It's Great to Be Orange

The "True Colors" activity was really interesting. I did a similar activity during the 80's while in the management training program at Marshall Field's (my old life). My profile was completely different. I was the traditional, analytical, organized type - like a "greenish-gold" person. I was not at all the high energy, creative type. I think that my profile changed not because I'm a different person, but because my profession helped bring out other characteristics. I guess being an educator brought out my spontaneous, high energy side. I don't think I could use the same criteria to characterize my personality many years ago.

I thought my husband was also orange. With the is high energy, rather competitive, and tends to be the "idea man" - thinking about how he motivates the rest of us. When he took the "test" he was so gold. Like me, he has a different profession within the past 10 years and that profession requires certain characteristics. Like me, the environment has shaped him to some degree.

My son Bryan is blue. He is so blue....I knew he was going to be blue when I looked at the material in class this week. When he took the "test", he seemed to really know himself and after he read about being blue, admitted that blue is him to a tee. He is sensitive, compassionate person who is reflective and empathetic. Those are all wonderful qualities, except the sensitive part can sometimes hold him back. I was impressed by how well Bryan knew himself (he is only 16). I know a lot of grownups who couldn't be as reflective.

I accused my husband of not taking the right answers. I still say he's orange.

The Interview

I really enjoyed talking to my assistant principal. She was such an excellent teacher. I have a great deal of respect for her. These were the ways that she was a wonderful teacher:

• She had a great deal of respect for the students and they never felt that she was being unfair
• She didn't get caught up in minutia, picking her battles with middle schoolers carefully
• She was extremely student centered, working hard to make sure they were successful
  
• Always used creative teaching strategies - really engaging teaching activities to help kids learn concepts
• Loved her content area and was really enthusiastic about her topic
• Always strived to learn new things, especially using technology as a tool
• Had complete control of the class - even if the students walked all over every other teacher in the middle school, they knew their place in her room

When we talked and I asked her about the skills that were needed to be an effective administrator, she said that being a teacher and looking at her job through teacher's eyes was essential. I can definately see that. When asking teachers to work hard, learn new things, change their teaching, it helps to be empathetic because you were in their position at one point in time.

Here's the thing about the culture in our building that I find frustrating and I asked her, carefully without mentioning any names, how to deal with those who just refuse to step up. She said that one must "nag" that individual and make them feel so uncomfortable until they feel either compelled to change or compelled to leave. In the twelve years I've been in this school community, I have yet to see teachers leave because they felt it was time to move on. Usually, it is the really great teachers who leave (for more money no doubt). The other thing she said was that they key was to get the real superstars (who tend to be the least vocal) to get on board. Then, they kind of bring everyone else along. If the superstars tend to be the quiet ones, how is their voice heard over the sound of the whiners? That will be the challenge. I thought it was important the she recognized that all of us have our strengths and weaknesses and that it was important to look at each of us as individuals.

In my position, I work with every single one of the teachers in our building. We're expected to collaborate on integrating technology, and team-teach when the students are in the lab. I sometimes feel like a "mole" because I have information that I acquire from the teachers that I can not share with administration and vice versa. Things go on in the computer lab with teachers and students that I know should not continue. Specific teachers are not engaged with technology integration and bring down papers to grade and make it clear that their time here is planning so it is up to me to work with the students. I combat this by asking the teacher to help children every time they have a content-area related question, which accounts for half the questions. So I help the children by telling them what buttons to push, but I call the teacher over if the students have a question about how to word a sentence, spell something, or how to understand what it says on a website. Certainly, I could answer content related questions, but that is my way of keeping the teacher off the chair. The specific teachers however, have pulled some wool over they eyes of my favorite administrator. She mentioned names of teachers who she thought were very strong and could be real leaders in our efforts to improve. When I compare them to her based on how well we worked together when she was a teacher, I do not at all agree with her assessment of these teachers. As a "mole" I listen to people complain, put down administration, and flat out refuse to do what they have been asked (when it comes to implementing teaching strategies). Apparently, a couple of them are singing a different tune to my friend. I have to maintain the trust of the teachers in my building however, so I keep my mouth shut. I've gotten really good at that over the years. I think that will serve me well when I'm an administrator.

All in all, I think that my friend is a great assistant principal. She is just learning how to manage, but I am sure that her approach to this new job will be the same as it was when she was a teacher. She will show all the same degree of respect, engage all in learning, and effectively "control the class".

Nine Strategies

I found a wonderful resource to help the teachers. In a previous post, I mentioned that my principal and her assistants were working on putting together a professional development program where teachers would work in study groups. This resource is an internet hotlist for the "Marzano 9", the nine instructional strategies from his book What Works in Classroom Instruction.

It is apparent that a school district in Arizona had some teachers pull together a list of web resources for each of the nine strategies. The hotlist is about a year old and I didn't check to see if all of the links were live, but from what I can tell, it is still viable.
This is how I would use this resource in a professional development context. Our administration does 5-minute walk throughs where they punch in a bunch of quick observations based on the high yield strategies into a palm pilot and then download it into a report. This will help them track what happens in the school, and perhaps with individual teachers. Based on the walkthroughs, weaknesses might show up. It's hard to tell this for an individual teacher because the walkthroughs are done at random and it is possible that the administrator may never see something during the visit that the teacher does on a frequent basis.

If for example, the administration sees very little non-linguistic representation, it could be a "skill of the week". The teachers could read that chapter from Marzano's book, take a look at the web resources to get further ideas, and then after focusing on that strategy discuss the strategy reflectively with her colleagues and supervisor. I think teachers need to be responsible for their own learning. They really resent being told what to study or learn. This resource may help teachers look at their instructional practices a little differently. In addition, these web resources were written by other teachers, which makes them all the more effective and valuable.

Who is in charge here?

Since no one from my employer reads this, I can talk about an incident that happened at my school without concern that I'll get in trouble. So....last week was parent teacher conferences. It's a long story, but this year because of some weird circumstances P/T conferences were from 1-8 p.m. on Thursday and until 1 p.m. on Friday. For the past many years, they would be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday was a day off for everyone. The specials teachers leave at 3:15.

Last year, the teachers voted to have conference over the two days this way instead of losing a day off over Winter or Spring break. This year, there was a lot of whining. "Couldn't we shorten the time we talk to each parent?", "Couldn't let the kids off the whole day of Thursday to get the conferences over with?", blah, blah, blah. The Principal's position was, "You decided on this last year. I think this was a dumb solution, but this is what you came up, so you have to live with it...and no....these people pay thousands of dollars every year for us to educate their children, 10 minutes for a conference is the least you can do!" Period.

I loved that! No time for discussion and problem solving. Just "Here...this it....now shut up about it."

Then to really aggravate the complainers, she told the Gym, Music, Art, Library, and Technology teacher that since no parent ever comes in to see them, they should just work until 8:00 (really long planning time) on Thursday and stay home on Friday. Earlier in the week, one of the teachers was in the lounge with a room full of teachers (including Music and Art) ranting about how it really made her mad (using much stronger language) that the Fine Arts teachers get Friday off and she has to come in and meet with parents. (Little does she know that the principal came in to the art room Thursday evening around 6:00 p.m., where we were all hanging out having a few laughs, put her finger over her lips and gave us the "shoo...shoo" sign. This meant we got out of two more hours of work.)

Ok, so how many leadership/relationship rules does she break? In class, we learned about about the 12 cultural norms, one of which is involvement in decision making, another is which is trust and confidence. There are some decisions that not everyone needs to be involved in. Or when decisions are made as a group, someone is going to left unhappy. For example, last year the old principal made it possible for all of us to be involved in how we'd solve a timing issue with P/T conferences. Everyone (except the new principal) had their chance to voice their opinion and the consensus was what we did this week. Even though they were involved in the decision making process, they still were unhappy. And that trust and confidence thing? Even though she knows at least one teacher is p.......d off at her, she lets the fine arts teachers leave even earlier!

Here's another example of decisions that should not be left up to the group. In class, (this class) the students connect what we are learning in leadership and project to position of leader to the instructor, unfairly in my opinion. Here's my view: We are all taking a graduate level course from an accredited college. We made the decision to make the commitment, made out the checks, and came to class. I don't think I should have any say so in the number and lengths of assignments. I do not believe students should be consulted on the syllabus of the class. In the case of being an adult taking a graduate level course, it seems like one should expect there to be a certain level of rigor. We don't consult our students on how much work they should do. We are professionals and we know what we're doing. We assign the only what is necessary to practice a skill and assess what is learned. Some teachers do a better job than others. It takes experience to figure out the balance. In graduate school, the instructors are professionals and the students are the "consumers". We're paying a fortune for these classes. We have to trust the college knows what they are doing. If they work load seems like too much, then maybe this isn't a good time in one's life to make the commitment to take classes. (Ok, so now who is sounding a little blunt.) I appreciate how the instructor listen to the discussion, and was able to accommodate the requests of the students. I know most teachers, at all levels, have been known to reschedule a test or back down on a project because the students complained about the load with all the classes they are taking. It's not about torture, after all.

Anyway, back to my principal. I like the way she problem solves. She faced with a number of very vocal "whiners". She has to be tough. She has high expectations (norm #3) and is trying to bring the rest of the group along by offering support and expressing her appreciation. She doesn't however, let the whining impact her every move. Sometimes she makes decisions without consulting the masses, just because she can. If she tries to make everyone happy, she'll drive herself nuts and lose focus on what is important.

Upon reflecting on the 12 cultural norms, I think people have to earn the right to be involved in decision making. If one shows that they really have the best interest of the whole organization in mind by their actions and their behavior, they show that they are a contributing member. Therefore everyone would benefit by them being involved in decision making. On the other hand, by resisting experimentation and innovation, lacking collegiality (evidenced by the teacher's lounge rant, staff meeting whine), those few people need a little more direct approach. A leader needs to have to wisdom to know the difference.

Something to Think About

In my previous post, I talked about my principal's strategy for professional development. When I wrote the post, I guess I didn't think about how it was worded. I created a focus on strategies, teaching methods, and innovations, rather than on people. I can see how this happens easily. Upon further reflection, I recognize that the principal is focusing on meeting the teachers' needs as individuals, but she has to look at the big picture, that is how our school performs as a whole. She does see each teacher as an individuals. I can't really say for sure, because I'm not asking her direct questions about the other teachers, but based on what I know first hand, there are a few teachers that are really resistant to change. Talking to them, like in the Change Game isn't working very well.

The principal knows these teachers well. She and her assistants have been in their classrooms several times to see what's going on (or not going on). In addition, all the "resisters" are pretty vocal about their resistance. It's been my experience, that "resisters" like to talk about resisting to try to drum up support. The innovators are quiet. They work hard, soak it all in, stay positive, and have fun. I think the principal's idea of getting the innovators to work with the resisters in a "book club" is a cool idea because the innovators will get the chance to "share" in the context of talking about the book, rather than in a setting like a staff meeting, where it comes across as a little more "combative".

The administration in the building can see what the individual teachers' needs are better than they can see it themselves. The people who want to grow, who admit they need to grow, are growing. Those others don't admit they have a problem (I sound like I work with a bunch of alcoholics), so it's up to the leadership to "guide" them into reform.

Implementing Change in Real Life

My principal has come up with a strategy to help the teachers in our school change some of their teaching strategies. It became apparent that consultants, workshops, and endless meetings were not working that well. We're going to start "study groups". The administration will decide which study groups the teachers will participate in. They are going to select specific books for the teachers to read, discuss, and reflect on how the content relates to their own teaching practices.

That seems like a good idea. I offered to set up some online tools to help the teachers communicate to others about what they learn and how they are implementing new teaching practices. I think that our principal is showing that she is trying to tailor her professional development program to the teachers' individual needs and that one size does not fit all. I also think that the study group model will help teachers develop better personal relationships.

I hope the teachers are receptive to the idea.

The Change Game

The process of change in an organization is complex. The Change Game was an interesting way to look at the process. I don't think one could really understand the complexities of implementing change in any other way. We've all be part of the process in our own schools at one point of time. We might have read an article or even a book about what its like to experience change personally or within an organization. The game, however was a really effective way to examine the whole process.

The rules of the game were pretty straight forward and easy to understand. We got a slow start to the game because one of the members of our group wanted to really take a lot of time analyze the personalities of the members. I'm more impulsive. I wanted to jump right in and start taking action. In reality, one would never really know all the members of their district that well before conversations began and the stage was set for implementing the change.

I think I would have benefited from hearing what steps other teams took that was more effective. How did other groups approach the process and get their characters to move along farther and faster than we did? Would knowing the secrets of the game apply to implementing change in real life?

I wouldn't say that playing the game was "fun" or "engaging" (maybe I'm just too tired after working a full day and driving over an hour to class), but I really thought I learned a lot from playing the game. I don't think reading about or even talking about implementing change would get the point across as well as playing the game.

Knowing Everything

I got into this discussion yesterday with a close friend of mine about administration. She's been in education for almost 30 years. I told her that I'm learning that it's not how much you know as an administrator, it's your ability to establish relationships with those you lead. She disagreed. She said that a really charming, engaging person would still make a terrible principal if he or she didn't know current instructional practices. For example, if the principal didn't have a clue about our writing program and was unwilling or unable to learn about it, she would be totally ineffective. On the one hand, that makes sense. How can a person lead others through a program if she didn't have a clue? My point is that you can teach anyone anything, but it's the personality of the administrator that would make him or her a good leader. My friend said she has know plenty of nice people but they were worthless as administrators because they were not well informed about best practices or current teaching and learning strategies.

I hope she is incorrect. I'll never know everything, but I am working on the ability to be good at helping teachers develop their skills. I know a lot of really smart people who would make terrible leaders because they can not develop trusting relationships with others.

Getting to Know the Principal

This week's activity of writing questions to ask an administrator was interesting. I went back in my files to look at the questions we wrote last year when I was on the principal search committee. I wish I knew then what I know now. Most of our questions related to the candidate's skill rather than relationships. I learned that you learn a great deal more about a person from asking questions that bring out answers like, "I'd find out what their interests are and focus on their strengths."

Last summer I interviewed for a position much like my current position except it was for a district rather than a school. The person who interviewed me said something similar to what I heard this week. You can teach anyone a skill. That's easy. Finding a good match relates to the candidates ability to develop good relationships with others. That made a great deal of sense.

For an administrator to be effective, it's probably less important for her to know a great deal about a particular program or strategy and more important for her to be willing to learn and willing to support others as they learn.

As it turns out, I didn't get the job because I didn't have the right skills, or knowledge. I'm sure I would have been great, but it is hard to convey my effectiveness in developing relationships in a 45-minute conversation.

Corrective Feedback

I looked up Marzano on the net. I downloaded a PowerPoint presentation that he created and apparently presented to a school district. The theme of the presentation is increasing student achievement. It's a really long presentation, about 35 slides. At first I didn't see much that would apply to this class.

In a set of slides, he was apparently trying to drive home the message that the way rubrics are created are very important to helping children understand how they are being assessed. He was explaining the importance of providing "corrective feedback". To quote one slide he asks teachers to evaluate, "How effective am I when I provide feedback? When I provide feedback, to what extent do I believe that my students understand how well they are progressing toward specific learning goals when compared to a consistently applied standard, how much they have improved over time and how to improve their performance?"

The context of this was the teacher/student relationship but I can see how it also applies to the teacher/principal relationship as well. In my previous post I described how the school community is trying to implement change. If one looks at Marzano said in the context of the teacher receiving feedback from the principal on his or her performance, than it might be easier to understand why it is difficult for teachers to "improve" or in this case, change.

One of the most important steps to implementing change would most certainly be feedback. In Marzarno's example in his presentation, he said that just giving points in categories on a rubric with a comment like "good job" doesn't impact achievement. In this example then, a principal would have to provide specific "corrective feedback" so that teachers would know that they are progressing toward a specific goal. Providing effective feedback to the teachers as they implement the new writing program would help motivate the teachers to continue working toward their goals.

The teachers are not getting a very important form of feedback. This relates to the fact the teachers can't really see immediate change in their students' achievement. Because the teachers can't see any vast improvement in their students' writing, (that takes a great deal of time), they are not getting instant gratification about their instructional effectiveness. It was so much easier for them to know if they were doing a good job teaching a concept when they could grade a worksheet and see that their kids got all perfect scores. Watching students struggle through their first essay of the year couldn't be to gratifying.

The Beginning of Learning Something New

The first day of class, we talked a great deal about change. Implementing change is a very difficult task. From my observation, one of the most important first steps is convincing the community that change is necessary. The community has to see the vision and continue to see it throughout the process. Without understanding the value of the change, so many are complacent and remain with the status quo.

In my own school, we have purchased new textbooks and are trying to learn how to teach writing. The writing program called 6 Traits has been around for a long time. It is research driven and and a very widely used program. For the teachers in my school, it is quite different than what they are used to.

Before the program was purchased and before we were given the first of many teacher inservices, the principal (who retired at the end of last year) showed the comparison of our writing scores to those of the neighboring public schools. The results were glaring. We clearly needed a better way to teach writing. Our scores in writing were far below those of children in the public schools. The teachers were convinced and seem to be willing to look at the 6 Traits and adjust their way of thinking. The first step seem to go well.

As the process continues, it becomes increasingly difficult the maintain the momentum. Some teachers, although they recognize that children need to learn to write, find it difficult to completely change their current teaching strategies. For example, it's hard for some to give up the grammar workbook.

The struggle to implement change is that many forget the vision. They lose sight of why they have to expend the effort to learn a program, it's vocabulary, the teaching strategies, and assessment techniques.

Change is necessary for growth. It is difficult to understand why teachers are not willing to change. It must be extremely difficult for the administration to keep reminding those resistant to change of the goal - to increase student acheivement. It must be such a bore to have to keep reminding those resistant to change why change is necessary.

I wonder what "The Change Game" is.