Category: Recommendations

It’s all about culture. Culture establishes the expectations that are set within an organization for how people will be treated, the amount of trust that employees are given to do the jobs they were hired for and the support they will receive when times get tough. Trusting employees to do their jobs well while also making it safe to take risks and “fail” (first attempt in learning) along the way to learning how to do things better will create a culture that inspires innovation. It will also inspire the professional use of the Four Cs in education – creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

A small school district Superintendent recently told a story of her first couple of months in her new position. She knew she was stepping into an environment with low morale and suspected that there would be obstacles to overcome in the process of establishing a professional learning culture that embraces the tenets of a 21^st Century education. Nevertheless, she was still surprised to review the previous year’s middle school schedule and the report cards for the different grade levels.

The courses at the end of the day for the middle school student included handwriting as well as arts and crafts. Report cards for each grade level showed a separate grade for homework completely divorced from the varying subject matters. She felt the challenge of culture change loom heavy, but was also ready to dive right in. Getting the classes aligned with current standards and 21^st Century skills was a need too great not to embrace immediately. Students in her district would be competing with students from larger districts when they entered high school where these components were already in place. She not only valued ensuring that the children in her district would receive an equal education to those in larger districts, but saw it as moral imperative. All the while she also articulated a long-term goal of creating innovative programs that others would want to model.

The Superintendent began to meet with individual teachers over the summer after having redesigned the middle school program to include an end of the day exploratory wheel. She met with the handwriting and math teacher first and nervous about what the answer might be asked one simple question, “If you could teach anything you wanted at the end of the day, the subject that would most excite and inspire you, what would it be?” After a brief pause, she received an answer that made her smile, “You know I was an art major and I’ve always wanted to design an art course and share that passion with my students.” The Superintendent happily replied, “Design the course and put together a list of the supplies you’ll need for the year. You’re teaching art.”

She met with the social studies teacher next and asked the same question, “If you could teach anything you wanted at the end of the day, the subject that would most excite and inspire you, what would it be?” He knew the question was coming and was ready, “I would love to teach a technology class and incorporate 20 percent time for my students.” The Superintendent couldn’t believe how well this was going. She shared the ISTE standards, Common Sense Media and how to engage with other teachers on Twitter and told the young social studies teacher to design how he would like the course to look and let her know.

With only the science teacher to go and some comments from various staff members that she usually “taught” a homework class, the Superintendent started to think about strategies that could engage the next teacher in some more thoughtful ideas for an exploratory that students would really enjoy. The last teacher came in and when asked, “If you could teach anything you wanted at the end of the day, the subject that would most excite and inspire you, what would it be?” without taking a breath answered, “I’ve always wanted to teach a robotics and engineering class. I designed a course several years ago and even have materials at home already.”

Trying hard to not let her mouth drop open at this incredible response, the Superintendent realized, that by simply giving her staff the opportunity to share their passions and saying, “Yes,” a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) program had been born. A month into the school year, students were ending their days by building bridges, exploding volcanoes, creating movies and 3D drawings.

Establishing a culture of trust, saying yes and allowing her teachers to experiment designing their courses around their passions quickly increased the quality of the overall middle school program and had a strong impact on the work happening in the lower grades as well. She walked into the kindergarten class with the self proclaimed, “I don’t understand technology “ kinder teacher to find a small group of 5 year olds creating Google slides with CVC words while explaining their words to each other. The 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd grade teachers got together over a weekend and with the help of a couple of their husbands redesigned their classroom layouts to support collaborative groupings and easier integration of student computer use, the classroom projector and interactive HUE document cameras.

The change in culture is in its infancy. Yet, by putting trust in her staff, bringing classified staff in to receive the same training the teachers received, establishing a clear understanding that the technology skills embedded in the Common Core standards would be integrated into classroom instruction and making it safe to try new material and approaches, the students in this Superintendent’s small school district are receiving a top notch education and the staff morale has increased as they have been given the trust needed to make great things happen for kids.

It has been fourteen years since that dreadful September 11th morning that imprinted itself in the minds of Americans and our friends around the world. While we remember and talk about the day, still feeling stunned that this is a part of our American history, there is also a sense that the commemoration of our country coming together to support the fallen, their families and the heros who saved lives and comforted those who suffered great personal loss, is starting to diminish. Not unlike the fading of the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, we are beginning to become removed from the personal horror that was experienced on that fateful day.

As schools across the country begin to embrace the importance of preparing students who are digitally literate global citizens, we must also remember that our American school system was the first embodiment of educating United States citizens; preparing students to be contributing adults in the American workforce, paying taxes and participating in government. With this in mind, it is important to ask ourselves how a sense of patriotism is continuing to be passed down through each generation. What events are our schools and local communities supporting to educate students about our history beyond the textbook and instill in them a sense of pride and understanding of what it means to be born a United States citizen or to be blessed to be able to live in our country?

The founders of our great country intentionally left any reference to education out of the U.S. Constitution, clearly communicating their intent that this be a State’s right. The State of California has recently adopted the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to support the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) further acknowledging the responsibilities of local communities to be involved in establishing the educational priorities in our schools. Let us now use these freedoms to support schools that prepare our children to remember the sacrifices of those of who have gone before us to allow us to live in a country where we have come to see public education as a right rather than a privilege, where we have the freedom of speech to voice our opinions and the funding mechanisms both from a federal and state support system to educate each generation.

Let us remember to recognize our local heroes: our police, firefighters and paramedics, as well as our national heroes serving in the military who preserve for us the ability to enjoy our freedoms.

The Back to School blog posts are appearing. They’re showing up in our in boxes, our Twitter feeds, on Google+ and our Facebook feeds. Where just a week ago, our social media was filled with pictures of smiling couples, groups of friends or parents with their children poolside, by the ocean or on hikes discovering the glory of mother nature, this week’s feeds are filled with teacher memes, pinterest ideas and the Back to School post as we look forward to another year of welcoming new teachers to our profession, watching  colleagues take on new positions or grow into teacher leaders.

It’s an exciting time. The new teacher ignites the experienced educator with renewed passion bringing fresh ideas and energy. Watching the staff in my district prepare for the new school year throughout the summer, makes me proud to be a part of our team. I’m struck however, that while this is the fourth district I will be serving in my 23rd year, the dedication from district to district is the same. The support educators give one another, the belief in the potential of our students and in each other and the understanding that the work we do matters are hallmarks of a profession filled with servant leaders.

While the energy is by far mostly positive and as a group, our profession embraces the work of Carol Dweck’s Mindset, there are pockets of negativity that start to creep in. Every staff seems to have “that teacher” who sometimes finds a commiserating colleague to join in their negative energy. They make appearances, usually brief appearances, but their energy can quickly change a room. These members of our profession really are a very small percentage of who we are, yet, I found myself today, having an important conversation with a new teacher who had questions about a colleague that didn’t share her enthusiasm.

This conversation made me think of the responsibility we have as education leaders, whether at the district level, site level, or perhaps most importantly, the teacher leader level. It is an important part of our jobs to protect our young enthusiastic teachers, to surround them with support and to prepare to celebrate their accomplishments. Let us embrace the excitement of the first year teacher who’s room was ready to go at the beginning of July, who has been scouring ads for those great Back to School deals and stocking up and who, this is my favorite, is ready to jump into supporting 21st Century Learning PD because her high school and college years were filled with the type of innovative instruction that redefines classroom instruction that we continue to encourage more experienced members of our profession to embrace.
As you begin your year, focusing on the needs of your students, lesson planning and finding some time for yourself, please keep an eye on those new to our ranks. Embrace them with positivity, share your resources, guide them and learn from them. Let us challenge ourselves to grow our ranks with joy, passion and support of one another.

“Wow, I’m going to have to up my game with you here. Thanks!,” commented one of my teachers as we ended a conversation. It was my second official day on the job and I was feeling grateful for each “get to know you” conversation I was getting the opportunity to have with teachers and classified staff members throughout the day. As I drove home and thought about my day, this statement really stuck with me, “I’m really going to have to up my game.” What had I said in my less than 48 hours in my new position as the superintendent/principal of our school district?

A Culture Focused on the Positive: As staff and teachers told me stories about individual students who they thought I should be aware of, I asked, “What can you tell about ________’s life?” I was answered with heartbreaking stories that are all too familiar to the seasoned educator.

“His mom lives in Tennessee and I’m not sure if anyone knows who his dad is. He doesn’t seem to get much supervision.” A child looking to be loved?

“She always runs away from adults and her parents have told us that her ten year sister is in charge of her.” A child looking for attention?

We’ll be focused on positive reinforcement and interventions this year and looking specifically at the function of any behaviors that get in the way of learning or a student’s social emotional success. If a child makes a mistake or does not behave to expectation, we’ll use the opportunity to teach them how to make the situation right and know what other choices they can make if a similar situation arises.

Investing in Our Staff: Like many teachers, our staff is wrestling with teaching the Common Core Standards. They reached the 800 API threshold earlier than surrounding school districts and continued to grow each year. Not only are they comfortable with the California State Standards and their curriculum, but they were successful with the criteria they had been given and were recognized as a School of Choice. The organization found itself in an extended transitional period just as the transition to Common Core occurred.

We’ll be in investing in the professional development of certificated and classified staff so that you feel comfortable and confident in your knowledge and skills to teach Common Core Standards. We will engage in exploration of curriculum and instructional strategies that meet these standards, support innovative thinking and provide teacher support. I don’t expect us to master everything right away. We will establish a one year and three professional learning plan for us as a group and individually. Remember FAIL – First Attempt In Learning. We’ll be learning a lot together.

Future Ready: This is movement that I’m 100% behind. It is essential that we are preparing today’s students for their future, a future that we can’t even begin to imagine.

While “technology tools” is a thought that many jump to right away and the Future Ready Pledge focuses on digital learning, our work will embed digital literacy as we focus on how to support students in being skilled communicators, collaborators, creative and critical thinkers as they engage in a digitally supported 21^st Century learning model. We’ll incorporate the work of Carol Dweck as presented in Mindset.

Open Door: Staff kept closing my door as they came and went. Knocks on the door were hesitant. Clearly this was an expectation for them somewhere along the way. It made me uncomfortable and a couple of hours into the day, I made the announcement, “My door will always be open unless I’m having a confidential conversation. Please come in any time. I will always have time for you. Whatever is on my desk can wait until we’ve had a chance to talk about what is on your mind.

My office was set up with a desk and a square table. This first thing I asked the custodian was where I could find a round table to replace the square one. “That’s funny,” she commented, “we used to have a superintendent who had a round table, but the last guy wanted a square one. The old round table is in the cafeteria. Why round?” It’s the difference between having the opportunity to sit with you versus across from you. I’m hoping that our conversations and learning will be about us being able to sit together, not across from one another.

Somewhere along the way, one of my teacher leaders with a reputation for being good at his craft felt that he is going to need to “up his game.” I’m always looking to up my game and am feeling blessed that one of the leaders in my new District feels the same way and will be setting this example.