Top LYS Tweets From the Week of June 22, 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 June 22, 2014.

1. Write everyday. Nothing is better for processing your thinking. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

2. Today's Quote:  "True, a little learning is a dangerous thing, but it still beats total ignorance." (By @DrRichAllen)

3. Speak up for the teaching profession because I can promise someone is speaking against it. (By @BluntEducator)

4. Teaching is arguably the most complex and most essential profession in the world. (By @PrincipalFHS)

5. What do your grades measure: purely objective mastery or something else? Anything beyond objective mastery is misleading and useless for data.  (By @JasonJj7)

6. Everything gets better as you purposefully spend more time in the Power Zone! (By @LYSNation)

7. Many mission and vision statements are vague and general. I guess that makes it easy to not live up to high expectations. (By @woscholar)

8. "People who get things done, are not always liked." (By @ptarkkonen)

9. Expect opposition to your dream. Every nitpicker who doesn’t have a dream will oppose yours. (@LollyDaskal)

10. Onward and upward, The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) just passed 60,000 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: NAESP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Writes... Commencement Address - Part 1

In response to the 6/10/14 post, “Commencement Address – Four Practices,” a LYS Principal writes:

SC,

Tell me you didn’t Fundamental 5 a Commencement Address!?!?  I can’t wait to share this with my teachers when they come back in August.  Unbelievable!

Did any of the teachers and administrators in attendance “get it”?

SC Response

Believe it.

I don’t know if the teachers figured out what I was doing (after all, they were understandably a little distracted).  But the principal knew and was smiling the entire time.

If what you are teaching is important and you need your students to remember it, then you have to use the Fundamental 5. And what lesson is more important than the commencement? It’s only the last lesson of high school. Then it’s on to four years of the worst delivered instruction of the entire school experience.

What I found to be humorous is just like any lesson, delivered by any teacher, I want a chance to do it again. Next time my delivery will be a little smoother and my Lesson Frame will be better focused.  

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

A Reader Writes... Resume Basics - Part 1

In response to the 6/5/14 post, “Resume Basics,” a LYS Principal writes:

LYS Nation, 

One way to stand out is an online résumé! Check out re.vu

Here is what mine currently looks like, http://re.vu/jessicahanson  

SC Response

I like it. Click on the link because it is worth checking out. Here’s the website, http://re.vu if you want to create your own. 

I would definitely suggest that teachers and assistant principals do this or have something like it along with a more traditional resume.  The reason for this is that the experience set for teachers and AP’s is more similar than dissimilar.  Any positive thing that separates you from the pack is an asset.  Once you become a principal, experiences, results and connections are what will separate you from the pack. The quality of those and the interview are what will get you the next job. 

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

Public Education - Some Recent Observations

If you listen to those running for office and their supporters, public education just can’t get anything right. Which leads me to some interesting observations. Observations that may be biased by the fact that my teaching and school leadership experience was in inner-city schools in Houston, Texas.

Interesting Observation #1:  Over-testing and the damage to student self-esteem due to test difficulty were never issues until affluent and suburban schools were no longer automatically “successful.”  When the tests were kicking my students and my teachers in the teeth, we were either, “lazy or needed to work harder and care more.”

Interesting Observation #2: The same politicians who are now concerned with the negative effects of accountability... Also are the same politicians concerned with failing schools... Who also espouse that the solution to “failing” schools is to create financial subsidies for affluent and suburban families to send their children to segregated schools that have not and are not subject to accountability and state testing.

Interesting Observation #3: 90% of public educators must like the system the way it is and the way it is going.  Because they keep going to the polls and voting for the people that are racing to see who can defund and dismantle public schools the quickest.

But then again, as I wrote at the beginning of this post, maybe I’m just biased and need to work harder and care more.

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: NAESP National Conference; 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 June 15, 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 June 15, 2014.

1. Congratulations to LYSer, Carlin Grammer! He is the new Principal for Midland High School!! Who will be next? (By @LYSNation)

2. Focus your energy on the points of greatest leverage. For a principal, that would be the adults who interface most with the students. (By @TinneyTroy)

3. Adult practice drives student performance. (By @shaunbarnett)

4. It's best practice that moves our toughest to teach kids. Their performance is a good gauge of best practice frequency and implementation. (By @LYSNation)

5. To increase rigor, kids need to Write Something, Say Something, or Create Something! - E. Don Brown (By @CEverettEdD)

6. Aha moment: Get the pacing down first and then focus on the rigor...duh! (By @baldwinAPlife)

7. Data driven instruction helps us to realize that we adults are truly the ones empowered to move kids to success or failure.  (By @Snowmanlearning)

8. A Lesson Frame is for students. Objectives are usually for fulfilling administrative mandate. (By @LYSNation)

9. You buy a student lunch and you notice that his severe behavioral problems become more and more manageable in class. (By @tra_hall)

10. Just found out that The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) just passed 59,000 copies sold like it was standing still! 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: NAESP National Conference; 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 Astronomical Cost of Comp Time

Every decent school leader recognizes the need to train staff.  And since there is never enough time during the school year, the summer with its glorious span of empty calendar dates always seems like an untapped resource.  I, for one, am a fan of organized summer training.  But there is always the legitimate question of compensation for those attendees who are off contract (generally teachers). There are essentially four answers to the question. 

1. There is the, “They need to be here if they value their job,” intimidation answer.  Usually espoused by those who no longer teach, have longer contracts and are getting paid to work during the summer.  If you catch yourself doing this, it is a moron move, so stop immediately.

2. There is the, “We used the budget to book the great training, so if you are interested please come,” answer. This isn’t the best circumstance, but you will be surprised by how many teachers attend if you actually ask them too and explain the benefits of the training.   If you do this once, OK.  If you make a habit of doing it every summer, you are taking advantage of your staff.

3. There is the, “We booked the training and budgeted a stipend for those who attend,” answer.  This is the best answer.  It recognizes that no matter how valuable the training, it is only fair to compensate your staff for their off contract time and attention.

4. Finally, there is the, “Attend the training and you will earn comp time you can use during the upcoming school year,” answer.  This is a horrible, yet all too common solution that tricks very smart and capable school leaders every year.  On the face of it, it seems to compensate staff for their time at almost no cost.  But that is the lie.  The costs are astronomical.  Let me explain why this is the case through a couple of examples:

• The teacher earns a comp day by attending an off contract summer training.  Then the teacher takes the comp day on an instructional day.  The school hires a sub for the teacher taking the comp day.  Here is the actual cost of this scenario

          Summer training pay: $0.00

          Teacher pay on comp day: $275.00

          Substitute teacher pay on comp day: $100.00

          Opportunity cost: 1 day of quality instruction, times the number of  students taught by the teacher.

            
Actual Cost: $375.00, plus one day lost of quality instruction for students. A darn expensive solution.

• The teacher earns a comp day by attending an off contract summer training.  Then the teacher takes the comp day comp day on a non-instructional day.  Here is the actual cost of this scenario.

          Summer training pay: $0.00

          Teacher pay on comp day: $275.00

          Opportunity cost: 1 day of training, planning or collaboration with peers.

          
Actual Cost: $275.00 plus one day lost of quality training, planning or collaboration with teammates and peers. A darn expensive solution.

So the best answer is back to Answer #3.  Here is the math for this scenario.

• The teacher is paid a training stipend for participating in an off contract summer training.  The training stipend should be at least the amount of a substitute teacher day rate. The teacher does not take a comp day during the school year

          Summer training pay: $100.00 to $275.00

          Teacher pay on a regular contract day: $275.00

          Opportunity cost: $0

         
Actual Cost: $375.00 to $550.00 with no opportunity cost.

That is the affordable solution.

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