The Driving Force behind an Excellent Team

Excellent teams thrive while others struggle to survive.  Some excel while others fail.  Schools provide collaborative time to all teams, and their strong teams create awesome plans for kids, while their weak teams spin their wheels getting little accomplished.  But I f you think about it, all teams have one thing in common. They discuss the following educational concepts:

• Curriculum
• Instruction
• Assessment
• Intervention, 
• Extension,
• Tech integration
• Real world experiences

In fact, when teams are asked if they address those components as a collaborative team, a common response is "Yeah, we do that..."  So if all team "focus on learning", then why are some successful and others still struggling to make a positive impact on learning. 

It all depends on how they answer this question...

Excellent Teams Don't Do Everything

The difference between excellent teams and others is not so much about what they do as how deeply they do it and why they do it.  The  best teams don't shoot for better test scores.  Better test scores result from their continuous quest for self-improvement.  Excellent teams don't work harder; they work smarter.  They don't do everything right; they do the most critical things right.  These teams don't hyper-focus on the causes of failure; they focus on learning from failure and transforming it into progress.

The whole point of having a team is helping every player become a winner.  When teams consist of individuals who are collectively committed to getting better for all kids, everyone gets better (kids too).  Their checklists become smaller because things are put in perspective.  In fact, great teams prioritize their collective work into 3 basic categories:

• Critical Team Actions
• Secondary Team Actions
• "If we have time" Actions

When teams are able to prioritize and then commit to the actions that are most essential to their work at getting better for all kids, there is a strong likelihood that student improvement begins.  When the focus on learning starts with the adults in building learning how to improve at their own effectiveness, the focus on student learning actually transforms from a buzzword into a reality.

Focus on '1 in 5' for 2015

Last year, I wrote a New Year's Resolution challenge call "Will your PLC put the 1 - 4 in 2014?"  It challenged collaborative teams to keep the focus on the 1 thing that matters most, All Kids Learning Every Day, and in order to do that collaborative teams must guarantee learning by focusing on the 4 questions of a PLC.

1. What do we expect all kids to learn?
2. How will we know if they have learned?
3. How will we respond if they don't learn?
4. How will we respond when they do learn?

This year, I would like to raise the stakes a bit.  Since we are leaving 2014 behind and entering 2015, I would like to encourage you and your team to keep your eyes on "1 in 5" for 2015.

What is 1 in 5?

It's pretty simple.  One in every five students starts high school but never graduates.  This statistic has improved from a few years ago when the stats showed that 1 in 4 failed to graduate, but let's be honest. 4 out of 5 kids graduating from high school is still not good enough?  That leaves behind 1 in 5 who will graduate but it will be into a life of poverty, a life of governmental dependence, a life of poorer quality of health and a higher probability of entering the pipeline to imprisonment.

Who are the 1's?

Well there's no sure fire method to predict who will drop out, but here is what research shows.  

• 1 in 2 fatherless children will drop out.
• 1 in 3 teenage mothers will drop out.
• Minority students are twice as likely as white students to drop out.
• Kids who fail to read on level by grade 3 have a strong chance of never graduating.
• Students of poverty are 2 years behind their affluent counterparts; thus more susceptible to vanishing from high school.
• Students with unaddressed language barriers are likely to leave without a diploma.
• Students who are highly mobile have probably the greatest chance of falling through the cracks.

Are you starting to see the 1's who are in danger of dropping out?

Ending the Drop-out Rate Starts with You

Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, a senior English teacher, bus driver or any role in between, you can reduce the dropout rate and there is only one thing you need to do.

CONNECT WITH AT-RISK KIDS!!!

The warning signs are pretty obvious:  withdrawn, history of failure, persistent discipline issues, learning difficulties.  You may not be the one who can fix those problems, but you are the one who can build a relationship with 1 to 5 kids who are in the danger zone.  You can be the one who reminds them daily that they have worth and can reach their dreams.  In short, focusing on the 1 in 5 is deeper than focusing on preventing the dropout rate.  It's about you and never forgetting that we have the potential to be the ones that can save lots of kids from becoming another statistic.

In 2015, #URthe1

The reason you made it to your current places in life is because someone inspired you and never gave up on your potential.  Whether it was your parents or your educators, chances are that someone played a vital part in shaping you throughout most of the years that you were in school.  Every kid needs regular motivation to succeed, but at-risk students don't always have consistent people invested in them or constant motivation to help them hurdle the overwhelming obstacles in their path.  That's why they need you and me, and why we should never underestimate our potential to turn statistics into success stories.

#HappyNewYear

A Christmas Gift for your Team

Christmas is in the air.  Songs are on the radio.  Businesses are pushing their products, and kids are excited in anticipation of what Santa will bring them in a couple of week.  Everyone is focused on what they want for Christmas, but what does your team want for Christmas?  What are you hoping will be in your team's collaborative stocking this year?

Well, it depends on what your team needs in order to be more focused on kids and their learning. Here are a few questions to help you find out what your team wants for Christmas.

• How well is collaboration working on your team?  
• How is time being utilized in your team's work?  
• Where should your team grow in the next semester?  
• What, or better yet, who is holding your team back?  

Your team's Christmas gift can be found in all of these answers if they are discovered through collective reflection that is open, honest, and most importantly focused on growth.

6 C's of Collaboration

A few years ago, I wrote a post called , "6 C's of Collaboration".  In that post I shared my thoughts on what makes a team truly collaborative. Teams that thrive have coherent conversations grounded in collegiality. Conflict is never personal, but it is always present and focused on continuous growth. Control isn't owned by the leader but shared by all, and celebration is a constant that continuously motivates all to believe in their commitment to all kids and to one another. 

What does your Collaborative Team need for Christmas?

Every team needs something. It may be more meaningful discussion. Teams may want more ideas for struggling kids or innovative ideas that engage kids at a deeper level. They may feel like time is being wasted, or they may need accountability for members who are not participating. 

To help your team find out what it wants for Christmas, I put together this little reflective tool (Click Here) that can help your team determine its strengths and areas for growth.

I hope your team receives the best gift of the year, A Collaborative Culture.

Merry Christmas!!!

"It's about Time" You Read this Book

November has been a great month. My first published work came out, and I was glad to be a part of such a cool project. Mike Mattos and Austin Buffum led an RtI anthology project called, "It's about Time" Planning Interventions and Extensions in an Elementary School", and it was an honor to be included in this book.                                                                                                                                                          Now before you think this is a shameless plug, I'd like you to read a little further. This book features several leaders who are practitioners from all over the nation.  They serve in all kinds of schools in a variety of roles, but these schools have one thing in common. Each school overcame amazing obstacles to make all kids successful. 

In each chapter, readers will learn a variety of strategies for collaboration that are truly focused on school improvement. Contributors share how they overcame the barrier of "not having time for intervention". Leaders illustrate how they included strong academic and behavioral interventions in their RtI program. The great thing about this book is that there's something for everybody. There are chapters that you can use right now to guide your school's thinking in constructive ways. In short, you will be able to connect your school and its limitations to almost every chapter in the book. That is because this book is about real schools with real problems who found powerful solutions to guarantee learning for all kids. 

#NoExcuseSchools

The cool thing about the book is that it focuses on the right thinking that schools need to help kids. Sure, some of these schools may have more things than your school, but there are also schools that have far less resources and more problems as well. RtI is not about programs or paperwork. It's about collective responsibility and tapping into the unique strengths of your school and utilizing every asset in the building to help every child learn. 

"It's about Time" is about the right thinking schools need to support kids. I learned a lot about myself by writing my chapter, but this book taught me far more about what I need to do now for the kids in my school district. I'm very proud of this book, and I truly believe you should check out this book.  'It's about Time' provides educators with a smorgasbord of solutions that will help you focus more deeply on the learning in your school. 

Are you a Learner or a Leaner?

I have visited with lots of educators over my almost 20 years in public education. What I have come to find is that there are two types of educators: those who learn and those who lean. From a cultural perspective, leaners annoy learners. Leaners lament for the status quo, and they oppose opportunities for growth. They yearn for yesterday and tear down tomorrow.

Now before anyone gets too offended, let me explain a little further.  Leaning is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does become negative if that's all you do. From time to time, we have to lean on our friends for guidance, experience, or just plain old wisdom. But if we look to people to do our jobs for us, then what good are we to kids?  I'm not just talking about our kids, but the kids of the person that we are taking advantage of? 

Leaning + R = Learning

Learning is leaning with a little R. The R stands for resilience, a commitment to never give up, a desire to know more, a commitment to make this world a better place by making ourselves better first. Educators who are learners are constantly finding new ways of thinking, and new ways of doing. Learners are like leaners in that they rely on their colleagues, but the striking difference is that learners don't mooch off of their colleagues. Learners give as much to their colleagues as they borrow from them. They reciprocate the favor. (another R that is in a Learner) 

A good friend of mine always said, "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean."  Well the same goes for education. If you've got time to lean, you've got time to learn.  Those who habitually lean on others ultimately do not impact their kids to the degree and depth because they have no desire to impact their own life. 

To put this thought into even more perspective, I'll throw you this question. If we really believe in learning for all kids, shouldn't we believe in our own learning first?  After all, if we are not focused on being learners first, then how can we possibly expect our students to make learning their first priority?

What other R's would you add to make a Leaner into a Learner?

The Ultimate Belief

'Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe."

-Voltaire-

After beating Roger Federer in this year's Wimbledon tournament, Novak Djokavic said the following , "You have to believe in yourself".  This "duh" statement is so true. You can't accomplish anything if you don't believe in yourself.  Novak works as an individual, performs as an individual and succeeds as an individual; therefore, all he has to do is believe in himself and nothing else.

But this statement doesn't fully apply to education. Educators work in a comprehensive system; therefore, educators can believe in themselves all they want to, but there is a truckload of other factors and people that affect how one teacher can perform.  In other words, if every teacher in the system is to reach the pinnacle of success, it'll require beliefs that are much deeper than a tangible belief in ourselves.

So how does this apply to teachers, leaders, teams, schools and districts?

There are 3 levels of belief:  Belief in Self,  Belief in the Team and Belief in the System.  Let's explore the three levels.  

Level 1 - Belief in Self

Belief in yourself is not the ultimate goal for educators but the first step. If an organization desires to reach the pinnacle of excellence, a bunch of people who believe in themselves is a great goal but if the focus is on kids, individual belief isn't enough because believing in yourself and no one else can only impact 1 year in a child's life.   If you don't believe me that believing in yourself isn't enough, then watch "Freedom Writer's", "Mr. Holland's Opus" or any other Hollywood movie of a teacher with the ultimate belief in themselves who worked in a disastrous system.

Level 2 - Belief in the Team

Teams that trust in each other believe in each other. They have positive presuppositions about one another's motives, abilities and contributions. They lean on each other in times of difficulty and hold each other to high standards because of that belief.  A team of individuals who believe in themselves and in one another is a huge step up from any belief in yourself because it takes courage, trust and confidence in something bigger than yourself.  Furthermore, teams that believe in themselves expand a positive influence and impact directly onto more students, but this is not the ultimate belief. The team only impacts one segment of the system, not the entire system. There has to be something bigger to affect every kid in every day of their education.

Level 3 - Belief in the System

Most people are cynical of the system simply because they can't see it. No matter your role, you can't see every facet of a comprehensive system that you are a part of, therefore, for most people, they believe in the system with the following mindset, "Seeing in Believing".  Without tangible and immediate evidence, they don't have faith in the system.  Those who possess the Ultimate Belief know that the system is not perfect, but they also know that they are a part of that system.  That means they believe they can improve the system.  They understand that their role, no matter how small, is vital to improving the system.  Belief in the system takes a deep rooted understanding that what you are doing has the potential to influence every person in the system (including the leader).  Finally believing in the system means transcends belief and leads to faith in the system.  You believe that what you do have a ripple effect beyond anything that you can see or touch.

So Do You BEL13VE?

Believing beyond your own abilities requires seeing your role in the context of the system. While some believe their role can only impact things they can see, those with the ultimate belief see their efforts to the power of 13, the number of years it takes to prepare every child for college or career ready life.   What they do matters because not only do they have the faith.  They keep the faith.

While your on the Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'"

8 Traits of Rocking PLCs!

I love Fridays because every so often I receive a #FF from John Gunnell (CLICK HERE), Wisconsin principal and moderator of #wischat (click here) (Sundays at 8p CST). What's unique about his tweets is that he always says that his PLN rocks like a specific song from the cool band. So it got me to thinking,

"What band does your PLC rock like?"

For me there lots of bands to choose from.  I could consider bands that had awesome one-hit wonders like the Violent Femmes, but that would be like a PLC that had one good result. I could pick a band that had a platinum selling album or two like Whitesnake, but that would be like a PLC that was good until the band changed lead singers. 

I Wanna Rock!!! (Shameless Twisted Sister Plug)

I want my PLC to rock like a band that never quit rocking as long as it was focused on making music together. For example take Chicago (25 or 6 to 4). That band put out over 20 albums (Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away) and had multiple people in and out of the band over the three plus decades that it was together. Another great band to consider being like would be Van Halen (Jump Video).  They rocked the mic from the day their music hit the air. Frontman, David Lee Roth left the band and pretty much told them that they would be nothing without him. Sadly, he underestimated the power of the band's mission and vision when a new frontman, Sammy Hagar, took his helm.  Van Halen (sans Roth) (Love comes Walking In) climbed to even greater head-banging heights because the band's success was its SMART Goal, not the members' individual accolades. 

I want to rock like that.

If you want your band to rock like Van Halen or Chicago, you must commit to building and more importantly maintaining the focus of your band. 

Here's 8 Traits of a Rocking PLC!

1. Purpose - PLCs always have a focused purpose for working and learning together. 
2. Product - Members leave with a product directly tied to that focus. 
3. Goal - All kids, high levels of learning.
4. Norms - Rules for how to become and stay cohesive. 
5. Interdependence - Deep-rooted understanding that there are no frontmen. Everyone's an expert, and everyone's a star. 
6. Celebration - The regular nourishment teams need to keep them moving forward through difficult times. 
7. Failure embracement - The understanding that from time to time the team will fail because that is where real learning occurs. 
8. Continuous Learning - The goal of high-performing teams is growth not results. 

I Love Rock & Roll!!!

If you can get your PLC to function like the band, Chicago, the work that you will do will be like "Saturday in the Park".  If you can commit to kids and one another at the deepest and highest levels, your PLC will rock like Van Halen and attain results beyond your wildest "Dreams"

#RockOn 

The Most Powerful Mission - Leverage our Today to Change their Tomorrow

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure being in Kirbyville, Texas to work with some outstanding teachers on building a strong and vibrant learning community. One of the first things that we discussed was the consequences kids would experience if we failed to commit to the school's mission of guaranteeing that all students learn at high levels every day. After synthesizing the statistics of generational poverty, prison rates which are directly related to the dropout rate, and the need for every child to earn more than a high school diploma, the campus developed this mission statement.

Kirbyville Elementary School
Mission Statement

This is a Powerful Statement should be in Every School in America!

 Let's take a second and break down each piece of this mission statement as it should apply to every school in America. 

Whatever It Takes

In thinking about this simple phrase, I recognize that so many people recklessly use this statement. This clichéd catchphrase is often used with little understanding of its definition. 'Whatever it Takes' requires every single employee to understand that they are part of the Whatever. They must commit to truly synthesize their role as the ultimate saver of lives. 'Whatever it Takes' is selfless action. It is a commitment to the school's guarantee for every child. 

With Whatever We Have

This powerful prepositional phrase requires all educators to remove their natural tendencies to gravitate toward excuses when positive results do not occur instantly. School cultures with this mentality don't rely on the quantity of resources but the quality of how they use them. 'Whatever We Have' starts with recognizing ourselves as the first resource and digging deep within our own ability to grow and get better at what we do. 'With Whatever We Have' is about leveraging every asset in the entire building to ensure that every kid learns from every educator every day. 

Today Changes Tomorrow

This is the campus' moral imperative. If all educators believe that today changes tomorrow, they believe that what they do not only changes a child's learning tomorrow but also the trajectory of their future. Today changes lives. Today has the potential to change the world. 

Today has the potential for a profound impact on our world. This mission statement blew me away because it is the ultimate mission statement. It truly defines why we are in this business. We're not here to improve test scores or make sure the school meets accountability. These things should be by-products of capitalizing on the present. Today must remind each and everyone of us that when we walk into the building, we have the potential to be a game changer in the life of a child. It means we can eradicate poverty all together.  We can end the cycle of generational dependence. We can change our country's future. We can change THEIR tomorrow...

If your school does not have a mission statement, I strongly urge you to use this one as a model for what your school's mission should be. I've been in this business for a long time and have seen lots of mission statements, but this one gave me pause. It made me check myself and ask myself this question.  Am I focused simply on changing today, or leveraging today to change their tomorrow?

I'm pretty sure that if we all fully invested in today, tomorrow would yield a result far beyond our wildest dreams. 

Today...  What will you do with your todays this year?  Be a #gamechanger!!!

Are your SMART Goals actually DUMB???

Schools are in the business of making all kids smarter, so how SMART do you think your school is?  Is it SMARTer than a 5th grader?  Finding the answer to the question is simple. How SMART are your school's goals?  After all, the SMARTer goals are, the more focused and more responsive your campus will be. 

The idea of SMART goals isn't a new concept. They have been around for some time now. Businesses use them, and campuses write their improvement plans around them, yet some schools seems much smarter than others.  Results seems to improve in one school while results appear to flatline in the school next door.  All schools have the same goals in common, but struggling schools have DUMB goals while the best schools have SMARTest goals. 

What is a SMART Goal?

Specific & Strategic

It is the one thing that the school must focus on that will make the biggest impact on all kids. 

Measureable

It is a goal that can be measured with targeted data over time. 

Attainable

It can be reached in a short period of time. 

Results-Oriented

It is tied to specific data points that can measure the goal's progress. 

Timebound 

It is monitored and reviewed at regular intervals throughout the year. 

What makes a SMART Goal become DUMB?

Disconnected

When a goal is created that doesn't have a thing to do with the daily work of the school, it is dumb. When the goal is largely ignored or not reviewed, SMART goals are referred to as stupid by the people within the school.

Unmeasured

If a SMART goal is never checked for growth or progress, or worse other things are measured in its place, the goal loses its measurement component; thus making it an ignorant goal. 

Mobile

Goals can't change with the initiative "du jour" or the leader's opinion of the day, otherwise they lose their power. SMART goals should be developed with much thought and followed with even greater commitment. 

Broad 

Goals, that are too broad or that cover too many areas of emphasis, kill the collective efficacy that a school needs for improvement. Broad goals are like saying, "We're going to move forward", but nobody knows what forward actually looks like. Furthermore, broad goals send people running in different directions, which in turn creates a lack of focus. 

How do We Keep SMART Goals SMART???

1.  KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid:  

Pick a goal or two that everyone can commit to. Too many goals or overly complex goals frustrate followers. 

2. Schedule RegularTimes to Measure:  

You schedule your dentist appointment 6 months in advance, right? Schedule your times in advance to check the progress of your SMART Goals at 6 or 9 week intervals and you'll never lose sight of them. 

3. Share the Leadership:  

If you want your SMART Goal to make the campus smarter, you have to include all the intelligence in the building and give others leadership responsibilities. SMART Goals are owned by all. 

4.  Celebrate Growth:  

There will be times where you won't make as much growth as you'd like. Find the successes and celebrate every time you review. If you're making negative growth, find the contributing factor and celebrate the fact that you found it.

#WhatGetsCelebratedGetsAccelerated

5.  Stick with It:  

Excellence is not an act, but a habit. Commit to your goal and work your plan every day to reach that goal. You'll be amazed at what will happen over time. 

Get SMART

Successful organizations aren't smarter. They're more focused and more efficient. The best quote that embodies the spirit of SMART Goals is this: 

It's not that I'm so smart. 

It's that I stay with the problem longer. 

-Albert Einstein- 

8 Steps to Add Value to your School

Values are defined as ideals and customs of an organization toward which the members have an affective regard. They are long standing traditions that are passed down from generation to generation, and they are shaped little by little through the decisions and actions of influential individuals. If we pause to analyze the complete definition of the word beyond its societal meaning, a value is defined as the relative worth, merit or importance of something.

The problem is not that schools lack values. The problem is that values in a school are all over the place. To get everyone on the same page, leaders make the fatal mistake by dictating what every staff member’s values must be to work at the school. When leaders take this approach, schools fail to capitalize on the abundance of values that already exist within the organization. By using the collaborative process to align values throughout the building, staff members can align individual values which can congeal into campus values that would by far supersede any expectation written by the best campus principal.

Campus values are commitments that staff members make to ensure that every student reaches academic success daily. They reflect the behaviors that all staff members must exhibit instructionally as well as systemically. Values are specific details that help flesh out the mission and vision. They help teams clarify how they will work together.

How you behave is based on what you value. Throughout the year at every campus in the world, problems arise that either conflict with campus values or haven't been addressed in the value statements. As teams dig deeper into the source of the problems, teams will find that sometimes the pressures of the day dictate how they solve problems rather than pulling back and looking at the MVVG (Mission, Vision, Values and Goals) for guidance. When leaders allow the pressure of the day to guide them to a solution, campuses stand a chance of getting off of the path of actualizing their moral imperative, and sometimes it causes teams to go backwards and never reach their goals. When personal emotions guide teams in resolving problems, rather than commitment to campus values, the team will develop fractures in its culture that will take much time to heal. If the problem becomes extremely personal, the culture can be broken, and once the culture is broken, the campus can no longer focus on kids.

8 Steps

Last August, my former campus took a closer look at the campus values which were written 3 years ago and truly exemplify what the campus must exhibit in actions and words. Rather than reviewing them and moving on, I asked the staff to do the following activity. 

1.  In groups, take one value and analyze it. 

2.  In your own words, write the definition of the value.

3.  Individually write what the value looks like if someone could see the value in action but could not hear it. 

4.  Individually write what the value sounds like if someone could hear the value in action but could not see it. 

5.  Write down behaviors that do not represent the value. In other words, tell us what the value is not. 

6. Once individuals have completed writing their thoughts, they need to have a discussion about which descriptors best define the value. 

7. Using the frayer model (See Picture Below), write down what the value looks like, sounds like, what it is, and what it is not. 

8. The group shares its thoughts with the campus and asks for feedback. 

Once everyone has shared their thoughts with the campus, the value frayer models are turned into posters and posted throughout the school and shared with the community. An activity like this helps returning members deepen their understanding and hopefully commitment to values, and it gives new members an opportunity to contribute their ideas to make the values more meaningful. 

Values are nothing but words on a wall, but when campuses take time to review, reflect and revamp them, there is a strong chance that they will use them to align actions which in turn adds value to the organization. 

Missions or Motions?

I was having a great chat with a couple of friends from my PLN this past week.  The discussion was centered around finding resources and ideas to begin building a vision. Matt Wachel, a great thinker offered up this question.

Steven Weber then fired back the following at the end of the discussion. 

Steven is a really deep thinker about school improvement and leadership. (You should follow him.) But while Steven's tweet was purely in jest, it made me think...

Do schools have Missions or do they go through the Motions? 

As much as I want to claim my ultimate belief in the power of missions, it doesn't mean that my school's mission is living in every facet of the organization.  Here's what I'm trying to say.  Does every member of every team truly believe in their school's mission statement, or do they go through the motions of simply reciting the mission like it was the Pledge of Allegiance?  If all we do is make a mission, stick it on the wall, say the words every now and then, can we really say we have a mission?  

So the question I pose to all leaders (teachers, you are leaders) is this.  

How do we know if our mission is moving every person forward?

Here are two scenarios to answer that question. 

Schools that go through the motions of having a mission do the following:

• They have a mission on the wall.
• They have PLC time built into the schedule. 
• They may even like one another,

BUT

• Teams engage in activities that are not aligned to or conflict with the mission. 
• The mission is ignored or worse only referred to in name only. 

In other words these schools go through the motions of being a PLC, but they really don't focus on working together to guarantee learning for all members of the school community (staff and students). 

Now, schools that live out their mission do the following:

• They go beyond plastering words all over the school and actually refer to their mission to help them make decisions. 
• They create values that help them define the behaviors that must be exhibited to fulfill the mission. 
• They confront behaviors and beliefs that conflict with the mission. 
• They believe professional conflict is essential to fulfill the mission. 
• They refer to the mission when making critical decisions that will move the campus forward. 

Missions or Motions?

So which applies to you?  Do your school have a mission that is living and breathing, or is your school going through the motions pretending that the mission is real?  Do you have a little bit of both? Sure, it is very possible to have a mission in action in some places while other parts of the organization are going through the motions. Leaders must identify where the motions are in place and find ways to convert motion into mission. 

All schools are in motion, but the most successful schools are in meaningful motion, and that is what it takes to make a mission move a school. 

Which L is in your PLC?

School improvement means people improvement, and to make this a reality, a lot of schools are implementing professional learning communities. Administrators believe that if they put everybody in a room together on a regular basis then learning will improve. But here's the deal. Being in a room with a bunch of people makes you no more a PLC than sitting in a garage makes you a car.

PLCs require a lot more than sitting in a room for a set period of time on a regular basis. 

If a school implements professional learning communities without a thorough understanding of what they are and how they successfully function, then that school might as well go ahead and sign off on their plan for failure. Without a thorough understanding of how to create a culture of collaboration and a focus on learning based on relevant results, schools and teams call themselves a PLC, but the L won't stand for learning. 

Which L is in your PLC

The center point of a PLC must be learning, but if the L doesn't represent learning, then a community of professionals can't exist. Here are 4 examples to illustrate my point.

Listening

If all people do in a PLC is listen, then they're not really learning.  Listening leads to disengagement which undermines professionalism.  Sure, we have to listen to one another, but if one person does all the talking, and the other people are forced to spend the majority of their time listening, then they're not really a community of learners.  

Lamenting 

Complaining kills a PLC, and whining wilts away the will of a team. Teams need to have time to vent, but teams that spend most of their time complaining about their working conditions or the kids transform from a learning community into a lamenting committee. They aren't really focused on learning how to better meet the needs of all kids because they are focused on their own comfort. 

Laboring

Labor is an important part of a PLC, but this isn't the type of work that I'm talking about. I'm talking about substituting a labor of learning for mindless work that has little impact on kids. Forcing teams to replace learning with  bureaucratic paperwork and forms that don't make a hill of beans difference in the success or failure of a kid is insane.  Converting PLCs into paperwork assembly lines strips away professional dignity. Teams need meaningful work that focuses on getting better not working for the sake of working. 

Languishing

In some PLCs, people are wasting away. With every meeting, they become duller and more ineffective. The passion for their profession slowly wilts away like a plant desperate for water. Because a toxic environment exists, professionalism dies in a sespool of despair. 

Learning includes Teachers & Leaders

Learning requires multiple people listening, lots of laboring about the right things, and using failure to drive improvement. Taking instructional ideas and figuring out how to make them stronger, more effective, and more efficient is what a PLC does. Systematically identifying kids who are struggling and coming up with surefire ways to make them learn is what a PLC does. 

Learning is not pretty and it's rarely right the first time, but one thing is certain. Every day that a PLC focuses on learning for themselves is one more step closer to each member reaching the pinnacle of their profession. And with each new strategy learned together, a team inches closer to becoming a close-knit community. 

Transforming our Dream into a Vision

One of the most memorable speeches in American history is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech.  As he spoke to hundreds of thousands in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963, he had a vivid vision of a day where children of all races would come together at the table of brotherhood.  He saw a day where people would be judged “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.  For those of us who never grew up in a time where Jim Crow ruled the day, it is indescribable to witness 50 years later the passion and commitment that Dr. King and millions of others had to make our country a better place for all people.

The interesting thing about Dr. King’s speech is that it actually wasn’t a dream or even a wish.  It was a vision.  It was a powerful belief that went far beyond hope.  He anticipated a new day where the ways of the present would be replaced by a much better future.  But here is where the dream turned into a vision.  Dr. King didn’t stop with his words.  He worked tirelessly and fearlessly to make the vision of the civil rights movement a reality.  People rallied.  People suffered and many died, but the vision never ceased.  With each day, the vision inched closer to becoming more real than it was the previous day. 

So in thinking about the definition of school vision, what are questions that schools should ask to define their vision?  School visions describe what the school hopes to become as a result of its daily commitment to the mission.  If the school truly believes in its mission of educating 100% of the students that arrive on its doorstep, what would the school be like when it realizes that mission of truly educating every child?  This vision represents a roadmap for decisions that must be made to construct the campus culture that reflects its constant movement toward the school that it desires to be.

When DuFour et al described school visions in “Learning by Doing, 2^nd Edition” (2010), they made the following descriptions.  “Vision statements are credible and focus on the essential outcomes for every kid.  Vision statements are used as a blueprint for improvement and they are widely shared through collaboration.  Vision statements are not opinions or wish lists.  They are not something to be ignored or worse dictated or developed by few”. Mattos, Buffum and Weber (2012) described a vision as collective responsibility or “a shared belief that the primary responsibility of each member of the organization is to ensure high levels of learning for every child”.

If we truly believe that all kids can learn, we must stop dreaming about it.  We must define what our school will look like when every kid learns.  From there, we must use that vision to make the rough places plain, and the crooked paths straight.  That means we must stop accepting excuses for why things can't change.  We must confront practices that do not align with that vision, and compel our colleagues to commit to believing in the potential of 100% of the kids that walk through the door.  By forcing our actions to visualize a better future, we will no longer be touting our dream with a banner on the wall, but planting that dream in the hearts and minds of every student in the building. 

So what will you do to make your dream a vision?

Will your PLC put the One-Four in 2014?

Schools around the country are back in session after Christmas break. Everybody is rested up and ready to resume the arduous task of educating all kids. If you reflect on the fall semester, you will find that much has happened. All schools started out with a plan to focus on kids, but life and it's endless interruptions managed to derail some of our essential tasks.  When we reflect back on our plans for the fall of 2013, we may be wondering, "how did we get away from our plan?"

Life is crazy, and it can be even crazier in the school business.  Disciplinary issues, unforeseen obstacles, and implementation difficulties always divert the attention from the one thing that we must guarantee.  Challenging questions and misunderstandings detract from our focus.  How does that always happen, or even better, why do we allow it to happen?

It is because we lose sight of the "1-4 Principle".

Since it is 2014, we need to use this year's digits to refocus us on what's most important.

-1- 

Our school's New Year's Resolution can only be one thing, All Kids will Learn.  Say what you want about integrating technology, becoming more innovative with assessments or designing more real world learning environments, but if it doesn't guarantee that all kids will learn, those things are kind of pointless.  Our belief system is the difference in whether or not we deliver that guarantee. All the new instructional innovations are great ideas to connect more kids to learning, but we must never forget.  Instructional ideas are tools, but we are the carpenters.

-4-

If all members of a school believe in all kids, then they must employ the number 4 into their daily work.  There are 4 questions that every educator must answer every day to guarantee that all kids learn.   These questions, which are the crux of DuFour, DuFour and Eaker's work, are the guiding questions to help educators focus on learning.  Let's review these questions before we dissect them a bit.

1. What do we expect all kids to learn?
2. How will we know if they have learned?
3. How will we respond if they don't learn?
4. How will we respond when they do learn?

The 4 questions are not something to be reviewed lightly.  The questions should always remind us of our belief in all kids and then direct our actions to meet the needs of all kids.  

The Power of 'We'

Notice that the subject of each question is the pronoun, we.  It is not you, me, he, she or they.  We means that no one is exempt from participating in the most important thing, guaranteeing that all kids succeed.  It also means that diverse opinions and ideas play a huge role in the development of all educators; therefore, all educators are required to participate.  PLC's can't be one person dictating what the group will expect, and then everyone follows along.  We means consensus.  It requires the vision of several I's in the room to unite and find a collective focal point, Learning for All. (which also includes educators learning from each other)

The Agreement of Expecting

If teams are able to transcend into the power of 'We', then they are ready to definitively define what all kids must be able to do to demonstrate mastery.  Whether it be reading, writing, math or any other high leverage skill, teams must clearly define levels of proficiency for every kid. By agreeing on what they expect all students to know as a result of instruction, students have a greater chance of achieving success in their learning.  Conversely, if teams fail to agree on the expectations for mastery, every action from that point will be literally pointless.  

The Alignment of Knowing

Once teams can agree on the levels of mastery for learning, they are ready to align the instructional methods and strategies that they will employ to determine if kids have actually learned.  Determining an aligned understanding of the depth of knowledge, complexity of assessments, as well as conceptual understanding are vital conversations that all teams must have if they want to determine which kids need more time and which kids can move on.  The most important idea about the alignment of knowing is that it helps teams determine which kids need which response.

The Heart of Responding

Every kid deserves a response.  If they get it, they need to be able to apply their learning through more challenging and meaningful work.  And if they don't get it, all kids deserve a response that pinpoints the onset of failure and then builds a bridge to understanding.  Every response requires educators to connect with kids in unique and personalized ways.  All kids learn or fail to learn, and they all deserve a unified response from teams.

Making the 1-4 Principle a Daily Focus

New year's resolutions fail for one reason.  They are not referred to daily.  If teams expect to the 4 questions to be successful, they must first commit to one belief, All Kids can Learn.  Each day, teachers and  teams must remind themselves that all kids can learn, but in some cases we have failed to figure out how we can get them there.  Staying focused on believing in the potential of all kids helps teams find new ways to solve old problems.

Secondly, teams must evaluate the 4 questions from a preventive as well as reactive mindset.  Teams plan together to help kids learn, but they must never forget to look back and reflect on student performance.  Reflection guides teams in the creation of next steps.  Learning requires teachers to decide the best pathway for students to acquire knowledge while looking back to determine if the team created the best pathway for all kids.

The 1-4 principle is a delicate balance between culture and structure.  It's a deep-rooted belief in all kids and a unified action plan to help that belief actualize itself.  In 2014, I hope that as you return to the hectic work of educating all kids, you will put the 1-4 principle in the forefront of your work.  By keeping this as your focal point every day, the daily obstacles and interruptions have less of a chance of derailing your work all together.

How Google is Strengthening our Learning Community

School is about to start and even though I haven't seen a whole lot of people over the summer, I really feel connected to my school community.  I have been in contact more with new teachers than ever.  Parents have been able to stay informed more than ever, and I owe this all to Google.  Here are the awesome tools that I am using to strengthen my ties with my entire learning community.

Blogger

Blogger has been the very best service to keep everyone informed with detailed information.  I use my Principal's Page to communicate weekly information to my parents and the community, and I push it out through my Twitter and Facebook accounts.  This year, I am replacing my normal staff email with a staff blog so I can encourage more dialogue through the comment feature.  I also have teachers that will be implementing blogs to improve parent communication

Reasons to Use Blogger

• Comments - Strengthening your community means encouraging dialogue.  This will do that for you.
• Gadgets - Gadgets are the coolest thing ever because they connect parents and the community to their personal social media preference of staying informed.
• Follow by Email - Parents can receive your posts by email each time you publish them.
• Share - Parents can share your posts by Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.
• Translation Feature - This dropdown feature is AWESOME for your non-English speaking parents.
• Embed Hyperlinks & Videos - You can't do that on a paper newsletter.
• Blog Archive - This feature keeps your posts in order for easy reference when looking for a past announcement.
• Popular Post - This feature keeps the top read posts at the top of your feed.
• Multiple Authors - Instead of multiple people sending multiple emails that eventually get lost, overlooked or never read, why not have the same multiple people author one blog so your readers only have to look to one source for all of the information that they will ever need. 

Blogger has been a huge life-saver for me this year, and it has really made parents and the community feel like they are a vital part of our learning community.

YouTube

I use my YouTube channel to flip my communication to parents and staff.  This past year I have flipped many things like: 

• Parent pick-up procedures 
• Our discipline management system
• Promoting our Summer Learning Connection program
• Showing staff how to set up a Blogger and Twitter account

This Google tool has cut down the amount of time I have to spend communicating to the learning community, but it has massively increased the effectiveness of my communication.  I plan to use this tool a whole lot more this year.

#SmarterNotHarder 

Google Docs

Google Docs are an awesome way to collaborate with minimal conversation.  Using Google spreadsheets and word docs in our learning teams and with our administrative team has increased our collective efficacy because more people are in the know about exactly what is happening.  From placing staff in specific teams to creating tools to monitor student performance, multiple people can look at the same document, edit the same document, and comment on the same document in real-time.  This is the smartest thing that teams and campuses can do to focus on learning and maximize collaboration.

Google Forms

What a great way to gather information from people!  If you want to get everyone to sign up for an event, create a google form, send it out through your blog and your social media outlet, and let a Google Doc spreadsheet collect the information for you.  The data entry is done for you by the people that complete your form and then you can export the form into a MS Excel spreadsheet.  From there, you can mail merge for labels, sort by column or do anything else that will help you strengthen your learning community.  I have used Google Forms for the following:

• Staff Favorite Drinks from Sonic (#Homerun)
• Parent Sign-Up for Summer Learning Connection
• Staff Sign-Up for Twitter and Blogger Training

It's so easy, even a caveman can do it. 

Why Google?

Why not?  Google has taken the middle man out of communication, the student.  Let's face it.  When we send a piece of paper home with a child, there are many factors that determine if the paper will reach the parent's hands.  If I believe that it is important enough to copy and send home, I want to guarantee that parents will receive it.  Sure, some parents don't have access to technology, but that's not a good enough reason to not utilize this valuable tool.

For staff communication, Google removes the barriers of miscommunication and misunderstanding that teachers face when they read an email from the principal.  Email cuts out the paper concern, but doesn't remedy the factor of clarity.  Each Google tool has a specific purpose to eliminate ambiguity from communication.  The only question becomes this. Which tool do we use to remove which barrier to clear communication?  You learn that by actually using this tools regularly over time.

So what are you waiting for?  Take a chance. Get started.  The worst that can happen is that your community will know a little more than they knew already.  If you truly believe in your learning community, you should also believe that your moral responsibility is to do whatever it takes to build the strongest learning community possible.  That is why you should strengthen your learning community with Google.

An Emmy-Winning Norm

The sitcom Cheers was a mainstay on television sets across America in the 1980’s.  In every episode, a regular occurrence took place.  Norm Peterson, a mainstay of the bar, Cheers, would enter the front door.  Upon his regular entrance, Norm would say, “Evening, everybody”.  The bar would yell, “Norm!!!”.  One of the main characters would ask Norm a question and Norm would reply with a hilarious one-liner response.

The recipe was genius.  Every viewer was hooked, and they expected this norm each time they watched the show.  It was simple, yet powerful.  Norm’s entrance was not powerful because it rarely occurred.  It was powerful because his grand entrance occurred every time without fail, with timely precision and with epic comedic appeal.

Teams need the same type of routine.  They need regularity in coming together, collaborating together and committing to one another.  According to Rick DuFour, a team consists of a group of people who work interdependently to achieve a common goal for which they are mutually accountable.  If a group of people wish to be a team, they must be committed to a goal that every member plays an integral part in achieving.  Furthermore, the members of the team must be committed to contribute toward the goal as well as depend on one another to improve personally.  Teammates must have guidelines to work together, support one another, and confront behaviors that prevent progress toward outcomes that they agreed to work toward.

In order for a group to become a team, teams must collectively create guidelines as known as norms.  With each member contributing their ideas of how to work together, norms should define how the team will come together, have a purpose for meeting and leave with a useful product for each member to implement in their classroom.

When teams are creating norms, they should ensure that the following criteria are addressed:

Time

• What are the agreed upon times that the team will start and end the meeting?
• How will the team make certain that time is maximized and not wasted?
• How will members address others who waste team time?

Purpose

• What is the primary purpose for the team coming together?
• What issues will the team discuss during the allotted meeting time?
• How will members prevent off-topic issues from deterring the team away from its purpose?
• How will members confront others who prevent the team from collaborating about the purpose?

Product

• What common product will all members walk away with from the meeting?
• What will members bring with them to the meeting to contribute to the creation of the common product?
• How will members confront others who fail to contribute to the common product?

Interruptions

• What are interruptions that cannot be allowed in the collaborative meetings?
• How will team members prevent or stop unexpected interruptions from disrupting the meeting so the team can stay on-task?
• How will members confront other members and outside guests who interrupt the meeting?

Conflict

• How will members of the team address disagreements or differences of opinion while maintaining the positive culture of the team?
• When conflict arises between members of the team, how will the other members work together to help resolve the conflict?
• When conflict cannot be resolved, how will the team seek support from campus leaders?

Focus on Kids

• How will members keep the focus of the collaborative meeting on the needs of all students?
• When the discussion focuses more on the staff ‘s needs than the needs of the kids, how will the team address this issue?

Celebrate

• When the team accomplishes a goal, how will they celebrate?
• When an individual member has a success, how will the team celebrate their individual success?
• When and how often will the team celebrate regularly?

Teams that plan together stay together, but teams that celebrate together, accelerate together. Just like in the show, Cheers, teams must have all the ingredients for collaboration and serve them on a regular basis.  If your team can commit to the norms that they can create, your team will be destined for an Emmy-winning performance.

How PLCs Survive Cultural Tornadoes

In a recent post, 2 Ways PLCs Battle through the Storm, I illustrated how teams must use the mission and vision to right the ship if conflict is prevalent. Teams would identify issues that prevent the unit from fulfilling the campus mission and ascertain if their collaborative efforts were moving them closer to or further away from their vision. An all too common mistake begins when teams stop by reviewing and recommitting to the mission and vision.

When invigorated, individuals take off with their own understanding of this new mission and vision and create a whirlwind of work, while others stay behind and watch with an air of cynicism. Those on fire represent a mass of warm air, while those who remain uncommitted represent a cold air mass. When these 2 masses of powerful air are in the same building, the potential exists for conflict to occur and emotions to collide in such a way that an F5 tornado can form. Once this occurs, the destructive forces of confusion and frustration will turn a once hopeful unit into a cultural catastrophe. In short, stating that you have a mission and a vision isn't enough to make a PLC work.

Here's how to avoid your Tornado!

Once teams assess their current location in their journey to realize their vision, they must calibrate their behaviors and actions if they truly hope to become the team they aspire to be. To become better, teams must start with behaviors or values. Values represent collective commitments of how individuals will work together to benefit the entire system, thus preventing a tornado. In absence of values, teams succumb to the emotion of the day.

So what are values?

1. Collective Expectations

Values are expectations that all team members develop together. These commitments detail how the daily actions and interactions from each team member will push the team closer to reaching the goal of the entire organization.

2. Steps for Improvement

In order to improve as a whole, teams need guidelines that help them understand the behaviors that must be present if the campus is going to improve. Individuals must understand that in order for the team to improve, each member possesses a moral responsibility to commit, grow and help others grow.

3. Rules to Resolve Conflict

In the presence of conflict and the absence of values, PLCs can suffer setbacks that could potentially destroy the team. Values that include guidelines for honest dialogue and steps to honor differences are crucial. Teams that fail to plan for conflict subconsciously are in effect lowering the barometer toward tornadic conditions.

Values are more Powerful than Directives

Successful PLCs thrive on collective commitments and reciprocal accountability. In essence, they are not dependent on the leader to tell them what to do and how to behave. Values are what brings the term, professional, to Professional Learning Communities. Both leaders and teams lose value time leading when they are forced to dedicate their efforts to holding people accountable. Leaders must hold people accountable from time to time, but when values are actively in place, leaders can direct the majority of their time to those who need development or redirection rather than every employee.

Each spring, there is plenty of stress to spread around. Strong teams are able to process stress in a healthy way as opposed to allowing it to turn into conflict. Weak teams allow conflict to deter them from their focus, and when the conditions are right, conflict turns into a tornado.

The best way to avoid a Cultural Tornado is to value your campus and staff enough to not allow a tornado to form in the first place.

2 Ways PLCs Battle through the Storm

Teams struggle.  Ideas conflict.  Beliefs sway.  Feelings get hurt.  Without accountability, teams slowly fracture to a point where kids are no longer the focus.  When teams battle and can't find their way, they must have something that brings them back together.

Leaders miss the point when they see their role as the referee during conflict.  No one is right and no one is wrong because the problem is the team and its interactions.  Each person on the team plays a part in the frustration.  With each action and reaction, every member of the team is wrong.  For the members that said nothing and did nothing, they, too, are responsible.

Here are 2 Tools that Great Teams use to hold themselves accountable.

1.  Mission

Our mission was defined by every member of the campus, and we described why our school exists.  When teams aren't performing, it is because they have forgotten why the campus exists and what part they play in fulfilling that moral purpose.  Our campus mission is simple:  One Exceptional Team + One Exceptional Goal = One's Exceptional Future.  There is no better way for teams to redirect their own behaviors than to ask the following questions:

• Am I being exceptional in my efforts to make our team exceptional?
• Am I focused on our team's exceptional goal or my own personal interests?
• Is our teamwork exceptional to the point that it leads all kids to their exceptional future?

 

2. Vision

The vision was written by the campus because we committed to where we want our campus to be in the future.  In that we designed specific components that must be visibly present on the campus when our vision becomes a reality.  When teams battle, they must compare their current reality to their desired outcome.  If a gap exists between where they are and where they want to be, teams must recommit to the vision.  Here are some questions that teams can ask as they resolve differences.

• Where can we improve to be a more disciplined team?
• What issues are preventing us from working together as a team?
• How can we embrace the uncertainty of natural inquiry so that we can promote a safe learning environment for all team members?
• What steps must we take to ensure that every member feels essential?

 

Battling through the Storm

Teams are like sailors on a ship in a vicious storm.  The only way that they can survive is that they must depend on their vessel and on one another.  The vessel is their mission, and the vision is their voyage.  Sailors can weather the storm if and only if they rely daily on the vessel and commit to their moral obligation to direct the ship to its destination.

What ways does your team battle through the storm?