A Reader Asks... The Instructional Rigor/Relevance Shift Map

A LYS Teacher who is using The Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App (Fun 5 Plans) asks the following:

SC,

Good afternoon. Could you explain to me the instructional shift graph? What do the letters “O, C, W, and T” mean? And do the colors of the arrows mean anything?

Thanks.

SC Response

Great questions. The Instructional Shift graph that is generated in the Fun 5 Plans app illustrates the shifts in instructional rigor and relevance that will occur if you deliver the lesson as planed.  Consider the example below.

  

First, the vertical axis represents Instructional Rigor.  The horizontal axis represents Instructional Relevance.

Next, here is what the letters O, T, W and C represent.

O = my opening objective.  This is the starting point of instructional rigor and relevance.

T = The Instructional Rigor and Relevance of my student purposeful talk sessions.  The arrow illustrates the magnitude of the shift.

W = The Instructional Rigor and Relevance of my embedded critical writing activity. The arrow illustrates the magnitude of the shift.

C = The Instructional Rigor and Relevance of my closing question. The arrow illustrates the magnitude of the shift.

Finally, the colors of the arrows do have meaning.  The arrows, which all begin at the lesson objective, terminate in the rigor/relevance quadrant of the planned activity. The termination quadrant determines the arrow color. Red arrows represent low-level (as defined by category of rigor and relevance) instructional activities. Yellow arrows represent mid-level instructional activities. Green arrows represent high-level instructional activities. 

The colors are NOT quality standards; they are planning tools that assist a teacher in determining if the rigor and relevance of an activity meets her instructional intent.

If I deliver the my lesson (represented in the graph above) as planned, even though my direct teach is at the knowledge / comprehension level, the Frequent Small Group Purposeful Talk, Critical Writing and Closing Question will create multiple spikes in rigor and relevance throughout the lesson.  This will facilitate retention, critical thinking, creativity and complex problem solving.  All good things and all in a single 45 to 90 minute class period.

I hope this helps.  Stay in touch.

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: TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Responds... Transforming Schools - Part 1

In response to the 2/11/14 post, “Nelson Coulter Writes... Transforming Schools 2.0,” a reader responds with the following:

In other words, Texas school administrators in the South Plains are dead-set on further implementing Common Core practices and repackaged/renamed outcomes-based methodologies which have consistently failed for the last 45 years.

SC Response

Thank you for not sending this in anonymously, which I take to mean that you are serious in your convictions.  Which is why I am bumping up the posting of our exchange.

I’m going to start with this. We are not going to agree to disagree.  You are just wrong.

1. Texas schools are not dead set on implementing the Common Core, and to insist otherwise is either delusional, ignorant, or duplicitous.  Texas schools are accountable to teaching the TEKS which predate the Common Core by at least 10 years.  Why the Conspiracy Theorists can squint their eyes and see a connection is that the TEKS were held up as a model for what other states should adopt, by Texas Republican politicians.  You may remember them, George Bush and Margaret Spellings being early, extremely powerful advocates/examples.  Additionally, the sanctions for not teaching the TEKS to a sufficient level of competence (a level that has increased at a pace dramatically greater than resources) lead to destroyed careers.  And trust me, when the choice is feeding your family or teaching what is not mandated, feeding your family takes precedence.

2. "Texas schools are using repackaged/renamed outcomes based methodologies." And your point is?  As an educator you can focus on inputs (what you do as a teacher and the resources you provide to a student) or you can focus on outcomes (student performance based on a mix of inputs).  The current school focus on outcomes, which you seemingly do not agree with, is driven by political structures and mandates that have been orchestrated by a Republican Governor, Republican Lt. Governor and Republican Legislature.  When it comes to schools policy, Accountability, Testing, Standards, Sanctions, and Inadequate Funding have been the hallmarks of the Republican Politician in Texas for the past 15 years.  Are you surprised that schools have evolved to meet these ever increasing operational parameters?  And for the record, as an educator, I do believe that we (schools and teachers) should be accountable for the performance of our students.  And I do believe that we (schools and teachers) have been lacking in embracing this fact.  And I also believe that just because someone ONCE attended school, this does NOT qualify that person to accurately weigh the complex variables that determine student performance for the purpose of rating a school successful or unsuccessful. 

3. "Texas schools have consistently failed for the last 45 years." All I can surmise is that we have different rubrics for success.  Here is what I know Texas Public Schools now accomplish compared to  what they did 45 years ago.

• Educate more students than ever before.
• Graduate more students than every before, both in raw numbers and percentages.
• Serve more special education students than ever before, both in raw numbers and percentages.
• Serve more limited English proficient students that ever before, both in raw numbers and percentages.
• Serve more economically disadvantaged students than ever before, both in raw numbers and percentages.
• Serve more GT students than ever before, both in raw numbers and percentages.
• Offer more course/theme/degree options than ever before.
• Provide more social services than ever before.
• Teach at higher levels of Instructional Rigor, for longer periods of time, than ever before.
• Teach at higher levels of Instructional Relevance, for longer periods of time, than ever before.
• Face higher levels of performance accountability than ever before.
• And all in the face of increasingly inadequate funding and resources.

The quality of education provided to a random student today is significantly better than what was provided to a random student 30, 20, 10 and even 5 years ago.  So where is the school failure?  Or are you angry at the failure of agenda driven politics and the purposeful dismantling of public infrastructure?

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: TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Asks... HS Math Lesson Frames

A LYS Assistant Principal asks the following:

SC,

My math department is having a difficult time Framing the Lesson. Could you send me an example of a math objective and closing question in either Algebra or Geometry?

SC Response

How about one for each class?

First things first, a Lesson Frame consists of:

1. An Objective: This tells the student in direct, concrete language what the class will learn today. This part of the lesson frame is the part that most teachers are familiar with, and the majority of implementation issues are seemly driven by a lack of planning or will. Translation – the objective usually isn’t the problem.

2. A Closing Question: This represents the key take-away or understanding for the lesson. In academic classes, students will address the closing question either verbally or in written form.  In performance classes, the students may demonstrate their understanding thru completing a product or task (performance class examples: my weld is straight or I play the song without missing a note).  Many teachers struggle with this because as instructors we spend a lot of time thinking about the activity of the lesson and not a lot of time thinking about the CRITICAL outcome of a SPECIFIC lesson.  Developing a good closing questions, consistently, does take training, practice and support.

Here is an example of an Algebra I Lesson Frame.

Objective: We will learn how to simplify expressions with exponents.

Lesson Activities: Lecture, Demonstration, Guided Practice, Individual Practice

Closing Question: I will write down and share the three most important things to remember when solving expressions with exponents.

Here is an example of a Geometry Lesson Frame.

Objective: We will translate figures on a coordinate plane.

Lesson Activities: Lecture, Demonstration, Guided Practice, Individual Practice

Closing Question: I will write down the difference between a figure and an image and explain why it is important to not confuse the two.

I hope you and your team find this useful.

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: TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Happy Birthday to the Blog

That’s right LYS Nation, our daily conversation is five years old today. It alternately feels like we just started this yesterday and that we have been doing this forever. I have to admit when I started writing five years ago I had no expectations and no idea where this would take us. My biggest fear was that I would have writer's block after the first two weeks. Fortunately, the blog struck a cord with you (the reader and practitioner) and the LYS Nation was born. Writer’s block has yet to be an issue because the LYS Nation quickly stepped up and took over the topics of discussion. And as I regularly remind you, it is much easier and rewarding to participate in a dialogue than support a never-ending monologue.

I thought it would be fun to re-visit the first post I wrote for the blog, and yes, exactly five years later, I’m dashing this off right before I hit the road to visit another school.

Thank you for another great year and who knows where we’ll go in the upcoming year.

Getting Started: An Introduction (February 2009)

Here I am sitting in another airport terminal at 6:00 in the morning. I wish I could say that this is unusual, but it’s not. I’m now a school road warrior. For the past 5 (now 10) years I have lived on the road, 3, 4 and too often 5 nights a week. Going where schools and principals have needs and problems that they need help with.

There are some perks. Because of the travel points I’m a Hilton Diamond member and a Continental (now United) Elite member. This means on a big jet and in a big city, I get upgraded. That happens a couple a times a month, but most of the time I’m on a small plane going to a small town. I also get a lot of free Southwest Airline tickets.

“Congratulations, you fly a lot. Do you want to fly some more?”

I’m not complaining. I’m just making the case that I have seen a lot, worked with a lot of principals and schools, and have fixed a lot of problems. All of that to say, that what I’ve seen, what I’ve learned, and what I do may be useful out there.

I have observed that school leaders for the most part live on islands. Islands that have been built by isolation, misinformation, wishful thinking and/or petty jealousies. Hopefully, I can help get some of you off the island, or at least make the island more hospitable.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to write about school leadership and school operations. The focus will mostly be on improvement and what works. But I’ll also write about the tools that I find useful, books that I have read, conversations that I have had and respond to your comments. Who knows where this will go? I just hope that every once in a while, you’ll find something that is useful to you, your school and/or your staff.

Time to board now, off to another city and another school.

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: TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of February 9, 2014

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now Twitter users.  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 9, 2014.

1. Congratulations to LYSer, Robert Webb! He is the new Principal at Snyder HS. Who will be next? (By @LYSNation)

2. Today's Quote: "Don't be upset by the results you didn't get, from the work you didn't do." (By @DrRichAllen)

3. "You learn from the great coaches you’ve had, but sometimes you learn even more from the bad ones. You never want to be THAT guy."--J. Madden (By @richardjustice)

4. The synergy of The Fundamental Five (Cain & Laird) in the framework of differentiation is a win/win for all teachers and students - powerful indeed. (By @TinneyTroy)

5. Purposeful Talk Definition: Intentional student conversations that drive the learning towards the desired lesson intent. (By @LYSNation)

6. Public education was left to us by generous ancestors. It educated most of us. It made us what we are. We must protect it and pass it on. (By @johnkuhntx)

7. Add structural routines to your school like 3-week interim assessments and watch your student performance soar! (By @tra_hall)

8. Awareness is not execution. Execution is not expertise. (By @LYSNation)

9. I'm pleased to announce that I have filed as a candidate for Northwest ISD School Board Trustee, Place 5. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

10. The learning continues while waiting for flight home. Reading The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird).  (By @krhilby)

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: TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook