The Big Easy Writes... Its What We Do

LYS Coaching Legend, “The Big Easy,” shares the following:

SC,

I wanted to share a message that one of our principals sent me today.

"As always, I enjoyed our visit. I appreciate you taking time to provide me feedback over the years of your observations. And for the time you took to provide me with feedback from the team.

You told me I inspire you. However, I am always left inspired to do more and to be better each and every time we discuss school business. To end, I am touched by your sincere thoughtfulness and well wishes over the last few months."

 Sean, LYS has become an organization that goes beyond mere "stuff & things." All these years and going stronger than ever. My LYS take away... People matter!

The Big Easy

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); Texas ASCD Summer Conference; ESC 14 Sumer Conference (Keynote Presentation); ESC 11 Summer Conference (Keynote Presentation); 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 Writes... 10 Surprising Things You Learn While Implementing 3-week Checkpoints - Part 2

In response to the 12/4/2013 post, “10 Surprising ThingsYou Learn While Implementing 3-week Checkpoints,” a reader writes:

SC,

After reading the LYS blog post yesterday, I have some questions. What is the "deepest hole" re-teaching strategy? Where can I learn more about it? Was it in the Fundamental 5 book? Because I think this is the first time I have heard of this...

SC Response

Here is the quick answer (and no, this is not discussed in The Fundamental 5).  The “Deepest Hole” strategy is part of the LYS data analysis and adjustment process that we train teachers, campuses, and districts on.  As with most LYS systems, it is simple in theory, but requires discipline and support to implement correctly.

Basically, the strategy is based on the premise that you cannot remediate everything for everybody and make any forward progress.  That essentially, most re-teaching strategies are doomed to fail in the long run because the teacher starts slow, gets off pace and then is never able to catch up.  And not being on pace in an aligned, high stakes testing environment guarantees low test scores. So the solution is to not attempt to remediate everything for everybody.  Instead, based on the item analysis of the last checkpoint, focus re-teaching time and activities on the identified "deepest hole,” which is the concept on which the students performed the worst.

The deepest hole represents either what should have been taught, but wasn’t, or what was not taught long enough, or what wasn’t taught well.  This deepest hole impacts the student’s fundamental understanding of the content.  Fill that hole and the student will perform better, not only on the targeted concept, but also on the connected concepts in the content.  And by narrowing the re-teaching focus, the teacher can continue to make progress on introducing and teaching new content. Because not staying on pace ensures overall failure.

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); Texas ASCD Summer Conference; ESC 14 Sumer Conference (Keynote Presentation); ESC 11 Summer Conference (Keynote Presentation); 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... Lesson Framing

A readers asks the following:

SC,

Can you point me to the quantitative research that proves Lesson Framing provides superior results in learning compared to non-framed lessons? I live in a data-driven state and we must show quantitative data to support what we are doing. 

SC Response

Great question!

You want to review the data and research relating to learning targets, goal setting, primacy/recency, and retention.  This is not difficult to find and all this research supports the practice of Framing the Lesson.

The problem with specific research on Lesson Framing is the issue of causation versus correlation.  The teachers who are the best at Lesson Framing invariably are good at implementing other high-yield instructional practices. For example, when lesson framing is observed, the chances of observing frequent small group purposeful talk and writing critically increase dramatically. Both of those practices, obviously, being very high-yield.

Here is what the field data / research base tells us about lesson framing.

1. If an appropriate lesson frame is used, there is an increased chance that a student can explain the purpose of the lesson / activity (a positive outcome).

2. If an appropriate lesson frame is used, there is an increased chance that the teacher will close the lesson (a positive outcome).

3. If an appropriate lesson frame is used, there is an increased chance that the teacher will have students engage in purposeful talk during the lesson (a positive outcome).

4. If an appropriate lesson frame is used, there is an increased chance that the teacher will have students write critically during the lesson (a positive outcome).

5. If an appropriate lesson frame is used, when the teacher closes the lesson appropriately, student retention is enhanced (a positive outcome).

Framing the Lesson is a classic leading indicator.  The more you see it, the better the chance that you see more positives outcomes in the future.  The less you see it, the more likely you are to continuing seeing what you are already seeing. 

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); ESC 14 Sumer Conference (Keynote Presentation); ESC 11 Summer Conference (Keynote Presentation); 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 March 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 March 9, 2014.

1. If you can't learn from failure, leadership is not for you. (By @HalLRoberts)

2. Had to unfollow / stop recruiting a young man this evening. Still amazed by what recruits tweet / retweet. College coaches are watching. (By @CoachSings)

3. Do your best to ignore the critics. They have the luxury of being neither accountable nor responsible. (By @LYSNation)

4. The reason more folks aren't world-class anythings is that almost nobody LIKES to do the deliberate practice required. (By @ezigbo)

5. Show me stressed students and I'll show you adults wound tighter than clock springs and doing a poor job of hiding it. (By @LYSNation)

6. Be kind to unkind people . . . They really need it. (By @CoryBooker)

7. Talking negatively about someone often says more about you than it does the person you are trashing. (By @BruceVH)

8. If we don't model what we teach, we are teaching something else. - Abraham Maslow (By @ToddWhitaker)

9. Of the 3 million students suspended out of school, 70% were black, Latino, and/or students with disabilities. (By @allisonrbrown)

10. A child without preschool is 25% more likely to drop out of school and 40% more likely to become a teenage parent. (By @RYHTexas)

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); ESC 14 Sumer Conference (Keynote Presentation); ESC 11 Summer Conference (Keynote Presentation); 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