#cpchat — Page 13

No second chances on a first impression…make your welcome worth it!

August 23, 2014 by Amber 2 Comments

This school year marks a new beginning for me in my professional career…the enormity in changing of districts. I spent my first twelve years in the same place, so each back to school season was one of comfort and familiarity. I knew faces, I knew places. I knew language, I knew priorities. I am lucky enough to have landed in a place that handles their newbies with understanding and grace. If you’ve got new team members, or new to your area students, think about integrating some of these pieces into your back to school routine. I wrote about our C&I retreat where our higher-ups went through a timeline of the district curriculum implementation. This was such a huge piece for me. Knowing the history of what had been tried and planned will be so helpful as we move forward. I now know the reason why we are things “this” way or why it isn’t happening “that” way. Your new people need a synopsis of where your campus been in addition to where its going. It will help solidify in what direction they should be moving. Another amazing detail about this district is the pride they take in the local community. I had lunch with the namesake of our campus, Wally Watkins. It was so humbling to sit and talk with a man who has contributed to so much to the area, that I was now working in the school they honored him with. He and his lovely wife Nita cemented my devotion to making them proud of what we do each day. For new teachers to our campus, there was a special breakfast. They were given a goodie bag, a campus tee-shirt & magnet, and an opportunity to meet with key members of our staff. Two of our veteran team members were there to talk them through what it means to be to a Watkins Wrangler. They shared the campus vision and the mission, as well as a glimpse into what it means to work here. One of our teacher leaders who opened the campus shared that before carpet was laid on the floor, the teachers were encouraged to come in and write what they wanted to see achieved on their cement classroom floor, or a scripture. Each room has a message written on the floor. Knowing that every room was so intentional in their student focus just warms my heart! How can you not walk through the halls and feel a connection to student success? They then took the new staff members on a tour of the school, showing them in the in’s and outs. New district members were invited to a luncheon, held on a high school campus where local vendors and businesses shared their services and gave away little goodies as a welcome. From calendars with local sports teams schedules to a Race Trac cup with a free coffee coupon, you saw the faces that made our lil’ community what it is. It gave new meaning to “shop locally”, after seeing the support they provide for the school district. how could you not want to shop local first? They also donated enough “goodies” that EVERY single new hire recieved a door prize. Mine? My word. Finally, the first day of our teacher in service, each teacher was given a tee shirt, a welcome note, and a cookie for each of their students. Our teachers then used Optimap to develop a round trip map and they went and visited each home for their homeroom. My principal and I drove the attendance zone and watched the expressions on those lil’Wranglers faces as they opened the door and met their teachers. The teachers and families absolutely loved it. This is the #WylieWay!

Whatever method you choose, take some time to make your new team members & make sure they know you’re glad they are there. The best way to get someone to buy in to your purpose is to make them feel like they are a part of the campus family. I am so blessed to have experienced such a welcome! Wrangler lasso’d, Amber PS: Feel free to follow our campus throughout the year, you can like the Wally Watkins Elementary School Facebook page or on twitter, @WatkinsElem! (why yes, social media and communication IS encouraged!)

An @ASCD review…Learning in the Fast Lane #ASCD

August 19, 2014 by Amber 2 Comments

In a book that promises to lay out a plan that helps teachers close gaps in small group instruction, I found myself hoping that Ms, Rollins could do just that, knowing that my focus this school year would be p instructional strategies that truly makes a difference. “Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put All Students on the Road to Academic Success” may be my action plan to do just that.

Ms. Rollins discusses the notion that students who need remedial instruction are typically working on skills that close the “gaps” from previous years, vs focusing in on skills & concepts that could help them be successful in class that day.

“Rather than build students academic futures, remediation pounds away at the past.”

She first discusses the term acceleration, to be used as an academic advancement vs remediation. Helping students become successful on what is being covered this week, this class, in order to help them be successful. Instead of removing the student and making them learn something they missed however many years ago, it prepares them to be successful NOW. I love the line “Reverse movement at a tedious pace with little relevance to today’s’ standard will not catch students up to their peers.”

She then lists other strategies that teachers can utilize to help get all students, not just those who are at risk, learn material & concepts taught the first time.

Having standards walls: Listing standards with no connection to relevance or lets students know the expectation from the daily lesson. (Interesting tie in here to the Fundamental 5, which I believe does a much better job with its framing the lesson than just simply posting lesson standards.) She gives three easy to use components to help make these standards listed as a gigantic “you are here” arrow for students.

Success Starters: (which, as a Pirate would say, an effective HOOK!) She suggests activities that involve active engagement rather than just compliance. Like role-playing, surveys, or making predictions…there are several detailed suggestion in this chapter.

Formative Assessment & Feedback: Frequent ungraded feedback helps students focus on what they are learning versus measuring what they’ve learned. Formative assessment gives students timely feedback allows the teachers to modify immediately their instruction. If we want students meeting our learning goals each and every day, waiting once every two weeks to asses and give feedback won’t cut it. Note: formative assessment isn’t about testing more, it’s about about knowing exactly where each student stands on the material being presented.

Vocabulary Development: An inadequate vocabulary can make it difficult for students, especially struggling learners, to have any kind of conversation about content. Vocab touches every single aspect of a student’s’ development. She also suggests that learning new vocabulary isn’t as simple as prescribing MORE reading. She cites a study (pg. 79) that students need multiple exposures of a word to be able to grasp, retain, and use them. Her offering is that there should be a strategic vocabulary plan. KNowing that a strong vocabulary knowledge leads to reading proficiency, there are several ways shared that can help make this happen in your classroom.

Student Work Sessions: Giving Students Greater Responsibility with Valuable Work All students need the opportunity to collaborate, be creative, and have collegial relationships with teachers.

Student Motivation The buzz word of the day is student choice and student voice, with good reason. There has to be a reason for a student to WANT to learn before its going to happen. And you’re going to have to WORK to find that reason! Otherwise, you wouldn’t be dealing with the academic apathy that you may have in your classroom.

Just in time Scaffolding: Knowing what your students needs right when they need it, versus trying to cover years worth of gaps just makes good sense. This chapter gives research and a common sense plan on how to make that a reality.

There are checklists after each chapter that help you discern where your room stands with each of these ideas. If you’re looking for a way to do things a little differently, I think you’ll enjoy this book! It’s an easy practical read, and she completely supports each of these strategy with examples and “how to’s” that you can make happen. Plus, who doesn’t like living in the “fast lane” every once in a while?? 🙂

pedal to the metal,

Amber

Theory X vs Theory Y leading

August 13, 2014 by Amber 1 Comment

In my summer reading pile of fun, 🙂 I have recently started “6 Habits of Highly Effective Bosses” and thus far have been fascinated by how easily leadership styles can be “sorted”.

45 years ago Douglas McGregor coined his clarification of organizational management into Theory X and Theory Y. As you begin your new school year, take some time to see which of these styles apply to you, and which you feel you most want to emulate. I see direct parallels to the classroom.

Theory X think people have an inherent dislike of work, that they avoid working when they can, and need to be controlled. They think employees prefer to be directed, dislike responsibility, and prefer the security of their role more than anything else.

This is the manager who feels employees (or students!) can’t ever be trusted, and need to be watched at all times. They need to be given explicit instruction, down to the very last detail, because there is an assumption that it won’t be done, or done correctly. Theory X leaders can mildly be described as micro managers; they feel that employees don’t care about the company’s interests in the long run. Formal rules, clearly laid out in black and white, and structures have to be in place to define clearly what WILL happen when employees don’t do things correctly…because obviously, they won’t.

In contrast, Theory Y believes people need to be inspired and empowered. They assume that control and punishment are not the only ways to make people work, and that employees (or students!) will actually direct themselves if they are committed to the work. If people are not ALL IN, then what they do becomes a job, versus their passion, versus something they are fully committed in seeing become successful. Theory Y sees people as assets that can be nurtured for the talent that they bring to the organization.

This directly correlates to the culture eats strategy for breakfast mindset. Or as Ron Willingham, author and chairman of the consulting firm Integrity Systems says, “People are important than processes.” Managers should base their success on team accomplishments. Maslow (yes, THAT Maslow) even suggests that managers that are comfortable with interpersonal negotiation , mediation, teamwork, and staff empowerment are more likely to be “successful” than “power kick” managers. Let go of some of that control and recognize that if people understand the why, they’ll be able to handle the how without being micromanaged.

As you kick off your school year, consider taking more time to build relationships than establishing the “rules” and the consequences of your world, whether it be your classroom or your campus. Student choice, student voice, and allowing our students to have a say in what they do can make a difference!

theory Y hopeN,

Amber

Establishing your SYSTEM for back to school…

August 2, 2014 by Amber Leave a Comment

This week we had our C&I administrative retreat to help kick off our back to school season.

Our superintendent began with an illustration and an explanation.

The green zone is an area in Baghdad. It is heavily fortified and known as the “safe place” for any journalists, travelers, and US citizens. The Green Zone is completely surrounded by high concrete blast walls, T-Walls and barbed wire fences with access only available through a handful of entry control points, and has been referred to as “the bubble.” He went on to say that if civilians ventured out of the “green zone”, military support couldn’t guarantee your safety.

The assistant superintendent then crystallized the meaning behind our district “system”. Dr. Stone walked us down memory lane, and what steps had been taken to arrive at the place where we are now. There is a system in place. It has been thought through, fought for, and put into place to help everyone within it. In the same way the walls around the green zone protect the US citizens in Baghdad, the SYSTEM we work in is designed to protect us. She held up an egg. Imagine if we, or one of our students, were this fragile egg. The day to day decisions, are like sheets of paper, dropped against that egg. They aren’t deal breakers, they aren’t enough to harm you. But big decisions? Boulder tough decisions? You need a SYSTEM to keep you safe. She brought out the most simple of illustrations, a green tool box, and inside, placed the egg. No matter what fell against that box, the egg was safe. The system keeps you safe, the system protects you. You still have freedom within that box, but are protected from the outside factors, complications or obstacles that aren’t clear.

Please note, in a year where the Dallas Morning News published an article stating that STAAR scores across the state were stagnant, ours saw an increase. Our system is working.

I had goosebumps. The concept paralleled the environment that we WANT to see at our schools. Our campuses are the green zone. Our environment, our structure, is all built around the predication that we want our students to feel “in the green zone”. We are there to keep our students safe. Not locked away from the outside, but to help them navigate through the muddled waters of life, while still holding their hands. We want them to feel backed, to feel empowered to make decisions, and know that we support them. That alone happens when they trust & believe in your system…when the fidelity is made clear. Is your system trusting and sustainable?

There are so many factors that you can’t control, especially within a school district. Choose to create your own mini system, whether it be within your classroom walls, or a building. Perhaps Angela Maiers tool kit is what you need, or Joan Young‘s ASCD Arias on Encouragement in the Classroom. Angela Watson also has written Awakened, a guide to transforming your mindset in the classroom.

system-ly safe,

Amber

the PLN and the principal

July 24, 2014 by Amber 2 Comments

I can not imagine doing what I do without my PLN. I know I’ve discussed the power of a PLN here and here, but in continuing my summer series blogging with some of my favorite people on the planet, I agreed to add my assistant principal perspective to it.

This job doesn’t come with a manual. Your tasks are as varied as the weather. Your task list will also depend on your campus and the strengths of your campus administrator. Leadership of a campus takes a balance between the principal an and assistant principal. If there is a symbiotic relationship, your campus will run all the better for it, which I’ve also talked about before.

How then do principals around the country make an impact on what I do? My superintendent today sent out a district leadership diagram that details what our district feels are the necessary components of a strong leadership team. I completely agree with these roles needed to balance a team. You don’t have to have one of each of these, but between the campus leaders, all of these roles should be played.

Global Vision	A team member who sees the “big picture” and is adept in matters related to scheduling, college readiness,professional development needs and innovation
Consistency	A team member who demonstrates consistency in all matters, such as discipline,policies and procedures, etc.
Administrative Tasks	A team member whose strength lies in the managerial tasks, such as textbooks, facilities, lockers, custodians, etc
Instructional Leadership	A team member whose strength is in curriculum, instruction and assessment with support of Special Populations
Relationships	A team member whose strength is in building relationships with students, parents, staff and community

My PLN guarantees that no matter what situation I find myself in, I am going to have support. If I need inspiration? They are there. If I have a question? I know who to turn too. If they aren’t able to answer, they recommend someone else who can. When planning a digital leadership session recently, I asked via Twitter and Facebook what essential tools an admin needed to know to be considered “digitally fluent”, I had over 150 responses. There is POWER in these relationships.

It’s almost impossible to explain to someone that there are people that I talk to everysingleday that I’ve never met. Or that I’m rooming with, literally, a “virtual” stranger. Or that I need my passport to attend the wedding of a dear, dear friend that I met via Twitter. Or that I’ve spent all summer flying around, speaking about things I am passionate about, based on the recommendations of people who have never met me, in real life.

I can’t convince you to do it, I can only show you example after example of how my PLN has changed my life. Pick a medium. Pick a community, synchronous or asynchronous. Jump in.

For more posts on this topic, you can also read posts from:

Tony Sinanis

(will update as posted!)

completely sold,

Amber