The GISD Fundamental 5 Camp - Frame the Lesson Tweets

On August 4, my Twitter time line blew up with tweets from the Garland ISD Fundamental 5 Camp.  Today I’m sharing the tweets the were inspired from Amy Henderson’s, Frame the Lesson, breakout sessions.

"When the teacher frames the lesson, he/she teaches deeper and stronger -- RIGOR... (By @tbrown6567)

If we don't close the lesson we are leaving retention on the table. (By @rdscroggin)  

A major aspect of monitoring and adjusting is monitoring and adjusting SELF! (By @tbrown6567)

Lesson framing provides focus and expectations for the student and teacher. (By @tbrown6567)

Framing requires teacher clarity on lesson purpose and outcomes. (By @charboknows)

True learning is messy.... Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes it permanent. (By @Hollnwall)

@OCTHenderson, Outstanding presentation! Framing the Lesson provides students an opportunity to self-manage their learning! (By @wells_jovan)

We draw attention to what is important. Frame your lesson! (By @charboknows)

"When I frame the lesson, I am clear about exactly what I want my students to come away with THAT DAY!" A. Henderson (By @Honeytres)

Next up... Recognize & Reinforce

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 GISD Fundamental 5 Camp - Fundamental Change Tweets

On August 4, my Twitter time line blew up with tweets from the Garland ISD Fundamental 5 Camp.  To share the great insights and thinking that occurred at the camp, over the next few days I will share the best tweets from participants, categorized by topic. Today I’m sharing the tweets leading up to and then from the keynote address, “Fundamental Change”.

20 minutes until the start of the Garland ISD Fundamental 5 Camp! Already a packed house. Garland shows up... EARLY! (By @ LYSNation)

Excited to be learning with GISD today! (By @OCTHenderson)

 · 

Get ready for a session filled with energy and practical approaches to great instruction. (By @Cmcval1930)

I can't wait to hear from Sean Cain. (By @clgoff10)

A great campus is not determined by great test scores. (By @runnergirl70)

The person doing the work is doing the learning. Teachers are doing the most work in the classrooms. (By @runnergirl70)

An academic task turns into practice when the teacher is in the Power Zone. (By @runnergirl70)

Critical Writing is THE most effective thing we can do in the classroom, yet less than 4% are doing it! YIKES! (By @runnergirl70)

"Let's tip the scales in 2014-15!" (By @tbrown6567)

Don't just do basketball related activities, change proximity and the true practice begins. (By @Hollnwall)

Talk AND Write ... feeling freaky!! (By @drkim2004)

"Talk...write...or...do both" (By @tbrown6567)

I really liked the way Sean pulled Marzano and the Fun Five together! (By @kblozada)

Strive to change the dynamics in the classroom... Deliver instruction differently. (By @roberson_jenny)

A student's worth should not be defined by a zip code. (By @EldredgeWendy)

A great campus is not determined by raw test scores but by those that outperform their peers.... (By @Ephood)

Next up... Frame the Lesson Tweets

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

A Reader Writes... The Astronomical Cost of Comp Time - Part 2

In response to the 6/19/2014 post, “The Astronomical Cost of Comp Time,” a LYS Principal writes:

SC,

Your post was right on. Love it!

And just so you know, we now have summer training stipend is our budget.

SC Response

Fantastic.  We all know if our teachers are to have any chance to keep up with advances in the field (hooray) and advances in punitive accountability (boo) then on-going training is not a want. It is a need.  We also know that for intensive and deep training, the summer is the best, if not only, time to provide this training.  But only a handful of districts adequately budget to provide training stipends.  The budget is the best indicator of district priority.  It’s not just enough to say teachers are the most critical employees in a school system. A little stipend at the right time goes along way to proving that sentiment.

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

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of July 27, 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 July 27, 2014.

1. If you grade in such a way that removes all hope, you're doing it all wrong. (By @8Amber8)

2. A system prevents your team from being defeated by individual "best intentions." (By @LYSNation)

3. Education is the best defense against organized ignorance. (By @DreweryEric)

4. Public education is the greatest tool we have to fight injustice, discrimination, & oppression-to create a better society. (By @DrMandyStewart)

5. If one supports equitable learning standards and equitable teacher quality, how does one fail to support equitable funding for schools? (By @johnkuhntx)

6. Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. (By @CoachKWisdom)

7. Formative assessment is the pathway to greatness.  It starts the feedback loop for teachers and students. (By @KDanielLSR7)

8. A teacher who doesn't know me just shared how The Fundamental 5 has changed her campus and recommends that I read the book. I think I will. (By @LYSNation)

9. Emotional intelligence is more important than general intelligence, but hard work is more important than both! (By @tgrierhisd)

10. The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) has just surpassed 62,000 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 (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Moving the Entrenched Teacher

Evidently the scariest, most terrifying threat to education is the bitter, cynical, entrenched classroom teacher. They impede progress, sow dissent and are bad for students.  Oh by the way... these are the same teachers that for past twenty years have had no meaningful training, tools or support, have had their jobs threatened, their salaries eroded and have worked for a revolving door of supervisors and managers.  As I tell principals, if your veteran teachers don’t possess a healthy level of cynicism, they haven’t been paying attention.

But the question does remain. How do you get these teachers moving forward in a concerted fashion? It will be more difficult than leading a team of rookies, put the payoff is greater because a group of veterans know more than a group of rookies.  Here is what I have always done.

1. Have a concrete, visceral mission.  Mine was, “Get them to school. Get them in class. Get them in college.” Then repeat this mission like you are a broken record. Keep the mission in the forefront and make sure it frames discussions, problem solving and decision-making.

2. Create visual change.  Deep clean the building, spot paint, make repairs, and rearrange the geography of the building.  And explain why you are doing it. 

A. Our eyes are our biggest source of sensory input.  If you see change, you start to believe change.

B. Environmental cues lock us into habits and routines.  It is much easier to break those habits and routines in a new environment.

3. Simplify.  Don’t rollout a 75-point plan for campus improvement. No one can do 75 things. Work on getting better at the few things that really matter.

4. Train, train, train.  Small modules over extended time.

5. Cue. Cue the practices the staff is training on.  How? PowerWalks.

6. Reinforce.  Reinforce the attempt. Reinforce the effort. Reinforce the progress. Reinforce the success.

7. Measure.  If you are doing something, measure it, track it, and discuss it.  Celebrate the successes, huddle up to plan for overcoming adversity.

And finally, with your entrenched, cynical, veteran staff, “Gritching” is good.  It means that they are getting out of their comfort zones and trying.  No gritching means they aren’t doing it.  To misquote Robert Duval, “I love the sound of gritching in the morning... It's the sound of victory.”

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

Your Prioritized Improvement Actions

As you are getting ready for the upcoming school year, I want to help you prioritize the actions that will maximize effort and performance, for both students and teachers.

1. Teach the right thing, at the right time, at the right rigor.  If this is not occurring, at scale, even though the students and staff are working, performance will always lag behind effort.

2. Identify your core instructional delivery model, and use it, with increasing frequency and quality. Provide ongoing training and support on the model. We suggest you use The Fundamental 5, but even lesser systems can work if implemented with fidelity.

3. Identify your core behavior/student discipline model, and use and MODEL it, with increasing frequency and quality. Provide ongoing training and support on the model. I suggest you use Girls and Boys Town, but other systems can work if implemented with fidelity.

4. Indentify the specialized content delivery models (used in conjunction with the core instructional delivery model) for Reading, Writing, Math and possibly Science. Use the models with increasing frequency and quality.  Provide ongoing training and support on the models.

5. Keep working the above list, in order presented. 

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