Remember the Main Objective is to Drain the Swamp

My grandfather (a very successful military and business leader), kept a plaque on his wall that read, “When you are up to your rear in alligators, it is hard to remember that the main objective is to drain the swamp.”

After my Dr. Seuss books, that plaque is the first thing I remember reading. As I have matured, that message has gone from funny to cliché, to sublime. As educators we spend a lot of time wrestling with the alligators (both real and imagined) when if we would just drain the swamp, the alligators will just go away.

Case in point. As I have experienced and reported, and as numerous LYSers can attest, when we improve the quality of instructional leadership and classroom instruction, student discipline rapidly improves. However, I was recently on a campus where the “answer” to all of the problems that the campus faces is to send teachers to “Capturing Kids Hearts,” training over the course of the next year. Now I have been CHK trained and I am a fan, but this is a classic “wrestle the alligator” reaction. The answers to the problems on this campus revolve around proactive, supportive campus leadership and better implementation of effective instructional practices. The “drain the swamp” solution is the Foundation Trinity and the Fundamental Five.

If you never address the underlying problem, the symptoms never improve.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Coming Soon! "The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction" www.TheFundamentalFive.com

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Upcoming Presentation Schedule

June 11 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

June 15 (TASSP) - Improve Now!

June 16 (TASSP) - Conference Breakfast, hosted by E. Don Brown (LYS travel tumblers for the first 1000 attendees, last year we ran out); Fundamental Five; Tech Tools for the 2.0 Principal

June 17 (TASSP) - PowerWalks

June 18 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!