danwinters's Blog

@ Marklee

The thought I got from the chapter is to "make it easy to change the environment" and we make it so hard in education.  Fortunately at my school, we've been able to build in time during the day for teacher collaboration by bringing in art, music, and PE teachers who take 3-4 classes at once.  Other schools shorten the school day and bank minutes that can be used at the end of shortened school days for teacher collaboration or staff development.  

At your school, it would be great if you could figure out a way to take a larger group of students for twice the time (2 classes for an hour) to give you time to do more in depth projects and two teachers a chance to plan together as opposed to individually.  I imagine there are space and logistical problems to that solution. 

Cheers

I really liked the idea of using data streams to keep folks focused on what's important (i.e. vital behaviors).  So, here are some data streams I'm thinking of using as daily dashboards and why I think they fit our needs.

1.  # of kids missing recess daily (We're working on character education and improved school behavior and I think that too many teachers are using the recess card to get all manner of cooperation, classwork, and homework.)

2.  # of informal reading assessments (We've been working on this the past year or so and just like in the Reid studies, I'm sold on the need for frequent, informal assessments to inform instruction. The teachers that do this religiously, move those students along nicely)

3.  OK, this last one is tricky.  I'd like to develop a culture of confrontation... for all the right reasons, and I was wondering how I could measure this.  Obviously it would have to be self reported and that could be tricky, but I was thinking we could track the number of adult to adult acts of feedback on performance.  We've been collaborating the last three years and it's frankly quite collegial and we want to move to an accountable group.  Any thoughts on how to track this?

I'd love to hear your comments on these or hear what other might use as data streams to impact vital behaviors at your site.

Cheers

Excellent point, Karen.  I think teachers who are voracious readers themselves get this.   I used to be a little bit of a "classics" snob myself, but now I'm just as happy seeing our kids reading The Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Captain Underpants as I am when they're reading Mark Twain or Jack London.  I can remember as a kid about the only thing I wanted to read was related to sports.

Both Dave and Scott have given me some food for thought about the low performers.  Unless they are worthy to be canned (which we all know is time consuming and difficult) I need to work on getting them in a place where there strengths can be utilized and they can become experts in those areas where they already shine.

One of the tendencies we all face is to spend a lot of time with the low performers on our staff, because ... frankly they need help.  However, I've made a commitment to invest in my top performers and the average performing staff who show evidence of wanting to get better.  Highly effective teachers appreciate the attention and effort I make to acknowledge their great work and spur them on to more learning.  Buckingham's book First, Break all the Rules gives some rationale for this focus.

As for merit pay, if we can go back the "Blow up the System" metaphor, I think it has lots of merit (pun intended) when it comes to pay.  I love this post by Science Goddess on the comparison of teachers to athletes and actors.  Cliff Notes version: Tom Brady would not be happy as a teacher!

This chapter got me thinking about how we encourage and reward students for reading at my school.  Does anyone have some great ideas for building reading muscles among students that is based on intrinsic rewards and motivation?

I was intrigued by the section on seeking out coaches to improve performance.  I recently read a post by Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, who advocates hiring pesonal coaches for particular goals or areas of growth.  Now, I'm seriously considering trying out a coach to analyze my performance and provide me feedback.  Has anyone in the forum taken this route?  Any suggestions or examples?

Cheers

@ Dave

Building Teams, Building People by Tom Harvey is a resource that is practical and theoretically sound.  I highly recommend it.

Cheers

@ Scrap the System Gang

I remember getting all worked up when one of my University professors suggested that the only way to fix high school was to "blow it up and start over".

My proximity to the system made me a little touchy, kind of like reading the comments in this thread that suggest that this kind of reform is only possible with a fresh start outside of public education's current straight jacket.

It reminds me of a quote by GK Chesterton about Christianity. "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried".

Being a hopeless optimist, I feel like there is great opportunity to make substantial reform in education within the current systems. Reeves and DuFour talks much of the Knowing/Doing gap and I find this to be our biggest barrier. How many of the leadership skills and strategies that we know to be effective are pervasive in our schools? Those of us who are in leadership positions can make these things happen by example, by persuasion (not using words, thank you Patterson et. al), by perseverance, and by actually putting into practice the vital behaviors that can produce changes for our students. Think of Dr. Wiwat and his effect on AIDS in Thailand. That too, could be the story of our schools in the months and years to come. Anyway, here's a vote for optimism.

Cheers

@marklee

How does a staff build the professional social capital about what needs to be done and build solidarity to ensure that all staff members are doing the “right” thing (which for people in education will always be debatable)?

Wow, we've been trying to do this with plenty of fits and starts. My first reaction is that persistence and perseverance have got to be a part of the recipe, because Three steps forward, two steps back is the hard reality with this kind of change effort. After building in the structure (time for collaboration) and some processes (collaborative lesson planning, data analsis - check out Scott's CASTLE resources for some great ideas), we have to tackle the last point you raised which is a huge elephant in the room, namely, agreeing on "best practices" that should be included in every classroom. Of course, it's one thing to watch those heads wag in agreement as the Friday staff meeting ends, and quite another to  observe those new practices in the 25 year veteran's classroom on Wednesday morning.

Scott mentioned Japanese lesson study in another comment and I think a structure like that where teachers plan together, observe each other, and provide mutual feedback outside of the administrative evaluation track is a good place to start.  Ideally small wins and breakthroughs in these settings will grow like wildfire.

Cheers

@ David, formerly knowns as Dean!!

How many football games on Friday night are decided by points earned Monday through Thursday of the week?

I think the sports analogy is quite appropros when it comes to formative assessment and deliberate practice.  Last spring I read Pete Maravich's bio and realized that this creative and artistic basketball player was a fanatic about deliberately practicing the fundamentals until they were automatic.  Making it look effortless on the day of the game is equally about purposeful drill and practice as well as innate ability.

@ Skip

I think your logic that because we haven't practiced healthy conversations and dialogue, teachers have gladly retreated to their isolation is quite sound.  This formula of improvement based on honing specific skills gives me hope that we all can build better schools by changing our stance from:  "You need to collaborate more" to "Here's how we collaborate.  Let's practice together".

Cheers

@David,

That explains why I just picked up Crucial Confrontations at the library.  This will be one of my professional goals for the coming year.

I think I'll go practice on my wife so I can get out to the golf course this week... On second thought, our couch is awfully small.

Cheers

What about that other elephant called teaching and teachers.

Rob, this is an elephant that needs to be bit off one piece at a time.  We all know teachers some teachers resist taking responsibility for their role in the educational progress of their students.  I think you have to be both relentless and gently humane.  I mean, you can get in their face and throw the research at them and remind them that it's all their fault, but that will only cause the resisters to dig in their heels even more.  I think it's important to give some empathy to teachers who feel that they are blamed for all the woes in society, but never let up the expectation that there are more effective ways to teach.  Highlighting teachers on staff who are making changes and getting results is something I like to do (ofcourse, even this causes problems for some as they see me showing favoritism - in their opinion - to a select few).  I have observed some teachers, though not nearly enough, come along as they have seen results of different behaviors in their teaching that have produced stronger results.  I think it underscores the fact that we change attitudes by changing behaviors and not vice versa.

In the end, all of the conversations around teaching being part of the problem are difficult and dicy.  By the way, has anyone read the authors other books Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations?  I'd like to get my hands on those and put some of those skills to practice as well.

That's it.  I'm coming after Dean.  I plan on posting new topics and blocking his comments until the tail is wagging the dog or the elephant's trunk is leading the herd ... how's that for mixing some metaphors.

btw what in the heck are the Long Tail Power Laws?  I'm going to go look that up right now to see what voodoo Dean has put on us.

Cheers

What I'm enjoying about this book and the discussion is the clear plan that is unfolding in my mind as I think about a PD plan for 08-09.  First we need to think carefully about the vital behaviors that will truly make a difference in student and teacher learning.  Then, as we present these to staff (I realize those last four words need tons of thinking and design based on the thoughts in the book, but more on that later) we must follow up with opportunities to practice, lots of feedback, coaching, and reflection in a collaborative setting.  This is a model our district has espoused through our work with the Ball Foundation and Targeted Leadership.  Following through on these plans is still messy and uneven.   A struggle I've had has been developing a system for teachers to regularly observe, coach, and give feedback to each other.  Next year, I've finally put some subtitutes on the calendar for that express purpose.  Hopefully, we can build some momentum on the peer coaching model as the Principal alone can only be spread so thin.

Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath is a great companion.  They discuss the characteristics of messages that are memorable and long lasting.  I'm seeing lots of parallels between these two resources.  In a nutshell messages that stick need to be simple, credible, unexpected, concrete, emotional and conveyed with stories.  This gave me more to think about when considering storytelling as mentioned by Patterson, et. al. in Influencer.

Marklee, I like your idea of a survey.  Since the performance data is strong, it's a great idea to seek out data of another source that might uncover areas of growth.  It would be good to know how the students are perceiving their experiences.  Are they engaged with the content or merely going through the motions?  I think this is the type of data that might help focus attention on changes for the better.  Good luck.

Rob, I'm right with you.  Having spent 17 years in high school before coming to elementary education, I see the futility of trying to turn around kids when they hit 9th grade.   I've come to realize a couple things. The education gap is firmly in place the minute kids walk into kindergarten, and as far as K-12 education goes, kindergarten is the easiest place to remedy the situation.  Every year that we don't get students to grade level expectations, it becomes harder and harder to get them there.  At our school we placed a major emphasis in the 07-08 school year on our K-3 literacy program with the goal of 90% at grade level reading by the end of 3rd grade. 

The next step is to get parents to commit to reading with their kids 20 minutes a day in those preschool days as one of those vital behaviors that will shrink the education gap before we even get started.

Do you normally think of yourself as an influencer?

I definitely think of myself as an influencer.  Certainly I try to influence with persuasive words and directives, however I've always felt that my greatest influence tool is my example.  Do I want my teachers to be life long learners?  Then I must show them what a life long learner looks like.  Do I want my teachers to treat students with a balance of clear expectations, constant feedback, and appropriate recognition?  Then, I need to do just those things in my dealings with my staff.  Do I want teachers to rely on data of all kinds to make the most enlightened decisions for instruction? Then, I need to held accountable for my own decisions that demonstrate a reliance on objective information.

The old adage that more things are rather caught than taught, I believe, holds true here.

Rob,

This question you asked is the one that I was stuck on while pondering this section of the text:

What behaviors have you identified that drive performance in your organization?

That question doesn't have a simple answer.  I know if I asked my 5 best  teachers, I would probably get a vastly diverse set of behaviors from each.  I know I would like to hear any ideas from the group about the vital behaviors that they are certain drive performance.  One behavior that I think belongs on the short list goes something like this.

Teachers assess regularly and immediately plan instruction based on their results.

If you all could add one behavior to the list, what would it be?

Cheers

Hi Rob,

I can't speak high enough about the program.   I came away with a huge bag of tricks to use in my current and future adminstrative roles.  The support and coaching was top notch and, at the time, the faculty was a happily eclectic group so that you could gravitate to someone who was more your style. You couldn't go wrong with that program.

Take care

Dan

Howdy Group 5 members. I'm the Principal of Halecrest Elementary in Chula Vista, CA, just north of the Mexican border. I've also worked at a local high school as a teacher, attendance coordinator and assistant principal. I received my Ed.D from the University of La Verne just a couple years ago and I'm looking forward to the dialogue. Cheeers!