Recommended Book

I just finished reading, “The 48 Laws of Power,” by Robert Greene.

It’s a good book, very dry and little scary. It will remind you how dangerous and manipulative power for the sake of power can be. On the other hand, as a leader, if you are naïve in the ways of the world, you are a detriment to those who follow you. If your reading stack is light, pick up this book, otherwise, I recommend that you listen to the audio version.

An extra recommendation: If you are thinking about getting this book and you haven’t read the author’s, “The 33 Strategies of War,” get the war book first. I found it more interesting and more useful from a practical standpoint.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Nesting)

In response to the post, "Are You a Nester", a reader writes:

"O.K. the shoe fit!!!! I can’t put my legs under my desk, or for that matter my FEET!!!! You have inspired me to clean up my office~!!!!!! Thank you, I needed that!!"

SC Response
This is the time for a little spring cleaning.

Your turn...

People are Listening (It's a Good Thing)

The word is getting out. Along with all the regular work and discussions I have with teachers; campus leaders; central office staff; superintendents; and you, the Lead Your School reader; political leaders are becoming more and more interested in the work and beliefs that you are exemplifying everyday. And those beliefs are:

1. Adult practice drives student performance
2. The needs of our academically fragile students fuel the drive to innovate.
3. Dramatic results can occur rapidly.

Within the last 6 months, I have had audiences with school board members, mayors, a lt. governor, state representatives, a U.S. senator and a US congressman.

They are interested in your stories and your successes. Keep fighting the good fight.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes...

In response to the post, “The Curse of the Halo Effect,” a reader writes:

“Accountability is no doubt a zip code system. If you teach in the right zip code you really don't need to teach at all, the kids will be fine. And your pay will be higher than other zip codes. If you happen to work in a zip code with needy kids, you will have to work twice as hard as other teachers and you will not make as much money (usually). So why teach in these needy zip codes. You do it because you can make a difference. Because, you know that the teachers in the "good" zip codes are not really accomplishing as much they think they are. High SES kids will achieve, regardless of who (or if anyone) is in the classroom...

Suggested reading: Page Smith's, Killing the Spirit.”

Your turn…

Are You a Nester

Lead Your School readers who are hyper-monitors will appreciate the following; it is the product of very pro-active assistant principal that I have worked with during the past couple of years.

“Are you a nester? You might be if any of the following are true:

A. You can’t see your desk!

B. You can’t sit at your desk because there is no place to put your legs because of the stacks of paper and books you have hidden!

C. Your bookshelves are not organized or junky!

D. Stacks of paper are piled to the ceiling!

E. Supplies are strewn everywhere!

If this is you, CLEAN AND ORGANIZE YOUR DESK AND CLASSROOM”

Just a friendly reminder from someone in the trenches.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

The Curse of the "Halo" Effect

This has been a good week for articulating the pattern of ongoing observations. Here’s one that just hit me like a bolt of lightning as I listened to yet another school leader try to explain to me that his high SES schools aren't the problem, it’s his low SES schools.

Here’s the insight, “The lottery winner luck of working in an affluent zip code is the most cancerous impediment to instructional innovation facing our profession.”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Engaging Students)

In response to the post, "When Does Your School Start and End," a reader writes:

"The biggest problem my school has is that the faculty is disengaged from the students. It seems to be a hard problem to solve."

SC Response
This is a difficult issue on almost every campus. It's not that every teacher is disengaged from every student. It is the fact that teachers pick and choose both when they will engage and who they will engage with. What makes this insidious is that when you pick and choose when to engage, your mind thinks that you are engaged all the time. The result is that at any one time, significant numbers of students are left bobbing in the wake, like flotsam and jetsam.

So how do you combat this? I think there are a number of strategies. First, is awareness. Just as Hyper-monitoring holds a mirror to instructional practice, you need to hold a mirror to teacher / student relationships. You can do this through regular observation by the administrative staff and/or by using an external coach. My opinion is that the external coach would actually see the extent of the problem more clearly.

Second, talk about the issue. Leadership has to be a broken record in communicating the expectation that teachers engage with all students, all the time. I was recently on a campus that is dealing with this issue and the coaching framework we are using is Disney World. At Disney World, when the cast is above ground, in the park, they are always in character. No exceptions. In schools, as soon as we get out of our car in the morning, we have to be in character, until we get back in the car at night. We can't pick and choose when we will be in "teaching" mode during the day. Kids get regularly and frequently trampled when we operate in this way.

Third, use site visits. Take a team of your teacher to another campus and have them observe the student / staff interactions. It is easier to see our weakness in others than it is to see them in ourselves. And once we visualize the problem, we are in a better position to correct it.

Finally, you may just need to remove the staffer. Schools do not exist to provide steady paychecks to anyone who shows up. They exist to teach students and serve the community. If you are stubbornly hanging on to convenient habits that are detrimental to kids, then you have to go. As I remind everyone I work with, the only unforgivable sin is not being coachable.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Recommended Book

I just finished reading, “Small is the New Big,” by Seth Godin.

If you are a fan of the author (I am), then this is a must read. If you aren’t a fan, I would still recommend the book. Godin is a new media, marketing guru, who writes on topics related to business, customer service, technology, and marketing. If you exchange the words “business” with “school,” and “customer” with “student,” he has a lot of wealth of ideas that you could easily adapt into your daily practice.

It’s also a quick read.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

When Does Your School Start and End?

I was recently on a campus when the following observation hit me like a ton of bricks.

School starts when the first student arrives. When you start teaching is up to you.

School ends when the last student leaves. When you stop teaching is up to you.

How much learning time are you and your staff wasting every morning and every afternoon?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

Best Quote of the Week Award

And the winner is… Scientists! With the following quote, “Science classes should engage students, not bore them.”

Leave it to the scientists to be the voice of reason. Why anyone would think that boring lecture with no real world application and/or hands on activity is acceptable, is a mystery to me. But, I can promise you that that is the norm, not the exception. The campuses that are the exception are the ones that are significantly out-performing their peers.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Health)

In response to the post, “Great Advice – An Unknown High School Principal,” a reader writes:

“I couldn't agree more. I also heard an expert in human resources say that there are hidden disqualifiers for teachers getting into teaching and the biggest one is obesity. Research shows that obese employees are more likely to miss work for illness, have a poor diet on the job, and are less productive than their height/weight proportioned colleagues. Being an out-of-shape leader will cause the masses to rebel out of a lack of respect. There was one non-existent thing in the Marine Corps that I loved and miss: out-of-shape leaders.”

SC Response
Both teaching and leading schools are tough and stressful when you are in shape; an unhealthy lifestyle only make it more difficult. I want to add two more points. First, I had a friend who was an excellent principal who died on the job a couple of years ago. He was very heavy and had a number of health issues. He worked himself to death for his school. Don’t ignore your family, friends and doctor and do what he did - take care of yourself.

Second, Coach John Boyd (an associate of mine) preaches for the need to be in “Teaching” shape. If you refuse to work at getting into teaching shape, he spends less coaching time you. Because his time is limited, he spends the majority of his time with the staff who are committed, mind and body, to improving their classroom effectiveness.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

State of the Blog - First 100 Posts

Good morning, Lead Your School readers. This is the 100th post to the column, so I think this is a good time to review our progress and preview some upcoming improvements.

First, the review:

The 1st post was on Monday, February 16, 2009.

The 100th post is today, Tuesday, April 14, 2009.

It has taken 57 days to reach the 100 post milestone.

The 100 posts are equal to more than 60 pages of single spaced text.

The Top 5 key words have been: Data Use (13); Hyper-monitoring (12); R4 (11); School Improvement (9); and Common Assessments (9)

There have been 29 reader comments. Thank you, and keep it up. This blog will be more useful to all of us as it becomes more of a dialogue, as opposed to a monologue.

There are 44 e-mail subscribers. Again, thank you!

There have been over 1,500 site hits.

I find all of this is incredibly exciting, especially when you consider that just 58 days ago, every number was zero.

Now, for the preview of things that are coming soon:

There will be a new site design.

There will be "Crib Sheets." These are my personal book study notes that I have used with my staffs and shared with principals for years.

There will be audio files of recent presentations and discussions.

There will be "Tools for Schools." Products and programs recommended and reviewed by you the active practitioner.

Some blatant self promotion:

First, if you like the site and you haven’t signed up for the e-mail subscription, please do. I find that it’s easier to write to people, than it is to write to web hits.

Second, if you like the site and find it useful, tell three other people. Again, this will be more interesting for everyone as this becomes more of a dialogue.

Finally:

Thank you so much for reading and responding. Who knows what we will discuss in the next 100 posts.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Expulsion Documentation)

In response to the post, “Expulsion Documentation,” a reader (and Brown Guy) writes:

“Well said, Sean. I don't allow my assistant principals to expel kids because they are too close to the fire, so to speak, and cannot always be objective. In general, I will only expel when a Chapter 37 (Texas Education Code) expulsion is mandated, and even then I try to find a graduation solution. So far this year, I have had to expel three students for mandatory reasons, and two of the three have/will graduate. For a non-mandatory expulsion to occur, the amount of documentation I would require would be so substantial it would probably be easier for teachers and assistant principals to find other solutions. On a similar note, I still find it disturbing how fast band directors and athletic directors write kids off. I continuously have to fight that battle. I tend to believe that extra-curricular activities ceased to be about kids along time ago.”

SC Response
I think there are three keys to preventing expulsions and kicking kids out of extra-curricular activities. First, as I mentioned in my post, you have to create a system that removes the revenge / anger factor from the decision making process.

The second key is that you have to create a culture where the adults view student failure as their own failure. Too many schools have staff that view the failure of students as part of the natural order.

The third key is leadership. If leadership doesn’t take the loss of each student personally, then the staff will learn that there is an acceptable level of loss and will act accordingly.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes...

In response to the post, "We Reap What We Sow - Dress Code," a reader writes:

"Reminds me of a great quote, 'What you accept, you teach. What you permit, you promote.'"

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Instructional Leadership)

In response to the post, “Instructional Leadership in Action,” a reader (and Brown Guy) writes:

“I have an alternate system that produced some fairly impressive gains in the success rate of students who were expected to fail (i.e. bubble kids). Our campus had experience with the round robin rotation method. We used it year after year without noticeable results (as a side note, we did not know how to use data, hyper-monitoring, or the foundation trinity, so of course it did not work). Anyway, I refused to allow my math and science teachers to continue with the same tried and true, unsuccessful plan (they were not happy with me).

I challenged them to develop an alternate plan and they just could not think of one. Given the absence of their alternate suggestion, we identified those students who might have a chance of passing, if they were given the proper support. Once we had those students identified (based on common assessment data), each teacher was assigned 6 students at random as their personal charge. As principal, I gave them complete freedom to work whenever they could with their students (before school, during lunch, after school, at night, on Saturdays, between classes, during electives). It was their task and challenge to figure it out how to make it work. I monitored the teachers to make sure huge complicated plans did not develop, we focused on simple and workable. In short, my charge to the teachers sounded something like this, “Bob, here are your 6 students, they must pass.”

No matter what they asked me after that, my only response was, “I understand, so, go figure it out.”

Understand, we had great teachers who really cared for the kids, and had always given 100%, but this method forced them to look at specific learning gaps for individual children, not collective masses of faceless students. They were responsible for flesh and blood children whose future hinged on their ability as a teacher to save them. I loved it, they grumbled and fussed a little, and then really went to work. It was amazing. The results were that 2 out of every 3 coached students passed the test 4 weeks later.

For many, it was the first time they had ever passed the math or science TAKS. As leaders, we sometimes sell our people short by insulting them by micromanaging. In this case, it certainly was not micromanaged.

Given what we have learned about common assessment data, and hyper-monitoring, with hindsight I wish we had used both systems, we just might have gotten that other 1/3 to pass. My suggestion: blend both methods. Your students will benefit.”

SC Response
What is key to this comment and my post is that re-teaching has to be different from original teaching. Just doing the same thing louder, watered down, or less interestingly won’t reach the students who need the most support.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

Great Advice - An Unknown High School Principal

I heard an urban high school principal say this to a room full of aspiring administrators, “Leading a school is a full contact sport, so you better be in shape.”

School leadership is an unhealthy occupation: long hours, high stress, bad diet. If you don’t take care of yourself, you will burn out, have health issues or in the case of two principals I have worked with in the past 5 years, have a stroke.

Carve out 30 minutes each day to at least take a walk.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…