Top LYS Tweets from the Week of March 13, 2011

Consider jogging. When I was in high school I used to jog in the same tennis shoes I wore for every day messing around. I wore a pair of workout shorts that they issued to the football players and a T-shirt was optional. In college, I added a Sony Walkman. After college, the T-Shirt became mandatory, but not much else changed for years, except swapping the Walkman for ever smaller I-Pods. But in the past 2 years a lot has changed. Now I wear lightweight, breathable shoes that perfectly match my feet and gait. My socks are ultra low cut, lightweight and blister resistant. My running shorts are made of ultra-light, chafe resistant fabric. My T-shirt is vented, blocks UV rays and wicks moisture. And my I-phone plays my music; maps my route; tracks my distance, time, pace, elevation change, calories burned, running history; and talks to me. Remember, this is just jogging. Imagine what new technologies can do in our classrooms and schools. Consider this your weekly reminder to embrace bootleg technology, before the world jogs past us.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using 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 13^th, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse.

1. Morning run thought: My morale is higher after the run than before or during.

2. Life turns on random adversity and opportunity. The best constantly prepare for both. Everyone else alternates between being surprised and coasting.

3. The goal is not more classroom time. The goal is more time on task. The first does not guarantee the second. The second requires leadership, a system, and monitoring.

4. LYS Easy Instructional Improvement Tip: Implement a March thru May Movie Moratorium

5. The problem with the class size argument is that bad instruction is bad instruction. Class size impacts an effective teacher much more than an ineffective one.

6. The problem with the “pretty school facility is a waste of taxpayer money” argument. Ugly and pretty cost about the same to build.

7. I would counter argue that pretty schools are better for property values than ugly schools (just my opinion).

8. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I think I would rather be friendless.

9. The difference between rapidly improving schools and everyone else. Everyone else talks about what should be done and what won't work. Improvers just do.

10. Texas will modify the school fiscal rating system so as not to penalize schools for Governor's mistake. Bond rating agencies not to be so generous.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Follow Sean Cain on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A Reader Writes... (Game On! Schools - Part 5)

In response to the 12/7/2010 post, “Game On! Schools – Part 3,” a reader writes:

I am all for a little competition, but this sounds just a little aggressive. I would like to know how Game On schools manage their time, and of the entire day what part of their time is most valuable to them or that they manage better than any other time? What is their secret to being so successful?

SC Response

Yes, the Game On! schools and staff are aggressive. They are aggressively chasing down excellence. Excellence defined terms of student and campus performance. Part of this chase does involve managing time. The simple version of this is that the Game On! schools work on the things that matter and quit working on the things that do not matter. That is how you effectively mange time. Your “To Do” list becomes more focused and your “Do Not Do” list becomes increasingly expansive.

At a Game On! school, what is most valuable? Teaching, learning, and measurable performance. What is least valuable? Anything that gets in the way of teaching, learning and measurable performance.

So what is the secret? The Game On! schools operate a structured PLC system that, to use a Good To Great metaphor, constantly rinses the cottage cheese. That system and the insights that it forces staff to develop, drive student performance beyond what can be expected in traditional settings. If you are interested in implementing Game On! on your campus, send me an e-mail.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Follow Sean Cain on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Attend the LYS Presentation at the National Conference on Education

Attend the LYS Presentation at the TASB Winter Legal Conference

Visit the LYS Booth at the NASSP Conference

Attend the LYS Presentation at the Texas Middle School Conference

A Reader Writes... (Quit Wasting Time - Part 1)

In response to the 12/6/2010 post, “Quit Wasting Time,” a teacher writes:

The assumptions you hold are disturbing and incorrect. I strongly disagree with what you call "a waste of time." Celebrations really matter to children. Spending 30 minutes twice a year for holiday parties is not a waste of time. Fun actually matters to children and should not be summarily dismissed as frivolous. Field trips are not a waste of time. Most of life occurs outside the classroom and the students I teach have few experiences outside their impoverished homes. Going places and experiencing new things outside the classroom is exactly what they need. Stimulation outside a classroom is exactly what they need. The kindergarteners I teach were not allowed to go on a harvest-themed field trip because it wasn't "educational." Yes, it was. They would have benefitted by seeing an actual corn plant and pumpkin patch. They need to know the parts of a plant and how they grow. They need to hear vocabulary like "crops" in an actual rural setting. My second graders didn't know what a pine cone was until I took them to a pine tree and showed them and let them hold a pine cone and look at its parts. These students need field trips more than the upper middle class kids from other schools who all got to go on that field trip. I encourage you to reconsider what you call a waste of time.

SC Response

I won’t even try to argue with you on this one. I will just point out that the most valuable asset that we have is time and I have yet to meet a teacher who has told me that they have too much of it. If fact, I was talking to a large group of educators recently about the challenges that they face, and by a huge margin, the lack of time was their biggest concern. Every second that is not devoted to teaching the content has to be evaluated in terms of performance benefit and cost.

If time is not an issue on your campus, you are fortunate. If time is an issue, search everywhere for it and protect it when you find it. Time hides everywhere and everyone has a valid reason for just stealing “just a few” minutes.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Follow Sean Cain on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Attend the LYS Presentation at the National Conference on Education (2/19/2011)

Attend the LYS Presentation at the TASB Winter Legal Conference

Visit the LYS Booth at the NASSP Conference

Attend the LYS Presentation at the Texas Middle School Association Conference

A Reader Writes... Spoke Too Soon

A reader/contributor writes:

“I see that Commissioner Robert Scott shut down Pearce Middle School! I have to eat my words now! Too bad it took five years of kids getting the short end of the stick to make this happen.”

SC Response
Yet the story hasn’t ended yet, local political leaders are still trying to save the school. They are using the same old excuses.

Excuse #1: “We need more time.” So evidently after 5+ years of horrific results, they almost have it figured out.

Excuse #2: “We’ve made progress.” They can't face the reality that in the 5+ years that it has taken the campus to go from failing miserably, to just failing, means that they are harming students at a wholesale level.

Here is what we (both the LYS company and the LYS network) know: In terms of adding value and performance growth – Some schools outperform most schools; and some teachers out perform most teachers. To be the “one of the some” requires the right tools, a singular focus on students, the discipline of an extra-ordinary work ethic, and the willingness to engage in the fight against aggressive ignorance.

If you haven’t done it in five years, you aren’t going to do it at all. And it is being done, right now. Here are a few examples:

• John Montelongo (a Brezina and Brown Guy) just took Fox Tech High School from “unacceptable” to “recognized,” in two years.

• Mike Seabolt (a Brezina and Brown Guy) took Blue Ridge High School from “unacceptable” to “recognized’” in less than two years.

• And at a district level, Tommy Price and Mike Laird (both Brezina and Brown Guys) now have the following results: When they took over the district two years ago, they inherited 4 “acceptable” campuses and 1 “unacceptable” campus. Now, they have 1 “exemplary” campus, 3 “recognized” campuses and 1 “acceptable” campus. And, pay attention to this, the “EXEMPLARY” campus is the one that started out as “UNACCPETABLE.”

Time is not the critical factor for improving schools, but time does doom students.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…