A New Principal Asks... Student Apathy

A new LYS Principal who recently took over the helm of a school asks the following:

SC,

What are your thoughts on student apathy and what is your solution?

SC Response

I’m going to give you the short answer and then a longer answer. First the short answer.

Adult practice drives student performance. If you have a student apathy symptom, then you have an adult practice problem. Change adult practice for the better and the student apathy issue will solve itself.

Now for the longer answer.

Student apathy can be a very real problem when student have operated in an environment devoid of belief, expectation, prospects, meaningful relationships, support and/or success. In such an environment, many students protect their ego and self esteem by divorcing themselves from the system. The less they care, the less they can be hurt. Convincing such a student, especially an older one, to engage is not a quick and easy task. However, it is also not an impossible task. Here are some basic strategies.

1. Implement the Fundamental 5 at high frequency and high quality in every classroom. This is the first step in changing adult practice and each component of the Fundamental 5 has a powerful, positive effect on the Teacher / Student / Classroom dynamic.

2. Purposefully connect with students. Especially the ones that are trying their best to avoid you at all cost. Talk to them with respect and like they matter. This will throw them off guard because they are used being treated as cattle. Start doing this and their attitudes will soon turn around.

3. Create some fun and excitement in the classroom and the school. You will be surprised how a little semi-serious team-based competition will change everyone’s attitude. The student who doesn’t give a flip about you, his grades, or the school, will work his tail off to help his TEAM win the most inconsequential of awards.

4. Set goals and recognize and reward growth and improvement at the same level you do for overall success. Honestly, what is a bigger accomplishment? The GT student getting another “A” on a test or a sweat hog grinding out a “B-“ in a class that no one expected him to pass? Don’t keep that astonishment, excitement and celebration bottled up. Share it.

Notice that I didn’t suggest punishment, blame, increased stakes or removal. If that worked we wouldn’t have a problem with apathetic students. We already dole out those toxic practices like they are cotton candy at the fair and look where we are.

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: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Principal Asks... PLC Focus

A LYS Principal asks,

SC,

I’m getting a lot of pressure to implement PLC’s on my campus. My teachers are already busting their tails so I am loath to add more to their plates. What do you suggest?

SC Response

Just because you call your regular meetings a PLC, doesn’t magically make them an effective use of time and energy. Sadly, in my observation, most PLC’s are retreads of standing committee meetings with a new moniker. So I’m with you, if I’m going to infringe on already limited instructional and planning time, I want value and action.

To get value and action, here is my basic PLC recommendation.

1. Have a syllabus for the year.

2. Have a predictable meeting focus cycle. For example:

Week 1: Curriculum preview

Week 2: Assessment development

Week 3: Data analysis & adjustment

Repeat cycle.

3. Have a tight meeting agenda and meeting time limit.

You have to ensure is that all PLC activities are directly correlated to the components of the Foundation Trinity. Otherwise, even if your people are engaged and busy, productivity is diminished.

Finally, I leave you with this action idea. One old school LYS principal has the following standing goal:

Take at least one thing off my teachers’ plate, each semester.

That means if you add something new (and a PLC requirement would be a “new”), take at least one thing away.

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: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Principal Shares... The Best Observation Data Ever!

A LYS Principal shared the following with her LYS Coach:

LC,

This is a note a teacher received last week. This teacher's personal goal was to improve her Recognize and Reinforce (see: Fundamental 5) frequency level. Looks like it's working!

SC Response

This note illustrates a key LYS coaching point; the change in our (adult) practice drives the change in student performance. We are the catalyst to improvement and when we do our part the students respond in ways that we cannot imaging. Kudos to your teacher. I would tell her to keep up the effort, but this student note all but assures that this is a given.

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: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of March 18, 2012

You may have missed it last week but the Encyclopedia Britannica is going all digital from this point forward. Let’s all stop and think about that for a minute.

The Brit was a good friend of mine in elementary school. Somewhere around the middle of second grade my teacher figured out that the best way to manage my behavior was to let me read the encyclopedia while I waited for the rest of my classmates to finish their work. She evidently passed that bit of knowledge on, because all the rest of my elementary teachers had the encyclopedias waiting for me on the first day of class. My third grade teacher even gave me the ‘C’ volume at the end of the school year with a note of encouragement. Which surprised me, because most of our interactions revolved around the words, “Stop, Quit, Sit down, Be quiet, They don’t need your help,” and the like.

My point? Now my teachers would have said, “Get out your I-pod, log on to the encyclopedia and read about something you want to teach me.”

Now instead of being limited to the “Gi – He,” volume, the world would be my oyster. Plus, no need for a library pass. Like it our not, our students now have the ability to hold the world in the palm of their hand. The question is will we let them do that from 8:00am to 3:00pm, when we can be a part of that? Or will we limit that access to after 3:00 in the afternoon where their learning journey will, for us, be out of sight and out of mind?

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 March 18, 2012, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse.

1. New Code: "Parents should be more responsible" = "I don't want my tax dollars funding 'those' kids. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

2. Texas subsidizes drilling while cutting funds for education, seems fair? (By @RYHTexas)

3. Vouchers will likely make our problems worse. As Sean Cain says, vouchers are tax breaks for wealthy at expense of the poor. (By @txschoolsupe)

4. The STAAR Test - The genius of our current politicians. Increase accountability. Decrease funding and instruction.

5. Gifted and talented in elementary? Seems contrary to modern neuroscience. (By @txschoolsupe)

6. How can a professional educator not agree with the Fundamental 5? These are the basic keys to excellent classrooms. (By @Lanthony79)

7. It doesn't matter how long you have taught. If you haven't read Marzano, you don't get to debate the attributes of Marzano.

8. Vocabulary in Isolation (definition) - A waste of student time and effort masquerading as an instructional activity.

9. Nothing disappoints me more than purposefully lazy practice.

10. There is a world of difference between observing 'Nothing Bad' and observing 'Nothing Good'.

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: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)