NASSP Conference Ratings - The Fundamental 5

Last week, NASSP sent me the audience feedback from our standing room only presentation of “The Fundamental 5”. This was unexpected since most conferences don’t do this. After our presentations, the participants always warmly receive us, but we are educators presenting to educators, which means that the audience would be polite even if we didn’t deserver it. So getting to see what the audience really thought is a rare and valuable report card. Here is what an audience of over 140 principals and assistant principals reported:

Overall

• 96% of the audience ratings of the components of the presentation and the quality of the presenters were “Excellent”
• 4% of the audience ratings of the components of the presentation and the quality of the presenters were “Good”

There were no negative ratings or negative comments.

Positive comments included:

• I plan to use and share this information.
• I wasn’t sure that I would get much from this session. I was wrong! The presenters were phenomenal and the information was very useful!
• Very energetic and positive!
• Excellent!
• Will take this back to my district.
• Very good info.
• Awesome!!! Thanks!!!
• Excellent presentation. Great content and modeled it in the lesson. So inspired. Loved it!
• Excellent!
• I’m going to begin training my staff on using the Fundamental 5.
• Great... The LYS Blog is very interesting and useful
• Excellent topic, this session should be conducted again next year.

For all of you who attended our presentation at NASSP, thank you for your time and enthusiasm. And if you missed us, our next big conference presentations are at the National Association of School Boards Conference (later this month) and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Summer Conference. Come see us!

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

My Property Tax Appraisal - Revisited

A number of readers have noticed over the past eighteen months the blog has addressed political topics more frequently than was the previous norm. I was raised with the understanding that it is bad form to discuss politics or religion in polite company. Sadly, with the attack on public education by the far right and the apathy towards public education by everyone else, I have felt compelled to ignore the lessons of my childhood more often than I like.

As I have mentioned before, I have adopted the willingness to invest in public education as my candidate litmus test. If we agree on that, I am willing to overlook a lot of other views held by the candidate. We disagree on that and the rest of the candidate views no longer matter (in terms of getting my vote).

But my stance is more than just posturing and empty words. I have figured out a small but critical way to financially support my position (with is appropriate considering that my position is financial).

Previously, I would protest my property taxes appraisal as a matter of course. It is a prudent practice from an individual financial standpoint. By reducing the valuation of my house, I reduce my tax burden and put more dollars in my pocket. However, from a supporting public education standpoint, reducing my tax burden reduces revenue for my neighborhood schools. So for now the second year, my wife and I will not protest the appraised value of our house. We will continue to pay taxes on a slightly inflated value because our community and our state are suffering from a structural tax deficit orchestrated by our governor and the republican legislature. As school people it is the right thing to do. And if things don’t improve with the upcoming election, I might give up my homestead exemption (against the continued advice of my CPA).

Serious times require purposeful action by serious people. Once again I ask, “What are you doing?”

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference

PowerWalks Hero Schools (March 2012)

As is now a LYS Nation tradition, we will take time to tip our caps to the campuses that are taking 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. Due to Spring Break and statewide testing, for the month of March the cutoff numbers were as follows:

• Big Schools – 300 PowerWalks Observations
• Medium Sized Schools – 200 PowerWalks Observations
• Small Schools – 125 PowerWalks Observations
• Very Small Schools – 60 PowerWalks Observations

So without further adieu, here are your thirty PowerWalks Hero Schools for the Month of March. Congratulations!!!

(#) = Number of Months in a Row

Elementary Schools	Junior High and Middle Schools	Alternative Schools	Combined Campuses	High Schools
McFee ES (CFISD) (5)		Rockdale (JWJPCS)	Louise Schools (LISD) (6)	Hutto HS (HISD)
Cottonwood Creek ES (HISD) (6)				Waco HS (WISD) (2)
Ray ES (HISD) (3)
Stanfield ES (SISD) (2)
Alta Vista ES (WISD) (2)
Bell’s Hill ES (WISD) (6)
Brooke Ave ES (WISD) (2)
Cedar Ridge ES (WISD) (4)
Crestview ES (WISD) (2)
Dean-Highland ES (WISD) (2)
JH Hines ES (WISD) (6)
Kendrick ES (WISD) (6)
North Waco ES (WISD) (6)
South Waco ES (WISD) (2)

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of March 25, 2012

More schools are considering the move to e-readers over textbooks. The benefits are many. Less weight, less cost, convenience, just to name a few. But I have been trying to come up with a reason why this shift would not be a good idea. And then it hit me. With an e-book you can’t highlight passages or write notes in the book. But then I realized this is wrong on two fronts. First, you can write notes and highlight passages with many e-readers. Second, we fine and punish students for damaging school property if they mark a single page in a traditional textbook. Oops.

So e-readers are cheaper, lighter and offer a more interactive reading experience (without fear of punishment). And to top it off, due to e-reader apps most of your students have one in their pocket, purse, backpack or locker right now. It’s just that most schools make their students hide them during the day.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. 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 March 25, 2012.

1. The "genius" of the Texas Legislature: Make students take a high stakes “End of Course” exam with two months left in the course.

2. The RTI success formula: 1. Teach the right thing (Foundation Trinity) 2. Teach it better (Fundamental 5) 3. Teach it longer (Tri-mester)

3. The GT success formula: 1. Teach the right thing (Foundation Trinity) 2. Teach it better (Fundamental 5) 3. Teach it at depth (Tri-mester)

4. North Forest ISD will not have to close and merge with Houston ISD. Education commissioner changes mind and grants reprieve. (By @e_mellon)

5. NFISD remaining open is bad news for kids but great news for incompetent education leaders across the state.

6. If North Forest ISD gets to survive there is no meaningful consequences in Chapter 39 of the Texas Education Code. It’s over. (By @txschoolsupe)

7. We all agree that the quality of educators varies. So why do we fight to maintain a system that allows a poor teacher to decide what is taught?

8. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year. (By @FareedZakaria)

9. Our choice in the voting booth is pro-public education or anti-public education. The choice is that clear.

10. I am a public school guy.

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A New Principal Asks... Student Apathy

A new LYS Principal who recently took over the helm of a school asks the following:

SC,

What are your thoughts on student apathy and what is your solution?

SC Response

I’m going to give you the short answer and then a longer answer. First the short answer.

Adult practice drives student performance. If you have a student apathy symptom, then you have an adult practice problem. Change adult practice for the better and the student apathy issue will solve itself.

Now for the longer answer.

Student apathy can be a very real problem when student have operated in an environment devoid of belief, expectation, prospects, meaningful relationships, support and/or success. In such an environment, many students protect their ego and self esteem by divorcing themselves from the system. The less they care, the less they can be hurt. Convincing such a student, especially an older one, to engage is not a quick and easy task. However, it is also not an impossible task. Here are some basic strategies.

1. Implement the Fundamental 5 at high frequency and high quality in every classroom. This is the first step in changing adult practice and each component of the Fundamental 5 has a powerful, positive effect on the Teacher / Student / Classroom dynamic.

2. Purposefully connect with students. Especially the ones that are trying their best to avoid you at all cost. Talk to them with respect and like they matter. This will throw them off guard because they are used being treated as cattle. Start doing this and their attitudes will soon turn around.

3. Create some fun and excitement in the classroom and the school. You will be surprised how a little semi-serious team-based competition will change everyone’s attitude. The student who doesn’t give a flip about you, his grades, or the school, will work his tail off to help his TEAM win the most inconsequential of awards.

4. Set goals and recognize and reward growth and improvement at the same level you do for overall success. Honestly, what is a bigger accomplishment? The GT student getting another “A” on a test or a sweat hog grinding out a “B-“ in a class that no one expected him to pass? Don’t keep that astonishment, excitement and celebration bottled up. Share it.

Notice that I didn’t suggest punishment, blame, increased stakes or removal. If that worked we wouldn’t have a problem with apathetic students. We already dole out those toxic practices like they are cotton candy at the fair and look where we are.

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Principal Asks... PLC Focus

A LYS Principal asks,

SC,

I’m getting a lot of pressure to implement PLC’s on my campus. My teachers are already busting their tails so I am loath to add more to their plates. What do you suggest?

SC Response

Just because you call your regular meetings a PLC, doesn’t magically make them an effective use of time and energy. Sadly, in my observation, most PLC’s are retreads of standing committee meetings with a new moniker. So I’m with you, if I’m going to infringe on already limited instructional and planning time, I want value and action.

To get value and action, here is my basic PLC recommendation.

1. Have a syllabus for the year.

2. Have a predictable meeting focus cycle. For example:

Week 1: Curriculum preview

Week 2: Assessment development

Week 3: Data analysis & adjustment

Repeat cycle.

3. Have a tight meeting agenda and meeting time limit.

You have to ensure is that all PLC activities are directly correlated to the components of the Foundation Trinity. Otherwise, even if your people are engaged and busy, productivity is diminished.

Finally, I leave you with this action idea. One old school LYS principal has the following standing goal:

Take at least one thing off my teachers’ plate, each semester.

That means if you add something new (and a PLC requirement would be a “new”), take at least one thing away.

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)