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Look to the Future and Break From Tradition for Student Success

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This month I oversee my 13th graduation ceremony as a New Hampshire high school principal. Between the tones of the bagpipers that usher my graduates to the stage to the tears of joy from family and friends, I see nothing but hope, drive, and optimism in my students’ eyes as they wait for the moment their teachers have been talking about for many years. My students, like so many across the nation, are about to enter a brave new world. It is one in which their ability to engage in soft skills such as creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and time management will determine the extent of their success. These skills, according to the World Economic Forum, are the most in-demand skills companies are looking for today.

Our world has changed drastically while our graduates have been in our schools. Just two months before they started first grade, the iPhone was released to the marketplace for the first time. This device, along with all other brands of smartphone, have revolutionized just about every part of our society in some way. Many of today’s jobs didn’t exist when our students were in first grade, and yet we as educators had a duty even back then to prepare our students for this unknown future. It is getting more and more difficult to predict what our future will look like. Given this, how are our teachers preparing students for this brave new world? Have their instructional approaches changed? Have our school priorities changed? Do they need to change?

Our American preK–12 education system is at a crossroads, perhaps one of the most critical of its 350-year existence. Our profession needs to choose our next path, and the path we choose will be critiqued and debated for many years to come.

To understand the magnitude of this choice, consider a similar situation from the private sector. Just 20 years ago, Blockbuster was the leader of its industry with a store in just about every community across America. The chain thrived on a model where the consumer would go to the store to browse the hundreds, if not thousands of VHS and DVD titles available for rental. Around the turn of the millennium, this company made a fatal flaw when it opted not to acquire a little-known competitor, Netflix, that was building a business around mailing movies out in little red envelopes. The company later jumped onto streaming technology when it became widely available. The executives at the brick and mortar video chain either couldn’t or wouldn’t take note of the rise of streaming technology, a concept that was going to revolutionize the industry in just a few years. They believed that as long as its company guarded the content, it could control the market and decide when and how consumers would gain access to it.

Education faces this same dilemma. For centuries, schools were built on the assumption that they existed to store all of the world’s knowledge through books and the expertise of their teachers. It was the school’s job to distribute that knowledge to students, piece by piece, until students could reach a point where they would be ready to create new knowledge and understanding to impart to society. The rise of technology and information-sharing over the last 20 years has taken away the need for schools to be the keepers of that information.

We learn new things each day without the assistance of a teacher. Just last week, I learned how to change my bathroom faucet by watching others do it and post their results on YouTube. My 12-year old son, Brady, fixed my lawn mower this past summer using the same learning tool. Decades ago I had a part-time job at the college library, which was the building that held every piece of information that Boston University stored. Today, I carry a handheld electronic device in my pocket that has access to considerably more information than that Boston University library could ever hold today. In fact, it would probably take thousands of libraries to store that same amount of information. The problem we face now is that we have too much information. Some is good, some is bad. How do we use that information to make sense of our world?

The game has changed. Schools are no longer the gatekeepers of the knowledge. Their primary purpose is now to help students apply and transfer that knowledge and skills in and across content areas. Like Netflix mailing out videos in red envelopes just 20 years ago, many schools have started to figure this out. They have found ways to break from tradition and actively engage students in deeper and more authentic learning using strategies such as competency-based learning, project-based learning, work-based learning, blended learning, inquiry-based learning, personalized learning, performance assessments, portfolio assessments, and student-centered projects. Sadly, there are still some schools that can’t or won’t make this shift. They may suffer the same fate that Blockbuster endured as a result of its inability to keep pace.

Principals play a critical role in shaping the future of education and the direction their schools will take. They have to break from tradition and navigate tricky waters as they embark on this journey by recognizing their school’s limitations with regard to resources, policies, politics, and their community’s willingness to break from tradition in order to evolve.

What will it take from you as a principal for your school to be ready to implement a personalized, competency-based system?

Brian M. Stack is the NASSP 2017 New Hampshire Secondary School Principal of the Year. He is Principal of Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston, the author of Breaking With Tradition: The Shift to Competency Based Learning in PLCs at Work, 2018 by Solution Tree, and an expert for Understood.org. He consults with schools around the country engaged in school redesign. He lives with his wife Erica and his five children—Brady, Cameron, Liam, Owen, and Zoey—on the New Hampshire seacoast. You can follow Brian on Twitter@bstackbu or learn more about him by visiting his blog.


Is Your Campus Professional Development Effective?

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We have barely completed one school year before we are planning for the next. Like other schools across the country, Midway High School in Waco, TX, is planning for back-to-school professional development in August and deciding on the goals and initiatives that will drive the next school year. Our focus tends to be on whatwill be delivered to teachers to enhance our school culture, curriculum, and instructional practices. But, what about howwe train our teachers? What elements make professional development effective and impactful?

The 2017 report Effective Teacher Professional Development by Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria E. Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner identifies the practices of effective professional development, which our school has adopted to drive what we do for our teachers. The report reviewed 35 studies that demonstrated a positive connection between teacher professional development, teaching practices, and student outcomes. The study found that the seven elements of effective professional development: maintained content focus, incorporated active learning strategies, supported collaboration, modeled strategies, provided access to an expert beyond the training, offered feedback or reflection time, and were sustained in duration.

Applying Effective Professional Development Elements

At Midway High School our approach to apply the elements of effective professional development occurs primarily through our Professional Learning Community (PLC) that is embedded in the school day. One day a week, during the PLC time, we offer Tech & Teach Tuesday. Tech & Teach is devoted to professional learning and is focused on research-based instructional strategies that are paired with instructional technology tools. Teachers attend these PLC sessions with their content team.

Active Learning

We believe that active learning strategies are the best approach for adults as well as students. Tech & Teach incorporates as many hands-on and discussion-based activities as possible to allow teachers to interact with the information and share their own experiences. The first week in each three-week series is a discussion of a best-practices strategy, and the second week is an opportunity to interact with instructional technology tools. Teach & Tech allows teachers the opportunity to spend time experiencing the ideas and tools that complement one another and can be incorporated in their classroom.

Content Focused

Tech & Teach is offered in a way that promotes teacher discussion, interaction, and then application of new instructional strategies. Content teams have dedicated time within each professional development series to meet independently and align the strategies they most recently learned with a technology tool.

Collaboration

We believe collaboration is crucial in the learning to application process. Teams of content teachers attend PLC together and have opportunities to discuss how strategies or tools fit what they are teaching at the time. Meeting with their PLC every day provides the teacher time and an environment of collegial practice. Teachers can discuss instructional approaches as well as offer support to one another when one teacher may be more experienced with a particular skill or strategy.

Expert Support

Teachers will try new things when they feel someone is available to provide support. At Midway High School we are very fortunate to have two instructional technologists on our campus. Teachers are not hesitant to ask the expert—a campus technologist or sometimes their colleague—about teaching practices or tools.

Time for Reflection

We feel reflection encourages us to think deeply about the effectiveness of our practice and pushes us into the continuous improvement mindset. The third week of each Tech & Teach series concludes with a reflection piece and sharing of the content team created products via a digital portfolio.

Sustained in Duration

Tech & Teach Tuesday is possible because we encourage daily professional learning time for teachers through a PLC period. If this time is not available at your campus, think of ways to incorporate ongoing professional development through faculty meetings or other digital mediums.

Research tells us that teachers are the most influential factor contributing to improved student achievement. The “what” and “how” of training our teachers will equip them with best-practice strategies for reaching students. We must consider the importance of teacher learning as the demands increase in preparing students to be knowledgeable, global learners. 

Are you satisfied with the professional development you provide to teachers? How many of these best-practice elements can you incorporate next year to influence the effectiveness of professional development on your campus?

Becky Odajima, EdD, is the associate principal at Midway High School in Waco, TX. Midway High School serves over 2400 students. Odajima is the 2018 Texas Assistant Principal of the Year. Follow her on Twitter @beckyotech.

PHOTO CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Sarah Collins, Instructional Technologist, works with the Languages Other than English (LOTE) PLC team as they learn about managing student collaboration with Apple Classroom.

 

Digital Resources to Use for Immediate Growth

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Whether you’re an experienced educator or just getting started, you will always have moments of self-doubt that may leave you confused or unable to make the important decisions we as educational leaders must make. I will admit, when I first started out in administration, self-doubt happened more often than I desired. As I began to expand my Personal Learning Network (PLN), my doubts as a leader began to diminish. One of the ways my PLN helped me was by sharing a wealth of digital resources that guided me through a variety of daily situations that principals encounter.

Let’s take a look at some digital resources to use as an educational leader to save time, foster your professional growth, and lessen those pesky self-doubts:

Pinterest

With Pinterest, you “pin” your interests and read other pins from people who share the same interests. The site and app are user-friendly, and creating your own board to organize your pins and share with others is easy. Click here for my video instructions on how to use Pinterest. This is a great tool for teachers and leaders to use with thousands of ideas for instruction and a variety of classroom resources.

Cybrary Man’s Educational Websites

Educator Jerry Blumengarten is the Cybrary Man, and his user-friendly website is one of the top resources for educators around the world. The site is well organized with a variety of topics not only for educators, but also for parents and students. One of my favorite topics is the professional development page for administrators. Here you’ll find an abundance of ways to help improve professional development for teachers and administrators.

GettingSmart.com

From professional learning to blended and personalized learning, you can explore a number of topics on Getting Smart, a learning design firm that works with foundations, learning organizations, and schools to develop and curate educational content. I use the Leadership topic the most and have discovered helpful articles and resources about culture, family engagement, and early learning.

EducatorsTechnology.com

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning is a must-have resource for any schools using Google Suites, Chromebooks, or iPads. This terrific site houses daily blogs on topics ranging from iPads, how to get the most out of Google Drive, and infographics—to name a few. I enjoy reading this site daily to find resources to share with teachers in different subject areas. This helpful categories section brings up over 100 topics to search and discover articles about all things EdTech and mobile learning.

DitchThatTextbook.com

Not only is Matt Miller’s Ditch That Textbook a great book, his website is also very useful. School leaders can find creative teaching ideas and ways to use technology in the classroom at all content areas and levels of instruction. I enjoy accessing the teacher link under the articles tab. The site has many resources, including one of my favorites: “15 go-to resources for teachers short on time.”

Inc.com

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about business, sports, or education. Leaders lead, plain and simple. Don’t underestimate the power of a traditional business site with excellent leadership resources. Inc.com is packed with leadership stories that are short and to the point. My favorite is the Lead page which contains leadership tips from around the world.

Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review is another great business site that is traditionally known for its business research and articles. I enjoy accessing their education page, which contains a number of articles ranging from artificial intelligence to what makes a great educational leader. Similar to Inc.com, the articles are short, and many include external links for even more resources.

Right Relevance

Right Relevance allows you to search and discover relevant topics related to your search query. The articles are then identified, ranked, and sent to you via email once a day. This is an excellent way to get quick and targeted professional development resources delivered to you.

Flipboard

The Flipboard app and site allow the user to create magazines that are based on your specific interests. The name Flipboard comes from the app itself: You literally flip the pages like a magazine to read different articles based on your interest. If it sounds confusing, watch my video instructions on how to use Flipboard.

It’s human nature to question yourself at times. As leaders, when we have resources to assist our growth, we need to use them to help others and enable our own self-growth. Take a deep dive into one or two of these resources to find out how they can help you grow as a leader. You will be surprised at how those episodes of self-doubt will decrease while you become a better leader each day.

Don’t see a resource that you use? Share the resource you like to use that provides quick, effective professional development.

Bobby Dodd is the principal at William Mason High School in Mason, OH. He is a 2016 NASSP Digital Principal of the Year winner and hosts his website, The Educational Leaders, which contains a variety of resources for educators. You can find him on Twitter @bobby__dodd.

 

Leveraging Technology to Bring Homebound Students into Classrooms

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Two teachers at our school both have Kevin, a sixth grader, as a student in their class. Kevin went to one of the elementary schools that many of our kids attended. They know him. He’s registered and has a student ID number. His particulars, even his photo, are in the student management system. He’s been assigned to a sixth-grade middle school team of two teachers, Lauren and Bess. But Kevin has an illness that prevents him from coming to school for the present time. He’s going to get better, but he has yet to step foot in our school building. Consider how difficult that must be for this boy.

I know that there are robot-like devices that can be used for kids to attend school under these circumstances. There was an IBM commercial that showed a kid attending school from home while remotely operating a robot that traveled the hallways and even joined his friends in the cafeterias at lunchtime. There was a story on the news in 2014 about a high school freshman on Long Island who attended school using a robot because he was recovering from appendicitis surgery. But his mom works for the company that makes these robots. She loaned one to the school for her son. That was three years ago. I haven’t taken a sick day in five years, yet still no robots.

Here’s where his middle school teachers come in. Bess and Lauren didn’t wait for the robots. They are cutting-edge technology users. That’s not to say that they are always incorporating bells and whistles into their lessons. But they realize that if there’s a way to leverage technology in order for kids to connect with people or obtain information in a way they could not access without technology, then they are eager to incorporate digital tools. They use Flipgrid to give students another way to demonstrate learning without using pen and paper. They use Google Hangouts and Facetime to do Mystery Skypes with kids in other parts of the country or across the globe.

Bess and Lauren jumped in and got Kevin into class using simple, free technology that is available to anyone with a laptop or any device. Using an app called Appear.in that is designed for video conversations and meetings, Kevin joins the class every day via his computer at home.  Bess and Lauren have leveraged technology to bring Kevin into their classrooms every day. It’s incredible and inspiring.

I had a chance to see Kevin in action recently when the sixth grade at our school organized a student-led EdCamp (read more about #KidCamp here). The teachers and students carried a Chromebook around to different sessions as Kevin attended by video conference. He chose what sessions he wanted to join because the session board was posted online for everyone to view. He joined a session I facilitated called “Music: What are you listening to? Let’s talk.” It was so cool to learn about the music my middle school kids are listening to. We used a Padlet to post a link to songs we like and the discussion went on from there. We simply talked about the nature of music and why we love it. Kevin had the link to the Padlet, and he was able to post his own links and share songs he liked. He is an incredible kid.

I think that Bess and Lauren are going to be a little embarrassed that I’m writing about this because they’re not looking for any credit, but it is too awesome not to share their agile use of technology, their willingness to think outside the box, their incredible empathy and love for their students, the love of the other sixth-grade students for their friend, the innovation of Kid EdCamp, and the inclusion of Kevin in the different sessions. How many “Kevins” are there around the world? It’s pretty simple to bring them into our schools and classrooms. It’s great for Kevin. It’s transformative for all of us.

How has your school leveraged technology to bring homebound kids into classrooms?

Donald Gately, EdD, serves as the principal of Jericho Middle School in Jericho, NY. He was the 2016 New York Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @donald_gately and visit his blog In the Middle of Learning.

Reclaiming the Narrative of Public Education

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June is a time of year when educators naturally tend to reflect on their practice and plan for their future. As school leaders, we take a deep breath as we contemplate the successes and challenges of the previous year, and then we begin formulating goals and plans for next year’s work. I would like to challenge you to add one more layer to your reflection and planning: How did you tell the story of your school’s successes last year, and how can you play an active role in reclaiming the narrative around public education?

The Narrative

Public education as an entity tends to reinforce the often negative narrative about America’s schools—that they are broken and they need to be fixed. As school leaders, we know this is far from the truth. We are doing the hard work of preparing our students for an innovative, fast-paced, and constantly evolving world—and we are doing it well. However, the leading story on the news tends to be about inadequate funding, inadequate training, and inadequate achievement. These negative stories often precede a plea for support or funding.

As school leaders, we are a crucial part in shifting this perception. We are the voices of our school and school district, and it is important for us to take the time to reflect on how we can positively impact the messaging around the successes of public education. Make your contribution to the narrative a key part of your planning for next year.

What Story Are You Telling?

 

Take a moment to reflect on the way that you help tell your school’s story. Here are some ideas to consider as you reflect:

  • What avenue do you use to celebrate your school? Is that reaching only parents associated with the school or does it include other community members?
  • Conduct a quick Google search of your school. What do you find? Is it content created by members of the school or by a third party?
  • Do you have communication structures set up to identify things to celebrate? Do teachers have a way to share the things going on in their classes? How often do they share that with you?
  • How do you share your school’s successes with school district leaders?
  • Access your school’s website. Does your website include details about the great things going on in your building? Is your website updated regularly? Does it highlight both student and teacher successes?

#PublicEdProud

The key to shifting the narrative around public education is that we reach a wide audience. While our parent newsletters or emails are a great place to celebrate students, we must think about how we leverage social media to reach other community members. Most schools utilize a Facebook or Twitter account to post information and to highlight things happening in the school. This is an excellent way to engage with community members and tell your school’s story. Social media apps also tend to be visual, user friendly, and serve as a quick way to post snippets of content which tend to be more manageable. Some things to consider when engaging in social media:

  • Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Nothing showcases your school better than photos or video of learning and engagement.
  • Master the #hashtag. Hashtags are a great way to collect social media posts that users can follow, and it is also a way to have some fun! Brainstorm some hashtags that describe your school or school district. Not sure about using hashtags? Peruse Twitter to find some great examples.
  • Tag other social media accounts. With tagging, you can broaden the audience for your posts. For example, if a student received a scholarship from a local organization, you can tag that organization in your post to better promote your content.

Approximately 90 percent of school-aged children in America are enrolled in public schools. We are doing amazing work, and we should be proud to celebrate the innovative and student-centered learning environments we have created for our students. As you begin to plan for next year, include this work in your goals.

Take time to consider your role as a school leader in telling your school’s story and engage in reclaiming the narrative of public education.

Andrea Smith is Principal of Lyons Middle Senior High School in St. Vrain Valley Schools in Lyons, CO. She is the 2018 Colorado Assistant Principal of the Year. Follow her on Twitter @SmithSVVSD.

 

Build Relationships with Students in 3 Seconds

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Every day in schools, educators have quick breaks during instruction, between class changes, and in hallways where the focus isn’t on learning. I believe that these three-second moments are important opportunities to build relationships between students and staff that contribute to a school’s positive culture. What are you doing with the three-second moments you have with each student you encounter?

Everyone understands building relationships with students is a vital part of achieving success in school. As the Wallace Foundation states, “the affective bonds between students and teachers associated with a sense of community are crucial in engaging and motivating students to learn in schools of any type.” No one would argue that relationships aren’t important, but do educators really understand how to build relationships using school as the platform?

For me, it is a simple recipe for success starting with the three-second moments that we have throughout our day. In the hallways of my high school hangs a quote by author Robert Brault that reads, “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Relationships are not built by principals and teachers making grand speeches; relationships are built within those three-second moments that occur each and every day.

Every year I interview our seniors to share their insights on their school experience at River View. One of the questions I ask is, “What teacher has made an impact on you as a student at RVHS?” Students’ responses vary, but the essence of their answer always involves how much time a teacher spends with the student on an individual basis. Whether in the hallway, at the teacher’s desk, or during the last minutes before the bell rings, this time – though seemingly small – makes a huge difference in a student’s life. When a senior mentions a coach who made a difference, it is always in reference to the one-on-one conversations, the bus rides to events, or the long talks after practice that set the great ones apart. Time with students is an investment, and if missed, becomes an opportunity we can never get back. We must learn to utilize the three-second moments that are in front of us.

Like other schools, we are currently examining our systems and policies when it comes to grading. Many studies indicate that only 20 percent of students are motivated by grades. So, this begs the question, what about the other 80 percent? How are they motivated to achieve passing grades to obtain a high school diploma? In Daniel Coyle’s book, The Culture Code, he describes those organizations that have created a great culture with high performance amongst its membership. The top two factors that he found in his research were that members of the organization felt safeandconnected. Coyle then lists several traits of the organizations that he studied. Following is a partial list of those traits that were noticed, not in the big events, but in those three-second moments of social interaction:

  • Close physical proximity
  • Often in circles
  • Profuse amounts of eye contact
  • Physical touch (handshakes, fist bumps, hugs)
  • Lots of short, energetic exchanges (no long speeches)

Can you imagine being in a school—the hallways, cafeteria, or bus area—where this interaction was the norm? Using those three-second moments whenever they present themselves could help promote a culture of caring and reduce issues with student motivation in every school.

Finally, during this time when teachers everywhere are stressed about testing cycles and the end of the year, it is easy to lose sight of whyyou entered this profession. Three-second moments provide the greatest reminder of why you became an educator. These daily interactions create opportunities not only for learning but also for teachers to remember that we were once in their shoes. Many of us went into this profession because we admired the way a teacher or group of teachers created opportunities or built relationships with us. They utilized those three-second moments when they had the chance. I hope you can do the same and keep your whyin front of you as we close school for another year.

Is your staff utilizing their three-second moments to create strong relationships with students? 

Chuck Rinkes is the principal at River View High School in Warsaw, OH. He is the 2018 Ohio Principal of the Year. Chuck is also the 2014 President of the OASSA and 2007 President of Ohio’s Baseball Coaches Association (OHSBCA). Follow him on Twitter at @Chuckrinkes.

Mission Accomplished: Using Systematic Thinking to Support a School’s Vision

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Since 2013, I’ve served as the assistant principal at Milford Junior/Senior High School and have grown as an educational leader through graduate studies and countless professional development opportunities. Each time I think about school leadership, I find myself going back to the seven principles of outstanding leadership that Pat Williams, the senior vice president of the Orlando Magic, shared in his book, Leadership Excellence. Those principles are vision, communication, people skills, character, competence, boldness, and a servant’s heart. What strikes me is that the very first topic he addresses is “vision.”

As educators, we’ve all worked on developing vision and mission statements. We know that these statements are important as they chart a map to the future and assert the goals that you have as a leader. Countless studies, like the research reported by the Wallace Foundation, support the importance of developing a schoolwide vision for the success of our schools. I like how author and pastor Bill Hybels puts it: “Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion.” If there is no vision, the folks around you will never develop the passion for achieving their goals as an organization.

But just having a vision for a school is not enough. A vision and mission need systems in place to support them; otherwise, they become just a collection of words on a piece of paper. We can inspire others with words, but it is the system that helps us utilize those words to motivate others and achieve our goals. Our job as school leaders is to make the vision and mission a reality. How can school leaders think systematically to support their vision and mission to see them ultimately come to fruition?

Our Vision and Mission

At Milford Public Schools, our vision states, “Everyone has a story…make yours worth telling.” All that we do and strive to be as a district revolves around the idea that we are helping our students write better stories for themselves. As a leadership team, we constantly utilize our district’s vision to focus our activities, programs, and how we choose to educate the students in our community.

Our mission statement paints a more detailed picture, complete with belief statements of what that looks like and how we are going to help our students write the best story they can during their time at Milford Public Schools. Our mission statement is “Milford Public Schools will prepare all students to be successful citizens. Our mission is fulfilled when all students: read with comprehension, speak and write clearly, compute accurately, reason logically, understand and appreciate the fine arts, apply suitable strategies and habits of mind to solve problems, utilize technology to communicate and to understand information, behave morally, and compete honorably.”

Vision and Mission Accountability

At Milford Public Schools we have a school board in place that asks questions and also wants to be informed throughout the decision-making process so that they can understand what we are trying to accomplish as an administrative team. To thoughtfully present our ideas and plans, our administration must be prepared to answer board members’ questions while remaining organized throughout the decision-making process. This system holds us accountable to our vision and mission as a district and has proven to be a valuable part of how we lead so that we know the students are getting the best we can give them. We utilize the four guiding questions developed by Richard DuFour and the professional learning community model to evaluate almost all decisions that affect our students and their learning experience in our district. Those questions are: What do we expect our students to know? How will we know that they have learned it? How will we respond when they don’t learn it? How will we respond if they already know it?

Decision Making Through Our Eagle Pride Model

Once we can have the discussion about how an idea fits into our vision and is visible within our mission statement and we can justify the decisions being made through the four guiding questions, we utilize our Eagle Pride model to work through any other details in the decision-making processes. You can find more information about Eagle Pride here. Eagle Pride is still our discipline model, but it has also shaped the experience that we want to offer our students.

Staff Support for Our Vision and Mission

Engaging staff in our systematic approach to support the district’s vision is a critical component addressed in our professional development plan. Our professional development plan engages staff in numerous ways. Staff reflect on current practice, develop new ideas, share with one another, and assist the administration in the decision-making processes. The staff at Milford Public Schools works tirelessly to ensure that our vision is supported and ultimately achieved.

Mission (and Vision) Accomplished

Schools can see their vision and mission realized when administrators provide systematic thinking to support their goals. Having a robust system in place for decision making is vital in guiding an organization’s vision. Bold leadership teams must be willing to hold each other and staff accountable to the vision and the decision-making process. At Milford Public Schools, our superintendent and director of learning are persistent in making sure that the building level leadership is leading in a way that is supportive of our district’s vision.

What are some systems that you have in place to ensure that you are meeting the vision and mission of your school district?

Cameron Soester is the assistant principal of Milford Jr/Sr High in Milford, NE. He was the 2016 Nebraska Assistant Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @csoester.

 

Dive Into Deeper Learning Through Make-A-Thons

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A key focus at LaCreole Middle School has been deeper learning, both what it is and what it looks like. We explore deeper learning by finding ways to immerse our entire school community in innovative experiences so that they can engage as a learner again. One of our best experiences is the make-a-thon, which we use in both professional development sessions and special community engagement events.

What is Make-A-Thon?

My friend Derek Runberg, a SparkFun Electronics instructor, developed the make-a-thon concept, which pairs technical skills of coding with the open-source electronic prototyping platform Arduino. Make-a-thons are about making things together, with a focus on utilizing practical design thinking to develop prototypes using common craft items with the goal of finding solutions to real or hypothetical problems.

This kind of event is intended to immerse participants in co-learning situations where deeper learning competencies are put into action. A co-learning event reflects authentic problem-solving where everyone is the teacher and the student. A make-a-thon is not about what you are learning, but about how you are learning and working together to rapidly create solutions. Watch this quick video highlighting the LaCreole Middle School Make-A-thon.

Make-A-Thon’s Deeper Learning Practices

Recently, Derek and I were able to facilitate a make-a-thon at the Deeper Learning Conference in San Diego. Our objective was to demonstrate how a make-a-thon incorporates deeper learning practices in fun and engaging ways. It was also our hope that learners would gain ideas to promote and facilitate deeper learning practices in their own schools. During the daylong Deep Dive, participants were immersed in deeper learning competencies: developing academic mindsets, developing content mastery (which included self-directed learning), communicating, collaborating, creative problem-solving, and critical thinking. At the end of the day, teams presented their prototypes at an exhibition of learning.

Key Questions to Guide Deeper Learning

Our work developing deeper learning is based around three main goals: solving real-world problems, building connections between our students and those problems, and ultimately creating an emphasis on public exhibition of learning. Through project-based learning, we have increased our awareness of the importance of these three vital aspects. Below are a few ways the make-a-thon experience has helped us create and model deeper learning experiences, allowing for student creativity and problem-solving to shine:

What real-world problems are your students trying to solve?

Using our Deep Dive as an example, once our teams had sufficient content knowledge through the coding session and began to get the hang of programming, they were presented with Deep Dive challenges to develop their prototype for exhibition:

  • Design and build a prototype device that would enable you to automatically feed your pet when they are present or walk up to the feeder.
  • Some species of fish are attracted to light, some to sound. Design and build a device that separates multiple species of fish to different parts of a tank.
  • Indy the octopus is a suspect in a fish-thieving ring, escaping from his tank and stealing food stored in nearby containers. Design and create a prototype that will detect Indy’s escape or notify when there are fish tank intruders.

How do you build connections and foster motivation?

These challenges were developed in conjunction with professionals from the Birch Aquarium, who helped us navigate some potential real-world problems in the San Diego area. Finding real-world scenarios and problems for our students creates a sense of empathy and connection with whoever is faced with a particular challenge. Making every effort to engage with a real-world scenario helps to answer this question.

When and how do your students share their learning?

Starting with an end in mind is important when it comes to a focus on learning, and one of the key questions we focus on is this: When do our students share their learning? As we create projects, our goal is always to have our students either defend or promote their learning to a larger audience. Student reflection is often framed by these general questions: Where did they struggle? Where did they find the most success? How did they adjust within their teams to reach the finish line? Exhibition has been a motivating factor for our kids. Certainly, at the end of the day the work will speak for itself in a make-a-thon, but having learners reflect upon their experience works to highlight those deeper learning competencies.

True deeper learning experiences allow students’ learning to change from simply participating to actively engaging and taking real ownership of their learning, which is really at the heart of deeper learning. During our Deep Dive, participants worked at a feverish pace to complete their prototypes. During exhibition, teams were able to reflect upon their experience through the lens of what a deeper learning experience looked and felt like as a participant, which allowed for a new perspective. All who were involved came away with a sense of pride in their work and an elevated sense of what could be accomplished in just a short time frame, taking with them ideas of how to incorporate these purposeful activities for learning back in their own districts.

How might we create and model a culture of deeper learning in all learning communities?

Jamie Richardson is the principal of LaCreole Middle School in Dallas, OR. He is one of the 2017 Digital Principals of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @JamieR42.


Reflections on Exceptional Teachers

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When I think back on my teachers who were most effective, there is something they all had in common: They seemed excited to be teaching us. Teachers should always be aware of the attitude and energy they bring into class. I promise you—the students are aware of it.

When teachers show up for work, deliver quality lessons, and treat the students well—even when they don’t feel like it—they demonstrate their professionalism. And they earn the admiration of their colleagues.

My daughter has talked for several years about how much she loved her fifth-grade teacher. When I asked her what she liked about this teacher, she responded: “She liked us!” So simple, yet so profound. Kids gravitate to the teachers that like them.

There is a teacher that both my sons had in high school. They both raved about her. When I asked my younger son what he liked about her, he said without hesitation: “She cares so much! She cares so much about her job!” The kids notice—never forget that.

We talk a lot about students being engaged. It occurs to me that one of the hallmarks of an exceptional classroom is the teacher being engaged. Kids love it when their teacher is active, involved, and energized. And they can tell which ones are really into it and which ones aren’t.

In a great classroom, the students aren’t the only learners. The teacher is also a learner. When teachers are curious, when they are vulnerable, when they continue to grow, they provide stronger instruction as well as a great example to their students.

It’s nice when teachers are creative, dynamic, and innovative, but I actually think I prefer patient, flexible, and kind.

I once asked a principal what makes his teacher so awesome. He said she is relentless about trying new strategies or finding resources to help kids understand math. She will do whatever it takes to help them succeed. Exceptional teachers will do whatever it takes!

Good relationships with students usually do not happen accidentally. They are intentionally cultivated by exceptional educators.

Teachers don’t have to be funny, creative, innovative, inspiring, or charismatic. But they have to care about their students and take pride in their work. If they do those two, they will have a remarkable career.

Exceptional teachers teach, and then reteach, and sometimes tutor individually because they realize not every student gets it the first or even the second time.

We can’t control the home environment of our students, but exceptional teachers control their classroom environment. Under their care, the students can feel safe, supported, and loved.

Exceptional teachers don’t need Wi-Fi to engage their students. Technology is a great thing, but the passion of the teachers is always the most important variable in the classroom.

Great teachers make it look easy, but they actually work really hard at it. Greatness never comes without commitment and sacrifice.

The most effective teachers are the ones who realize they’re the most important variable in the classroom.

The legacy of exceptional teachers is not built in their lesson plan but in their conversations with students. The lessons are important, but the relationships are essential. Passionate teachers don’t just inspire their students—they inspire their colleagues. They have the potential to impact the culture of the entire school.

Most exceptional teachers did not start out that way. But they reflected on what worked and what didn’t, they learned from their colleagues, and they always kept their focus on students.

 Every teacher has the potential to be a better teacher.

What do you think makes a teacher exceptional? How do you try to cultivate exceptional teachers?

Danny Steele has served as the principal of Thompson Sixth Grade Center in Alabaster, AL, for the past five years, where his passion has been building a school culture that values connections with kids, fosters collaboration among teachers, and focuses on raising student achievement. In the fall of 2019, he will be an assistant professor of instructional leadership at the University of Montevallo. In 2005 Steele was recognized as Alabama’s Assistant Principal of the Year, and in 2016 he was named Alabama’s Secondary Principal of the Year. He has written two books with Todd Whitaker: Essential Truths for Teachers and Essential Truths for PrincipalsFollow him on Twitter @SteeleThoughts and check out his blog, Steele Thoughts.

Casting a Wide Net: The Evolution of Virtual Learning

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For many years, high schools in West Virginia followed a traditional path to graduation. Basic core classes and electives were offered in a face-to-face setting, with the students sitting in rows of chairs facing the teacher at the front of the room. However, it became clear that new ideas and innovative tools were needed to embrace the future of education. Over time, we cast a wide net by dramatically expanding virtual learning opportunities for students at our small high school.

It all started with the notion of dual credit classes offered through our local university, allowing students to earn college credit while fulfilling high school requirements at minimal cost. This excited both parents and students, who often graduated from high school with a semester of college credit and no debt. Collaborative learning followed, where the teacher no longer lectured the students but worked with them as a facilitator of learning by challenging them to take ownership of their progress and comprehension. Using best practices based on national research, teachers were instructing at higher depths of knowledge than ever before. To enhance this style of learning, our district introduced a 1:1 initiative with students receiving their own electronic device, an Apple iPad. This opened the online world to Sissonville High School. Exploring digital texts, researching and producing their own videos, and thinking critically about contemporary issues all came from providing our students instant access to information.

Credit recovery changed dramatically with the introduction of online learning. If a student needed to go back and relearn content standards that were not mastered, they were now able to do so online and remain on track to graduate. As both teachers and students honed their technological skills, the era of virtual classes emerged. The ability to expand class offerings for our small high school was a watershed event. Starting small, students who could not physically attend school could participate and complete graduation requirements along with their cohorts. Then, if our master schedule did not allow for individual preference in classes, we could now offer courses virtually. Personalized education plans were expanded to include offerings previously available only to larger schools in our area, including medical terminology, agriculture science, criminal justice, and AP courses.

Casting a wide net has opened myriad opportunities for our students. Virtual schooling has seen explosive growth over the past year, and we now offer full-time, part-time, and individual classes to our students. The district online program, of which we are a part, has grown from single digits to expecting over 400 students this upcoming fall. The possibilities for our students are endless. We are optimistic and excited to see what the future holds.

Melanie E. White is curriculum assistant principal at Sissonville High School, Charleston, WV. She is the 2017 West Virginia Assistant Principal of the Year. Follow her on Twitter at @whitem7.

Waist High in Sand: Staying Focused on What’s Important

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At first, the image of being surrounded by sand might be appealing. Personally, being on any beach with loved ones is one of my favorite places to be. But in the era of high stakes testing and the burden of ultimate accountability for a school’s success or failure resting squarely on the shoulders of the building leadership, not sweating the small stuff can make it difficult to stay out of the sand some days, weeks, or longer. Let this serve as a reminder about staying focused on what is truly important.

Regardless of where we are in our school improvement process, I find it important to take my staff through a personal and professional goal-setting activity at the beginning of every school year. Called everything from “Filling our Bucket” and “What’s in Our Jar” to “Not Living in the Sand,” this activity served to frame, present, and remind my staff of my core values and to specifically state our instructional priorities. It also serves as a great activity to regain traction and focus—or finally take control of the focus—as we approach the common educator fatigue that late fall and winter brings.

You can find many different interpretations and presentations of this demonstration of priorities, most of which are about time management. Here’s how I adapted it to fit my leadership style. I started with an empty glass bowl—a round fish bowl, a glass vase, or a mason jar. I asked my staff to identify three to five of the most important components of their personal life which are critical to their life’s fulfillment and happiness (e.g., family, health, faith). I then took three to five blocks to represent these critical components and placed them in the glass bowl. I said to my staff, “These blocks represent those priorities in your life, and if all else were missing from your life, and only these blocks remained, your life would still be meaningful and fulfilled.” I shared my own “blocks” with my staff: family, health, service/value-added, and integrity.

From there, I added marbles that filled in the space between the large blocks until the bowl was full of blocks and marbles. Finally, I poured in sand that filled in the space between the marbles and blocks. With the addition of each new item, I asked my team to consider the things in life that were important to them but not essential to life’s fulfillment. I provided examples like work, school, participating in sports, traveling, or a hobby of some sort. These priorities were represented by the marbles in our bowls, and then the things that were of convenience to them or materialistic (the small stuff) were represented by the sand. I then acknowledged to my staff, “If we were to fill our bowls with marbles or sand first, we would have no room for our big blocks—our priorities, the things that really mattered.” I told my staff I cared about their big blocks and that they needed to make sure those always came first—and that I would provide support and modeling to help them make that a reality.

Next, we talked about our schoolwide priorities for the year, our school’s big blocks. What were we were going to fill our school jar with so if we did not get any other material in our students’ glass bowls, they would be instructionally, socially, and emotionally fulfilled? We continued with the process of identifying our marbles (the priorities, skills, and achievements we would like for our students to leave with, but at the end of the day were secondary to our blocks). Then there was our sand representing the minutiae, all the things that if we put in our students’ bowls first, we would never make our schoolwide priorities fit.

I found this a powerful way to keep my staff motivated and on point, and a great way to keep us laser focused on our priorities throughout the school year. It also allowed great opportunities to say, “no more sand,” “not living at the beach today,” “not sweating the sand today,” “focused on my blocks,” or “are you thinking about your blocks?” These phrases often came out of my mouth when adults would attempt to impose misaligned consequences on students or make decisions based on adult convenience over student needs or best interests.

Some years I would display our bowl all year long in a common place like our main office to serve as constant reminder of the need to focus on and take care of our big blocks. I would also bring the bowl back out during our school improvement plan and action plan monitoring sessions, a constant reminder of why we set the priorities.

There’s one additional step to the activity, where you add a glass of water to the seemingly full bowl to demonstrate there is always room for a drink after work. Point well taken—be sure to celebrate growth and accomplishment and take some time for team building. Make sure that celebrations of growth and accomplishments are at least a marble in your glass bowl—or you can bet your message will fade by winter. Not everyone’s personal glass bowl will be the same, but everyone’s school blocks need to be identical. Take care of your blocks and stay out of the sand. May your daily acts be focused and aligned with your personal and schoolwide priorities.

Kristina MacBury is principal at Sarah Pyle Academy in Wilmington, DE. She is an author, speaker, leadership coach, and advocate for school happiness agency. She is a 2018 NASSP Digital Principal of the Year and in 2017 was named a Top 30 Technologist, Transformer, and Trailblazer by the Center for Digital Education. Follow her on Twitter at @MacBuryKristina and visit her blog, Educate 4 Hope.

A Sweet Way to Infuse Career Education

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Every principal wants to make career readiness a priority. The problem many schools face is that there aren’t easy ways to fit it into an already packed array of required courses and subjects. I have seen schools push career programming into classes such as family and consumer science, technology, or even health. Unfortunately, each of those courses have other standards and objectives that lead to difficult curriculum decisions to fit it all in.

Other schools stop everything to devote time to a “career day” where a parade of local professionals come in to share their expertise and experience. These ever-present rituals have their strengths, but like most one-shot events their effectiveness can be limited—and someone inevitably has to coordinate the entire program. With only so many minutes in the day, in most cases adding a new program takes time away from other initiatives or priorities.

Visions Federal Credit Union CEO Ty Muse addressed the student body at the Careers and Cookies kickoff event.

The Windsor Central School District’s “Future Knights” program includes seven different career pathways we expose every student to in some degree from kindergarten through 12th grade, including business and finance, health care, computer science, agriculture, education, trades, and engineering. We’ve learned that the trick to embedding career counseling is working within existing structures and schedules to make it an add-on program without having to add to the school day or take away from anything else. At Windsor Central Middle School, our team devised a plan that would not impede on any class, curriculum, or instructional time. They found a sponsor, collaborated with community members, and found the perfect time of day to introduce our students to the world of work—lunchtime!

“Careers and Cookies”

Picture a group of middle school students learning about a different career each Friday in the library while eating their lunch. Imagine each student there voluntarily because their interest was piqued earlier in the week through a slideshow or video teaser about the profession in their morning advisory period. Students asking questions of their own or from a list provided to them. Now picture each student getting cookies for participating. Picture further a follow-up session on Monday to reflect on their experience. And finally, picture it happening almost every week throughout the year!

A Cornell Cooperative extension teacher included a two-week old lamb named Polar as part of his presentation to students.

Our Careers and Cookies program has a unique structure that I believe could be replicated in any school. Our counselors dedicated each month to one of our career pathways and found local experts to talk to our students about what they do and how they got where they are. Every week during advisory time, students learn about a new career through watching videos and having discussions about a different career. Students sign up during their advisory time and bring their lunch to the library on Fridays.

Throughout the school year, students are able to meet with over 30 different professionals from various careers and pathways. These speakers have included a dental hygienist, a pipefitter, civil engineers, a veterinarian technician, a construction manager, a mechanic, a car dealership owner, and many others.

Students are encouraged to ask questions, but they are provided some generic questions to spark conversation.  These include:

  • What is a workday like for you?

    Windsor Central School District Superintendent Jason Andrews shared lunch with sixth graders while discussing his path to educational leadership.

  • How long have you been in your profession?
  • What led you to decide to do this for a living?
  • How often do you work with others?
  • What is your advice if I’m interested in this career path?
  • What are some things you did growing up that helped prepare for this field?
  • Are there other related fields that you could work in?
  • What kind of education or training do you need?
  • What is the salary range for your position?
  • What is the most challenging part of your job?
  • What do you like most about your job?
  • What are some of the skills that you need to have to be successful in your job?
  • How often do you use math every day?
  • How often do you use reading, writing, or foreign language skills?
  • What changes do you see in the future? Will technology have an impact?
  • What do you wish you knew when you were our age that you know now?

The Careers and Cookies program was sponsored by the Visions Federal Credit Union, and we were honored to have its CEO, Ty Muse, come to our school to kick off the initiative during a schoolwide assembly where students were encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to learn about all that life has to offer.  The program continues to be a big hit with students, and it helps us promote a future-ready mindset throughout our school.

The Mission of the Windsor Central School District is to ensure each learner is future ready by providing empowering educational experiences. It’s a promise we make to every student, and career readiness is part of that goal. Wherever your school or district is in career preparation, routinely scheduled guest speakers can have an immediate impact on the development of a future-ready student. Using your counselors to interact with the community to find a stream of guest speakers shouldn’t be too difficult. Lunchtime offers an opportunity that takes away from nothing else, and cookies can be the hook to get students in the seats. I urge you to give this a shot!

Kevin Strahley is the Principal of Windsor Central Middle School in Windsor, NY. He was the 2018 NASSP New York Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter at @KStrahleyWMS.

How to Beat Decision Fatigue

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You have to make 10 decisions before lunch, then after lunch you have 15 more to make before dinner.

Have you been there?

Educators frequently experience decision fatigue. There are literally hundreds of decisions that are made during a week, and decision fatigue is a real thing.

What is the best lesson design for this topic on this day?

Since yesterday’s results weren’t where you thought they should be, what’s next?

What is the best seating chart for my students?

What do I do now that this student has disrupted the class? 

Should you allow a student to leave the room to run the errand he’s asked about?

Will my students be able to rise to the occasion when we do ______ (another decision) in class?

The student is using his cell phone during class. How do I address it? Do I address it? 

Can I get my copies run before the IEP meeting?

What do I want students to do as they finish their test while others are still testing?

When is the best time to get by the bookkeeper’s office?

What is the best way to approach this issue with this person?

Can you relate?

We often overlook the amount of fatigue and stress that making continuous decisions puts on our emotional as well as physical health. I want to offer a few suggestions on how to combat the fatigue by decreasing some of the decisions that have to be made each day.

We don’t call our plants selfish when they need water. Let’s be okay with the idea of taking care of ourselves when we need it.

Use Classroom Systems

Systems work when they are more than words on a paper or an idea in our heads. Think of classroom systems as practices that support students by predicting outcomes and increasing efficiency.

For example, what is your system of collecting papers? Returning papers? What system is used for times when students want to leave the room to go to the restroom or run an errand?

Having systems in place reduces the number of decisions that have to be made because students understand “how things operate” in the classroom and procedures can be followed.

Does this mean that students won’t ask to do something that’s outside the boundary of the system? Absolutely not. But it gives the teacher the opportunity to say, “This is how we do _____ in this room,” without having to spend time deciding to allow or not allow a certain action.

Make Decisions on the Weekend When Your Mind Is Fresh

There are some decisions about the work week that can be made on the weekend. The first has to do with food and nourishment. I’ve always been a fan of planning a weekly menu for my family, and on the weekend I do meal prep for my weekday lunches.

Last year for my birthday, I purchased for myself the RP Strength Diet Template, which limited my food choices even more. Now, I grocery shop at Aldi. How does this help me? While the number of food items that I choose to purchase is lower because of my diet template, the number of food choices that I have to ignore in Aldi is more limited in the smaller grocery store. It reduces the number of decisions I have to make about my lunch menu for the week.

How many times after a long day of making decisions did you go home and not want to decide what to have for dinner? Or maybe instead of making a decision, you drove through the fast food restaurant and picked up dinner for the family. Your body craves good food and nutrients, and it’s easy to forget this component of being at our best mentally and emotionally by feeding our body nutritious foods.

What if you made your lunches and snacks for the week, then all you had to do each morning was to pack your lunch?

What if your dinner menu for the week was already decided, so all you had to do when you got home from work was to prepare it?

Wardrobe is another decision that can be made on the weekend. Go ahead and decide which outfit you will wear each day of the workweek, so that you won’t have to make that decision in the morning before you go to work.

If you’ve got Netflix, there’s a wildly popular show called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, which is about decluttering our homes and only keeping the items that spark joy for us. (You may remember Kondo’s book The Life-Changing magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing that she wrote back in 2014—it was a New York Times bestseller.)

Try going through your closet and keeping only the items that spark joy, and you will lessen the decisions you have to make in terms of what you wear to work. And as a bonus, all of your choices are sure to bring you joy!

Let Technology Work for You

 

On my desktop, there are three tabs that I keep open each day. The first is email, the second is my calendar, and the third is my Google Drive. I know exactly where those three tabs will be during the day, and they are the ones I access the most.

I put everything on my calendar so that I can forget it. With the number of decisions that I have to make each day, I don’t want to use up brainpower trying to remember details that my calendar can remember for me.

Have a Morning and Evening Ritual

Your routine will be personal to you, and one person’s ritual will not be the same for another person.

Do you like yoga? Maybe you stretch in the morning.

Are you a coffee drinker who loves to birdwatch? Maybe you have a cup of coffee and watch birds for a set number of minutes. (Yes, setting a time limit is an important constraint of a ritual.)

Are you a blogger/writer/journaler? Spend a set number of minutes writing before your day of work gets started.

While there are many recommendations for morning rituals, I also believe firmly in evening rituals, especially during the work week. My husband and I have a ritual we do each evening just as it is getting dusk. We like to “walk the estate,” which simply means that we walk from one end of our driveway to the other (our driveway goes all the way around our house), and sometimes through our backyard. We talk about our dreams for the house and yard, recap events of the day, and talk about upcoming events. It’s a time that we look forward to, especially during the long, warm summer days.

Having an evening ritual helps to close out the day, reduce stress, and relax in order to get a good night’s sleep.

Here are some ideas for evening rituals:

  • Have a cup of hot herbal tea and read for pleasure
  • Journal for five minutes, writing down all the things you are grateful for from the day
  • Try this exercise from Jim Rohn: Review your day and close it out. Tomorrow, you can’t bring back anything from today, so you must be mentally at your best to bring your best to your day.

As Rohn says, “at the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.”

I hope these ideas will help you to recalibrate and stay energized. We need educators who are compelled to bring their very best to each and every day, which means finding ways to combat the decision fatigue that we all experience.

Jennifer Hogan is an assistant principal at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama. She is the 2018 Alabama Assistant Principal of the Year and one of three finalists for the 2018 National Assistant Principal of the Year. Visit her blog, The Compelled Educator, and follow her on Twitter at @Jennifer_Hogan.

 

After the Hire: Steps to Onboard New Teachers

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It’s now the middle of July, and most principals have completed the hiring process—the most important job for administrators. However, I contend the hiring process extends beyond interviews and job offers. In fact, the steps we take after assembling our team are critical to teacher retention. With most schools feeling the impact of a nationwide teacher shortage, supporting newly hired teachers through effective onboarding is the best way to ensure a successful transition and to increase the likelihood your new hires will remain in your building throughout their career.

Here are a few ideas to help new employees feel supported while transitioning to a new building.

Make That Phone Call

After receiving confirmation from the human resources office that our recommended applicant has accepted our position, I call our newly hired teacher and welcome them to our school. The purpose of the call is to express my excitement for this teacher to join our team and offer immediate support.

Lead teachers and an assistant principal are always part of the interview team. Once I have made my call, I email contact information for our new hire to the lead teacher and assistant principal, and they are expected to email or call with their own welcome. The lead teacher of our math department forwards contact information to all 15 math teachers. One new hire informed me that she received a welcoming email from every math teacher in our building. Each year, nearly all of our new hires express gratitude for the welcome they received from the teachers at Lee’s Summit North.

Create Opportunities for Summer Curriculum/Collaboration Time With Teachers

If we did our job during the hiring season, every newly hired teacher should be excited to get started preparing for the new school year. After the last day of school, all of our new hires have the opportunity to immediately receive a school and classroom key. A few years ago, the principals in the district strongly advocated for the technology department to issue laptops for our new hires in June. Access to the building and technology allows new teachers to work as they choose over the summer. Typically, we use building funds to pay for each new teacher and mentor to spend 15 to 24 hours during the summer working on curriculum. I strongly believe providing this resource for new teachers sets the stage for the level of support teachers should expect from our administrative team through the duration of their career.

Plan Back-to-School Meetings

We schedule two days with our newly hired teachers before the entire teaching staff returns.  These days are filled with information from technology, the library media center, counselors, teacher leaders, and our administrative team. One absolute is that each staff member who presents to our new teachers will be someone who I want our new teachers to see as a role model. The two to three hours new teachers spend with me in back-to-school meetings is used to communicate our three school goals, the importance of relationships, and our faculty beliefs regarding effective instruction. Additionally, we introduce book studies and various articles. A particular favorite topic with newly hired teachers has been effective grading practices.

Schedule Monthly Meetings During the School Year.

Onboarding doesn’t end with the start of the school year. I meet with new teachers once a month before first hour throughout the year. Although these meetings are short—about 20 to 30 minutes—they provide me with the opportunity to ensure my teachers are receiving the resources they need to be successful with kids. These meetings also provide us time to continue discussions that started during our back-to-school meetings.

Offering these kinds of onboarding supports to newly hired teachers will reduce teacher turnover and increase the positive culture and climate of your building. I firmly believe the second most important job of the principal, after hiring, is to support teachers by giving them the resources needed to be successful.

A thorough onboarding plan will provide you the first step in building relationships with teachers and help them feel valued and excited to start their new job. 

Dr. Jeff Meisenheimer is principal of Lee’s Summit North High School in Lee’s Summit, MO. He is the 2018 Missouri High School Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter at @JMeis.

 

An Equation for Educational Change

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What is the equation for American education?

At the dawn of the 20th century the equation for American education was 1 x 1 = 1.

The first factor—“1”—represents teaching and learning. The role of the teacher was the keeper and disseminator of all knowledge. The teacher would stand at the front of the room, largely lecturing or talking at the students. The students were mainly passive, seen as vessels to be filled by the expert teacher. Students sitting in rows listened, took notes, and focused on memorizing the information the teacher told them so that they could take the test to determine their letter grade (A, B, C, D, F).

The second factor represents school structure. By school structure, I mean how school is conducted. This would include our standardized curriculum and subject areas. It also includes daily school schedules, bells, different classes, seat time, assessment practices, grading, curriculum sequencing, learning environment, etc. The professional roles and responsibilities of teachers and administrators would also be included in this factor.

The equation’s product of “1” represents the results we expected from American schools of the time. We wanted students who were generally literate, civilized, and could leave school with most of the knowledge and the skills they needed, not only to begin working in American factories, but also for the rest of their life.

This equation for our schools held largely the same for most of the 20th century. However, toward the end of that century, as we progressed away from the Industrial era, the equation for American education needed to change. These more modern times demanded a different product from our schools— “2,” in this case. Schools had to produce workers and citizens that could first compete in a Cold War and then survive and thrive in an American economy that was becoming a more white-collar, knowledge-based economy. Students needed to be able to solve problems, apply their knowledge, think more complexly, and get to a higher level of learning (advanced classes, college, etc.).

To address the new demanded “product” and to make the equation work, American schools evolved their teaching and learning practices—the first factor in the equation. Schools expanded curriculum opportunities for students, offering more advanced classes and creating greater college-bound opportunities. Teachers began to emphasize students working in groups, integrating more diverse pedagogical approaches—not just lecturing. Classrooms evolved into more student-centered learning environments, where students became more active and played a larger role in their own learning. Additionally, we saw legislative mandates to provide supports and protections, like special education, Response to Intervention, English-language learner programs, and more to ensure all students could have equal access to the standard curriculum.

The equation of American education had become 2 x 1 = 2.

But expectations and demands have continued to grow. Needs like financial literacy, nutrition and exercise education, and social services have all been added to the equation. Then, as we approached the 21st century, we entered an era of unprecedented change. The needs of our country, economy, and world have changed dramatically. The knowledge, skills, abilities, and perspectives (often called 21st-century skills) students need today have increased exponentially. The “product” of our educational system hasn’t just increased, it has doubled—what is now needed is “4“.

The question is, if this is our current reality, what must be done to make the equation work?

Do we again look to the teaching and learning factor of the equation? The answer is no.  Teaching and learning have continued to evolve and improve in the last 20 years. We have added even more improvement and innovation: interdisciplinary learning, problem-based learning, differentiation, collaborative learning, flipped classrooms, blended learning, personalized learning, 1:1 devices, etc. Our current teachers are the most educated, diverse, professionally developed, and skilled our country has ever seen. But even these additions don’t solve the equation.

Our best and only viable solution to solve our current equation is to change the second factor—school structures. The reality is that since our teaching and learning has improved so much, our school structures are actually working against our teaching and learning factor. This counterproductivity is largely behind the feelings our educators have of being inadequate, overwhelmed, undervalued, uninspired, and disillusioned, causing far too many teachers to leave the profession.

Take interdisciplinary teaching, for example. We know this is highly effective for student learning, but for teachers to pull this off they have to work around and against subject area structures, lockstep curriculum demands, a far too rigid school schedule, and siloed school cultures. Teachers end up having to compromise aspects of what they want to and know what is right to do, and they have to work extra hard even to accomplish the compromised version.  It is no wonder why this practice hasn’t caught on and become mainstream in our schools.

School leaders and teachers alike need to come together and take a look at how we can transform our school structures. Upon closer inspection, this aspect of education has not been addressed since our modern form of education was created. Traditional school subject areas, bells, curriculum priorities, classes, seat time metrics, assessment practices, grading, etc., are all largely the same and are in serious need of redesign. We need to identify the skills, abilities, competencies, and knowledges that are essential to our modern times (e.g., critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, diverse literacies, engaged citizenship, student agency) and then design a new school structure that starts with these as our priorities.

Create authentic, real-world learning experiences—not classes and subject areas—for our students that go beyond interdisciplinary and become anti-disciplinary. Don’t have seat time drive our schools and student learning, have learning be the driver. Eliminate assessments of knowledge that can be Googled. Why are we preparing students for tests that computers can pass? Stop giving meaningless letter grades and give feedback to students on their level of progress in the important competencies (skills, abilities, and knowledges) relevant for their needs, their world, and their futures. Put students in a position to explore their passions and interests. Develop them as learners, not as students. Get rid of the bells and the factory-based schedules.

Reexamine the roles and responsibilities of teachers. Our best teachers shouldn’t have to make a decision between staying in the classroom or having leadership influence in their profession by entering into administration. Integrate career advancement within the profession by bridging the gap between teachers and administrators. Tap the knowledge and expertise of all staff. Remove the structures of the industrial model of education that only exist because we have never closely examined our practices in these areas. They are a real hindrance to transformative, lasting, highly engaging, and effective learning for our students.

And if we do this, maybe we can “solve” the equation of education before us: 2 x 2 = 4.

Paul Hermes is the associate principal of curriculum and instruction at Appleton North High School in Appleton, WI. He was the 2016 Wisconsin Associate Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter at @PaulHermesEDU and visit his education and leadership blog, Analogies From an Administrator.

 


The First 140 Characters

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I was recently a guest on Lead the Way, a podcast for school leaders hosted by Bill Ziegler, and we got to talking about how I challenged my staff at Cedar Crest Middle School (CCMS) to begin telling the story of our school on social media at the start of the 2017–18 school year. But my own path down the road of social media technology isn’t very typical for a Digital Principal of the Year. It actually started with a single tweet.

I only got engaged with social media three summers ago, but I fell in love with it. I tried it, embraced it, and then decided to take some risks by going out on a limb to use it at school. I work in a great school with great people, amazing students, awesome faculty, and incredible family support. Social media was a great way to engage all of them in what we’re trying to do to build our community and our culture.

At the 2017 National Principals Conference in Philadelphia, our whole team attended sessions on social media and branding our school. We came back to school with a mission, and CCMS knocked it out of the park. We probably improved our communication with families, students, and each other tenfold. Some teams jumped onto Facebook and Instagram, but we used Twitter as the main vessel of communicating with parents and families and seeking their engagement in what we were doing. We wanted to give them a window on what was happening during the school day—things happening in the classrooms and in the community— to brand our school and our message so people could see what was happening at CCMS.

We started promoting #FalconFridays and talking about school spirit. We wear our school colors, blue and grey, every single Friday—no exceptions. We spotlighted our outreach program #FalconsCARE, which connects students and teachers with similar interests to community projects. We put all these positive things out there, and then I picked up Wakelet and started putting out a weekly collection for families who weren’t on Twitter. We broadcasted all the learning that was happening in our school, all the activities, and all the creativity to the community.

Last summer, I started using Instagram and discovered that it was the perfect way to communicate with our students. Students don’t live on Twitter; they spend their time on Instagram. Instagram opened a whole new world for our social media communications and started connecting our students to our school. Our teachers have now started branching out to Instagram as well, and our students have definitely picked up on it! We have to know where our stakeholders spend their time—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or other platforms—and spend our time reaching them where they are.

But it all started with that first tweet. Digital leaders have to be willing to put themselves out there and take the risk of trying new things. It’s big and scary—I agonized over that tweet, those first 140 characters, and whether or not I was going to hit the “tweet” button. But once I did, the rest was magical.

Mariah Rackley was named one of the NASSP 2018 Digital Principals of the Year. Mariah is completing her 18th year at Cedar Crest Middle School and her 10th as the building principal. Mariah’s professional interests include leadership, student agency, personalized learning, innovation, creativity, and motivation theory. Follow her on Twitter @MrsRackleyCCMS or on Instagram @mrsrackleyccms

 

Students and Devices: Trying to Find the Answers

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I’m trying to figure something out.

At the risk of admitting my age, I will disclose that when I was in middle school, the following were popular “first run” television shows: “The Brady Bunch,” “The Partridge Family,” “The 6 Million Dollar Man,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Happy Days,” and “Laverne and Shirley.”  That was some great TV right there. The thing is, I watched an appalling amount of television when I was a kid.

At that time, there were articles in newspapers and magazines about the harm being done to children through too much TV exposure. My parents and teachers talked a great deal about it: All these kids do is watch television; they don’t play outside anymore; they don’t interact with each other. My teachers lamented that they couldn’t compete with the nature of the material as it was presented on the television screen. I distinctly remember my 10th-grade English teacher, Rich Settani, ranting to my class about TV and how hard it made his job: “Big Bird, Sesame Street … I can’t compete with that! I don’t even wear colorful ties!” (We loved Mr. Settani.)

To anyone following the present-day debate about children and device use, these conversations will sound more than a little familiar. Are devices harming our children? As a middle level principal, I am particularly interested in this discussion.

There’s an informative study from Common Sense Media and a series of TED Talks on this subject. At both sites, you’ll find evidence both for and against device use by young people and adults. Their arguments sound vaguely similar to the disputes about TV watching that proliferated when I was in middle school.

As a principal, I am often called upon to weigh in on this debate. To be honest, I’m trying to figure it out.

I have a small scar above my left eye. When I was 4 years old, while I lay on the floor watching a TV on a metal stand, I kicked over the stand and the TV fell on my face.

Stitches.

As far as I can determine, this is the greatest harm that has ever come to me from watching television.

Our teachers and students can accomplish incredible things through the use of technology that I couldn’t even dream of when I was in middle school. Using technology, teachers can gather real-time, personalized data from students about their learning and connect them with each other and with the world in amazing ways.

But if I posted a photo of my cafeteria on a Tuesday or a Thursday (not Wednesday, that’s “device-free day”), you’d see too many students with their heads buried in their phones. This can’t be a good thing, can it? Personally, I rely on my phone to stay organized, to track data, and to connect with my personalized network of other learners who share ideas and give me valuable support.  But the urge to frequently check my phone has become a physical tic that I know interferes with my relationships and attention span. So you can see how I’m ambivalent when it comes to the blessings and curses of devices.

Principals often share expertise and conclusions, but what do they do when they don’t have either? Is it okay for a principal to say, “I don’t know the answer to this?” I hope so, because that’s what I’m saying.

I choose to believe that there’s power in learning alongside the stakeholders in our school community. I will engage kids and adults in focused conversations, share experiences, help them reflect, and gather data and opinions about our technology use. I’m trying to find the answers to questions about children and devices, but in the meantime, I hope I’m modelling what it means to be a learner.

Are there areas of your practice as a leader or teacher that you haven’t figured out? How are you modeling your learning? How can we be transparent about the process as we learn new things and try to find answers to life’s essential questions?

Donald Gately, Ed.D., serves as the principal of Jericho Middle School in Jericho, NY. He was the 2016 New York Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter at @donald_gately and visit his blog.

That Zero Changed My Life (Said No Student Ever)

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I recently reflected on an article I kept seeing on social media about a teacher getting fired for supposedly not abiding by the school’s grading policy. As a student, did I ever get a zero? Sure. Was it right? I guess. As a teacher, did some of my students receive zeros? Probably. Was it right? Probably not.

As an instructional leader, do I support the idea of students receiving zeros? In most cases, the answer is no. The bottom line is that we must exhaust all options to promote the success of each and every student regardless of how much they are driving us crazy or seem too lazy to complete any work. I can remember as a teacher and team leader working with a small group of seventh-grade students during my lunch. They had lost their way, and learning was not a top priority due to extenuating circumstances at home. They would come into my classroom and complete work that was way overdue in several of their classes. Over time, they started to catch up and realize that we were not going to let them dig a deeper hole for themselves.

​I often think we as educators believe it’s important to teach students a life lesson by giving them a zero because we need to prepare them for the real world. In fact, we need to think about building supportive and engaging learning environments that not only show students that we care about them but also hold everyone accountable.

I remember as a student sitting out the first half of a basketball game because I was not holding up my end of a bargain. You know what? I deserved it. In more recent years, both as a teacher and administrator, there were a few occasions where students were not being responsible and needed to be held accountable. When that happened to me as a student, did that mean I got a zero? No. Something that meant so much to me was taken away for a short while. I still needed to make up the work and learn the material.

The whole zero thing is an easy way out for all parties involved. Now, if there is a point where all options have been exhausted and nothing has changed, then we can have a discussion about who deserves what grade. The research is very clear in this area of education. John Hattie tells us that that a teacher’s estimate of student achievement has a 1.29 effect size. Additionally, Hattie tells us that teacher credibility has a .90 effect size. The research makes it abundantly clear that if teachers believe their students can achieve desired learning outcomes, they will. On that same note, students know if you are legitimate as a teacher and will subsequently either rise to the occasion or not really care about learning. Students also know if you are legitimate as an instructional leader as it relates to keeping a pulse on what is or is not going on in your school.

The important thing here is to keep having these conversations with your colleagues, school stakeholders, and students. As my friend Eric Sheninger wrote in a blog post on a similar topic in 2013, changing his school’s grading policy “addressed a broken component of our school culture and improved it.”

Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and CommunitiesHe was a 2014 ASCD Emerging Leader and the 2017 NASSP National Assistant Principal of the Year. Currie currently serves as the director of planning, research, and evaluation for the Chester School District in New Jersey. Learn more by following him on Twitter at @thebradcurrie or visiting his website at www.thebradcurrie.com.

Questions for Summer Reflection

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Whether your last day of school was before Memorial Day or not until the end of June, by now every educator has finally shifted into summer mode. Whether relaxing by the beach, hitting the trails, or just spending time in the garden, the final weeks of summer are a perfect time to reflect on the past year and plan with anticipation for the year ahead.

Sometimes we drive ourselves to distraction with the continuous improvement cycle. There are always so many things to do in a school that it is easy to become overwhelmed with lists of things to focus on. Taking some time during the summer months to thoughtfully reflect on the past year is an important step to process what has passed and think intentionally about what is to come. As you’re enjoying the summer sunshine, take some time to think about the past year—what worked, and how can you build on that for the year ahead?

Focus Your Attention

 

It’s important to focus on a few specific questions to help target priorities for the upcoming school year and prevent that overwhelming feeling of trying to solve too many problems at once. Here are some to consider:

  • What were the goals you set last fall? Did you accomplish them? If so, what helped—and if not, what obstacles prevented forward momentum?
  • Did you accomplish your building’s student learning goals? Why or why not?
    • How can you systemically address some of the obstacles that prevented success?
    • What worked, and how can you build on that success?
  • What kind of professional development opportunities were offered for your teachers?  Did you receive feedback from teachers on those opportunities? What worked and what did not work for your staff?
  • What are the underlying issues for your building that never seem to go away? How can you take a different approach to address those issues in the year ahead?
  • How was your school budget spent? Do you feel your students received a good return on those budgetary investments? If so, how can you continue that trend in the upcoming school year? If not, where might you need to reprioritize?
  • Are your school’s grading practices reflecting the intended information to parents and students?
  • How can you set up your new teachers for success and support them in their teaching careers?
  • Are your discipline and behavior practices achieving their intended goals?
  • What kind of leadership opportunities exist for teachers in your building? Can you create opportunities to share leadership and responsibility to empower staff and free up some of your time for instructional leadership?

Avoid Long Lists

With the pressures of national trends, district expectations, and building priorities for students and staff, it’s easy to come up with a long list of things to improve. However, the longer the list, the more likely nothing will get done. Take some time to develop a few realistic goals. I would recommend setting no more than three goals for the upcoming school year. Once you have your goals in place, develop an action plan and timeline.

As part of your summer routine, invest some time in thoughtful reflection to help set yourself up for success in the next school year. And in the short time you have left before a new school year starts, be sure to take some time for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation.

Erica Schnee is a National Board-Certified Teacher who has been a high school educator for the past 22 years. She was recognized as the 2018 Montana Assistant Principal of the Year and is currently an assistant principal at Bozeman High School. She will be principal of Gallatin High School when it opens in the fall of 2020. Follow her on Twitter at @MsSchneeGov.

10 Strategies to Improve Instructional Leadership

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I still vividly remember my early years as an assistant principal and principal. Instructional leadership was a routine part of the job along with the budget, master schedule, curriculum development, meetings, emails, phone calls, and many other duties. With the evolution of social media, yet another responsibility was added to my plate in the form of digital leadership. The position of school administrator really requires a jack of all trades, master of none. This is why many leaders fail to live up to the most important aspect of the position, which is instructional leadership.

Even though I tried, the frequency of my teacher observations rarely extended beyond the minimal expectation. Not only was I not in classrooms enough, but also the level of feedback—provided through the lens of a narrative report—did very little to improve teaching and learning both in and out of the classroom. If improvement is the ultimate goal, then we as leaders need to put the most focus on elements of our job that impact student learning. Instructional leaders understand that management is a necessary evil associated with the position but not something that should come at the expense of improving the learning culture in order to increase achievement.

It is easy to just say that one should improve instructional leadership—or anything else for that matter. Below, I offer ten specific strategies from my time as high school principal that you can begin to adopt now.

Get in Classrooms More

This seems so easy, yet it remains a constant struggle. Begin by increasing the number of formal observations conducted each year and commit to a schedule to get them all done. We formally observed each of our teachers three times a year regardless of experience. Another successful strategy is to develop an informal walk-through schedule with your leadership team. I mandated five walks a day for each member of my team, and we used a color-coded Google Doc to keep track of where we visited and the specific improvement comments provided to each teacher.

Streamline Expectations and Eliminate Ineffective Practices

Begin with establishing a common vision and expectations for all teachers. We did this by using the Rigor Relevance Framework, which provides all teachers with consistent, concrete elements to focus on when developing lessons. Get rid of the dog and pony show ritual of announced observations. If lesson plans are still collected, ask for them to demonstrate what will be done two weeks into the future. Consider less of a focus on lesson plans and more on assessment. Collect and review assessments two weeks into the future.
Improve Feedback

Provide at least one suggestion for improvement no matter how good the observation is.  There is no perfect lesson. Suggestions for improvement should always contain clear, practical examples and strategies that a teacher can begin to implement immediately.  Timely feedback is also essential.

Be a Scholar

Being a scholar not only helps you as a leader to improve professional practice, but it also puts you in a position to have better conversations with your teachers about their own improvement. This adds a whole new level of credibility to post-observation conferences.  I made a point of aligning every piece of critical feedback to current research.

As you come across research that supports the types of effective pedagogical techniques that you wish to see in your classrooms, archive it in a document that you can refer to when writing up observations. I spent each summer as principal reading, researching, curating, and adapting this research for use during the school year. It not only saved me time when it came to writing up observations, but it also greatly improved my relationship with my staff as the instructional leader.

Model

Don’t ask your teachers to do anything that you are not willing to do yourself. This is extremely important in terms of technology integration in the classroom and professional learning to improve practice. If a teacher is struggling with their assessments, don’t just say you need to work on building better ones. Either provide an example that you have created or co-create an assessment together.

Teach a Class

This can be accomplished regularly during the year or by co-teaching with both struggling and distinguished teachers. During my first couple of years as an administrator, I taught a section of high school biology. This is leading by example at its best. It also provides a better context for the evolving role of the teacher in the digital age. An instructional leader who walks the walk builds better relationships with staff and in turn will be in a much better position to engage staff in conversations to improve instruction.

Grow Professionally

Attend at least one conference or workshop a year that is aligned to a major initiative or focus area in your school or district. Try to also read one education book and another related to a different field such as leadership, self-help, or business. So many powerful lessons and ideas can be gleaned once we venture outside the education silo.

To compliment traditional means of professional learning, work to create or further develop a Personal Learning Network. Social media provides a 24/7 pathway to ideas, strategies, feedback, resources, and support that every educator should take advantage of in the digital age.

Write in Order to Reflect

Like many other connected educators, writing has enabled me to process my thinking, resulting in a more critical reflection of my work in relation to teaching, learning, and leadership. Our reflections not only assist us with our growth, but also can be catalysts for our staff and others to reflect on their own practice or grow professionally. Having teachers write a brief reflection prior to the post-observation conference is a great strategy to promote a conversation on improvement that isn’t one-sided.

Integrate Portfolios

Portfolios were a requirement for my teachers and complimented our observation process nicely. They provided more clarity and detail on instruction over the entire course of the school year. Portfolios can include learning activities, assessments, unit plans, examples of student work, and other forms of evidence to improve instructional effectiveness. They can also be used to validate good practice.

Co-Observe

During the first quarter of each year, I co-observed lessons with members of my administrative team. This was invaluable for many reasons. For one, we were able to take advantage of two sets of eyes during observations, as some things will always be missed when done solo no matter how much experience you have. This also allowed me to work with my team to help them improve their own instructional leadership. It also helped me improve, as every conversation helped me to further reflect on what I saw.

Nothing is more important than ensuring quality learning is taking place in our classrooms. These ten strategies can be implemented immediately to improve your instructional leadership. Like all lists, there are many great strategies that I missed. With that being said, what would you add to the list?

Eric Sheninger is a senior fellow and thought leader on digital leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE). Prior to this, he was an award-winning principal at New Milford High School in New Milford, CT. A 2012 Digital Principal of the Year, he has authored six books, including the best-seller Digital Leadership. Follow him on Twitter (@E_Sheninger) or visit his website.

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