my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

The recipe for fail proof feedback, #empower17

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One of the benefits of being able to attend #empower17, ASCD’s conference is kinda getting a feel for powerhouse speakers. Ones that you know are going to be dynamic, knowledgeable, and have a proven track record for awesome. Robyn Jackson for me is one of those people. She is calm, she is clear…and she never fails to blow. my. mind.

Her session was on feedback and how to ensure that it was not only delivered The gem from today, amongst the many, was an illustration she gave on why it is SO important to give our master teachers feedback and how powerful it can be. Todd Whitaker is 100% passionate that the only way to get our school system to get better is to make every teacher like the best teacher, and how can you do that? By giving feedback that allows growth…but even your BEST teacher deserves quality feedback.

So imagine you spend the entire day in the kitchen, working on a recipe. Working so hard, giving it your best. You present the dish to your spouse, and what feedback do you get? Typically an “It was great.” or a “Don’t make that again.” Super helpful, right? So same recipe, and you give it to your nephews…and what do they say? “Can I have some ketchup, please?” They dump it all over the plate, essentially drowning out all those flavors and changing the flavor to something different completely. Now think about if you offer that same meal…to your best friend. She savors every bite…she moans and groans, “Is that rosemary? Do I taste lemon?” Her comments validate your efforts, drawing out every flavor. Then she says, “Ohhhhh….girl. You know what? What would happen if you added a dash of cayenne? That would be just a little kick!” So what do you do? You’re so excited, you remake that recipe, adding in what she suggested, just to see how it goes.

Think about the power in how to harness that to give feedback to your teachers. Do you give them all or nothing? Super generic, that deflates their energy? “I loved that lesson, you were awesome!”

Do you negate all their efforts, covering their energy and efforts with a different flavor? “I saw that you did this, yadda yadda,  but have you ever thought about assessing with this instead?”

Or do you dial down, identify the greatness, pointing out the facets that made it SO powerful…and then offer one lil’tweak that ENHANCES what you saw?

If feedback is going to be what moves our teachers along their own path of excellence, being able to offer specific, genuine suggestions is going to be what you as the LEADER, not the manager, can add to the equation! Your effectiveness will then be measured in how far you can bring your staff along, versus their compliance in just doing what you’ve told them to do…and that my friends, is leadership!

 

Recipe followN,

Amber

 

Silencing the Critics as an Innovator #immooc

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For this week’s partner blog, I had the opportunity to work with the genius that is Matt Arend. Matt is a principal in a neighboring district and is accomplishing incredible things. While we don’t always agree on everything, we’ve both got a pretty good idea of how to respond to those who are critics on this innovative leadership we want to accomplish.

Last week, George Couros posted an image with the quote, If I had to choose one, I would rather be a CREATOR than a CRITIC. Below we highlight a critic’s comment  to the “8 Things to Look for In Today’s Classroom” and a creator’s Innovative Mindset response.

 

Voice

Amber as the critic: Share their learning? I need my students quiet and focused. I’m the expert in the learning and need my students to sit and learn as I teach them.

Matt as the creator: Whoa! The teacher is the expert, huh. Teacher, let yourself off the hook. You do not need to be the expert.  Students can learn from teachers and teachers can learn from students, (principles can learn from students too) if we are willing to give students a voice. Student voice can be utilized throughout a school, not just in the classroom. Student tour guides, student panels, student advisory groups and simply asking students for their feedback and opinions regarding what takes place at school are all ways students can be given a voice. It is time to stop doing things to students at school and start doing things with them.

 

Choice

Matt as the critic: We have a curriculum to follow and students need to be doing what I want them to do.

Amber as the creator: Life is about choices. There is always an opportunity to allow students to exercise some form of choice in our classroom! Don’t hear what I am not saying…you still have a curriculum and standards that you’re going to be expected to teach. However, take a look at what/how you’re asking your students to “prove” that they know what you are teaching, or how you are assessing their knowledge. Could they create a video instead of a written summary of a book? Could they recreate a lesson reviewing the days/weeks science concepts? Instead of answering questions, could they come up with their own? There are opportunities everywhere for you to allow student choice…you just have to be OK with giving it to them!                                       

 

Time for Reflection

Amber as the critic: I teach children, reflection is a skill that is not in my curriculum, I don’t have time to be able to adequately teach my students to do this too!

Matt as the creator: Reflection can look many different ways and yes, I would argue it is in the curriculum. Reflection is thinking. Reflection is learning. We want students to be thinking and learning. ALWAYS. Thinking about how they did on their last project. Thinking about how they can improve for next time. Thinking about what they did to find success. Thinking about what they just read. Thinking about new content that was just introduced. Thinking about what they learned on any given day.  It is all reflection. Reflection could be written out on a blog or even on a worksheet, but it doesn’t have to be. Students can reflect on their learning through discussion, question stems, or even through video. As a teacher, how do you know what students are learning, capable of learning or if they are learning at all, if you do not give them time to reflect on their experiences?

 

Opportunities for Innovation

Matt as the critic: We have to get students prepared to take a test.

Amber as the creator: There is a difference in preparing students to be assessed and teaching to a test. Too often we fall into the trap in thinking that we’re in our classrooms for the sole purpose of seeing how students score at the end of the year. If that’s the environment that you find yourself in, I am so sorry. You are not there to earn an arbitrary score at the end of the year, you are there to GROW learners. By creating a high energy, high performing classroom/campus, where students are challenged and allowed to be creative, where students are able to take risks and learn to LOVE to learn…you will see gains. That is what you as an educator should want…students who love to learn. Now, am I saying you shouldn’t care about a test? Of course not, you are also responsible for ensuring that students know the rules of the game that they are playing. What I am saying that is that there is no need to sacrifice opportunities for innovation, for the sake of a test. You CAN balance both…there are educators doing so all over the country. YOU just have to find that balance. Start small…the benefits you see will give you confidence to try something more.

 

Critical Thinkers

Amber as the critic: This is the way we do things. As the teacher, I need to know the answers to the questions students may ask me, otherwise I am not going to look like I know what I’m doing.

Matt as the creator: Critical Thinkers ask questions. Recently I read a statistic from John Hattie stating, “Teachers ask 200-300 questions a day, while most students may only ask 2.” In order to establish critical thinking, students must be explicitly taught the act of asking questions and teachers/leaders need to be able to discern the difference between a student asking a question to challenge an adult vs. a question that challenges status quo. Whether you are using Bloom’s Taxonomy or Costa’s Levels of Questions, students need to be generating the questions. Not the teachers. Ready to challenge the status quo? When was the last time you gave a test to students with all the correct answers? Try it. Have students tell you WHY the answers are correct instead of simply finding the correct answers.

 

Problem Solvers/Finders

Matt as the critic: Problem solving is such a difficult thing for students to figure out. The product of their work in the past has been subpar.

Amber as the creator: There are many initiatives that allow students to develop the skills needed to problem solve at varying levels. EduBreakout and  Makerspaces are two that are on the rise. Both are organic, efficient and authentic…spaces that allow students to collaborate, problem solve and work together. They allow students to be up, be moving, communicating in a manner that allows for problem solving at their own pace. You would be amazed at what your students can do, if you get out of their way and let them. The skills needed to be successful in both of those “extras” directly transfer to your academic core as well. It helps children with challenges, and to overcome obstacles. There are moments of success and frustration. Intrinsically, if students are challenged and enjoying being challenged and overcoming that obstacle, you can dial into energy that for your classroom. Struggles in learning occur every day…allowing students to see that that is a natural part of education, and not to be feared, will be an incredible LIFE lesson!

 

Self Assessment

Amber as the critic: When do I have time to allow students to self-assess? It’s already stressful enough getting papers/projects and graded, and entered in the gradebook as it is!

Matt as the creator: Self-assessment does not need to be one more thing. George Couros talks about the importance of developing a digital portfolio to share student work samples over time. The work samples are going to be available already. Students will always have work samples. The question that needs to be asked is, “What happens to the work sample upon completion?” If placed in a digital portfolio students and teachers can reflect on student growth other time and determine what they learned, growth that has been shown and areas that still need to be developed. In using self-assessment, students are determining their path & grade instead of a teacher telling them what they earned. What sounds more powerful to you?

 

Connected Learning

Matt as the critic: Parents in my school/classroom or district prohibit social media and I cannot share their work.

Amber  as the creator: There are two kinds of connected learning. While George references bringing in experts, never underestimate your own experiences and the opportunities you being connected can bring to your students. Some of the best and the brightest are on twitter. You will be challenged, inspired, and motivated beyond what you could ever imagine. Now, when it comes to sharing what you are doing in your classroom, you need to start where you are. I am always able to ensure to my parents/families that anything shared will be celebratory and positive. I use these spaces to BRAG and love on our students. I don’t always use their names. I don’t always use their faces. You can find a way to make this work in your room/building…if you want too. I have permission slips/letters/fun “safe” facts…please reach out. Please don’t let your fear of what “could” go wrong be the reason you don’t share you and your student’s genius with the world!

 

As someone who wants to be an innovative educator, remember that you’re never going to just BE there. It’s hopefully going to be a journey…one that you’re always on. Recognizing that there are always going to be critics allows to get your mind wrapped around a way that you can respond and be true to who you are. None of us have the answers, & all of us will have missteps. That’s ok…those are just minor detours on this journey. You’re allowed to have detours and still get to where you want to be.

 

Map tosssing,

Amber

Hamilton and the #IMMOOC…what are you waiting for?

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Life. Life, ya’ll. You never know what each week will bring. It’s easy to have a couple of days that can shake all that you’re doing or wanting to do in life. It reminds me this week of a stanza from a “Hamilton” song..

[HAMILTON]
Hey
What are you waiting for?
What do you stall for?

[BURR]
What?

[HAMILTON]
We won the war
What was it all for?
Do you support this constitution?

[BURR]
Of course

[HAMILTON]
Then defend it

[BURR]
And what if you’re backing the wrong horse?

[HAMILTON]
Burr, we studied and we fought and we killed
For the notion of a nation we now get to build
For once in your life, take a stand with pride
I don’t understand how you stand to the side

 

If you’re not a fan of Hamilton…bless. Go listen to “Non-stop” and see how very closely that song relates to what you, you innovative educator you, are pushing for. Hamilton is asking Burr why he is allowing excuses or the status quo to allows him to stand to the side, when there are so many fights to be won. It’s greatness.

I’m currently participating in Couros’s Innovators Mindset MOOC, (massive open online course).  Per usual, in the spring I find it to be both overwhelming and energizing. There are so many great thoughts shared, daily, …and as usual, social media is discussed quite a bit. Even if it wasn’t directly referred to as “social media”, the words twitter, facebook, snapchat, and instagram were talked about. More importantly, the verbs “connections, collaboration, risk taking” were prevalent.

The mantra of “no excuses” is like a battle cry for the innovative educator.

Click To Tweet

 Just like any other new initiative if you’re deciding to get serious with your social media presence for the purposes of innovation or opening up your, albeit for your classroom or your campus, I challenge you to BE INTENTIONAL.

Regardless of your own personal stance on using social media, you can’t deny the ever increasing use of it in our students lives. To not take advantage of a tool that your students and families are already utilizing is missing a huge opportunity to truly CONNECT. Relationships are always going to be more important than technology, but why wouldn’t you USE technology to leverage those relationships? If you dismiss an entire generations mode of communication, how relevant are they going to find your instruction or opinions?  If your opinion is that what you’ve been doing is fine, and that you have no need for MORE connections with your students & community, call me. ????

fad of internet

Building relationships is what we do! Utilizing some form of SM to help facilitate those relationships makes sense. You don’t have to do them all, pick one, that you’re comfortable with, and then BE INTENTIONAL.

Decide what you’re going to share. How often you’re going to share. When you’re going to share. The challenge, just like with any other form of communication, is to maintain your presence to help ensure the  validity of  your communications. Don’t do all the heavy lifting of getting your parents invested and then in two months let life get away from you and forget to post anything. It will be next to impossible to get them to commit to something else in the future.

Need some data to help back up my social media “claims”?

  • 72% of all internet users are now active on social media
  • 18-29 year olds have an 89% usage
  • The 30-49 bracket sits at 72%
  • 60 percent of 50 to 60 year olds are active on social media
  • In the 65 plus bracket, 43% are using social media
  • Time spent on Facebook per hour spent online by country. USA citizens get the top gong at 16% followed by the Aussies at 14 minutes and the Brits at 13 minutes.
  • 71% of users access social media from a mobile device.
active monthly users

As my buddies Joe Sanfelippo and Tony Sinanis share regularly, “Never give up the opportunity to say something great about your school”!  I will add that there’s too many FREE and easy places to say it!

 

Relationship building& Alexander Hamiltion humming,

Amber

Don’t forget…relationships should include parents too! What do parents want from a principal? #IMMOOC

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I am a relational leader. I am casual to a fault. I can’t help but build connections, which leads to relationships, which leads to a MUCH BETTER LIFE FOR ME. I have the benefit of having the VERY best parents in my Whitt Wolf world. One of them Mrs. Stacie Smith is not only a parent I respect  & admire, but our daughters are firstie besties as well. I decided to ask her, given that she does have 4 children, three of whom I will have had the pleasure of principaling, what she thought about the importance of relationships. In her own words, here are the 5 things she wants her children’s principal to know. After that, will follow the 5 things I want all of my parents to know. ( Yes, this goes over GC’s 200 words. Yes, it SO worth it!)

Here’s Stacie:

With 4 children, I have had the opportunity for that first day of school a number of times.  They usually all feel pretty similar, though the hand holding has stopped with my oldest two – they would probably die of embarrassment … Some uncertainty on the child’s part … Some worry on mine … Me placing my trust in those who will teach and lead and guide. Now I won’t ever go on record as saying I liked or even listened to the Spice Girls, but in collaborating on this blog post, the Spice Girls’ song with the ever-famous line, “So tell me what you want, what you really, really want…” may have come up – now was this for good blogging purposes or just for an excuse to break out into Spice Girls song? … Who really knows?

 

Got this song stuck in your head now? …  Going to be singing it all day? … You’re so welcome!

(Amber comment: See? Don’t YOU already love her too???)

What do I really, really want in my child’s principal?  I’m sure that list is a little different for each of us, but here are 5 things I’d like my children’s principals to consider:

1. I want my child’s principal to know my child.

Please know my child’s name.  I realize and understand that you are charged with the care of many students, but my child will know who you are.  My child will look up to you.  My child will want your approval.  My child will want you to be happy with him/her. If you know who my child is – if you can call him or her by name – then he/she, regardless of age, will feel loved.  My child will feel a part of something.  My child will feel connected to you.  My child will feel important.  My child will want to do better and will want to be better. Know your students.  Know what they’re going through.  Know what they struggle with.  Know what they excel at. Create a sense of team, of family, of unity.  I truly believe that when you are able to come to know a child, then – and only then – can you guide a child. I have never taught in a classroom.  I have never sat at the helm of a school and been in charge of hundreds of students … but I have watched my own children with different principals, and I have seen the impact a principal that genuinely wants to know his/her students can have.

2. I want my child’s principal to keep my child safe.

My child will be in your care for 7+ hours a day.  The most important thing to me is my child’s safety and that my child returns home safe and sound – physically and emotionally.  Please take measures to ensure that safety and make the safety of your students a priority.  Do your best to protect students from things that would not only harm them physically but that could harm their minds, their self-worth, and their innocence.

3. I want my child’s principal to love being a principal.

Be a principal because you genuinely love these kids and want to do all you can to help them achieve their potential.  Your love for or your disdain for your job is contagious and can be felt, and it will set the climate at your school.  Set a climate at the school that makes students and staff feel happy, safe, needed, appreciated, encouraged, and excited.  Be visible.  Be accessible.  Be supportive.  Be at events.  Be outside welcoming students in the morning.  Smile and laugh, encourage and love, discipline and direct.

4. I want my child’s principal to communicate.

Maybe it’s just me, but when I ask my kids what they did at school, I usually get the answer, “Good.”  Wait, what?!  Clearly you didn’t even hear the question, because that answer was for a completely different question!  Getting information out of my child is not always successful. Communication requires both speaking and listening.  Keep parents informed of what is going on at school – events, programs, testing dates, picture days, policies and procedures, etc.  Parents want to know what’s going on with their children at school.    Have an effective and a consistent way of communicating with parents, and communicate from many different avenues – email, voicemail, social media, flyers.  Listen to your parents.  Get feedback from your parents.  Have a parent advisory council where you can run new ideas and programs by a variety of parents to get insight and where you can get feedback on how things are going.  Let parents be a part of the team.

5. I want my child’s principal to value his/her teachers.

The teachers you hire will have the most contact with and potentially the biggest impact on my child.  Hire teachers that love to teach.  Value your teachers.  Realize that just like your students, they all have different personalities and different strengths.  Lead in a manner that pulls those personalities and strengths out of them.  Let them know they are appreciated.  Give them honest feedback.  Help them grow when growth is needed.  Inspire, encourage, and guide them.  Show them you value them by listening to them.

Each September, I send you what is most important to me.  I have trust and faith in you.  I am here to support you.  I will cheer for your accomplishments and rally for your successes.  I thank you for all you do.  We share in the same goal – to help these amazing kids realize their abilities and achieve their potentials.

Ya’ll. Is that not SO powerful?

Here’s mine…without a Spice Girls tie in, 🙂

1. I want my parents to know how seriously I take my position.

I don’t take myself too seriously. (Again, I am casual to a fault.) But what I do? Each and every day matters. Each interaction I have with you, or your child, is important. It could be the ONE time I speak to/with you or the 500th…it is still so important. It’s important that you know that you can come and talk to me, and that I am going to take you and your concerns very seriously. What matters to you, is important to me. I am a PROUD principal. I am HONORED to be where I am. I know some AMAZING people who would love to sit where I am blessed to sit every day, and I won’t ever take that lightly. That doesn’t mean that I won’t dress up or be silly with my Wolves, because I also take their LOVING school, very seriously.

2. I want my parents to know how much I appreciate their role in what we do.

I can’t do my job alone. More than that, I don’t want to. I am a firm believer in a collaborative style of leadership. If the smartest person in the room, is the room, then parents? I want you in my room! Who knows your child better than you do? Who is going to fight harder for your child than you will? No one. I see you up there, decorating, filing papers, having hard conversations. Mommying and daddying your hearts out. I see you.  There are 667 Wolves enrolled in my care, as of today. (I know this number, each and every day. Why? Because every.single.one.matters!)

3. I want my parents to know I trust my teachers and while I will ALWAYS listen to them, I will also go to my teachers with concerns.

As a professional, I recognize there are always three sides to every story. (Four sometimes if there is a kindergartener involved!) I will 100% listen to every single concern, situation, or question you have. But I will also 99% of the time go straight to my teacher when we are finished. They are on my front lines. They know the context of the situations, they know the dynamics of their classrooms. I value what my teachers do and the power in what they do every day. I will always have their backs. That doesn’t mean I won’t do right by you, but I will also try to do my best by them.

4. I want my parents to know I am doing the very best that I can, but I know I can always do better.

There is no manual with this position. Even after having been an assistant principal for 5 years, I can say I learn something EVERY day. I would like to think I get better every day.  I read books like a crazy person. I’ve chosen to surround myself with learners, some of the nation’s best principals via my learning network, and have our superintendents on speed dial. By going to conferences and speaking on leadership, I am actually growing myself, which makes me a better leader for you, our staff, and my students. I never want to be “all finished” with learning how to be the very best principal I can.

5. I want my parents to know I am a wife & mom too.

I have a teenager, my beast. I have a first grader, my TsT who keeps me on my toes. They are active girls, who deserve to have me at their events, at their celebrations, and awake in the evening. I am probably the meanest wife in the world, because by the end of the day, I have nothing left. I am asleep by 9pm. I say that it’s a good thing I’m cute & funny, because domestication tasks are NOT my gift.  Although, MT would tell you I’m actually not that funny!   My point is that I am like you…I have a life, responsibilities. And despite those, I am still 100% committed to being the VERY proud principal of my Wolves. Sometimes I may just need you to help me balance it all..

Which, actually, brings me to this.

Separately, we can only be so successful. But together? We can, and will, change the world. Do it…with me.

Click To Tweet

And, yes, a Spice Girls song to help seal the deal.

 

 

Stacie, THANK YOU for writing this with me. I appreciate your truth, always.

Sharingly,

Amber

 

Sometimes leading means…get out of the way. #IMMOOC

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While walking around the week before spring break, I had the opportunity to visit a 3rd grade teacher’s classroom. As I watched her model and talk through the writing of an expository composition with our Wolves, and saw the energy in which her students attacked it, I had to stop and ask what the secret was. She passionately went on to explain how easy this graphic organizer was, how it simplified the process, and really set the stage for our 4th graders who would be assessed on expository writing on their STAAR exam.

I asked if she thought her students could come up with a handout “or something” that could explain what an expository paper looked like and how she was teaching it, so that parents could see what we were doing to prepare our students for this assessment.

Challenge accepted. 

I could have made a detailed flyer. Or I could have not engaged in her a conversation. Or I could have assumed the same trickle down way of learning could take place and I didn’t need to get involved. But really, I just needed to ask the right questions and then get out of her way.

 

I hope you are surrounded by innovative teachers like I am, and that you know when to get out of the way!

 

Amber