Upcoming Events and Happy Thanksgiving

To the LYS Nation,

If you are attending the Texas Charter Schools Association Conference on Tuesday, November 29, 2010, look me up. At 3:45 pm, I’ll be presenting on the first steps of school improvement. The session title is, “Broke to Better.”

You can also catch me on the TEPSA Webinar on Wednesday, November 30, 2010 at 11:00 AM (central time). The topic, “Successful Principal and Assistant Principal Relationships.” Follow the link below for more information.

http://www.tepsa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=282

Until then, be safe in your travels and enjoy this brief respite. The blog will resume on Monday, November 29, 2010. I leave you with the following message from Coach Tim Edwards, Texas coaching legend and proud member of the LYS Nation:

During the holiday, remember these reasons to be thankful.

1. Our health

2. Our country

3. Our wonderful way of life

4. Our freedoms of speech, religion, and expression

Enjoy your days off,

Coach

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

More of the LYS Nation in the News

The following article, written by a LYS Teacher, was originally published in the Midland Reporter-Telegram on 11/02/2010, Page C08.

Teachers, parents need to set students on path for love of reading

I am an avid reader. Reading is what I love to do on a night by myself, a rainy afternoon, or any day ending in “y.” I can think of nothing better to do than curl up with a good book and lose myself for several hours in a world completely different from my own. I teach reading. In my 12-year career, I’ve always taught reading in some shape or fashion. My first year as an educator was spent as a Title 1 aide where I pulled small groups of struggling readers. These students, in a rural Oklahoma setting, had many strikes against them becoming avid readers. Most of these students came from poor families that did not value reading or education. Many had small farms that took the time from the students after the school day had ended. As a primary teacher for the next eight years, I had varying classes of poor and middle-class students. For the most part, all of these parents wanted their children to succeed. We read together, read silently, read orally and checked out books from the library every week. Yet I still had struggling or reluctant readers. This summer I had an “a-ha” moment. About to enter my third year teaching sixth grade, I did quite a bit of professional reading. I read a book that changed my life, or at least my view on reading. I read the book “Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher. He suggests that schools are killing the love of reading. Test practice and reading the textbook word-by-word or page-by-page do not a reader make. I had one teacher in high school where on Monday we read the chapter out loud, one person reading at a time. Tuesday was vocabulary day. We looked up every vocabulary word in the book’s glossary. Wednesday we did the questions at the end of the chapter. Fridays we took a test over the chapter. Ugh! Just remembering it makes me realize why some of my classmates must hate reading. Instead, Gallagher suggests students need help to enjoy great literature. Classics are classics for a reason, and every well-rounded student needs to learn to enjoy some truly monumental literature. But in order to enjoy the classics, students need to be scaffolded every step of the way. You don’t hand “Romeo and Juliet” to a struggling reader and expect him or her to “get it.” You teach them how to make the connections, how to read for deeper meaning and how to enjoy the beauty of great writing. But even more importantly, students need to be given time to read books of their choice — whatever they want to read. Now, I’m a reading teacher, so I’m expected to say something like that. But let me put on my coach’s hat for a moment. If I want to become a better free throw shooter, I can read books about free throw shooting, take multiple choice quizzes about free throw shooting, or I can even watch some truly great free throw shooters. But how am I going to become a better free throw shooter? I have to practice shooting free throws. The same goes for reading. In order to become a reader, a student needs to read — not because they have to but because they want to. That means, as teachers and parents, we need to provide every resource for our students to practice reading. A recent study from the group Reading is Fundamental found that most classrooms have fewer than 50 books in them. Choice is the key. So what can we do as parents, teachers and community members? First, classrooms need books. Clean out your closets and bookshelves and donate any age appropriate books to your local school. Secondly, give books as gifts. When my son is invited to a birthday party, a book is always included in the gift we bring. Children need books at home as well as in school. Give books to teachers or schools in your local neighborhood. Give teachers gift cards to bookstores. The more books children have around them, the more likely they are to become readers. Finally, read yourself. Students need to see good reading modeled. Elementary teachers do this every day during silent reading time and read-aloud time. But even junior high and high school teachers need to model good reading. Every once in a while, throw in a picture book that correlates to what you’re studying. I guarantee your older students will enjoy it as well. My job as a teacher is to make my students into lifelong learners. I really feel my job is to make them into lifelong readers. Once the reading is there, the learning follows.

STACEY CALLAWAY

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Field Briefing from a LYS Coach

The following is a letter from the field from LYS Coach, Jeanette Nelson. I think the LYS Nation may find it interesting.

Hello, all...

I saw the great article on the LYS District in North Texas. No mention of Lead Your School, but it certainly appears between the lines.

My school in Washington D.C. is a low-performing high school and we will soon have another HS added to the assignment. It is most interesting! Both working here and living here. In spite of Chancellor Rhee's restructuring and re-alignment, problems abound. I have been privy to the politics from the inside, including working with an instructional coach who knows Rhee, the current mayor and the mayor-to-be personally.

The folks at the school are fabulous...a young mid-30's principal and assistant principal, and an instructional coach about to turn 68 and has the energy of a 30-year-old and the passion as well. The challenges are many, the students range in age from 17-21 and have all been disenfranchised in one way or another. (I learned the other day that one of the boys is only 13 years younger than his biological mother.) They are all impoverished and because many of them, both boys and girls, already have children of their own, are in a prime position to continue the cycle of poverty and reliance upon the welfare system. One would think that they would see the path they are on, but unfortunately, most of them do not and continue to challenge authority and are inarticulate as well as literacy-challenged.

The school is on a 9-week schedule, meaning that students can complete an entire course in 9 weeks, or in the case of some electives, complete a semester course in 4 1/2 weeks. My task is to build rigor in the instruction, as well as getting teachers to use their time in the 2 1/2 hour classes judiciously. The task becomes more difficult considering that many of the students do not really want to be here. But, because all the employers here now require a HS education, they feel they can just do seat time to get a diploma. Some have been in prison (including murder or attempted murder convictions, both boys and girls), some dropped out for a while because they had babies, some could not fit in other more traditional high schools or they were removed and kindly asked not to return because of their behavior.

The DC district has a set of standards, but no curriculum. Teachers must interpret on their own how and what to teach by breaking it down for themselves. Therefore, there is no guarantee that teachers across the district are even teaching the same things. Their state test covering reading and math, given to 10th graders in the spring, is not required for graduation, yet teachers are held responsible for the results on their appraisals. So students don't feel any compulsion to do well on the test, and sometimes end up graduating having never taken the test. My task is to increase the test results by a minimum of 5 percentage points over last year in both reading and math, but the chancellor is requiring an increase of 10 percentage points to maintain safe harbor for the school next year.

So, thank goodness teachers are starting to make some changes in their instruction as well as trusting me and working with me in developing a professional learning community. We still have a long path to travel, one filled with many rewards as well as some pesky challenges.

I miss all of you and hope things are going well. Don't let my Texas schools forget about me before I get back this summer.

Jeanette

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...