Critical Writing... How Much is Enough

When I present to teachers I am often asked, “How often should I have my students engage in Critical Writing?”

The short answer is... Every period. Every day.

The long answer is slightly more nuanced.  In the typical classroom, critical writing occurs around 4% of the time.  That is not a typo and that includes reading and writing classrooms. And 4% is not a LYS finding. Mike Schmoker (one of the REALLY big brains in education) was the first to point this out.  Others have since documented similar findings.  So, we will accept 4% as typical.

At the best Fundamental 5 campuses, Critical Writing is observed 15 to 20% of the time.  So, it still does not occur all the time, but look at it this way, 20% is just a 400% improvement over the typical classroom.  That is significant.  But I also think it is reasonable. 

Let’s break this down to make the practice a little more actionable.  If we were to assume that the typical class period is 60 minutes long, then 20% of class time would be 12 minutes. Which means that I believe a reasonable goal in any core content classroom would be to embed a minimum of 8 to 12 minutes of Critical Writing in every lesson.

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: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (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 October 8, 2017

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of October 8, 2017 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. Congratulations to LYSer, Dr. Doug Killian on his appointment to the Texas Commission on Public School Finance! No pressure, but we’re counting on you. (By @LYSNation)

2. Best practice doesn’t solve all your problems. Best practice reduces your problems to a manageable level. (By @LYSNation)

3. The mission of schools and teachers is to develop an understanding of all that is true, good and beautiful. (By @Pontifex)

4. Imagine a culture where educators vote - a game changer in politics. (By @SchoolPriority)

5. Do the right things for the right reasons long enough and you’ll collect haters. Why? Cuz haters gotta hate. (By @LYSNation)

6. Positivity and negativity are both contagious. Which one will you spread? (By @gcouros)

7. When you punish responsible failure, people stop bringing their best. (By @Leadershipfreak)

8. Super bosses are leaders who create other leaders. –S. Finkelstein (By @Leadershipfreak)

9. Interested in a big return on investment? Look no further than Pre-K. (By @RYHTexas)

10. America is now almost a week late renewing children's insurance payments. We're officially a dead beat dad. (By @ASlavitt)

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: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Just 21 Days Until The Fundamental 5 National Summit

We’re now just 21 days away from the opening session of the fourth annual Fundamental 5 National Summit.  Book your travel and hotel room and register now so you can join educators from across the country who are focused on student performance and want to share their success stories. This is the best Fall Conference in the country!

PowerWalks Hurricane Relief Challenge - October 13, 2017

To assist schools in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Texas dealing with the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria for every PowerWalks classroom observation conducted between October 1, 2017 and October 31, 2017, Lead Your School will donate 5¢.

As of today, there have been 17,665 PowerWalks completed. This means that the current donation total stands at $883.25.

Additionally, to increase the donation total, on the LYS Store Site there are Hurricane Relief Bag Tags and T-shirts.

LYS Nation, keep stepping up!

Curriculum Sources

Recently, I was meeting with a school board to provide some training on the practices of effective school districts. I was pointing out the providing teachers with a common scope of sequence is a leadership responsibility, and to not do so is a failure of leadership.  This board instantly understood the logic of this and one board member asked how her district was doing.  I said that they were on the right track, but they have made a critical misstep that was hampering implementation.  The error, they had four curriculum sources (or platforms). One for each content area. 

The subsequent questions were as follows: 1. How did this happen? 2. Why is this a problem?

First, how did this happened.  It happened because central office missed the critical distinction between theory and practice.  In identifying the what curriculum source to use, each group of content specialist searched for the best solution for their content area.  The four content areas found the four best solutions, for content areas in isolation.

Now, this leads to the second question, why is this problem?  In this district, it is a problem because each content curriculum is accessed and used a different way.   For the teacher that teaches just one content area, this is no problem at all.  But if you are a teacher responsible for multiple content areas (every elementary teacher and a large percentage of the secondary teachers in this district) or a campus administrator responsible for supervising and supporting teachers from multiple content area (every administrator in the district), you are in trouble.

The district had inadvertently created the following problem…  “Teachers we got you a different computer for each class that you teach.  For math, we got you an Apple. For science, we got to a PC. For ELA, we got you a Chromebook.  For social studies, we pulled an old Commodore 64 out of storage.  Now learn to use all of them at an expert level.  Why are you crying instead of thanking us?”

The answer, find a good curriculum source that spans all four content areas.  In this case, good is better than great.  And here is the dirty little truth that curriculum specialists just don’t understand.  It does matter how good the curriculum is, it is the mastery of the teacher that makes the curriculum come alive.  A great actor can read the back of a cereal box and make it riveting.  A great teacher can change the world with a good curriculum. 

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: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook