The LYSer is Different

I have the privilege (honor, gift) to work with educators from across the country. So I can say with a high degree of confidence that the sample size of teachers that I interact with is much more broad and diverse than all but a handful of those in our profession.  And based on that, I can tell you what separates the LYSer from the rank and file educator.

The rank and file educator is upset that some students don’t learn it the first time and are frustrated that all students aren’t automatically motivated to succeed in the teacher’s class.  Evidently, teaching the hard to reach (academically fragile students) is a chore.

The LYSer recognizes that she is the nexus to a better life and that she has a responsibility to motivate her students to love her content like she does.  She welcomes the challenge of teaching the hard to reach (academically fragile students) because she knows that those students force her to hone her craft and make her a better teacher for all of her students. For the LYSer, working with a “typical” teacher is a chore.

To all the LYSers out there, I don’t say this enough... Thank You!

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations); American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Asks... Teacher to Teacher Classroom Visits

A LYS Assistant Superintendent asks the following:

SC,

I'm about to lead / guide some teachers on some PowerWalks. Do you have a recommendation for the length of a walk-through in a single classroom?

SC Response

Taking teachers to visit other classrooms is a fantastic practice and I commend you for starting this now, at the beginning of the school year. With teachers new to the practice (classroom observations), I recommend three to five minutes per observation and do three to four observations per small group of teachers.

Have the teachers look for specific and objective elements of pedagogy. When we (LYS) facilitate these visits, we generally have the teachers look for elements of The Fundamental 5. Looking for anything beyond those practices can quickly become overwhelming to a first time observer.

Debrief after every individual observation about what was working and if there were any “missed” opportunities.  That way when the teachers return to their classrooms they have a mental picture of something positive they can use (hopefully immediately) and a “look for” to add or avoid that can make them even more effective.

Finally, I would keep the group small, the lead observer and no more than four others.  This will keep the overall distraction to the observed classroom at the “mild roar” level.

Hope this helps and good luck! And if you need any help in expanding the practice, don’t forget that we (LYS) offer training and support specifically designed to meet this need.

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations); American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

PowerWalks Hero Schools (August 2015)

In furtherance of a LYS Nation tradition, we will take this time to tip our caps to the campuses that have embraced the most important step in creating and maintaining an action oriented professional learning community.  These are the campuses that have conducted an extraordinary number of formative classroom observations in a given month.  Since this is the beginning of the school year, any campus that conducted even a single PowerWalks observation is to be considered a Hero Campus.  Next month, as you can see below, the bar will be raised a little bit higher.

Your September Targets

High Schools – 150 PowerWalks Observations

Middle Schools / Junior High Schools – 125 PowerWalks Observations

Elementary / Intermediate / Combined Campuses – 100 PowerWalks Observations

Alternative Schools – 50 PowerWalks Observations

Now without further ado, here are your forty PowerWalks Hero Schools for the month of August 2015.  Congratulations!!!

Elementary Schools & Combined Campuses	Middle Schools & Junior High Schools	Alternative Schools	High Schools
Eastside ES (CISD) - 158	Cleveland MS (CISD) - 128	Frederick Douglas LC (CISD) - 14	Fairdale HS (JCPS) - 474
Northside ES (CISD) - 154	Marlin MS (MISD) - 115	Cleveland DAEP (CISD)	Mayde Creek HS (KISD) - 202
Rennell ES (CFISD) - 129	Magnolia JH (MISD) - 97		Marlin HS (MISD) - 62
Marlin ES (MISD) - 110	Borger MS (BISD) - 63		Iroquois HS (JCPS) - 42
Portland ES (JCPS) – 41	Unicoi County MS (UCS) - 22		Morton Ranch HS (KISD) - 28
Paul Belton ES (BISD) - 32	Canyon MS (CISD)		Marion County HS (MCPS) - 20
Southside PS (CISD) - 31	Lomax JH (LPISD)		Borger HS (BISD)
Crockett ES (BISD) - 27			Mathis HS (MISD)
Dublin IS (DISD) - 25
Colonial Hills ES (NEISD) - 22
Borger IS (BISD) - 20
Dublin ES (DISD) - 17
Gateway ES (BISD) - 15
Raymond E. Curtis ES (WISD) - 15
Kerrick ES (JCPS) - 11
Rock Creek ES (UCS)
Love Chapel ES (UCS)
Refugio ES (RISD)
Temple Hill ES (UCS)
Unicoi ES (UCS)
Frost Schools (FISD)
Bonham ES (HISD)
J.H. Hines ES (WISD)

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations); American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

So When is Enough, Enough?

“The only defense against a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun” – Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President

9 Dead, Innocent Victims (Civilians)

6/7/2015, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, South Carolina

4 Dead, Innocent Victims (Professional Soldiers)

7/16/2015, Military Facility, Tennessee

2 Dead, Innocent Victims (Civilians)

7/24/2015, Movie Theater, Louisiana

2 Dead, Innocent Victims (Civilians)

8/26/2015, Live News Report, Virginia

1 Dead, Innocent Victim (Sheriff Deputy)

8/28/2015, Gas Station, Texas

At this point it can be objectively argued that The Good Guy with a Gun Theory is an abject failure. A good guy with a gun can stop neither the surprise attack nor the ambush. 

When Plan A isn’t working, at some point it has to be time to consider Plan B.

I would suggest that Plan B would be at minimum to: 

1. Make it more difficult for any yahoo to arm himself for some delusional Armageddon. 

2.  Mandate better firearms safety requirements. 

3. Provide significantly improved mental health services.

Or we can go straight to Plan C... Kevlar vests and advanced combat helmets issued at birth.

Plan B or Plan C, pick one. But I am sickened by the fact that we are perfectly OK with gunning down our own... Then shedding a tear, wringing our hands, shrugging our shoulders and then waiting for the inevitable less shocking mass killing or ambush no later than next month. 

This is not our national embarrassment; it’s our national shame.

And here’s the disclaimer to make it more difficult for the close-minded to paint me with a liberal, Yankee, Democrat, city slicker, etc., brush.

I write this as a lifetime gun owning, hunting, southern male raised and taught gun safety by my infantry soldier Father, USAF Colonel (ret.) Grandfather and USAF Senior Master Sergeant (ret.) Grandfather.

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations); American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of August 23, 2105

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of August 23, 2015 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. Voter suppression is the weirdest and most dangerous corruption of the democratic process in our lifetime. (By @pastors4txkids)

2. The purpose of a mini-lesson is to not over-teach. Students learn to read by reading. Teachers stop talking about it, let students read. (By @norskireader)

3. No one rises to low expectations... (By @FerebeelPS)

4. If you weren't born in the same generation as your students, you don't speak the same language. (By @cheryljhunt)

5. "Framing lessons to address gaps in background knowledge gives our students a better chance to appreciate great works of literature and nonfiction." (By @DrMetz_MJH)

6. Want to get really good at something? Do it every day, and document how you do it. Seriously, write it down step by step. (By @eduleadership)

7. Teachers deserve to be paid adequately as professionals. (By @mims2tay)

8. We are doomed as long as people see education as an expense and not an investment. (By @NicholasFerroni)

9. When all 600,000 Texas schoolteachers vote in the best interest of their schoolchildren, we will no longer have funding problems for schools. (By @pastors4txkids)

10. Just found out that The University of Texas - El Paso is using, The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird), in its College of Education! Go Miners!!! (By @LYSNation)

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations); American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook