A Brutally Honest Discussion on Staffing Assignments

Now is the time when principals begin to think about staffing assignments for the upcoming year.  Let me help you with that decision making process.

1. Your best teachers have to teach the courses that are most important to the campus.  And like it or not, the courses that are most important to the campus are the state tested courses.  What this means is if 10^th grade English is the state tested course, then your best English teacher has to teach 10^th grade English, not 12^th grade AP English.

2. Your second best teachers have to teach the most at-risk/fragile kids. Using our High School English example from above, what this means is that the second best English teachers have to teach the Freshman who barely passed English as 8^th graders.

3. Your least experienced teachers have to teach the students in the best position to be independent learners, if necessary.  Using our English example, these teachers would teach the 11^th and 12^th grade honors courses.

Now you may be asking, what about my worst teachers? That’s simple. If you allow your worst teachers to stay on your campus and continue to teach students, then you aren’t leading, you are managing.  

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: Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations); Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Conference (Multiple Presentations); LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

State of the Blog - The Last 100 Posts (2,000 and Counting)

Hello, LYS Nation.  This is the 2,000^th post to the column, so as has become a tradition, we will review our progress. 

First, the review

The 1^st post was on Monday, February 16, 2009.

The 100^th post was on April 14, 2009.

The 200^th post was on June 10, 2009

The 300^th post was on September 2, 2009

The 400^th post was on December 16, 2009

The 500^th post was on April 7, 2010

The 600^th post was on August 2, 2010

The 700^th post was on December 17, 2010

The 800^th post was on May 17, 2011

The 900^th post was on October 5, 2011

The 1,000^th post was on March 7, 2012

The 1,100^th post was on August 24, 2012

The 1,200^th post was on February 1, 2013

The 1,300^th post was on June 5, 2013

The 1,400^th post was on October 30, 2013

The 1,500^th post was on April 7, 2014

The 1,600^th post was on September 18, 2014

The 1,700^th post was on February 20, 2015

The 1,800^th post was on June 25, 2015

The 1,900^th post was on November 12, 2015

The 2,000^th post is today, April 21, 2016

The top 15 posts, in terms of distribution, have been:

1.     Your Best STAAR Preparation Plan – Section 2 (3/6/2014)

2.     Your Best STAAR Preparation Plan – Section 1 (3/5/2014)

3.     Maximize Your Instructional Time (8/20/2015)

4.     Student Test Taking Anxiety is 99% on Us (3/12/2014)

5.     Campus Security Checklist (12/18/2012)

6.     Be the Best Me in the Classroom (11/14/2014)

7.     Closing the Lesson – It’s All About the Plan (10/22/2014)

8.     New From the Lead Your School Lab... The Fundamental 5 Classroom App (8/26/2014)

9.     How To Turn “Pencil on Paper” Activities Into Critical Writing (10/28/15)

10.  A Reader Writes... Lesson Framing – Part 1 (10/11/2013)

11.  A Reader Asks... HS Math Lesson Frames (2/19/2014)

12.  TheFive Fundamentals of Classroom Environment (8/19/2015)

13.  Your 6-step STAAR Preparation Strategy (12/14/2012)

14.  A Principal Asks... Should We Frame a Test (11/6/2013)

15.  Make the Last Month Count (4/25/2015)

There are now international readers and e-mail subscribers, with the following 48 countries represented: Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Vietnam

All of this is incredibly exciting; especially when you consider that not too long ago, every number was 0.

A little blatant self-promotion

First, if you like the blog and you haven’t signed up for the e-mail subscription, please do so.  I find that it’s easier to write to people than it is to write to web hits.

Second, if you like the blog and find it useful, tell three other people.  This blog is a much more powerful resource for school improvement when it is a dialogue.

Third, if you have not sent in a comment yet, please do so.  Education research points out that the act of critical writing actually makes the learner smarter.  Let the blog assist you in sharpening your saw.

Finally

Thank you so much for reading and responding.  This network, which started out as a way for just a handful of principals to stay connected has turned into a small nation of board members, central office administrators, campus leaders, and teachers who are focused on redefining student success.  Who knows what we will discuss in the next 100 posts.

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: Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations); Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Conference (Multiple Presentations); LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

But Don't Be A Jerk

There are some who may have read the 4/19/16 post, “A Happy Staff Is...” and equate that what I wrote means that being a jerk is OK. 

That is not the case.  A leader can be pleasant, empathic, and understanding as she is making her staff successful.  In fact, those qualities often make it easier for the staff to bear down and fight the good fight. 

On the other hand, at some point the jerk will find himself in this situation. “If you look behind you and no one is following, you’re not leading. You’re just on a walk.”

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: Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations); Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Conference (Multiple Presentations); LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Happy Staff Is A...

There are a lot of leaders who honestly believe that their job is to make their people happy.  They are wrong. 

The leader is not responsible for staff happiness or lack thereof, ever. Those who argue this invariably have never led staff in the face of significant challenge or adversity.

The job of the leader is to make her people successful. 

Making people successful always requires focus, work, reflection, and often requires a level of sacrifice and sometimes pain.  None of these things, individually, have a very high correlation to ‘happiness.’  But these things, especially as a cohesive unit, do lead to success.  And successful people do experience a level of happiness, until it’s time to start the hard work all over again.

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: Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations); Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Conference (Multiple Presentations); LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of April 10, 2016

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of April 10, 2016 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. "Two of the most powerful, yet underutilized, tools an instructional leader possesses are observation and conversation." (By @DRMetz_MJH)

2. The purpose of teaching is not for informing, but for transforming. (By @clwilkens)

3. A reminder from, "The Ol' Ball Coach." Nothing cures headaches more than wining. Nothing creates them more than losing. (By @LYSNation)

4. Money used in voucher programs would be more useful if spent on improving struggling public schools. (By @RYHTexas)

5. Malice is not required to do dumb things. Too often, folks get caught in the inertia of continuing to do things that simply don't work. (By @tgrierhisd)

6. Ever notice how those who spend the most time criticizing do the least good? Don't waste your time with hate. Celebrate. Shine is infinite. (By @DrStevePerry)

7. An RYHT study found that if ISDs were funded like charters, state support would increase by $4.7 billion. (By @RYHTexas)

8. In past 3 yrs Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah and West Virginia have eliminated Straight Ticket Voting, leaving only 8 states that still use it, one of which is Texas. (By @MarkPJonesTX)

9. No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is. (By @CoachKWisdom)

10. “Teachers - make sure you have finished teaching, before your students have finished listening.” (By @DrRichAllen)

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: Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations); Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Conference (Multiple Presentations); LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook