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Hey Don, I was echoing your advice just today!
I told my team that my mentor (The E. Don Brown) always said that a well ran school is teaching by second period on the first day of school. E. Don also taught me to issue books and to do other administrative tasks on the fly. Never take out a day of instruction for stuff and things.
This sends a strong message to students and is contrary to most of their expectations. It sets a tone for the year. On the administrative side, my team was hyper-monitoring classrooms on day 2 and coaching teachers for improved instruction on day 4. We went Academically Recognized in one year.
Thanks, Don and Sean.
SC Response
Thanks for the credit, but you and your staff did all the heavy lifting. All we did was say, “Go get ‘em!”
Just so the other LYS readers know, the reader who sent this in is the only principal I am aware of, who has taken not one, but two high schools from unacceptable to recognized in less than two years.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Don Brown Writes - First Day of School
I just wanted to weigh in on the new question about the suspended curriculum. I was getting a little tired of the "dress code discussions" last week.
As the principal of a large 5A high school for many years this was a really hot button topic for me. I was very clear about the fact that teachers are hired to teach and that everyone was expected to be into their first day’s learning objective by 9:30am on the first day of school. All classes would meet on a slightly abbreviated schedule for that first day as the administrators and councilors got any new students into their first class by 9:30. Teachers were asked to briefly review their class rules and then begin to teach, which they did.
During the first two weeks of school, the administrative staff visited every 2nd period class and were personally responsibility for distributing student handbooks; reviewing the critical information, expectations and consequences covered in the handbook; and collecting the signed handbook receipt forms.
It was good for students because they received the information directly from the people accountable for school management. It was good for teachers, because some were less than effective or accurate, because they did not want to do school policy or did not personally agree with school policy.
It was time well spent for school administrators, since they conducted the training, student and parent could not claim that the rules had never been explained to the child. However, when you do this, avoid the following mistake:
Do not call students into a large group (all school or grade level) in an attempt to speed up the handbook communication process. You need to make the personal connection with students in their classroom and it is always good for the teachers to listen as campus leadership explains why rules and policies are necessary.
Let the teachers teach and the administrators administer.
EDB
As the principal of a large 5A high school for many years this was a really hot button topic for me. I was very clear about the fact that teachers are hired to teach and that everyone was expected to be into their first day’s learning objective by 9:30am on the first day of school. All classes would meet on a slightly abbreviated schedule for that first day as the administrators and councilors got any new students into their first class by 9:30. Teachers were asked to briefly review their class rules and then begin to teach, which they did.
During the first two weeks of school, the administrative staff visited every 2nd period class and were personally responsibility for distributing student handbooks; reviewing the critical information, expectations and consequences covered in the handbook; and collecting the signed handbook receipt forms.
It was good for students because they received the information directly from the people accountable for school management. It was good for teachers, because some were less than effective or accurate, because they did not want to do school policy or did not personally agree with school policy.
It was time well spent for school administrators, since they conducted the training, student and parent could not claim that the rules had never been explained to the child. However, when you do this, avoid the following mistake:
Do not call students into a large group (all school or grade level) in an attempt to speed up the handbook communication process. You need to make the personal connection with students in their classroom and it is always good for the teachers to listen as campus leadership explains why rules and policies are necessary.
Let the teachers teach and the administrators administer.
EDB
Sunday, August 16, 2009
A Reader Writes - Dying In Ditches
In response to recent posts, a reader writes:
“There is one thing a reader said that resonated with me and not just about dress code issues, but a lot of the culture and climate issues which are decided by those who are not the instructional leaders of campuses and districts, but well-intentioned nonetheless.
The reader wrote, "...always represented a choice between two ditches I had to die in."
I would observe that what can exist between two ditches is a road that may be less travelled than the ditches of despair we, as administrators, are thrown into or dive into for cover. What I mean to say is that the truth of the matter we seek is never one-sided. Truth is what exists between the extremes reached not by compromise but by consensus.
As we know compromise is, "I have to give up something to get something" and consensus is, “That to which we all can agree.” When it comes to deciding on most every school issue we have too often forgotten to focus on the win-win of consensus on issues of real importance, experience the success of those ventures, and then collaboratively work on what is left. When the focus is on instruction and student mastery through exemplary instruction, the "other" issues either resolve themselves or become unimportant. Instead of focusing on ditches, build roads and bridges.”
SC Response
Excellent points. In my own experience, I have never “died in a ditch.” Though there have been a number of hills I should not have taken. Here is what I think is a key point. Consensus is what you should strive for, if you are dealing with reasonable people, with decent levels of capacity, and agendas that are not openly detrimental to students. In that case, the consensus answer is most likely the best answer.
On the other hand, if the any of the three criteria I just mentioned are not present, it creates a quite different leadership arena, one that could be described as a “sprint on a high wire.” When you find yourself in this situation, you have to set the path, build capacity, add by subtraction and communicate constantly. Be a dictator too long and they will hang you. Be ineffective too long and you will be fired.
Leadership done right is situational and risky. But remember, we all volunteered for the job.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
“There is one thing a reader said that resonated with me and not just about dress code issues, but a lot of the culture and climate issues which are decided by those who are not the instructional leaders of campuses and districts, but well-intentioned nonetheless.
The reader wrote, "...always represented a choice between two ditches I had to die in."
I would observe that what can exist between two ditches is a road that may be less travelled than the ditches of despair we, as administrators, are thrown into or dive into for cover. What I mean to say is that the truth of the matter we seek is never one-sided. Truth is what exists between the extremes reached not by compromise but by consensus.
As we know compromise is, "I have to give up something to get something" and consensus is, “That to which we all can agree.” When it comes to deciding on most every school issue we have too often forgotten to focus on the win-win of consensus on issues of real importance, experience the success of those ventures, and then collaboratively work on what is left. When the focus is on instruction and student mastery through exemplary instruction, the "other" issues either resolve themselves or become unimportant. Instead of focusing on ditches, build roads and bridges.”
SC Response
Excellent points. In my own experience, I have never “died in a ditch.” Though there have been a number of hills I should not have taken. Here is what I think is a key point. Consensus is what you should strive for, if you are dealing with reasonable people, with decent levels of capacity, and agendas that are not openly detrimental to students. In that case, the consensus answer is most likely the best answer.
On the other hand, if the any of the three criteria I just mentioned are not present, it creates a quite different leadership arena, one that could be described as a “sprint on a high wire.” When you find yourself in this situation, you have to set the path, build capacity, add by subtraction and communicate constantly. Be a dictator too long and they will hang you. Be ineffective too long and you will be fired.
Leadership done right is situational and risky. But remember, we all volunteered for the job.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Great Advice - Schaper Wisdom
Early in my career as a fixer, I was in a meeting with some district principals and administrators. The issue was seriously delinquent students and what to do with them. Most of the solutions entailed expulsions and looooong suspensions. The Deputy Superintendent stepped in the room, assessed the conversation for about 2 minutes and said this,
“I want everyone one of you in this room to understand this. These kids may be turds, but they are MY turds.”
He then turned and left the meeting. Obviously, once he left, the district people began to think of solutions that kept HIS students in school and productive.
Here’s what I learned in the span of less than five minutes.
1. It is easy to teach the easy.
2. Even good people just want their problems to go away.
3. Perhaps the most important duty you have when you have power and influence is to love the unlovable.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Just a reminder for existing LYS readers and an invitation to new LYS readers, Sunday is advice day. Send me your favorite piece of advice and why, along with your mailing address. If I post it, I’ll send you a world famous Lead Your School can koozie.
Your turn...
“I want everyone one of you in this room to understand this. These kids may be turds, but they are MY turds.”
He then turned and left the meeting. Obviously, once he left, the district people began to think of solutions that kept HIS students in school and productive.
Here’s what I learned in the span of less than five minutes.
1. It is easy to teach the easy.
2. Even good people just want their problems to go away.
3. Perhaps the most important duty you have when you have power and influence is to love the unlovable.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Just a reminder for existing LYS readers and an invitation to new LYS readers, Sunday is advice day. Send me your favorite piece of advice and why, along with your mailing address. If I post it, I’ll send you a world famous Lead Your School can koozie.
Your turn...
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A Reader Asks - Suspendend Curriculum
An LYS reader asks:
“Sean, my high school has this plan not to teach the regular curriculum for the first week. We’re supposed to teach school rules, study skills and college enrollment information instead. What do you think?”
SC Response:
I understand that questions like this are loaded with nuance and contextual issues and obviously, I do not have all the facts, but here goes…
In general, I do not like the idea. High schools that do this are often trying to cover up the fact that they did a sub-par job of scheduling and are leveling classes for a week. Realizing that most teachers don’t want to start teaching until the class roster is settled, someone decides to create fluff and busy work to fill the time.
Now this begs all sorts of questions and observations, here are just two.
First, when every teacher I work with tells me that there are not enough days to cover everything in the curriculum, why would a school purposefully take a week of instruction from those teachers?
Second, I work with very large urban high schools that have all students scheduled and classes leveled by the second day of school. If that is not occurring on your campus, who is dropping the ball?
That being said, the idea of pre-teaching school and classroom rules is valid and one that I strongly recommend. However, it takes less than one class period to do it properly. The idea of teaching study skills is valid and one that I recommend. However, it should be embedded in the content of every class and reviewed on an as-needed basis. The idea of discussing college early and often is an idea that is valid and that I recommend. However, this too should be embedded in every class, throughout the year.
In summary, without knowing any facts other than your question, it sounds like your campus is covering up significant system failures with camouflaged busy work. I would recommend that the campus spend the first day of school on the busy work (first period – school rules; second period – class rules; third period – graduation requirements; fourth period – task management; fifth period – college enrollment; etc.) and start teaching the curriculum at full speed on Day 2.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
“Sean, my high school has this plan not to teach the regular curriculum for the first week. We’re supposed to teach school rules, study skills and college enrollment information instead. What do you think?”
SC Response:
I understand that questions like this are loaded with nuance and contextual issues and obviously, I do not have all the facts, but here goes…
In general, I do not like the idea. High schools that do this are often trying to cover up the fact that they did a sub-par job of scheduling and are leveling classes for a week. Realizing that most teachers don’t want to start teaching until the class roster is settled, someone decides to create fluff and busy work to fill the time.
Now this begs all sorts of questions and observations, here are just two.
First, when every teacher I work with tells me that there are not enough days to cover everything in the curriculum, why would a school purposefully take a week of instruction from those teachers?
Second, I work with very large urban high schools that have all students scheduled and classes leveled by the second day of school. If that is not occurring on your campus, who is dropping the ball?
That being said, the idea of pre-teaching school and classroom rules is valid and one that I strongly recommend. However, it takes less than one class period to do it properly. The idea of teaching study skills is valid and one that I recommend. However, it should be embedded in the content of every class and reviewed on an as-needed basis. The idea of discussing college early and often is an idea that is valid and that I recommend. However, this too should be embedded in every class, throughout the year.
In summary, without knowing any facts other than your question, it sounds like your campus is covering up significant system failures with camouflaged busy work. I would recommend that the campus spend the first day of school on the busy work (first period – school rules; second period – class rules; third period – graduation requirements; fourth period – task management; fifth period – college enrollment; etc.) and start teaching the curriculum at full speed on Day 2.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Friday, August 14, 2009
A Reader Asks... Staff Handbooks
A LYS reader asks:
“Hey Sean, I have been thinking about my staff handbook over the past month and I remember reading your post whereby you talked about a simple handbook you used in the past. What did you include? I really want to get away from having a book just because that is the way it has always been done. I want something that will actually be used and looked at!”
SC Response
What I did with my handbook was to write it based on my expectations. For example, instead of saying "You are late if you are not here by...," I wrote, "All staff are expected to be on time." For dress code, I wrote, "Staff will dress at or above student dress requirements."
As for topics, I tried to cover the things that everyone needed to know. On all the things that were in the previous handbook, but we never had to deal with, I wrote a statement along the lines of, "In situations and cases not addressed in this book, staff are expected to conduct themselves as professionals and rely on their training, experience, and common sense."
My idea was to set a standard, instead of trying to manage to every possible exception. By doing that, I was able to dramatically reduce the size of the handbook and it changed the conversations that I had with staff. Instead of arguing the validity of an excuse, discussions were based on the fact that an expectation was not met and what the staff member must do to meet the expectation in the future.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
“Hey Sean, I have been thinking about my staff handbook over the past month and I remember reading your post whereby you talked about a simple handbook you used in the past. What did you include? I really want to get away from having a book just because that is the way it has always been done. I want something that will actually be used and looked at!”
SC Response
What I did with my handbook was to write it based on my expectations. For example, instead of saying "You are late if you are not here by...," I wrote, "All staff are expected to be on time." For dress code, I wrote, "Staff will dress at or above student dress requirements."
As for topics, I tried to cover the things that everyone needed to know. On all the things that were in the previous handbook, but we never had to deal with, I wrote a statement along the lines of, "In situations and cases not addressed in this book, staff are expected to conduct themselves as professionals and rely on their training, experience, and common sense."
My idea was to set a standard, instead of trying to manage to every possible exception. By doing that, I was able to dramatically reduce the size of the handbook and it changed the conversations that I had with staff. Instead of arguing the validity of an excuse, discussions were based on the fact that an expectation was not met and what the staff member must do to meet the expectation in the future.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
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