A Reader Writes... The Bad School Improvement Plan - Computer Version - Part 1

In response to the 1/7/2016 post, “The Bad School Improvement Plan – Computer Version,” a reader writes:

SC,

Computers will never replace a teacher. However, computers can save teachers time by screening students, providing some progress monitoring and providing daily formative assessment. This can all be done as a station inside the classroom.

SC Response

I don’t disagree.  What you describe is technology being used to augment instruction. Which is now a normal occurrence on most campuses. I was pointing out that the all too common “reform” plans to replace scores of teachers in a building with computers are misguided at best, and blatant money grabs at worst.

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: Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations); Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Conference (Multiple Presentations); LYS / TASSP Advanced Leadership Academy (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 January 10, 2016

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of January 10, 2016 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. Offering school supplies in your classroom, “no strings attached,” means students have one less thing to worry about. (By @ASCD)

2. If your friends don't push you to be your best, you need new ones. - Jay Mullings (By @thequote)

  

3. Long term strategy eats the flavor of the month for breakfast! (By TinneyTroy)

4. Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. (By @CoachKWisdom)

5. For a true leader, getting results is more important than getting credit. (By @BobBurg)

6. Pressure is a misused word in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure. – Lasorda (By @CoachMotto)

7. Once your critics tell themselves an emotion-producing story, they cling to that emotion and validate the story, even if it’s not true. (By @tgrierhisd)

8. When your best player puts it on the line every day, the other guys can’t cut corners. – George Karl (By @SportsMotto)

9. Most cases, teachers purchase their own technology because getting what they need in their districts isn't a priority or an option. (By @RafranzDavis)

10. Great news at the end of the year. The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) has now officially sold over 80,000 copies! Thank you, LYS Nation!! (By @LYSNation)

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: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Is a Coding Class Important

I recently read a rhetorical tweet that asked, “Is a coding class important?”

For a throw away question, I got me thinking. And I believe the answer is,  "A Nuanced Yes."

If you ask me if coding is more important than taking a Spanish or Chinese language course, I will answer, “For most students, No.”

If you ask me if coding is more important than taking a Physics or Calculus course, I will answer, “For most students, No.”

And I don’t believe that the coding language in use now, will be the one used 20 years from now.  Who out there is still coding in BASIC?  That was an “advanced” class that I took.  I should call my old high school and ask for those 300+ hours back. 

But there is huge value in courses that seemingly have little value.  Instead of taking typing in high school, I took Calculus (the valuable course).  Big mistake.  Surprisingly, I don’t have to calculate the area under a curve that often in my professional and personal life. Yet I do type (poorly) everyday. 

I participated in UIL Academic Contests as a member of the Calculator and Number Sense teams.  We even had a class period devoted to practice.  Again skills I don’t use a lot right now, specifically.  But in terms of training my mind to move quickly, intuitively, with confidence, I do that, daily.

Which brings me back to the question, “Is a coding class important?” 

My final answer is, “Yes, for some students, but not for the reasons we believe.”

So by all means, if you can offer a coding course, do so.  But I’m still not buying into the hype that coding is the 5^th Core.

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: Kentucky Association of School Administrators Leadership Institute; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• 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 6, 2013

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 6, 2013.

1. Administrators, your staff shouldn't have to guess about your beliefs and ideals of education. What you think shouldn't be a secret. (By @justintarte)

2. Research: What parents do at home (read to children every night) appears to matter more than what parents do to help out in school. (By @tgrierhisd)

3. Homework should count very little, if any, toward grade. Grades should represent mastery, not compliance. (By @LaurieBarron)

4. Too many educators have been led to believe that poverty trumps everything else. Rigor, high expectations, quality teachers, quality principals, etc. (By @tgrierhisd)

5. Leadership must be a part of the PLC process. They just aren't expected to lead every meeting. P means Professionals... All of them. (By @LYSNation)

6. It's not about the device, but rather how the teacher uses the device. The teacher is the primary 1-1 device! (By @angelalovesmath)

7. No technology can take the place of content and academic fundamentals. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

8. We complain we don't have money for powerful devices for student use, yet we make them power down their smart phones at the door. (By @woscholar)

9. The most powerful structural change you can make to increase graduation rates is to have your best math teacher teach Algebra 1. (By @LYSNation)

10. The Fundamental Five (Cain & Laird). Great book study for an entire district. (By @Snowmanlearning)

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: NASSP National Conference; The 21^st Century High School Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of June 30, 2013

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 June 30, 2013.

1. Congratulations to LYSer, Dr. Sylvester Perez! He is the new Superintendent in San Antonio ISD. Who will be next? (By @LYSNation)

2. In the zone! Making lesson frames, quality questions, and critical writing prompts for every lesson! Excited! (By @TarynOurso)

3. (Frequent Small Group Purposeful Talk) Wondered how students could be engaged by a 2-hour movie and struggle with a 50-minute class? Did the research and found that the average movie scene lasts 1 to 3 minutes! (By @jaredpeters23)

4. Average secondary student writes 1.6 pages a week in English & 2.1 pages in all other classes. Not enough to learn to write well (Applebee). (By @CarolJago)

5. Some say, "What if we spend money training teachers and they leave?" I say, "What if we don't train them and they stay?" (By @twhitford)

6. I'm not overselling this: The Fundamental 5 is the unifying theory of the successful classroom. (By @LYSNation)

7. Most people are in favor of progress, it's the changes they don't like. (By @principalspage)

8. I'm a tech guy, but if you are looking for technology to SOLVE your instructional problems then you are looking to REPLACE teachers. (By @LYSNation)

9. Before entering a job interview, mentally review all of the times you were brilliant and successful. (By @StanfordBiz)

10. The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) just rocketed past 35,000 copies sold! Thank you, LYS Nation!!! (By @LYSNation)

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 (Multiple Presentations); NASSP National Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

REPRINT - TECHNOPHOBIA

The following is a reprint of the post from Tuesday, September 21, 2010. For many readers, it was not delivered as an e-mail update like it was supposed to be.

A LYS Principal submits:

I have decided that in the field of education we are almost all technophobic. Educators were so resistant to putting technology into classroom instruction that Dr. Neely implemented technology implementation in the classroom as one of the observed teacher proficiencies under the PDAS teacher evaluation system. Let’s face it, when the government implements a policy or law, it is because there is a perceived problem, and the acceptance and implementation of technology in education is certainly a problem.

Not convinced? Let's consider the LYS philosophy that the alpha and omega of student expectations is adult modeling. Or, in other words, the most effective way to teach is to model. What do we model as adults for the students? Consider the cell phone. Most school districts either ban the possession of cell phones by students outright, or they allow the possession as long as the cell phones are never seen or heard. What about the faculty? Do you use your cell phone during breaks, during lunch? Is your cell phone like mine, visible on your belt? If the superintendent calls you on your cell phone, do you ignore the phone since school is in session?

Seriously, what are you modeling? Why should students not be allowed to use personal technology devices such as cell phones during breaks and lunch? Are you afraid that students may film a fight and put it on YouTube? If your decision making process is driven by fear, you aren’t leading. The act of using cell phones to record illegal activity can be addressed in policy without banning all cell phones.

Still not convinced? Let's talk about Blogs and Twitter. Many districts universally block all Blogs, including the fine LYS Blog. Can Blogs be misused? You bet, but so can Microsoft Word. But this blocking practice also blocks numerous excellent Blogs that should be available to all students. Concerning Twitter, Twitter wasn't more than 20 minutes old before school districts began amending policies to prevent Twitter. But in the real world, TEA and numerous school boards are now using Twitter as a way to communicate with the public. Yet many districts, again by blanket policy, block access to Twitter and similar sites.

So there you have it, prime examples of our reaction to new technology - form a policy to prohibit the new technology, immediately. We need to re-evaluate our stance on technology. We need to model what we truly practice as professionals. Dare I say that in a short number of years personal electronic devices may find a welcomed place in education, even in classrooms for instructional purposes.

SC Response

I have to say that you are on track. Too many of us in our field take a prison type view on technology access. Don’t let anyone have it, because they might misuse it. We might as well quit teaching kids to read and write. We need to recognize that the need to block the access and use of technology is rooted in fear, lazy practice, or both. Fear that I, the adult, might not be the source of all knowledge in my school or classroom. Lazy in the sense that to ensure that students are not harmed by or misuse the tool requires increased vigilance and ongoing conversation and coaching. Which for too many of us in our field is a dramatic change in typical practice.

As we continue to address the reality of an increasingly flat, universally connected world, I will channel the tone of Dr. Todd Whitaker advice to school leaders. “We need to create policy to support our best and brightest, not to manage the lowest common denominator.”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (The Problem with Programs)

We got a little side tracked with the start of school (duh…), so let’s circle back to a conversation that started last week, but didn’t get finished. A reader follows up with this comment to, “The Problem with Programs.”

“This is an interesting post because I actually discuss this issue in a piece I am working on.

I have never seen a school “program” itself to success. I have seen successful schools with programs, but the programs are not the cause of the success. The idea that mimicking the programs of a successful school will make your school successful is ridiculous, but that is exactly how programs are marketed.

As Cain says, a common reason for programs is to prop up a weak system. I suspect that the reason administrators want to prop up weak systems rather than to fix them is either due to ignorance or a lack of courage to take on tough tasks. If the problem is lack of courage, you need some new administrators. If the issue is ignorance, keep working with Lead Your School.”

SC Response
I was having a conversation earlier this week with a friend, that also touched on this issue. Both of us want our teachers and our students to have cutting edge tools and technology in order to create exciting and engaging instruction and classrooms. But we are both painfully aware that “sizzle” does not create critical thinkers on a massive scale. Creating huge numbers of students who are critical thinkers requires the “steak” of quality, first line instruction – day in and day out.

The model I believe in and work to build in LYS campuses and districts is grounded in Marine Corp doctrine. The Marine Corp operates under the tenet that every marine is a rifleman. This means that every high tech tool and weapon that they purchase must improve the effectiveness of the rifleman. But most importantly, they all keep training as riflemen. That way, as equipment fails or is unavailable, the individual marine is still formidable and effective.

The school version of Marine Corp doctrine is that every education professional is a teacher. We are all trained in and practice the fundamentals of instruction. Every tool and program should be evaluated in terms of how it improves the quality of instruction. But we can not abandon our core. If a computer crashes, the power goes out, or the text book does not arrive, we have to step up to the chalk board and teach with passion, skill, and effectiveness. The student should not even be aware that we are operating under "Plan B."

The day the program replaces the teacher is the day we no longer need teachers. The day we no longer need teachers is the day we no longer need schools. If that day occurs, shame on us.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (A Democratic Revolution)

In response to the post, "A Democratic Revolution," a reader writes:

"Zakaria’s highlights are interesting, but what interested me even more was the potential role and influence on history that digital communication, such as Twitter, has brought forth. If you did not see the article in the Houston Chronicle on June 17th, click on the link below.

The article discusses how Cohen, the youngest member of the State Department, utilized his resources to manipulate the use of networking time on Twitter, a social blogging service, to possibly change history in Iran. His intention was to allow information about the protests in Tehran to be communicated, which squelched the government’s efforts to restrict the media coverage.

When I read the article last week, I could not stop thinking of the discussions and connections that we could have with our students about the implications of technology in our world today!"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6484263.html

SC Response
Great comment, great article. It almost makes me wish that I was teaching Social Studies in Summer School right now.

The reader closes with an excellent sentence. Many administrators (notice the lack of the word, "leader") do their level best to keep schools locked in "traditional, eyes forward, don't talk" modes of operation. I tolerated this as a student (because I didn't know better) and hate it as an adult.

We have to keep pushing the envelope and looking for new ways to engage students. From an operational standpoint, one comment changed the way I looked at classroom instruction and classroom management. Dr. Jim Davis said the following in a planning meeting, "What if the only way students could cheat, is by not helping their buddies?"

I'm still implementing permeations of that concept on many of campuses that I work with.

Here's what I would do this summer (you can do this as a teacher leader, all the way up to board member). Build a team of you and your youngest teachers. Say, "Twitter is leading a revolution. What can we use to revolutionize instructional delivery?"

Then pilot that idea in a couple of social studies classes.

Why social studies classrooms (or I as a call them, campus remediation and extension labs)? Because, a good social studies classroom can address elements from every other content area. And, any high stakes test in Social Studies is not as rigorous as the tests in other content areas. That is not meant as an indictment, its just recognizing that you have to play the hand you are dealt.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...