The Fundamental 5 Summit - Your Checklist

Today’s Checklist

1. Register for the Fundamental Five Summit presented by TASSP!

2. Reserve your room at the beautiful Hilton Austin Downtown!

3. Go to www.TASSP.org and read more about breakout sessions and the keynote speakers:

Dr. Rich Allen, Charles Johnson Foster, Jayne Ellspermann & Sean Cain

4. And don't forget this is an ALL STATES, K-12 Practitioners' Summit, so bring a team!

• For information about programming, contact Cindy Kirby at cindy@tassp.org  or at 512-443-2100, Ext. 225
• For assistance in registration procedures, contact Ofra Levinson at ofra@tassp.org  or at 512-443-2100, Ext. 226
• For assistance in housing, contact Emily Meischen at emily@tassp.org  or at 512-443-2100, Ext. 227

A Reader Writes... Data Crunching - Part 1

In response to the 10/15/15 post, “A Reader Asks... Data Crunching – Now What,” a LYS Principal writes:

SC,

Really, the administrator should be coaching the teacher on what to look for...

Just sayin'.

The conversations should grow to be teacher-led and occur collaboratively within the content team. Over time, the administrator (hopefully sooner rather than later) becomes the guide on the side. Highlighting (if necessary) the trends to not be missed, guiding discussion points, and keeping the focus on using data to drive instructional decision making. 

If a principal thinks she is the sole source for data analysis, she needs to get past that quickly and distribute that leadership throughout the team and “coach” the analysis process.

But bottom line, “Do – Dig - or Die Trying”....

SC Response

I like your answer better than mine. So... “What she said.”

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: 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

Readers Ask... Lesson Frames for Tests

Some LYS Assistant Superintendents ask two versions of the same question.

SC,

This has recently come up in our district, with Lesson Frames, what should we do on testing days? And what does a good Lesson Frame for a test look like?

And

SC,

Please provide me with a refresher on Lesson Frames for when students are taking tests (teacher made, campus common assessments, and district benchmarks).

Thanks,

SC Response

We get this question a lot and here is our current best thinking on this issue.

First, the purpose of a Lesson Frame is to:

1. Let the student know what we are going to teach him/her during a specific class period (The Objective); and

2. Let the student know how she/he will demonstrate that she learned the critical essence of a given lesson. Usually this is accomplished through a quick talk or a quick write (The Close).

Trying to apply this to a test is somewhat of an empty exercise. The student knows they are going to take a test, and performance on the test is the proof of (or lack thereof) learning.  So we used to advise, “Don’t worry about framing a test.”

There were teachers who though this was some sort of a cop out.

So we started seeing test lesson frames that had students reflecting on test elements that they found difficult.  Which personally, seems a little like pouring salt on an open wound.  “So you totally messed that question up, now think deeply about it.”

We call this the “Reflecting Test Lesson Frame.” If a teacher thinks there is value in this, OK.  But we can’t bring ourselves to recommend this for everyone.

At the same time we started seeing the, “Reflecting Test Lesson Frame,” we also started seeing this...

The Objective is used as a fun, motivational statement, “We will use are enormous brains to totally dominate a puny test.”

The Close is used to set a goal, "I will score at least an 88 on the puny test.”

The teachers doing this swear by it. At best, it works. At worst, it is fun.  And that is our official position.  If you are going to frame a test, use the frame to motivate and set a goal.

Try it and let us know if you notice a difference in the performance of your 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: 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 Superintendent Writes... The Fundamental 5 Summit

An Old School LYS Superintendent shares the following:

LYS Nation,

I was an LYS Teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal and now Superintendent.   We are a "Lead Your School" school district here in Wyoming and we have been working to better implement The Fundamental 5 district wide. And as of this year, The Fundamental 5 is the centerpiece of our new teacher orientation process.

I could bore you with reams of performance data, but this one number says it all... 

15% gains in middle school math last year.

Get to The Fundamental 5 Summit. Nuff said!

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: 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

Readers Ask... Credits Earned - Minutes Instead of Days

Some LYS High School Principals asked two versions of the same question:

SC,

What politician came up with the idea of going to school based on the number of minutes in the school day as opposed to using days to figure out a school year?  That sure opens up a lot of issues in which there is NO direction given.  What say you?

And

SC,

What is your take on the changing of the school calendars from days to minutes?

SC Response

I hadn't really thought much about this.  But I'll do so now.

I do know that there are a number of CTE programs that require a specific number of clock hours to earn the certificate or license. 

But for core classes, the standards are much looser.

Let's assume a 175-day school year and a 45-minute class period (not optimal, but common in an 8 period day).  That would produce a total of 7,875 potential instructional minutes.  The idea behind the accelerated block and trimester is that you can reduce the number of classes on a given day, expand the minutes spent in the remaining classes and earn credits faster (essentially be exposed to the requisite minutes faster).

Then there is the whole self-paced / credit-by-exam model where once students prove master of the subject, they get the credit.

The easiest model to manage (at scale) is the days served model, with essentially all students earning their credits on the same day.  The most difficult model to manage (at scale) is the self-paced model, with credits being earn with no predictable pattern.  Which is why the schools that do this are either small schools, alternative schools, or small alternative schools.

It would seem to me that the credit by minute served model fall somewhere between the two.  In the grand scheme of things, as long as the state doesn’t greatly diminish or increase the minutes required from around 7,800, this is probably a non-issue.  Just another political “reform” that gives the illusion of action without actually accomplishing anything of significance other than extra paperwork.

On the other hand, High School Principals, if I’m missing something please enlighten me.

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: 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 October 11, 2015

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of October 11, 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. As a leader, who you are in practice is more important than who you say you are. (By @LeslieT52)

2. Implementing the Fundamental 5 helps structure the lesson to guide students towards higher level learning and thinking.  (By @JRflores2015)

3. Simple maxim for learning: "sit less, move more." (By @cmtmalvern)

4. Training individuals alone is less effective than training teams if you are trying to increase the density of capacity at a campus. (By @TroyMooney)

5. Free time in an instructional setting has the same effect as a zero in a grade book. (By @TinneyTroy)

6. Pope Francis is simply reminding us we have moral obligation to be kind, generous to poor and disadvantaged. (By @FareedZakaria)

7. “What we usually consider as impossible are simply engineering problems... there's no law of physics preventing them.” - Michio Kaku (By @askMsQ)

8. 9% decline in Texans registering to vote! Then 10% or less voting in primaries. We have freedom to choose, why don't we? (By @LParkerEdD)

9. Tragically, here we are again... Since 9/11, more than 150,000 Americans have been killed in gun homicides. (By @FareedZakaria)

10. Thanks to the LYS Nation, The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) has now officially sold over 77,000 copies! (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: 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

The Fundamental 5 Summit: Real Teachers - Real Results