Writing Fix

Now that I don't have an elementary building to write a weekly newsletter to write to my staff I need to find a "writing fix."  I'll be posting more to this blog...hope it works out.

Dave

A Change of Screnery

A Change of Scenery

                There are times in life when unique opportunities present themselves and the path of our lives take an unexpected turn.  These can often be difficult times as they typically bring about changes that can be painful.  This past summer I accepted a position as Chief Academic Officer with my school corporation.  When I started in education, central office administration was something I thought I'd never do...yet here I am!

                  While I am excited about this opportunity and the path I believe God is leading me on as a school leader, the change has been tough.  I loved being an elementary principal.  The four years as an elementary principal will be four of my best.

                  The decision to move to this position was not an easy one.  It was made with much prayer, counsel and thought.  This was a hard move because I absolutely loved by job. I love leading an incredible group of teachers. I loved the kids at my school.  I loved serving the local community and parents. 

So why did I make this move?  I shared with you a while back about how I felt the call of God in my life to serve Him through public education.  I was working at Von Humboldt Elementary School in Chicago and although I had never thought about being a teacher, I knew the Lord was calling me to education.  As a classroom teacher I was blessed to be able to minister to and make a positive difference in the lives of my class of 25-30 students every school year. 

                  As classroom teacher, I never considered being a building principal.  However, as I began the next step in my own education, the Lord led through circumstances with a Master’s Degree.  In the course of my studies at Ball State, I felt His call to serve as a building leader.  As a principal, I was blessed to be able to minister to and make a positive difference in the lives of 530 students every school year.

                  When I started as a principal, I never considered working in a central office administrative role.  While I love many aspects of my job, I began to realize that not only do I love working with the children, I love working with teachers, working with curriculum, figuring out what works for struggling students, and the challenges that collaborative teams face every day.  I began to realize that if there were to be a job where I would focus my efforts on those areas in a way that helps others I would be interested and so when the position of Chief Academic Officer opened up, I was interested. 

                 It hasn't been easy.  I love kids!  I love the interactions I have with them every day.  I often joke with many of my teachers that I’m kind of like grandma and grandpa; I get to mess around/joke/”rile up” the kids and then they go back to them for class!  I believe the Lord is again leading in my life, taking me into a new role where my influence and ability to serve broadens to a whole school corporation.  I am able to serve 7,200 students and their families.  I am able to serve hundreds of teachers and staff members.  I believe this new position for me is the ultimate “support staff” position.  I am happy that although I won’t be serving you as your building principal, I will still be working with you, and serving you as your Chief Academic Officer. 

                  I am excited about this new chapter in my life.  I am excited to work under Dr. Hoffert’s leadership.  I am excited to be used by God to serve our school corporation.  I believe in our mission here at Warsaw Community Schools…to inspire and equip all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skills while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others.  So often those dreams change and that change is hard, but when we spend our dreams enriching others, life is full.

               

True Confessions of an Infomercial Junkie!

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  I obviously wasn’t around when this happened, but I distinctly remember one year there was a huge special on one of the TV stations about the details of the incident.  They had uncovered a new piece of film or something, so I have this childhood memory of watching like a 2 hour special that gave way more details than I wanted at the time.  I get this weird, surreal, sad feeling when I remember this day.  There are times in history that are so surreal and shocking that we distinctly remember through emotions rather than thoughts.  Today is one of those days for many.  Hopefully, it’s a reminder for us to make the most of every day, love our families, and appreciate the blessings of this life!

            Okay, so I have this terrible weakness, and it’s for infomercials.  I don’t tell a lot of people this, but I love infomercials!  Maybe it’s because they feed my 10-second attention span, but there’s just something about seeing all the incredible features of a product and then, to find out that I can own all that for just three easy payments of $49.99!  I’m hooked!  My wife thinks it’s the craziest thing.  I’ve watched this “Classic Country Music CD collection” infomercial at least 10 times.  I just love all those 10 second snippets of those classic country songs!  And don’t get me started on awesome products like Sham-Wow, Mighty Putty, and Magic Bullet!  There was a time when my colleagues at work would get me these products for Christmas!  I loved it!  Thankfully, although I love the infomercials, I usually don’t get out my credit card and place an order…usually….

            So what is it about those infomercials that make them so good?  Well, in my opinion, there are a lot of reasons, but probably the number one reason is the first 30 seconds of the commercial.  I mean, when you see a chain made out of links of Mighty Putty pulling a semi, how do you not keep watching?!  Or what about that gigantic spill of grape juice that disappears instantly when a Sham-Wow is placed over it?  It’s amazing!  Toss in an excited host talking about the features, and I’m hooked!

            What does this have to do with us?  Well, I would propose that we have a lot of similarities with the companies that pay to have these infomercials made.  Like them, we have a product to sell.  The key to our future success depends on whether or not people buy what we have to sell, and we have an audience that may or may not what to listen.  Think about it, it’s not like I block out time in my schedule to watch infomercials.  Usually, I’m just flipping through stations and I get hooked. 

            In fact, that hook is absolutely critical to the success of selling these products.  We know it must work because they keep coming up with more (wonderfully interesting) products.  Like I said earlier, those first 30 seconds are critical.  They make or break the infomercial. 

            Just like those infomercials, our lessons have a product to sell (the content), our future success is dependent on how well our students buy it, and we have an audience that may or may not want to listen.  Just like those infomercials, the key to success in selling our product, or one of the keys anyway, is a good “hook.”  I like to call it a hook because it conveys the idea of “hooking” our students, fishing, etc….If you remember the work of Madelyn Hunter, she called it the Anticipatory Set.  In either case, we’re talking about those first few minutes of a lesson that we use to get our students to buy in to what we’re teaching.

            So, what makes for a good hook?  Well first, I would say just having a good hook makes for a good hook.  I remember when I was in the classroom; there would be times I would just jump right into a lesson without providing any sort of introduction, anticipatory set, or hook.  It’s no wonder I had many students who struggled to master the content or were just plain bored.  How did this happen?  Well, a good hook starts in the planning stages of the lesson.  Good hooks don’t just happen.  Now, we can get so good at planning them that they don’t take much time or effort to create, but the bottom line is life in a school is so busy that if we don’t take the time to intentionally think about how we’ll hook our students, it won’t happen.

            Another piece of a good hook is purpose.  We’ve talked before about understanding the “why” before the “how” is taught.  A key element for students to be hooked on what you want to sell is they have to understand why they need it!  Just like that Mighty Putty infomercial where they showed the guy fixing his plumbing (and electric, and car, and roof) with Mighty Putty, a good hook demonstrates why what students are going to learn is so important.  Consequently, explaining or showing why an objective is important scores very well on the RISE rubric too!

            Sometimes a good hook leaves the students curious or wanting more.  Think about the “Classic Country Music Collection.”  When I hear just that 10 second cut of one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, I want to hang around to hear more.  Sometimes we use the hook to wet our students’ appetites making them want to hang on for the “full meal” later in the lesson.

            Finally, most good hooks involve a level of excitement and energy that is more than what you see at other points in the lesson.  Think about the people they pick to do these infomercials.  They’re usually high energy people.  During the hook is one of those times our level of interest and excitement has to be high.  We can’t expect students to get excited about something we’re not excited about.  Even if we have to fake it, it’s critical that students see there’s reason to be excited about what they’re learning.

            So, if you’re watching TV this weekend and happen to run across a good infomercial, maybe watch it for a minute or two and see if you can pick up any pointers for your lessons!  Just don’t get that credit card out…

Lessons from the Deep

So at our November staff meeting we discussed the “educational sweet spot” of Formative Assessment.  We talked about how there’s almost nothing you can do to get more “bang for your buck” in the classroom than to frequently formatively assess your students, and make informed instructional decisions based on the formative assessment. 

            As I’ve been reflecting on this, I’ve been struck by how important it is that we don’t just formatively assess our students, but that we DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!  It kind of reminded me of the story of Captain Smith of the Titanic.  I’m sure you’ve all learned everything you need to know about the Titanic from Leo and Kate, but just in case you didn’t see it (like me!), the captain of the ship was a guy named E.J. Smith. 

            Now, if we wanted to do a study on the fixed mindset, Captain Smith would be a great place to look.  Unfortunately, his fixed mindset cost a lot of lives! One famous quote from the Captain shows this mindset perfectly.  In 1907, several years before the sinking of the Titanic, he proclaimed that he could not “imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder.  Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”  How ironic that he would become the captain of the most famous shipwreck in history?!  A lot can be learned from that.

            My point isn’t to specifically discuss Captain Smith’s fixed mindset; it’s to point out that when we get feedback, it’s important that we do something about it.  What we know from the night the Titanic sunk is that the Captain and his crew received numerous warnings about ice in the North Atlantic.  However, the Captain and crew choose to do nothing about the warnings.  We’ll never know if they had heeded the warnings if the ship would have been safe, but we do know that without doing anything with the information they were given, the results were deadly.

            I would propose that although no one will physically die if educators don’t use the data they get from formative assessments, it’s no less important that we do something about it.  When we get information or data from formative assessments, but don’t do anything about it, we’re not responding to the needs of our kids.  When we don’t respond appropriately to the needs of our kids, year after year, we don’t achieve our mission.  We don’t help them to acquire and apply the skills they need to reach their dreams, and to me, that is tragic!

            So, as we charge through this busy holiday season, don’t forget to not only give frequent formative assessments, but more importantly, do something about it.  I love how Doug Lemov puts it,

“Effective Check for Understanding equals gathering data constantly and acting immediately.  The second part is both harder to do and at least as important.  All the recognition in the world won’t help if it does not result in action.” 

Protecting What's Important

             

Recently, I saw this picture in an article about African Elephants.  Did you know that baby elephants are the largest land animal at birth, yet they are an easy target for predators?  They are born with very poor eyesight and are very clumsy, so they must rely on the group to survive.  One technique that is often used is what you see above.  The adults of the group form a circle around the babies providing a formative barrier from any outside attacks. 

            This week, I’ve been reflecting on the fact that effective teams understand what’s important and take the necessary steps to protect it.  In this case, the herd of elephants understands that the key to survival of their species is to be able to birth young, and raise them to adulthood.  Mothers of all species take great care in those first few days, months, and years of life to ensure that their young are well taken care of.  With these African Elephants, it’s a group effort. 

            So, what does this have to do with us?  If we want to be an effective team; if we want to thrive as a school (and it’s assumed we do!), then just like that herd of elephants, we have to understand what’s important and do our best to protect that!

            What is important for us here at Jefferson?  Well, we could probably talk all day about the things that are important and that need to be protected.  First, I would say our mission is important.  It’s our purpose; it’s what we’ve all agreed to do.  Our mission is to inspire and equip all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skills while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others.  How do we protect that mission?  We ensure that everything we do here at Jefferson aligns with that mission.  If it does not, we get rid of it or re-align it so it does.

            But on a practical, daily interaction level, what do we need to protect?  Well, as I reflected over the last week on this, one thing kept coming up in my mind: instructional time.  As educators we have been tasked with the tall order of the mission above.  We all know that students won’t be inspired and equipped without hard work.  The problem is our time with these kids is limited to 9:00am-3:40pm every day.  That’s just 6 hours and 40 minutes a day.  Take out time for lunch, recess, restroom breaks, etc. and we’re down to roughly 5.5 hours a day.  My point is our instructional time with our students is a precious commodity.  It’s one that must be managed carefully.  We must do everything we can do to protect our instructional time.  As an effective team we have to understand that the time we have instructing our students is vital to their success.  We must be stingy about what happens during those 5.5 hours a day!

            So, how do we do this?  Well, we each serve different roles in this protection of instructional time.  As an administrator, I need to ensure that programming doesn’t interfere with what you need to do with your students.  I’m going to be very honest with you; this has been a challenge for me this year.  There are so many great things going on, but everything is nothing!  If we try to do everything, we end up with nothing.  Interrupting the schedule for quality academic activities or saying no to some neat opportunities so that we keep the schedule set is a tough decision for me.  I apologize for the times when I’ve fallen out of balance one way or the other.  I know that’s frustrating, so I do my best to make good decisions with our time.  I think one thing that makes Jefferson special is the time we spend together as a school “family” doing things like Family Groups, our assemblies, etc.  Those are important activities for the kids, but as an administrator, I have to be careful in balancing that. 

            We’ve agreed to a master schedule.  It’s got some non-negotiable blocks in it like 90 minute reading block and it’s got some places for you to have autonomy with your time.  The key is that your instructional time is maximized.  That happens when we stick to our master schedule.  It happens when we’re careful with outside activities like extra recess.  It happens when we ensure that our transitions are “tight.”  One thing I’ve seen this week in many classrooms is teachers who have set up systems in their classrooms to ensure that the transitions are tight.  In some cases it’s as easy as an egg timer.  Other teachers are having contests with their kids.  Either way, making sure that the transition from one activity to the next happens as quickly as possible is a great way to protect instructional time.  There are some great ideas for tightening up transitions in Doug LeMov’s book Teach Like a Champion. 

            What I’m trying to say is we have great things going on here at Jefferson.  The instruction going on in your rooms is incredible!  Let’s work together, just like those elephants, to ensure that what’s important to us, in this case, instructional time, is protected.  Keep up the great work!  

Finding Focus

This week, Abby Sloan and Mandy Duncan joined me at PLC Steering Committee.  It was a great day of learning from our colleagues around the district.  One thought that really stuck with me from that meeting was the idea of focus.  As we continue to have this discussion about effective teams, I realized that effective teams are characterized by focus.  Dr. Hintz shared that one of his mentors used to tell him that “everything is nothing.”  When a person, teacher, team, etc., tries to do everything, they end up doing nothing.  Effective teams have focus.

            I think the thing to realize about effective teams is that they don’t just happen.  They’re created intentionally.  Now, every now and then, you have a group of people that come together by chance and bring the elements of an effective team and it kind of naturally happens, but more often than not, effective teams are created intentionally.

            The same concept is true with this idea of focus.  A team can’t just say, “We’re going to be focused,” there has to be some intentionality when it comes to focus.  The reality is life in school can get kind of crazy!  We all have times where we feel like we’re barely keeping our heads above water.  In those instances, without intentional focus, we’ll just do what we need to in order to survive.  However, as a school, I don’t want us to just survive; I want us to THRIVE! 

            So, how do we build in this intentional focus?  How do we ensure we are focusing so that we will thrive instead of just survive? Well, that’s a challenging question.  At PLC Steering on Wednesday we took some time to discuss that question.  I’ve got to be honest, I was kind of stumped.  I’m a verbal processer and almost never feel like I don’t know what to say when a question is asked of me (just ask my wife…it’s pretty annoying).  However, when we were asked to think about how we keep focus, I initially had a hard time.  Thankfully, I was at a table with some experts who were able to help me figure it out.

            Effective teams (and individuals) build structures into their daily lives that ensure focus.  Again, remember, when we’re just trying to stay afloat, we need those structures in our lives in order to stay focused. 

            So what does that look like for a school?  Well, it means we have a clear mission or purpose that is why we do what we do.  Our mission is to inspire and equip all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skills while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others.  If we’re having a hard time staying focused, we need to come back to that purpose.  Does what we’re (or I’m) working on support this mission?  If not, it’s something that can be dropped because it takes away from focus.

            I believe effective schools also stay structured by being explicit in their process and procedures.  Being unclear is the opposite of focus.  So being clear about things like schedules, intervention, and expectations is critical.

            But what about you?  How do we stay focused individually?  Through our discussion on Wednesday I realized each person stays focused in different ways.  The key is that you find out what works for you and do it!  For me, I keep a notebook.  I always joke that even though I write almost everything down, I still feel like I only remember 80% of what I do!  That’s a joke but the point is, without it, I’d be really ineffective as a principal.  Also, I have worked to build a couple of key routines into my day to keep me focused on the mission; on why I do what I do.  This year, a couple of my routines are to start my day by writing a couple of notes to staff members, to great as many students as I can individually, and I’m trying to end my day with a positive phone call home.  Now, I’m not perfect with this, but those routines remind me of our mission here at WCS.  I want to enrich your lives and the lives of our students. 

            So has you take time to relax this weekend (PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DO), take some time to reflect on what you do to keep focused on what’s important.  Maybe you’ll find you haven’t’ really considered staying focused and you need to build some structures into your life.  Maybe you’ll find that you’re staying pretty focused.  In either case, start with the mission and build your focus from there.  Have a great weekend!

Lessons from the Light Brigade

Last week, I ran across an article in a magazine about "The Charge of the Light Brigade."  If you're not familiar with The Charge, there was a famous poem written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about this battle.  The Charge of the Light Brigade was an infamous battle in the Crimean War in which a British force of just over 600 troops was soundly defeated by the Russians. 

            Now, I'm no history major, so I don’t claim to know everything about this event, and I have no idea was the Crimean War was, but I was able to spend some time reading about the event this week.  Basically, the “Light Brigade” was a group of British mounted solders.  Some of these mounted solders were from the famous “Green Dragoons” group.  If you’ve seen the movie “The Patriot” you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Anyway, this mounted force had a very specific niche in the British Army.  Primarily they were used to sweep in on an enemy infantry and cut them down, usually as the enemy was retreating.  This battle took place in 1854, yet most in the Light Brigade were only equipped with swords and lances.  The point was to be able to cover a lot of ground quickly, and so there was very little need for heavy armor or weaponry.

            While there’s still a lot of uncertainly about exactly what went wrong with this charge, it’s believed that the Light Brigade was given orders to attack a retreating Russian force.  However, what ended up happening was that the Light Brigade charged at the wrong Russian force.  They charged at a highly fortified Russian artillery force that was on some high ground and could see the Brigade coming from about a mile away.  Additionally, the Brigade charged at the Russians through a valley.  The Russians held ground on three of the four sides of the valley; so literally, the Light Brigade was fired on from three sides throughout the attack.  Finally, remember, the Light Brigade had only swords, and maybe a few small arms.  However, the Russian Artillery Unit was equipped with cannons that shot both case shot, and round shot.  Case shot could travel about 300 yards and round shot could travel about 1000 yards.  So, as these solders were riding through the valley to attack, they were being fired upon and they had no defense.  It was said by some historians that the Russians thought the attackers were drunk because their attack was basically a suicide mission.  What’s really fascinating about this story is that despite all the odds stacked against them, the British Light Brigade was actually able to break the Russian lines for a moment before being forced to retreat.  Obviously, the British faced massive casualties as a result of the charge.

            So, what in the world does this have to do with us?  Well, we’ve been studying what makes an effective team.  We usually look at successes while studying this topic; however, sometimes we can learn a lot from the failures of others too!  It’s great to learn from our own mistakes and it’s even better to learn from others! 

            First, please understand that this Light Brigade was a highly effective fighting force.  I think it’s important to understand that even highly effective teams can be rendered ineffective if the right elements aren’t in place.  As you think about our team here, we know we can be highly effective, but we have to make sure everything is in place. 

            Probably the biggest mistake here is that the Light Brigade was unclear about their objective.  While they were ordered to attack a retreating infantry force, they instead attacked a highly fortified Russian Artillery force. We talk a lot about how effective teams have to be doing the “right” work.  Effective teams become in effective when they are unclear about their mission. 

            Second, because of the lack of clarity about the mission, the Light Brigade was woefully unequipped to perform the task they had undertaken.  Remember, the enemy had guns that could shoot them from 1000 yards away, and what did the Light Brigade have?  Swords!  Not really a fair fight, is it?  The thing is, those fast horses and swords were perfectly suited for the task of attacking a retreating infantry unit, but not so well suited for attacking a fortified artillery unit.  So effective teams become ineffective when they don’t have the right tools for the job (or in this case, weapons for the mission).

            Finally, it’s amazing to me that despite all of the mistakes that were made; this force was able to inflict some damage on the enemy.  This shows how effective this team could be, when put in the right situation. 

            We’re getting ready to start the ninth week of school here at Jefferson.  Just like the Light Brigade needed to be aware of the dangers around them, we need to be aware of our situation.  Traditionally, this time of year tends to be stressful.  It always sneaks up on me too!  I think we expect the stress at Christmas or Spring Break, but the week of Parent/Teacher Conferences and Fall Break can really take a lot out of us.  Please make sure you understand that and prepare yourself accordingly.  Take care of yourself! 

            Also, as a team, we need to make sure we’re clear about the mission.  We know our big mission as a corporation, our purpose, to inspire and equip all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skills while purposing their dreams and enriching the lives of others.  Over the last two weeks, we’ve been taking time to set interdependent team goals for the year.  These goals are your mission this year!  How will your team keep this mission in front of you so you don’t end up working toward the wrong things just like the Light Brigade?  What about your students?   How will you share these goals with your students?  What goals will they set from themselves?  Remember, we ALL need to have a purpose, a goal, a mission!  This is just as true for your students as it is for you!

            Finally, we’ve got to make sure we’re equipped for the work.  How do we make sure we’re equipped?  That’s the work of the collaborative team!  When you follow the Collaborative Team Action Cycle we’ve been talking about, when you focus on the 4 critical questions, you ensure that you and your team are equipped to accomplish your mission!  Nobody in the room is as smart as everybody in the room…it’s the power of a collaborative team.

            So, as we get ready for next week, make sure that you are aware of your challenges and prepare for them. Make sure you’re clear on your mission and share it with those you work with (students included), and finally, make sure the work you’re doing in your PLC equips you for the mission.