past the tendency to create lists and begin to open the door to envisioning improving instructional capacity in schools as an interaction of multiple elements to “produce worthwhile and substantial learning” (Cohen & Ball, 1999). Capacity building efforts result in “adoption, sustainability, and evolution of innovation” to allow HP2S to emerge (Schaughency & Ervin, 2006, p. 162).

       

    • Blog post
    • 2 months ago
    • Views: 289

  • Whac-A-Mole Leadership Whac-A-Mole Leadership

    • From: Steven_Weber
    • Description:

      One of my favorite arcade games is Whac-A-Mole.  When you drop your token in the machine, you have a limited amount of time to ‘whac’ as many moles as you can.  In the beginning of the game, one or two moles pop their heads up and it is fairly easy to hit each one.  About twenty seconds into the game, the moles start popping up three at a time and when you smash a mole with the mallet it may pop up again.

       

      Whac-A-Mole is similar to the daily routine of a principal.  From the time you arrive at school in the morning until late in the evening, moles pop up.  Your job is to address each mole and to prioritize which one is most important.  In this article, I am going to describe the ‘Six Moles’ a principal must address in order to be a good leader.

       

      Six Moles A Principal Must Address

       

      Family Concerns

      Principals receive phone calls, emails, and face-to-face messages from families.  If you work in the car rider line at an elementary school, a parent or grandparent may share a concern with you as they drop their child off at school.  When you check your email, you may have an email from multiple families with a concern about something that happened the day before.  There are times when a family member has a concern about something that is a district level concern, but it is the principal’s job to advocate for families and contact the central office or assist the family in navigating communication with the central office.  Families are not ‘moles’, but concerns pop up frequently and the principal cannot ignore family concerns.  It is not wise to ‘whac’ a family member, but the concern must be addressed.

       

      Instructional Rounds

      A principal wears several hats and the instructional leadership hat is critical to the success of the school.  If a principal is focused on email, returning phone calls, developing professional development, and attending meetings, he or she will not be able to focus on the main thing.  When a principal visits classrooms for formal or informal observations, it helps him or her get a pulse for student achievement and curriculum implementation.  A principal should be a coach, cheerleader, critical friend, and more!  If a principal does not visit classrooms on a regular basis, then the school will not continue to grow.  Instructional rounds cannot be something that a principal does when the ‘mole’ pops up.  This important leadership role must be part of the principal’s regular schedule.

       

      Student Discipline

      Student Discipline pops up unexpectedly.  There may be a student issue on the bus ride to school.  Students may have a dispute on the playground.  A student may break a school rule on the way to the next class.  Handling student discipline is one of the main roles of principal leadership.  Teachers and staff assist with student discipline, but when this ‘mole’ pops its head up, the principal cannot ignore it and move to the next three moles that pop up.  Some of you reading this article may be thinking, “If student discipline is a mole, then ‘whac’ it.”  You cannot use a hammer to hit every problem.  When you use the Whac-A-Mole approach to student discipline it means you handle the problems as they arise, rather than waiting for more problems to pop up.

       

      Email

      One of the most challenging ‘moles’ for a principal is email.  If you sit at your desk from 8:00 am – Noon, you will see multiple moles pop up on your screen.  More building principals are carrying a personal or school assigned smart phone on their hip.  At one point, it was easy to avoid email because you could walk away from the computer.  Principals have the ability to check email in the hallway, in meetings, while they are off campus, at home, and any time day or night.  If principals focus on each email as it pops up then they will get distracted and miss out on other important leadership duties.  Email is a great analogy to the game Whac-A-Mole.  When you reply to email it continues to pop up.  Time management is important and Whac-A-Mole Leadership involves more than whacking each email, hoping to bop all of the ‘email moles.’

       

      Professional Development

      Leading professional development is important.  When a school staff stops learning, they stop growing.  It is easy for principals to spend several hours developing a video, presentation, or hands-on learning activity.  Quality professional development requires planning, learning goals, and materials.  Principals are wise to develop a teacher leadership team who can assist with professional development.  This will allow the principal to have a role in leading professional development, without having to plan the entire session. This year, our school has conducted professional development on the Six Instructional Shifts (Common Core State Standards), Technology Integration, Literacy, and School Safety.  If the principal ignores professional development, then it may not happen.  However, a building principal cannot sit in the office and develop every PD, while ignoring other ‘moles’ throughout the school.

       

      Communication

      Communication is an important responsibility and it cannot be ignored.  Principals need to communicate through the school website, email, newsletters, video, blogs, face-to-face meetings, PTA meetings, Coffee Hour, phone calls, and informal meetings in the parking lot.  Principals need to be intentional about communication.  Principals need to communicate with classroom teachers through classroom observations, email, blog, faculty meetings, notes, and informal meetings.  A principal could spend his or her entire day developing communication documents or preparing a speech for the next meeting.  It is important to see communication as a mole that you ‘whac’, but also as something you plan for.  If you are not communicating and marketing the great things about your school, then who is marketing your school?  You cannot afford to let the ‘communication mole’ pop its head up too many times.

       

      Conclusion

      Whac-A-Mole Leadership is a humorous way to describe the day of a principal.  We can all laugh and relate to the moles that pop up throughout the day.  You can probably describe several more moles that principals must address if you reflect on your past week.  “Leaders are usually distinguished by their ability to think big. But when their focus shifts, they suddenly start thinking small. They micro manage, they get caught up in details better left to others, and they become consumed with the trivial and unimportant. And to make matters worse, this tendency can be exacerbated by an inclination toward perfectionism” (Sanborn, M.).  If the goal of leadership becomes whacking the next mole, we may miss the most important things.  Stephen Covey shared the Leadership Matrix (as shared by Michael Hyatt, Intentional Leadership).  Principals must ask, “Is this mole important and urgent?” or “Is this mole urgent, but not important?”  As the moles pop up at your school, I wish you the best.  Keep whacking moles, but make certain you are focused on the right mole.

    • Blog post
    • 3 months ago
    • Views: 915

  • Nurturing Effective Teachers - Nurturing Effective Teachers - Priceless!

    • From: Carol_Hunter
    • Description:

      When I first became a teacher in Ontario, Canada, we were evaluated once a year by a Superintendent of Education who flew in from Toronto to evaluate teacher performance against expectations contained in a small grey book. We were made aware of the date and time of their visit and were expected to teach a lesson upon their arrival. We coached our students to look engaged in the lesson and folklore has it that some teachers even told their students to raise their right hand if they knew the answer and their left if they didn't. Hence, all appeared to be engaged. The Superintendent also evaluated the "climate" of the classroom. In those days, this was reduced to checking the thermostat, the consistency of the level of the blinds and the general tidiness of the room. This evaluation obviously had no impact on teacher development or student learning.

      How things have changed! Ontario now has a comprehensive teacher evaluation system which is an integral part of a continuum of professional learning that supports effective teaching. The goals of the Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) System are to: 

      1. promote teacher development;
      2. provide meaningful appraisals of teachers' performance that encourage professional learning and growth;
      3. identify opportunities for additional support where required; and
      4. provide a measure of accountability to the public.

      Teachers and principals are partners in the process which focuses on the continuous improvement of teaching practices. The process is different for beginning and experienced teachers as well as for those experiencing difficulty and those with a strong record of performance. In consultation wtih principals, teachers create an Annual Learning Plan that focuses on areas in which they can continuously improve. As a principal, I guided my teachers to set routine, creative, problem solving and personal growth goals. They would then develop action plans for each goal and I would be engaged in ongoing support and follow up discussions. 

      The vision of the TPA System is that every teacher in publicly funded education reaches his or her potential. When this is achieved, our students will also reach their potential.  WIthout a focus on continuous improvement relative to comprehensive quality standards, our schools will be stuck at meeting minimal standards on standardized tests and will not begin to address important issues such as personalization through learning styles and brain research; creating safe and caring cultures, climates and communities; reducing bullying; and simply making a difference. 

      School districts currently spend approximately 10% of their budget on staff development and evaluation. This is a lot of money. Too much of it is spent far removed from the relationships in the classroom and the school. Teacher evaluation systems too often get out of hand. A recent on-line discussion group asked the question of whether we should bring in outside experts to "do" teacher evaluations in order to free up some of the principal's time for more important things. This would be a huge step backwards. There is nothing more important for a princpal to do than develop his or her staff to meet their full potential. Only then will our students be getting the personalized, supportive education they need.

      We need elegant teacher evaluation systems that focus on what is important in promoting meaningful student learning and development as human beings. This is what matters. This is priceless!

    • Blog post
    • 3 months ago
    • Views: 445

  • Less is More: K.I.S.S. (Keep I Less is More: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

    • From: John_Rimes
    • Description:

      

      Following Your Mother’s Advice:
      Less is More: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
                
      I can remember as a young boy my mother explaining to my older sister how painting herself up like a clown would not equate into her making the cover of Vogue.  Mom encouraged her to tone down the colors and use a bit less blush and eye shadow.  Mom claimed with such natural beauty and great skin color a little here and dab there would be fine.  My sister who was already a beautiful girl got the message and made changes in the distribution and color choices of the make-up.  I can remember thinking clowns around the world could relax; she would no longer pose a threat to their career.
      School leaders need to reflect and remember-
                Most of us, if not all of us were once in the classroom and we should understand how overwhelmed our teachers could become.  In the midst of planning lessons, club sponsorships, staff meetings, individual student plans, scanning test scores, classroom evaluations, and the actual teaching of students, teachers are feeling the pressures and frustrations.  When teachers read the paper and watch the news they are often reminded how they should be better qualified and how the public education system is failing.  Teachers are constantly reminded how it is their responsibility to motivate and discipline students while at the same time providing the student's instruction.  Just like too much make-up can distort beauty, too many tasks for our teachers can distort their instructional focus.  
      Do they need more STUFF to do?-
                Timing and relevance are paramount when introducing new concepts or responsibilities to teachers.  Changes leaders consider a small task could be enormous for the teachers.  Leaders should recognize the overall impact that any change will have on their staff.  When we approach the teachers with one more thing to do it can create a sense of overload.  Many times leaders believe they are providing tools for the teachers and instead the teachers feel it is just something else for them to do.  Continually putting tasks on the teacher’s plate can ensure they will be miserable and possibly unproductive.  Happy teachers will be more productive teachers.  School leaders need to work keep their teacher’s workload manageable.  New programs, initiatives, strategies, and tools need to be relevant to the teachers and students success in the classroom.  Never add something because others are doing it or you want to be the first school to have it.  The types of programs that are not well thought out and quickly thrown together never work in the long run.    
      Dance a little-
                Promote smiles and high expectation.  Let’s all remember that learning should be fun.  No one should come to work everyday on pins and needles in anguish of running into his or her boss.  School leaders are responsible for the good and the bad when it comes to their teachers and schools.  The reality is that the school business is not always sunshine and butterflies, leaders must act as the key disciplinarian and manager along with being the teachers’ primary advocate and leader.  While leaders re-direct and correct, they must also celebrate the individual teacher and their accomplishments.  Form a bond of trust and a culture of caring.  Teachers are important and they must feel they are valued.   
      Inspect what you expect-
                 Teachers are responsible and accountable for their instruction and their student’s learning.  Through observations and evaluations many improvements can be made.  The leader must possess the ability to communicate their finding in a way the teachers are not defensive but instead reflective.  Through reflective practices and conversation new strategies and initiatives may be needed to improve the teachers instruction or the student learning.  Leaders should give teachers ample time and proper training to implement any new tasks or use any new instructional tool.  The leaders should ensure teachers see the specific function and importance of the additional tasks.  Be sensitive to the teacher’s time, both instructionally and personally; be cognitive of how they are holding up physically and mentally.
                
      Throughout the school year many tasks may be introduced to the teachers that will take time and training to implement. It is the school leaders responsibility to keep things manageable for the teachers and show continued support.  With any new initiative or school decision there should be a focus on making learning better for all of our students.  The leader that truly values their faculty and fosters trust, collaboration, and teamwork will be more likely to attain a buy-in from the teachers.  Most importantly, the school leader will not be the clown nobody wants to work for.
    • Blog post
    • 3 months ago
    • Views: 691

  • Sustaining PBL at Your School Sustaining PBL at Your School

    • From: Thom_Markham
    • Description:

      Recently a colleague asked me a question that made me pause and reflect. “How successful is PBL, really?” He’s an advocate for PBL, like I am, so the question wasn’t designed to nitpick or argue against PBL. He was reflecting on his own experience, and asking if mine had been similar.

       

      I began to look back on the nearly 175 workshops I’ve presented and the large number of schools I’ve coached that have taken on PBL in hopes of changing the culture of teaching and learning. All of them wanted to move toward more depth and inquiry, and away from direct instruction, pacing guides, coverage, and the general lethargy that pervades schools as they labor under outmoded rules of engagement. Most of all, they hoped to sustain PBL year over year to power their school into 21st century learning.

       

      How successful have they been? There are two answers to the question. For schools designed from the ground up to support integrated instruction, an inquiry-based culture, and a relentless focus on 21st century skills, the answer is clear: Extraordinarily successful. When the organizational philosophy supports student-driven inquiry, the natural outcome is great projects. These schools are the lights across the land—the Envision Schools, High Tech High, or the New Technology High Schools—that have become well known , as well a growing number of similar schools in every state. The students at these schools perform at world class levels, in some cases leading the world.

       

      I’ve worked with many teachers, principals and superintendents who have toured leading-edge schools. They return to their own campus, wanting the same results. So they plunge into PBL. How successful are they? The answer, unfortunately: Not very.

       

      Mostly, the schools start well. A core number of teachers implement projects that begin to show results. Students get excited; teachers feel satisfied; principals report a turning point. But that’s the first year. By the second year, typically after a strong start in the fall, PBL fades. The effort is not sustained. Why? It’s the well known rubber band effect. The industrial system can stretch to accommodate new viewpoints, but over time the constraints—mainly in-the-box thinking about tests scores and the lack of a collaborative culture committed to change—take their toll. Everyone settles back down into the routine.      

       

      This same dynamic, by the way, now drives the debate over the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Will they transform schools or become a new and improved laundry list? Here, the lessons of PBL are instructive. More than anything, it tells me that grafting an inquiry-based culture onto an industrial framework is an impossible dream, unless the effort is accompanied by a innovative focus on organizational change and high performance. This is a holistic endeavor, requiring a crucial brew of synergistic elements that work together to create a seamless system for sustainable change.

       

      What are the key ingredients? For those schools that did transition successfully to PBL, I can think of six essentials that enabled them to power through tough barriers and emerge at the other end of the tunnel. I suspect the list for the CCSS will be the same:

       

      • Extraordinary Leadership. Leadership means everyone. It helps to have a Principal who is on fire about new forms of education, and whose focus is relentless. But the distinguishing marks between administrators and teachers disappear in a school trying to reorganize itself. No one is an expert on the 21st century yet; everyone is a teacher and learner. That means exploring the why together, committing to experimentation, and sharing observations constantly. The most important attitude leaders can communicate is: Let’s problem solve this. If leadership doesn’t convey possibility, teachers eventually walk the halls with a deflated look. The tone of I’ve been here before creeps in. PBL may last a few more months, but it’s gone off life support.

       

      • Collaborative Culture. The best activity at the beginning of the PBL journey? Sit in a circle and talk. Embed the core mission in each person’s mind and heart. Agree on steps. Hold each other accountable. Be kind, because it’s hard work. And then move the collaboration forward by getting on Edmodo or Google+ and start talking to one another. If the school schedule doesn’t provide collaboration time, change the schedule. Start where you need to start—and remember that most problems originate upstream. You have to go to the headwaters for solutions. The takeaway here is that redoing your school is too big a job for just a few minds. As Machiavelli once said, “The times are too big for our brains.” That applies here.

       

      • Tools and Methods. PBL is really two different things. It’s a philosophy of student-focused inquiry that incorporates skillful behaviors and authentic work. It’s also a discrete method, a set of procedures and tools that operationalize projects into powerful experiences that can be replicated, documented, and assessed. By now, these methods have been field tested and refined; they work. To use PBL methods, all teachers should have the opportunity to get to know the tools. (Just as a note: the CCSS and PBL intersect here, but it is the philosophy of PBL that drives the new standards. Not everything needs to be a project.)

       

      • A system wide commitment to reflection. I’ll call this the ‘failure before success’ approach. System-wide, the leadership must build a recurring, reflection process into the schedule that allows for capturing learning and successes. The reflection must be protocol-driven, not a discussion about how ‘great that project was.’ Take time to look deeply at the outcomes. Notice differences in student behaviors. Share the debriefs broadly across the staff, including different departments.

       

      • Agreements on testing. Testing is like the smog in Beijing: It’s in the air and it’s not going away. It’s such a pervasive discussion these days that it acts like an anchor to keep PBL from moving forward. Sit down together and find a common message on testing. Figure out a way to keep it in the conversation without making it so prominent. If your school is doing more projects, but life stops mid-March to prepare for testing, then be able to explain that to yourselves and to your students. The competing demands of test results and API scores versus inquiry-based education must be resolved through an elegant synthesis that puts both in proper perspective. Take time at a staff meeting to discuss this challenge; then craft an elevator speech for leadership (that’s everyone again) to use with parents, students, and among each other.

       

      • Critical Mass. Here’s the basic problem with sustaining PBL at your school: 40% of the staff agrees with you, 40% disagrees, and 20% doesn’t think about it. The goal for sustainability is to develop critical mass—a core of committed teachers who tip the balance and set the direction for the school. Every good PBL effort starts with the champions, the few who by way of foresight or dissatisfaction enter the fray first. They can take a school through year one, but after that the process must be intentionally fed by relentless marketing. Take every opportunity to discuss and debrief projects. Show case projects to parents and the community. Always reflect and be open to refinement. Set up critical friends groups in your PLC’s. And, finally, adopt the mindset of a start-up in Silicon Valley: It will take you three years to get off the ground and start flying. It’s an exciting journey, but a long haul.

       

      Thom Markham is a psychologist and author of the Project Based Learning Design and Coaching Guide: Expert tools for Inquiry and Innovation for K-12 educators and the forthcoming book, Redefining Smart: Make your mind bigger than your brain. Download tools for project based learning on his website, www.thommarkham.com, or contact him by e-mail at thom@thommarkham.com.

      .

       

    • Blog post
    • 3 months ago
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