The TASSP / LYS Leadership Academy

The Event So Nice – We’re Doing It Twice!

That’s right, on September 18th and 19th, we’ll be in San Antonio. On September 25th and 26th, we’ll be in Frisco.  Sign up now to get the discounted registration and housing rates. Below is the roster of speakers and topics. See you there!

E. Don Brown

Texas Principal for 30+ years.

Past President of TASSP and NASSP

An Early Pioneer of IB and PLC’s

An Architect of Breaking Ranks

Principal Emeritus for NASSP and Lead Your School

A Mentor to 100’s of schools leaders across the country

o   The Leader as Communicator: A schools leader’s most powerful lever is communication. One of the most influential principals in the past 50 years shares the what, when, how and where’s of the leadership communication and the powerful effect it has on school success.

Sherilynn Cotten

Texas Secondary School Principal (ret)

Early adopter of PLC’s and IB

Recognized school improvement expert

An original LYS Coach

o   Run the Play: The success of your school boils down to your answer to the question, “How confident am I that what is being taught today is what is supposed to be taught to day?” Learn about the understandings, actions, and process that must be in place on your campus to ensure that the right thing is being taught at the right time in every classroom on your campus.

Dr. Darin Jolly

Active Texas Superintendent

A pioneer and leader in the use of Social Media for professional growth.

o   The Leader as Evaluator: The effective formative and summative evaluation of staff is an invaluable tool for every school leader. Yet it is a tool that too many in our profession wield ineffectively. Dr. Darin Jolly will highlight the connection between coaching (formative practice) and evaluating (summative practice) and how the improved use of both transforms school leadership into legacy building.

Fletcher Turcato

Active Wyoming Superintendent           

A Texas secondary school administrator

District is experiencing unprecedented improvements in student performance and graduation rates

o   The Power of Focus: In three years, the second poorest school district in Wyoming has dramatically increased performance for all students and has experienced an unprecedented gain in graduation rates.  Join the Maverick Superintendent of Wyoming, Fletcher Turcato, as he shares how his team harnesses the Power of Focus to improve opportunity and outcomes for each student who walks through their school doors.

Sean Cain

Former State Director of Innovative School Redesign (Texas)

Best-selling education author

Nationally recognized school improvement expert

Chief Idea Officer – Lead Your School

o   Bridging the Gaps: An interactive, planning presentation that walks the participant thru the process of bridging the gaps between knowing and doing, and doing and understanding that prevent schools and educators from meeting their true potential.  At the end of the presentation participants will have created an actionable plan for rapidly increasing staff capacity and school success.

o   The Structure for Success: An interactive presentation that provides participants with an overview of critical tools and processes that schools must have in place in order to leverage brain power and maximize staff success and student performance, at scale. 

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: LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (Keynote); The 2016 Texas Charter School Conference (Multiple Presentations); The 4^th Annual 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 26, 2014

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now Twitter users.  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 October 26, 2014.

1. Why don't political candidates talk about increasing funding for schools? (By @herbertoneiljr)

2. In the absence of collective prioritizing, individual teachers prioritize. (By @AmyCarlsonGage)

3. "When everything is important, nothing is important." (By @TPNorton2)

4. If you are suspending kids who are not an immediate threat to safety, you have missed the boat as a principal. (By @txschoolsupe)

5. Amazing PowerWalks with Sherilynn Cotten (LYS Coach). Now researching to make instructional adjustments. That's how powerful the Fundamental 5 are! (By @vhsaldana)

6. Clear learning targets lead to shared responsibility. (By @conniehamilton)

7. That's why Lesson Framing is so important. Sets the purpose and the assessment for the lesson. (By @vhsaldana)

8. If we truly value teacher professional learning and collaboration, we must find ways to provide job-embedded learning. (By @woody_cindy)

9. Giving kids "free time" is conducting educational malpractice. (By @vhsaldana)

10. Be sure to praise students for effort! (By @pwester74)

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); Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

The New PowerWalks is Here! The New PowerWalks is Here!

Dear PowerWalks User,

We are excited to unveil the updated version of the PowerWalks Instructional Observation System.  As you are well aware, PowerWalks was designed to provide Teachers with “Game Film” to inform their honing of daily practice and to provide Instructional Leaders with a tool to better coach and support their staff, from the large group to the individual. With this updated version, PowerWalks continues to do this, but now easier, faster and with more flexibility.

The PowerWalks site looks different (better), but the basic operations remain the same, with the following enhancements:

• The primary classroom observation survey has been streamlined and now focuses on only the positive elements of instructional best practice.
• For managing users, there is the ability to create custom observation elements for campuses.
• The PowerWalks Instructional Observation System will alert the observer when the most powerful elements of best practice have been observed and will send a positive note to the teacher.
• Report building has been streamlined to just a one screen operation.
• Additional standing (pre-built) reports have been included on your personal report page.
• Report generation speed has been significantly upgraded. 

To be added in the next few weeks, both an Android and Apple App for use on campuses with inconsistent connectivity and a narrative coaching report to facilitate staff coaching meetings and conversations.

We know you will find the new version of PowerWalks to be even better than the last and welcome your comments and suggestions.

Thank you,

Your LYS Coaching Staff and Fellow PowerWalkers

Bob Brezina, E. Don Brown, Lesa Cain, Sean Cain, Sherilynn Cotten, Dr. Jim Davis, Barbara Fine, Jo Hoeppner, Harry Miller, Jeanette Nelson, Gwen Poteet

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 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Master Schedule Priorities

At LYS we get a lot of questions concerning the building of Master Schedules.  Which is to expected when you are the home of secondary scheduling gurus E. Don Brown and Sherilynn Cotten and elementary scheduling gurus Lesa Cain and Barbara Fine.  Regardless the operational parameters, they can build you the best possible schedule for meeting student needs.

If only it was that easy.  You see at most schools the master schedule is not about students.  In order of priority, here is what drives the building of a master schedule at the typical school:

“A” priority - Ease of creating schedule

“A” priority - Make the adults happy

“A” priority - Protect a pet project

“A” priority - Solve paper problems (trailer course opportunity)

“A” priority - Don’t rock the boat

“A” priority - Do what we have always done

“D” priority - Meet student needs

Compare that to the campus that consistently outperforms its peers (the working definition of a great school).  The Great School master scheduling priorities:

“A” priority - Meet student needs

“B” priority - Adequate time to teach

“B” priority - Adequate time to plan (with team)

“C” priority - Reduce transition events

“C” priority - Build expertise

“D” priority - Minimize transition time

“Z” priority - Ease of creating schedule

“Z” priority - Make adults happy

What priorities drive your master schedule?

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 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• 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) 
• Upcoming Presentations: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

The Places I Have Been

Let me first apologize for not keeping up with my posting duties. The past five days have been a whirlwind. In five days, I have conducted 9 presentations to over 1,100 school leaders in 3 different cities. And in each case the audiences were larger and more enthusiastic then ever before. Even the school board members were fired up to hear that dramatic and rapid school improvement is possible if you have the vision, desire and discipline.

Starting with the next post, we’ll continue the discussion on fear. I may have stopped writing for a couple of days, but you, the Lead Your School reader have not. So we will get caught up this week.

I want to thank all the Lead Your School readers who came up and said “hello” on this mini-speaking tour. One of the many highlights of the week was when I got to introduce Howard the blog participant to Mike the blog participant.

I want to thank Dr. Mike Laird, who came to my first presentation as a coach, to stand in my blind spot and give me some feedback on how to improve the presentations. And then quickly became an usher and finally a co-presenter as the audiences kept growing.

I want to thank Don Brown and Sherilynn Cotton who presented with me in Austin.

I want to thank Dr. Tommy Price and the Splendora ISD School Board. The opportunity to share with over 200 school board members the story of the ongoing “Splendora Miracle,” is just a small way to acknowledge their hard work and perseverance.

But most importantly, I want to thank the audiences at the Rigor, Relevance and Relationship Conference, hosted by Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. Your passion for knowledge is unrivaled and your focus on students unequalled. And for one of the few times in my life, I was speechless. I have included some pictures. For those of you who weren’t there, after all the chairs were taken, people brought their own chair from other sessions. After no more chairs could be squeezed in the room, people stood against the wall and sat on the floor. And finally, after every square inch of floor space was occupied, people stood and sat in the hall.

Again, thank you.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...