A Principal Shares... Chasing Greatness

A LYS Principal shares his message to his staff after attending The Fundamental 5 National Summit:

Team,

Here are some observations and things I learned this week from The Fundamental 5 National Summit.

First, to truly fully implement the Fundamental 5 at speed and depth takes time. I will not be adding any new instructional ideas and programs to your plates for the next couple of years. Instead we will maintain and intensify our focus on what we are currently working on: Improving our delivery of The Fundamental 5; implementing the TEKS Resource System; and improving our CTE programs to meet the needs of our students, while still holding the Fine Arts and Athletics programs to high standards.

My classroom visits from this point forward will focus on the implementation of The Fundamental 5 practices. The good news is that as we implement The Fundamental 5 with increased quantity and quality we will be meeting the performance expectation of T-TESS. We are not looking for perfection, only progress.  In this endeavor, here are some things to consider and remember.

Always Be Closing! Sean Cain, taught us that the most important part of the lesson is the closure. Lesson Framing and lesson closure will be the first Fundamental 5 practice we will work on.   

Embrace the Power of Bad: Meaning that a “bad” small group talk session; a “bad” lesson frame; or a “bad” critical writing assignment is always better than NO small group talk; lesson frame or critical writing assignment! Bad is the first step to better.

Some Goals:

Lesson Framing – 95% percent of the time we have a posted frame and close the lesson.

Power Zone – 75% of the time we are in the Power Zone.

Frequent Small Group Purposeful Talk – Observed during 40% of classroom visits.

Recognition & Reinforcement – Observed during 40% of classroom visits.

Critical Writing – Observed during 25% of classroom visits.

These are aggressive goals. We will not hit them overnight, or by the end of the semester. But if we work on this every day, we will closer to these goals by the end of the year than we are now.

Finally, I need to do a better job of getting into classrooms documenting your efforts and congratulating you on your successes and near misses. I want to assist you and our students in developing a growth mindset. I want you to try and fail and get up and try again, learning from your efforts and seeking feedback to grow yourself and our students. We are chasing greatness. Not trying is not an option.

Always Forward, Seldom Straight!

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 
• Upcoming Conference Presentations: TASSP Assistant Principal Workshop (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook