Friday, February 24, 2012

Now Available at the App Store... PowerWalks Pro

For those of you who do not have access to the full PowerWalks Classroom Observation System but need something better that the lesser products that are out there (and some of you are forced to use), we built the PowerWalks Pro classroom observation app. Now available at the Apple App store, the tool is perfect for department chairs and instructional coaches. More advanced than PowerWalks Lite, an observation tool this powerful and assessable was unimaginable, until now. Search for PW Pro at the App Store.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference; Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Big Easy Writes... Yesterday was a Top Ten Day - Part 1

In response to the 10/28/2011 post, “Yesterday was a Top Ten Day,” The Big Easy writes:

SC,

Just got around to reading this post. While the hectic pace that you maintain does not surprise me, I am amazed at your energy and passion for what you do. This post caused me to reflect on the ten years plus that I have had the privilege of working for and with you. During that time, I have witnessed you leading in a way that is often talked about but not practiced on a consistent and regular basis (with the exception of LYSers). A few of the many things I have learned from you:

  1. Leadership is a calling, not something that can be assigned.
  2. Put people in a position so that they can succeed and give them credit (you often do this, even when the credit should be reserved for yourself).
  3. Tell people the truth, even when it hurts.
  4. Read, study, think.
  5. Keep it simple.
  6. Surround yourself with outstanding people/educators (like Bob Brezina and E. Don Brown).

I appreciate what you and the LYS organization stand for and congratulate you on what you have accomplished in a short period of time.

The Big Easy

SC Response

Thanks for the kind words. And I have more of your teaching to share with schools. Here are some things that I have learned from and with you in those same ten years.

  1. If you are trying to be “The Leader” in a room full of leaders, the room will quickly empty.
  2. No one works for “you.” They either work for a belief or a paycheck. Those who work for a belief will do whatever it takes to further or achieve the belief. Those who work for a paycheck won’t stick around long because they never believe that they are getting paid what they are worth.
  3. Fill your teams with people who compensate for weaknesses more than they complement your strengths.
  4. Stay humble and keep your head on a swivel, life is very good at reminding you that you are not all that.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference; Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Free School Improvement Tool

If there is a silver bullet for improving the quality of instructional delivery on a campus, it is the use of frequent objective classroom observation and coaching discussions. Lead Your School’s new PowerWalks Lite app is a great tool to use if your campus is new to this practice. Go to the Apple App store and search for PW Lite. Here’s what you are looking for.

And did I mention that this app is free...

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
  • Now at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference; Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A LYS Principal Shares... The Unexpected Side Effect!

A LYS Principal shares the following:

SC,

I just finished reviewing campus discipline data. Our campus discipline referrals have dropped 43% from Fall Semester 2010 to Fall Semester 2011. The major instructional difference... Power Zone (and the initial attempts at the rest of the Fundamental 5).

Thanks!

SC Response

We all know that when we improve instructional practice that student discipline improves. What is mind blowing is how small and tentative improvements in daily practice have such a measurable impact on student performance. Your results are not atypical. Most of our campuses see a 30% to 60% decrease in referrals. But you have to live it to believe it.

I was talking to another LYS Principal about your decrease in office referrals. He reminded me that his campus experienced the same drop and then shared an insight I had never considered. He said that as discipline referrals were plummeting it became easy to identify the teachers that were only paying lip service to implementing the new practices. It seems that they stood out because the change in the number of their office referrals was negligible. Which means that when teachers don’t execute the Fundamentals, they make their job more difficult than it needs to be.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
  • Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

Monday, February 20, 2012

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of February 12, 2012

This week, in the midst of conducting over fifty classroom observations (a normal occurrence), I realized something. There is a huge difference between traditional technology and bootleg technology. Traditional technology is expensive, intrusive and teacher–centric. Everyone gets expensive, but by intrusive I mean its use requires the subtraction of another activity (there are only so many minutes in the classroom). By teacher-centric I mean the teacher uses it, controls it, or manages nearly every aspect of student use. After all, the equipment and software is expensive and the activity better be useful because there is a lot of content for students to master in a very short amount of time.

Bootleg technology is convenient, embedded and user-centric. With bootleg technology the teacher doesn’t have specifically plan for its use. It’s just there, used as a resource during the course of teaching and learning. Don’t know a fact, look it up. Need to remember an assignment, put it on your e-to-do list. Your buddy is absent, text him the assignment and remind him to get to school, etc, etc. I am the consummate student. I observe, collect analyze and report. Only my classroom is just the entire school. And now 75% of my work is done on my phone. I observe and collect raw data with my phone. I take notes on my phone. I look at the aggregated and disaggregated results of my data collection on my phone. I think about what I saw, what I wrote and how it all fits together and write a summary/analysis report with full color charts and graphs on my computer. But then I put that report in a cloud server or e-mail it to myself. Then from my phone, I present and share that report with others. If while doing so, if I notice a typo in the report I can make my edits with my phone. Your students have access to this same tool in their lockers, backpacks, purses and pockets right now. They are using this tool everyday between the hours of 3:00pm and 8:00am. It behooves us to figure out how to get that tool academically focused between the hours of 8:00am and 3:00pm.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us. To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of February 12, 2012, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse.

1. Ms. Stewart (Cottonwood Creek ES) shifted rigor from knowledge to application at the snap of her finger with small group purposeful talk.

2. Best 1-hour session I've attended in a long time... Thanks Sean Cain, you’ve already spurred great conversation among our administrative team. (By tlonganecker)

3. Further proof that IQ is fluid: Research indicates that an additional year of school is equal to 3.7 points.

4. Its ironic when we claim that "relationship" is critical for school success, yet we talk to students like they're dogs throughout the day.

5. I propose a 5th R - Resiliency. The critical survival tool for all the kids that adults don't want to build relationships with.

6. To not close the lesson because you don't know to, is understandable. Because you choose not to, is inexcusable.

7. The problem with most plans is that the planner forgets that the World plays defense.

8. The teacher argument that the classroom is overcrowded rings hollow when 20-30% of floor space is devoted to teacher furniture.

9. Game On! Fever...catch it! (By @cheadhorn)

10. Anyone who claims to support job creation in Texas must support our public schools. Not Dem or Rep issue – it’s about the future of Texas plain and simple (By @SadlerTX)

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
  • Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference