A Teacher Shares... Fundamental 5 Training

After presenting a Fundamental 5 refresher session, a LYS Assistant Superintendent received the following note (abridged) from a new (to the district) teacher.

Good morning,

I wanted to send a quick follow-up to the training you conducted yesterday. It was a superb explanation of the Fundamental 5 and the importance of utilizing it for the benefit of the students.

I'm coming from (another district) where we integrated a TAP program over the last couple of years. It was similar to the Fundamental 5, but it was teacher output geared instead of student output geared. As you can imagine, teachers didn’t like being "graded" or "scolded" for their practices, so it wasn't well accepted. I appreciate focusing on student outcomes and taking some of the pressure off the teachers. Also, you don't expect 100%, 100% of the time. You acknowledged the daily challenges and that our practice won't always be perfect, but just do our best.  

I just want you to know I love what you guys are doing here and I am so grateful to be a part of this district. I feel I am in a place that truly focuses on each and every student and will do what it takes to make him or her successful. 

SC Response

It is funny that the teachers who most appreciate working in LYS districts and schools are the ones that previously worked in non-LYS districts and schools. They are the ones who can best identify the difference between working with tools and support and not.

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• 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) 
• Upcoming Presentations: North Dakota Principals Association Conference (Keynote Speaker), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A Reader Writes... Teaching vs. Coaching - Part 1

In response to the 10/17/2012 post, “Teaching Vs. Coaching,” a reader writes:

SC,

All teachers are coaches.  All coaches are teachers.  Both are accountable.  I am not a her!!!

SC Response

First, I will respectfully disagree with your contention that “All teachers are coaches and all coaches are teachers.”  The post was an attempt to illustrate a difference between the two.

Second, The point of the post was not, “Are you accountable?”  

The point was “What do you measure for accountability?”

Yes, teachers and coaches are accountable.  But the teacher mindset is that it is my job to deliver the content.  If I do that, I have done my job. I can’t make students learn so don’t hold me accountable to student performance.

The coach mindset is that the better I prepare my students the better they perform. Student success is the  ultimate measure of the effectiveness of my efforts.

Just as there are teachers on courts and fields, there are coaches in classrooms and lecture halls. I believe that our students are best served by educators who possess a coaching mindset. 

Finally, as for “Her,” that was simply my attempt to avoid male centric singular pronouns. I meant no offense.  

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
• 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)
• Upcoming Presentations: North Dakota Principals Association Conference (Keynote Speaker), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A Reader Writes... Getting Rid of ISS - Part 1

In response to the 9/6/2012 post, “A LYS Principal Asks... Getting Rid of ISS,” a LYS Assistant Superintendent writes:

SC,

When I was a principal we got rid of In School Suspension (ISS) that is on our time and keeps kids out of class.  Which by the way is what they (students) want. Then we exchanged it for After School Suspension (3 hours) on their time or as we called it, A.S.S.

Here is how it worked:  Act like one, get assigned one, and then you get to sit on one. 

SC Response

I like it.  It meets my Number One criteria in creating student discipline interventions; Reduce the Amount of Time the Student is Removed From Front Line Instruction.

When it comes to student performance, time on task trumps everything.  Yet in most schools, we set up systems that effectively and efficiently remove the difficult to teach students from our best instructional settings.  Instead, focus on this reality - the best revenge on the student that demonstrates a disruptive dislike for school and learning is to figure out ways to keep him in school and teach him something. It’s the ultimate win/win for the adult and the ultimate lose/win for the child.

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• 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) 
• Upcoming Presentations: North Dakota Principals Association Conference (Keynote Speaker), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of January 7, 2013

Though the blog went on hiatus for the Christmas Holidays, the LYS Nation Twitter Feed just kept on going.  Today’s post is the last highlight review, so now we are caught up. Here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of January 7, 2013.

1. Congratulations to LYSer, Dewitt Smith! He is the new Superintendent for Wink-Loving CISD. Who will be next?

2. Today, I will have more technology in my pocket than put men on the moon. Yet most schools won't let me learn using it. (By @thomascmurray)

3. Vouchers are not designed for kids in poverty, kids with special needs, or kids who don't speak English. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

4. Houston taxpayers now pay 83% of cost of education after the Texas Legislature cut $5.4B last session. With $9B surplus, will state now pay its share? (By @harvinmoore)

5. Where is taking the first week of the second semester to review the first semester in C-Scope?

6. If you are still working on the warm-up 20 minutes into class, it's NOT a warm-up.

7. Copying vocabulary from the back of the book is instructional malpractice.

8. It doesn't seem to matter if it is an early start school or a late start school, most of the kids and staff sleepwalk thru the 1st period.

9. I don’t have a problem with accountability. Just make it make sense. It also doesn’t need to be so punitive. (By @ONeilCHSprincip)

10. PowerWalks now has an ELPS report! Early data indicates that classrooms aren't very ELPS friendly. Easier to fix this when you can see it.

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• 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) 
• Upcoming Presentations: North Dakota Principals Association Conference (Keynote Speaker), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of December 30, 2012

Though the blog went on hiatus for the Christmas Holidays, the LYS Nation Twitter Feed just kept on going.  So for the next couple of days, we’ll catch up on the highlights.  Here are the Top LYS Tweets from the week of December 30, 2012.

1. There are too many people making decisions about schools who have no idea what goes on in a school. (By @ONeilCHSprincip)

2. One student talking isn't purposeful if the other 20 are just sitting there. Get them all talking. (By @kimbarker25)

3. If we continue to teach the way we have always taught, we will not get the same results we've always gotten. (By @hjgrubbs)

4. “Hard work can out-do genetics!” (By @AmbitionDaily)

5. Texas' GOP budget writers are in no hurry to restore billions cut from schools. (By @tlonganecker)

6. We learn little by sitting and listening. Try explaining, persuading, arguing with the person next to you instead. (By @anniemurphypaul)

7. Superior performance comes from identifying, and refining, the patterns that recur in your work. (By @anniemurphypaul)

8. Notre Dame first team in BCS Championship Game history to also be first in graduation rates. (By @richardjustice)

9. Before Christmas break I gave my staff The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird). Can't wait to implement this book study with them. (By @dsteeber)

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• 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) 
• Upcoming Presentations: North Dakota Principals Association Conference (Keynote Speaker), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation