Friday, December 12, 2014

An Assistant Principal Asks... Lesson Frame Clarification - The Close

A LYS Assistant Principal asks the following:

SC,

I have had some great conversations about Lesson Frames with my Teachers. Should the closing task be a separate task from the main activity of the lesson?

SC Response
Great question. Don’t think, “task.” Think, “proof of learning.”

The Close (which occurs at the end of the lesson) is when the teacher provides all students the opportunity to articulate in their own words (usually a quick talk or quick write) the key understanding or take away from the lesson.  It is the “close” of the main lesson, not an add on.

In the teaching of a concept, the students will do stuff and things (listen, read, talk, write, etc.).  The purpose of the stuff and things is to facilitate the learning of the concept.  The Close ensures that the student have extracted the actual instructional intent from the stuff and things that they did.

I hope this helps you and your team.

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 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Thursday, December 11, 2014

A Reader Writes... But I Want a Full Benchmark - Part 1

In response to the 12/9/2014 post, I Want a Full Benchmark,” a LYS Curriculum Director writes:

SC,

Thank you for the excellent information / explanations in your recent benchmark posts. Your posts support what we are trying to implement in our district. It’s good to have some backup ammunition when on the front lines, fighting the good fight.

SC Response
I have the utmost respect for those of you in the Curriculum Department.  It is the least understood and appreciated position in education.  I have yet to meet a teacher or principal that has told me, “You know, I really like our scope and sequence.  Those curriculum people really have it going on.”

Instead, it is more along the lines of, “Right when we get everything figured out, those *$#&% curriculum people go and change everything.”

So even though your own people may not realize it, thank you for working everyday to provide the tools teachers need to have the opportunity to make a real and lasting impact with their students.

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
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool)
  • Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook



Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Doing / Understanding Gap

A Principal recently asked me if I thought re-training staff on specific instructional practices was, “Redundant?”

The answer is, "Absolutely not."  Every instructional leader should commit the following to memory:

1. Awareness does not equal implementation.
2. Implementation does not equal expertise.

Awareness does not equal implementation is better known as the “Knowing – Doing Gap.”  A well-documented and common occurrence in school operations.  But just getting staff to just do the things that have been agreed to is not enough.  It is only the first step.

Even on campuses that are beginning to implement best practice, the understanding of how the practices interact with existing practice represents a significant blind spot.  To build this level of understanding, at scale, requires structure, process and leadership intent. 

The Structured Process: Focused training; Classroom implementation, Focused reflection; Repeat. 

The Leadership Intent: Work the process cycle continuously throughout the school year.

Re-training isn’t redundant.  Re-training allows staff to bring an ever-increasing skill set to the training room, which then positions them to better implement intentional practices in the classroom.

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 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

A Reader Writes... But I Want a Full Benchmark

A teacher sent this to the curriculum department in a district that has worked to implement 3-week checkpoints this year.

To the Curriculum Department:

I understand not having a Checkpoint in November because of the upcoming benchmark.  But here is what I do not understand. Why only 30 questions for 2 hours. If we are going to take the time to lose two days of teaching, I would rather have data on a whole benchmark and know how I want to handle my tutorials.  I want the biggest bang for my buck. 

I know we have not covered some items but a whole benchmark would give us a better picture of how hard we need to hit items we have not covered. Plus, what needs tweaking.  I have really tried to understand just having 30 questions and how it is going to help me, but I just do not see it. 

I know on every Checkpoint how my students will score. I know where they are currently.  But more items on a full benchmark would help me with:

A. Do my students have stamina?

B. Do I need to increase student reading time?

C. Which TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) are my very low ones across the board?

D. Do I need to work more on expository writing, narratives, drama and poetry?
 
This is the data I can get from a whole benchmark versus a half of one.  When I asked if we could administer a full benchmark I was told that there would be a 30-question benchmark in December.  I received no indication we are ever going to have a full benchmark. 

I guess the bottom line is can we have a full benchmark... Please?

SC Response
Educators, let’s take a deep breath.  We cannot lament the fact that we test too much on one day and then ask for an extra four hours of testing the next. It makes us look like rank amateurs.  Let’s leave the amateurs antics to the Legislature.

Now to address the specific points of the above letter.

1. The postponement of the Checkpoint was a one-time event.  To not have one robbed teachers of real-time diagnostic information on what was supposed to be taught.  The only valid reason to postpone the checkpoint, sadly, was the recognition that the entire system is behind the required curriculum pacing.  Meaning that it is known that students have not been exposed to the required content, so the checkpoint results are now completely predictable.  But recognize (as the curriculum department does) that this is system and adult failure that is detrimental to students. Thus, the one-time solution of skipping a checkpoint and extending teaching.

2. 30 questions over 2 hours is a reasonable for a cumulative final with embedded preview questions.  This equates to four minutes per question. District finals are scheduled for the final week of the semester, so the risk of losing “quality” instructional time is negligible.  I'm not trying to be mean with this observation, just being real.

3. As for the statement, “...how hard must I hit the items we have not covered,” is ludicrous.  We already know that our students do not know what we have not taught (hence the postponement of the checkpoint). SO TEACH YOUR TAIL OFF... EVERY DAY. Your students need and deserve nothing less.

4. 25 questions, 30 questions, 40 questions…  What’s the point?  The Final needs to have just enough questions to give teachers the information they need to inform their next instructional decisions.  More questions aren’t necessarily better. In fact, I can get better information with a 13-question test than any 30+ question test in use at any school in the state (but that is another discussion).

5. Stamina can and should be built and measured throughout the year. The timed checkpoints, when implemented correctly, do this.  One long test is not how this is done.  You don’t train for a marathon by running one or two a pre-marathons. Let go of superstitious practices and trust the process.

6. Yes, increase your students’ reading time.  You don’t need a benchmark to know that.

7. Yes, keep working on writing.  You don't need a benchmark to know that.

8. The checkpoints are informing you which TEKS are at risk.  You are getting that information every three weeks.  My question is, “What have you been doing with that information?”

9. Finally there is no set number of questions for a full or half benchmark.  The issue seems to be time, 2 hours versus 4 hours. If the student can’t demonstrate mastery in 2 hours, belaboring the point for an additional 2 hours doesn’t give me better instructional information.  And honestly, I’ll take two additional hours of instruction over 2/3’s of the class waiting for hours for the testing period to end, every day of the week and twice on Sundays.   

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 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Monday, December 8, 2014

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of November 30, 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 November 30, 2014.

1. Increasing academic achievement in schools doesn't require acts of God. It's small, continuous, strategic, and intentional tweaks. (By @vhsaldana)

2. "Good pedagogy beats good technology every single time." (By @ZachSnow)

3. There is opportunity where there is struggle. (By @blitzkrieg607)

4. “We don't think the taxpayers of Texas should pay for those private school educations"- Dr. David Anthony (By @RYHTexas)

5. The Closing Question (Essential Question), allows for the student to demonstrate what was learned during the lesson. (By @brianvasek)

6. An orderly classroom is not necessarily a quiet one. Kids need to move and talk to learn. (By @CarolJago)

7. Today's Quotes:  “The effects a teacher has on their students are infinite and unknowable in the present.” (By @DrRichAllen)

8. I focus on the journey and not the destination most days. But there are those days when I wish we would get there already. (By @blitzkrieg607)

9. The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break. -John Madden (By @Sports_HQ)

10. Educators for years have deescalated tense situations without excessive or deadly force. It usually works. (By @ctxprof)

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 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook