Core Values

The end of the school year. As much as it seems like we should be able to kick back and relax at the end of the school year, this is a busy time for school leaders. Not only are we trying to make sure that we have absolutely everything tightly wrapped up with a bow, from end of the year data to hiring plans to culminating events, we are also gearing up for whatever work we are engaged in during the summer (for me that includes running a summer academy) and planning intensely for getting us off the ground in September. The planning for a solid opening cannot be underestimated - so this alone requires a great deal of reflection, planning, collaboration, and visioning.

I started working with a group of teacher leaders that represent a cross section of the different types of work we are engaged in a few weeks ago as part of a Turnaround School Leadership Program that I am involved in through my district. As we looked closely at different areas of our turnaround, we reflected on where we felt like we needed greater clarity. We looked at School Culture, Education Program, Talent Management, Operations, and Governance and Accountability. We decided that the areas for us that needed greater clarity centered on core values. We felt like we had a clear vision and that it was clearly articulated and that there was significant buy-in, but there was not always consistency in how our vision is carried out. Our core values are the beliefs that we have as an organization and what transpires as a result of those beliefs. An organization's core values must be clearly known and shared throughout the organization in order to have systemic change.

In this article by Jim Collins, he describes how the core values of an organization have to be shared by everyone in the organization. There is no detail too small to attend to - as Rory Sutherland talks about in this Ted Talk called "Sweat the Small Stuff."

In our work with the core values of our school, we used the analogy of a house that we built based on our core values. We described four pillars with an overarching "roof" on our structure. Our pillars are Academics, Social Emotional Learning, Collaboration, Culture and Climate with Community as our arch over the system. Looking at these pillars, we were able to articulate our core values and begin the discussion around what we need to do in order to ensure that everything we are doing aligns to these core values.

As the school leaders, we are responsible for the core values and alignment of those core values to the work across our organization. Teachers are the leaders in their classrooms and it is up to them to ensure that their classrooms align to the core values within the pillars of Academics, Social Emotional Learning, Collaboration, and Culture and Climate, as well as the Community. Ensuring systemic shifts in our organizations requires that our core values are in alignment throughout the system. Stay tuned for the next steps we will take to ensure that in our turnaround school!

Iron Sharpens Iron

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a leadership gathering and one of my colleagues was describing a working relationship. She said that they challenged one another, pushed one another, and made one another better at their work. The phrase she used was "iron sharpens iron."

It really got me thinking about how we support one another as leaders and what we value in the other leadership around us. I need people around me who push me and challenge me - people who sharpen my iron. It can certainly be challenging to hear feedback or opposing points of view, but I have learned to reflect and consider it from multiple angles so that I can come back to a point where I can hear it. I have had to push myself to recognize that when I am uncomfortable in feedback or some kind of challenging thinking, that there is usually more truth than I am able to hear initially. By taking the time to reflect and look at it from different angles, I can often come back and find how I need to grow.

So, how do we learn to sharpen the iron of those around us without being abrasive or too cutting and how do we help our teams learn to appreciate and value the need for sharpening? It can be challenging to give feedback or share an opposing point of view without sounding argumentative or even rude. In Leadership and Self-Deception, by the Arbinger Institute, we observe leadership from "inside and outside the box." We learn about how we can give direct and even difficult feedback to others without devaluing others. For me, this book has had a significant impact in my own leadership development and it is a title I return to again and again.

It can be as difficult to share an opposing point of view as it is to hear one. In this talk by Margaret Hefferman, she talks about the importance of teaching the skills of defending a topic, usually saved for Ph.D. work, to students of every level in order to develop thinking classrooms and organizations. In order to engage in this act of challenge developing and encouraging thinking, we must let go of believing that we must always be right. It is not a matter of right or wrong when we are pushing thinking. We must allow for the discomfort that happens when we are challenged, or when we need to challenge the thinking of others. When we allow the voices of a few negative or outspoken persons to represent our thinking because we are not comfortable in defending our own beliefs, then we are all weakened. When we sharpen one another, as iron sharpens iron, we strengthen the entire system and become the best version of ourselves.

Slow Down

I am sure your schedule is much like mine - nearly impossible. This morning on my way to work, I heard this song called "Slow Down," and I really had to stop and listen to the message.

My oldest son had his junior prom last weekend and this weekend he turns seventeen. That alone is kind of messing with my head. Today, my mom had to go to the hospital after an episode that required further tests. I am struck by the juxtaposition of these two events. And forced to slow down and consider the impact of not only my son getting older, but also my mother getting older, and the fact that I am getting older. 

So what does this have to do with being a turnaround leader? Sometimes we are under such pressure to see gains in our school turnaround, we forget to stop and see the great progress that we have already made. I have missed out on countless afternoons of homework with my kids in order to ensure that my school is safe and that our instruction is on the path towards high achievement. I have had to cut phone calls with my mom short for a meeting or a phone call I had to take. But, today I talked with principals from another district for over an hour and during that time my school was calm and students were learning. As I shared with them about the gains we have made (I described where we started and where we are now and the difference is truly significant), I had to stop and really reflect on the ways we have grown as a school community. It is not perfect and certainly some days are better than other, but I can tell that it is a different place than when we started.

Being a Principal Mom is not easy (let's face it, being a Principal isn't easy and neither is being a Mom, so the two of them together are nuts!). But one thing I have to get better at is walking away at the end of the day and celebrating the time that I have with my own children. I don't know if we allow ourselves to do that enough (or is that just me?). I have several colleagues who have figured out how to leave the work at home and I want to know what they have done to help them manage and organize their time. When I think about my own growing edge, I know that having clearly articulated systems in place throughout the organization and managing my own time are two big rocks to turnaround that will stick and to slowing down in order to go faster and more efficiently. Sign me up!

#Bragging

Sometimes it is important to step back and recognize that the work you are doing is having an impact. We are in the process of implementing a Community School model in my elementary school. While it is an incredible amount of work to organize and implement, it is work that is very much needed in my school community. An article by Julie McMahon that was published in the Syracuse Post-Standard last week, highlights the work that we are doing as a school to support our school community (read the full article here). It has helped to raise awareness in the greater Syracuse community regarding the significant level of need - both in terms of basic needs and academic supports.

I am overcome with appreciation for the many people who have shown interest in the work we are doing at my school. How humbling it is to realize that other people recognize the value of the work you are doing! I also continue to be in awe of the people who are on my team. They take the idea of relentless commitment to serving our school community to the next level. When we think about what is necessary in school turnaround, having the right people on your team is absolutely number one in changing the trajectory of a school.

The next steps for us in implementing a community school model are exciting and there is much for us to learn. I am proud to be surrounded by so many talented and dedicated educators and to be supported by a community that can envision how schools can make a difference in the lives of our students and their families.

The Purpose of Practice

I am currently reading Doug LeMov's book, Practice Perfect. I love it when you are reading something and the whole time you are thinking, "This makes so much sense. Why didn't I think about it this way before?" In Practice Perfect, LeMov goes deeper into reflecting on how effective instructional practices become a part of our practice - it's not that we either have it or we don't, it's that we can develop it with purposeful practice.

I am a pianist. My parents insisted on getting piano lessons for me beginning at age 5. I understand practice and both it's value and purpose. But as I read this book, I am seeing that I have not often in my career truly practiced, or rehearsed, for an "in-classroom performance" - like I would if I were putting on a recital. This is where LeMov distinguishes between practice and preparation. As teachers, we spend a lot of time preparing. But preparation is actually dramatically different from practice. When I am preparing, I am thinking about what I will do when I have children in front of me, but I am not actually rehearsing what I will say, what I think they will say or do, and how I will respond next.

When I was preparing for my recitals in college, I wasn't practicing until I got it right - I was practicing until I couldn't get it wrong. What a difference that is. Think about that in terms of your instruction. What if we practiced our instructional delivery? What if we practiced our questioning and our re-directions? What if we practiced our pacing and our flow of our read aloud?

Does practicing my instructional delivery make me a robot? I know that practicing for a recital did not make me play like a robot. I know that when I see a play or a musical that I don't believe I am watching robots on stage. I know that mastery requires practice. The musical analogy to putting all of our time into preparation and not into practice is sightreading. When I sightread music, my time is invested in gathering the music and looking it over. But the first time I play it, I am sightreading the music, which means I might leave out notes, miss things, and make mistakes, but I would always keep on going. That's what we do in teaching. We gather our materials, we look things over, but then we are basically sightreading in front of a classroom of students who are counting on us to get it right. Then we reflect on the lesson and try to fix it tomorrow.

We all have had lessons where we walked away and said "that didn't work." We have all had times where we had to re-teach because we realized that we didn't hit it out of the park. Ultimately, our effectiveness is gauged by student actions - our teacher actions must lead students toward productive struggle, engagement, and ultimately, mastery of the skills and material. What if purposeful practice allowed us to have fewer "misses" and more "home-runs?" Wouldn't that be worth it?

Do the Most Good

I originally wrote this blog post about a year ago. This seems to be the time of year when teachers and leaders wonder if the grass is greener in some other district. I think it is important for us to reflect on our level of commitment to the students we serve and the vision of our organization. As with any marriage or long-term relationship, commitment is a choice. We could always choose another way, but staying committed...that takes patience, communication, and work.

Why did you get into education? What made you decide to be a teacher in the first place? I think it is important to revisit this connection at this time of year because it is a time of the school year when there is a lot of contemplation about how things could be easier or better or more convenient in another school or in another district.

I don't think I thought about the impact I could have on other people's lives or on the greater community when I got into education - I was 23 and I was so excited to have a job - my focus wasn't on my role in changing the lives of children or families. Soon after I got a handle on my new position, I became aware of how my role extended past my classroom and into the greater community. As I grew as a teacher, I reflected on my role as a teacher and I knew that I had to admit that I knew that there was places where I could have a greater impact. That was my draw to urban education.

I believe that we need to "do the most good" - that if we are capable that we have a responsibility to help others.

While we can do good in any district, not everyone has the competencies for urban education. And urban education is where we have the greatest need. The children in urban classrooms need the absolute best teachers. They need committed teachers who have deep content knowledge, extensive strategies for managing classrooms, and who appreciate the diversity of our urban classrooms. While the grass may appear a brighter color of green in suburban districts, the reality is that the same grass grows everywhere. Urban, suburban, and rural districts all face challenges. However, the challenges in urban education cannot be solved without the best teachers working to overcome the disadvantages our children may have and strengthen the future of our urban communities. 

Urban teachers have to have strong classroom management skills and have a deep commitment to educating our future. Those are the teachers that we need in urban classrooms. And we need those teachers to stay committed to solving the challenges of urban education. Too often in urban education, we invest in developing a teacher with potential and then after a couple of years they think teaching will be easier somewhere else. Suburban schools are smart - they know that successful urban teachers can be successful anywhere. However, the inverse is definitely not true. It takes grit to be an urban teacher. Anything that is worth doing in life will have challenges. There are classrooms everywhere - but really making a difference means teaching where you can do the most good. Even when it is tough. They say that teachers aren't "in it for the income - they are in it for the outcome." Being the one who can help to shape the future is the best perk that we can have as a teacher - better than summers off or great health insurance or snow days. We are opening doors to the future. 

Parents Are Our First Teachers

This past week, we had an amazing College and Career Day at my school. We had visitors come in and share their career stories and career paths with our students. So many people from our community came to share their stories with our students and (hopefully) inspire them to see their potential and their future. Students were chosen to have a career for the day - shadowing staff members to learn what skills they would need in those careers.

My father came to speak with the 4th graders at Dr. Weeks. I was extremely proud to introduce him to my staff and students. He talked with the students about his career path and shared his story of perseverance and determination with the students at my school.

My father is driven and purposeful. He always pushed us to be the best we could be and encouraged us that we could do anything as long as we did it well. Making him proud has always been important to me, so sharing my school with him last week was a very powerful experience.

In 1928, my grandfather opened a storefront for used auto parts and appliance repairs with his brother-in-law. The used parts business grew during the depression and my grandfather expanded into replacement parts and providing parts to automotive repair shops throughout the Finger Lakes area. My father returned from the Viet Nam War in 1969 and joined my grandfather in the business in 1970 - not because he was drawn to the automotive aftermarket, but because my grandfather was sick and needed help and my father felt like it was the least he could do.

The philosophy of "if you are going to do something, do it well" describes my father and his commitment to taking over my grandfather's business. Auto parts wasn't his dream, but he certainly found his voice in leading the business. He used that voice to develop a successful business, to raise a family of strong voices who also became strong leaders, and to influence the growth and development of a community. I have continued to live by and teach by the same motto - making sure that if I was doing anything that I would do it well.

Parents are our first teachers. I was fortunate to have parents who encouraged my leadership and supported me in what I was working toward. So many of our children need us to be the voice of encouragement and support. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Parenting. Teaching. Leadership. They all take that same kind of commitment. They are all extremely hard work - but they are all worth it.