This post is for the workshop I am conducting this week on blogging for my school district.
Welcome fellow administrators and school leaders. I have three goals for this workshop-
–Learn what blogging is and why school leaders should be blogging
–Browse a few education blogs and discuss what we see
–Create your own blog to get you stated in the world of blogging! We will discuss blogs that focus on communicating to your stakeholders and blogs that are used for professional reflection and communication.
Blogging is a way to stay current with other ed. leaders and gauge what is going on in our profession. You can spend all day (or a few minutes!) reading blogs written by fellow administrators and teachers. Maintaining your own blog is a great way to reflect on your craft and get your ideas and thoughts down on virtual paper. I hope you enjoy your journey!
Example of a blog primarily for scool communication — http://pudongesprincipal.saschinaonline.org/?cat=4
A great blog for ed. leaders–http://eduwonk.com/
I was recently at a workshop where I learned a great deal of things about educational best practices. However, I took one key central question away from the experience.
Do you have a PLAN to increase student achievement at your school?
I know all of our schools have a plan. Actually, most schools have several plans. Some are created by us, some are created because we are required to have them and yet some are created for a specific grant or program. What I am speaking of is a TRUE plan. Not one that is predetermined for us or fulfills a requirement.
We all have access to data and can create glossy looking charts and graphs. But what are we going to do with the data? I think we know how to make it look sleek, but again, what are we going to do with it and what is our plan?
We need to ask, do we have an authentic plan that forces us to focus on increasing student achievement? One that is focused and contains action steps that we will follow to get us to where we need to be going. Your plan should drive your ship. All stakeholders need to know the plan and how it needs to be implemented. All stakeholders should have a share in developing the plan. If we are to focus on reform, it can’t be done quickly and made to fit an awards application.
We have all attended many conferences and workshops on reform. I think this last one really hit the nail on the head. When we break it down to the bones, we must have a plan. One that fits our area and our school. It can never be about a program or award. Our people will determine if our plan works or fails.
I think this post has been on just about every blog at one time or another. It is time for the top 10 things I did not learn during my educational leadership graduate program.
10. How to rent, move and set up temporary lighting for our football practice field.
9. How to convert said practice field into a parking lot because our first home play-off football game in 10 years is taking place in our brand new on-campus stadium on the same night as our theater production.
8. How to catch and restrain the dog that wondered on campus that warm May morning. Once that was accomplished I did not learn who to call (Animal control, Police, my mom??..)
7. How to operate a complex system of 50 video survillance cameras.
6. How to oversee multiple multi-million dollar construction projects at the same time.
5. How to do research on animal living conditions to make sure our horticulture program was in the right.
4. How to explain to a teacher they really need to be in the classroom for the entire period.
3. How to move a crowd out at 10:45 PM on a Tuesday night after the basketball game ended 30 minutes ago.
2. How to respond to an irate parent that claims you are just “in it for the money”.
1. How to make 40 buses fit in an area that has space for 30 while keeping it safe all the while. Oh yeah, and to make sure the kids walking home stay out of the bus loop. And how to convince the secondary back-up person listed on the student emergency card to please pick up the student who missed the bus (Mom is two hours away and dad does not get off for another three).
Maybe I will learn this when I start to work on my Ph.D!
I think we have all heard of the classroom walk-through. They are part of our famous buzz word collection. I think CWT’s are a great way to get out and “smell what’s cooking”. I also think there can be a lot of fluff, or stuff that I do not necessarily need with CWT’s. I have been reflecting on how I incorporate CWT’s in my daily routine and how I can improve my practice in this area.
I currently use a hybrid system of CWT’s. I think they are a great way to manage by walking around (another buzz word!). They do afford you the chance to visit many classes in a short amount of time. If you observe a problem over the course of a few visits, you can probably bet IT IS a real problem. That is the essence of CWT’s–you may only be in the room for a few minutes so you need to look for patterns. When you visit your best teacher’s room for only a few minutes, it may look great or horrible. However, over time you will see the truth emerge.
Here is how I use CWT’s and how I plan to improve-
Read the rest of this entry »
I know there is nothing shiny or exciting about discipline, but it is a major part of our job. I usually enjoy writing about curriculum and technology issues, but today I want to talk discipline. We all know it can tremendously influence the culture of a school. If the kids are out of control, learning is not going to take place. If the climate is calm, then it opens the door for a culture of instruction and learning.
The first school I worked for in Florida was a “rough” one when I started. Fortunately, we had an excellent principal. He transformed the school and it became one of the top schools in the district. Was this due to discipline? Absolutely not, but we were never going to get to that point until we got the school under control. We realized that in order to get to our business of learning, we had to address the discipline problems at the school. This was not a quick process–in fact it took place over two or three years, but it led the way to a culture of learning. Previously, the focus was on behavior, now it was placed on academics. I use this example as a way to illustrate my point of discussing discipline.
Most schools, regardless of everything, have discipline issues. At my current school (middle school), we are starting to toss around the idea of a school wide, positive behavior plan. We also want to link that with a discipline matrix. The matrix would exist to guide consequences and let everyone know up front what will happen if Joe slaps Billy, etc…
Have you heard of the triangle?
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Up to this point, my blog has focused only on education. This late evening, I regress…
Moving on up..up from Florida that is!
Have you recently purchased a new television? It used to be simple–just pick a size and you were good to go! Now you have to choose from LCD, Plasma, DLP, rear projection CRT, etc…. Then you need to look at contrast ratios, pixels, and about a million other numbers and codes. I do love technology and tech toys, but come on, should it be this hard? However, I did sign up for Direct TV. I had to make sure I will be able to catch the Miami Dolphins now that I am out of the Sunshine State!
Anyway, we are in the middle of a move and I have been running back and forth to Home Depot, Sears, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc the past few days. I did not realize how quickly garden hoses and sprinklers add up! Those 10% off coupons do come in handy! Next week we get to journey to the really exciting places– the DMV and tax collector’s office! All of this while trying to finish up the master schedule!
One tid bit of blogging news-I will now be a regular contributor to Leader Talk. It is a great blog for ed leaders. My first post will be August 8th.
If you keep up with this blog, you know that I am still somewhat new to the game. However, it has been a wonderful experience both personally and professionally. I will be presenting at our district conference later this month. The topic? Blogging for administrators! I am going to ask you to respond to the following questions-
1. Explain the benefits you receive from blogging?
2. Name two or three of your favorite education blogs.
3. What tip or tips would you give someone new to blogging?
Here are my answers-
1. Blogging allows me to stay current regarding what others are doing in education. It is nice to roam around and see what my colleagues are doing around the world. Blogs give you a chance to get the real story, straight from the source. Writing a blog has been truly rewarding. It gives me an outlet to get my ideas and thoughts down on paper. Blogging makes you reflect and really think about our profession. I love sharing my ideas and then getting feedback. Blogs would also be a great tool for communicating with parents and other school stakeholders. It is a quick way to get the word out to the public.
2.
There are a ton of edublogs I enjoy. Do I Dare Disturb the Universe is one of my favorites. It is written by an assistant principal in Colorado. Scott was gracious enough to mentor me while setting up my blog. His content is great–check it out.
3.
My tip for a new blogger is to start slow. Read as many blogs as possible and post comments on blogs. Setting up your own blog is free and easy. Just take it slow and enjoy the ride!
I am going to tag Scott, Kimberely, Steve and Dave and ask them to answer the preceding questions. Thanks!
I came across an interesting article on nytimes.com. The article was on the ever popular topic of standardized testing. The focus of the article was on following student progress on the state test from year to year. Instead of just basing everything on having 100% of students reading and calculating at or above grade level by 2014, it allows us to look at individual progression on one scale over time. I think this gives you a better picture of student (and to a lesser extent teacher) performance.
Florida, where I worked in public education for 7 years, is one of the states that currently utilizes this type of data analysis. I thought it was a great tool to have at my disposal. It allowed me to see how much EACH child progressed (or regressed). It also allowed the parent to see the gains thier child was making from year to year. It was an effective tool to gauge teacher effectiveness as well. I know this use has limitations, but it is much more efficient that saying all teachers must move all of their students to grade level. If a teacher’s class is filled with low performing students and he or she brings them up a grade, then they should be celebrated.
As a teacher, I would prefer to be evaluated using this method. As an administrator, I think it is fair. When we expect each teacher to take every child, regardless of starting point, and move them to grade level, we can expect outcries from teachers. If I was teaching, I would probably do the same. I think placing more emphasis on the growth models makes more sense. Do I think test scores should be the only component of teacher evaluations? No, No, No! However, I think using growth models based on test scores should be a part of teacher evaluation. The article continues about how Dallas school district decided to remove about 30 teachers due to not enough of their students passing the state test AND not showing adequate progress on growth models.
What do you think?
You can view the article by clicking the link:
A Chinese Proverb,
- If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow GRAIN
- If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow TREES
- If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow PEOPLE
I will translate this to our field of education,
- If you want 1 year of prosperity, get a great test prep program
- If you want 10 years of prosperity, become a magnet school!
- If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow PEOPLE
Notice the similarity. How true in education.
I am currently reading, “Feed The Teachers or They Will Eat the Students”. The book is an easy read that calls for a bunch of thought and reflection. I learned from a prior principal that this is such a big part of our job. School morale is the starting point for any improvement. However, I have found it is tough to keep the praise real and meaningful at times. The book gives you plenty of fresh ideas. Here are some of my favorite ways to show teachers how valuable they are and things I have used in the past:
- Hand written thank you notes/cards
Entries in newsletters celebrating them
- Food, food and more food!!!!
- Mentioning a teacher when addressing a large group of teachers
- Taking time to listen to their needs/ideas and placing value on them. I would caution you against asking for their ideas and then ignoring them.
I am sure I have used many more techniques, but those are the ones that come to mind as I sit here on vacation in sunny Flroida! Our job as administrators is to do all we can to create the correct atmosphere. It allows teachers to teach and not worry about all of the small things. I always tell my teachers that my main job is to clear everything out of their way and let them teach. I truly believe that is my number one responsibility as an administrator. There is a great quote in the book I am currently reading–
“The best teachers remember what it was like to be a student. The best administrators remember what it was like to be a teacher.”
What are some ways you have found effective at creating positive staff morale?
