Have a very Viking Holiday!!

2015 School of Distinction!!

The former Robert Lince Elementary has been recognized as a School of Distinction! Here is the link to the ESD press release. This award is given to schools who show considerable growth in reading and math over 5 years. RLE was one of 51 elementary schools in the state receiving the award, and was one of the 5% highest improving elementary schools in Washington.

This recognition can be directly attributed to the work and dedications of teachers who recognize how valuable it is to work as a team, of parents who sit and work/read with their kiddos, showing them the value of learning, and of your students who actually did all of the work! Way to go and keep it up! Our next goal is to show such an amazing amount of growth from last year to this year that they need to invent a new award, just for us.

60,056 reading minutes in Mo-vember

You can't tell too well from this angle, but my beard now has several designs in it, including a V for Viking and P for PRIDE. Mr. LaTour's beard consists of two brown antlers and a bright red nose, designed by Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Munson's classes, respectively. Roberts' class read 5277 after-school minutes in November and Munson's read 5021 minutes. All together, we had 22 of 42 classes participate in this event, reporting a total of 60,056 minutes read. If you were to figure out how many words this is, assuming that the kinder parents did most of the reading at this point in the year, these classes read over 5,000,000 words in Mo-vember. We'll be sporting these beards all day, even when I head to the district office this afternoon for my meeting with our Superintendent and Assnt. Sup.

Why put so much emphasis on reading? According to Hattie (2009)* exposing kids to reading has an overall effect of .63 on oral language and .41 on reading. Parent-preschooler joint book reading has a .67 effect on language growth, .58 effect on emergent literacy, and .55 effect on reading achievement. THIS WAS CONSISTENT ACROSS ALL SOCIOECONOMIC GROUPS. (sorry for yelling, it's just really important!) Reading with your kiddos trumps so many other environmental issues that hinder learning. 

Once we get students to read, and maybe even like reading, we can instruct them. Visual perception programs (the process of organizing and interpreting letters on a page) = .55. Vocabulary programs = .67. Phonics instruction = .60 with an overall effect size on phonological outcomes of .86, reading outcomes of .53 and spelling of .59. Repeated reading, re-reading a short and meaningful passage until reading a satisfactory fluency level = .67.

Do I need to continue? Do you see the importance? Do you see why we are willing to look so silly in the name of reading?

*Reminder: Hattie's research identified a .40 effect size as being equal to an average year's growth for a student. Anything greater than .40 is more than a year's academic growth. 

He who talks the most learns the most

https://qbnets.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/qip-2015-at-sidney-another-resounding-zzz-success/

If you've ever had to teach a lesson, or do a presentation, the person in that room who learned the most was you. In order to talk about the subject, you needed to research it, understand it, make mistakes with it, and learn from those mistakes.

Our goal for our classroom instruction is 50/50. We need teachers to talk only 50% of the time and students to talk the other 50%. When teachers talk the whole time, students don't learn, they are asked to regurgitate teacher knowledge. Often times the difference between an A student and an F student is the F students can only remember things until Thursday, one day shy of the test.

When students do the talking, wondering, and mistakes, they own the learning. 

What is my biggest concern as a principal?

https://wilsoncountylocalhistorylibrary.wordpress.com/

My biggest concern as a school principal is that I have a large discrepancy in effectiveness among my teachers. By discrepancy I mean a difference in how much of an academic impact one teacher can have on his/her students compared to other teachers in the same grade.

We often hear that people wish they had a choice in schools their children can attend because School A has a better reputation or is known as being a better school. But the research shows that there is only a 30% difference in academic effectiveness, nationwide, among schools. (click here for some research. I'll update it once I hear back from a few people who presented to us last week.)

But there is as high as a 70% difference among teachers in the same building (Dr. Ray Smith, 2015). This means that in some schools, it is an educational lottery. If you are lucky to be with a teacher who is highly effective, your students will show amazing growth. But if you have an unlucky draw, your students might actually leave the school year further behind. That is what keeps me awake at night.

How do we remedy this?

It's really quite simple. We don't have 14 individual kindergarten teachers, 15 individual 1st grade teachers, and 13 individual 2nd grade teachers. We have one TEAM of 14, a team of 15, and a team of 13 who see all the students in their grade as "our" students.

Being a team means they collaborate, agree, disagree, get mad, work through it, and after meeting every Monday morning, during prep and assembly times, they have a plan that includes every students in their grade level. They solicit help from reading and math specialists, they form their own grade-level intervention groups. The tell me they need a day to work together as a team and provide me with the rationale and expected outcomes that make so much sense that I have no choice but to tell them YES. How could I not? By telling them yes, I am helping these teams become stronger, closer, and more interdependent. And who benefits? Kiddos.

Being a team isn't just taking your take turn making copies. Being a team means if one person doesn't pull their weight, the whole team feels it. Being a team doesn't mean everyone is nice and happy and amicable. Being a team means you put aside your personal feelings and don't take it personal when everyone doesn't agree with you. You suck it up, look at the data, and do what's best for the students, not what makes you most comfortable.

I have teams who are exhausted, frustrated, yet excited. You will not find a 70% discrepancy between our highest and lowest performing teachers. Because they are locking elbows and academically moving these mountains of students together.

Remember a previous post about effect size, and how John Hattie identified a .40 as a normal year's growth? Well, Charter schools has an effect size of .20. Class size = .21. Principals/school leaders = .36; school effects = .48. But collective teacher efficacy, a team of teachers working together, believing that all their students can learn, has an effect size of 1.45.

Ah, now I can sleep at night. We've identified a solution and are working to remedy. Sweet dreams.

Reading and facial hair

I actually enjoy not shaving. It saves me time and it's refreshing looking at something different in the mirror from time to time.

But this month my beard has a different purpose: increase reading in our building. Whichever classroom reads the most after-school minutes (this includes reading with parents for our younger kiddos) that class will be able to shave any design/pattern/shape in my beard at the end of the month they want. And I will wear it all day.

Why do you ask? Well, really it's simple

Student-led fundraiser

Hello!

One of our amazing 1st grade Vikings is fundraising to provide 3 Buddy Benches for JCP. Can you help her? Please donate here gofundme.com/z58f23es or spread the word on your social media outlets. 

Students like her are already changing the world! 

What's your Moonshot?

(A repost from last year.)

Take 4 minutes and watch this video...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0uaquGZKx_0

“If we’re afraid to take these great big risks, we stop inspiring people. We stop achieving things. And the biggest nightmare scenario is that we won’t have what it takes to solve the really big challenges.”

How often do we automatically reject an idea or way of thinking because it's so different than what we're use to, what we are currently doing, or the way we've always done things. The problem with what we're used to, what we're currently doing, or the way we've always done things is: we will get the exact results we've always got, maybe slightly better at times. 

The only way we can make a noticeable difference is to do things noticeably different. 

What is your moonshot?

What are you excellent at?

I throw a great knuckle ball. I will even go as far as saying I'm excellent at it, especially with a softball. But saying that I'm excellent means I'm confident that I can show you, on command, consistently. It sounds a little arrogant. But it feels oh so good. :)

Admitting you're excellent at something means you'd better be darn good.Being excellent requires knowing what excellent looks like, how to get there, followed up with relentless, unwavering, exhaustive work.

Our goal at John Campbell Primary is to be striving, everyday, towards excellence. We can be excellent at being fun and we can be excellent at celebrating students. But until we are excellent at helping students make academic growth, we are not excellent.

Our teaching staff has created a Compact of Excellence. This compact includes two components that focus on our Best Self, and our Best Work. Teachers identified two key statements that if we hold ourselves and each other accountable, our students will achieve excellence in their academic growth. One statement focuses on what we can do as a individual, the other focuses on the work our teams are doing. And interestingly enough, both statements are very similar.

Best Self: I will frequently evaluate my impact, that I can change my instruction so ALL students can learn to their full potential. When I need help I will ask for help.

Best Work: We will reflect on, share, evaluate, and change to improve our instruction in order to increase our impact so ALL students can learn and grow.

Grammatically, they're not pretty. They don't provide a lot of details of how, which was not a requirement. But I think the teachers are on the right path. These statements signify their willingness to look at data and be transparent if they did well or need to do better. As teams, they'll identify how to support the students of teachers whose scores were not the best, at the same time helping that teacher learn and improve.

This requires a great deal of trust. This requires interdependently and teams of 13, 14, and 15 teachers working as one.

There is a poster in our staff lounge that reads:

You are not a TEAM

unless you have goals that

require you to work together,

collectively and interdependently

to achieve them. 

You MUST NEED EACH OTHER

to be a team. 

This is our definition of excellence.

School and Love, part II

The power of the love of a teacher

This phrase might sound strange, as though the juxtaposition of "love" and "school" seem contradictory and unrelated.

But as I wade through the tangible array of emotions that waft out of classrooms it is very easy to identify those teachers who love teaching. And it's not because they are great teachers and love being in front of a class. They love the kiddos they work with. They give their heart and souls for students and students move  mountains for those teachers. My teachers whose students show the most growth are those teachers who give of their time and efforts for students out of love, not duty.

If a student is sad, they don't just tell the student they are sorry, they truly are sorry and help the student work through the sadness. This is the difference between sympathy and empathy

Example: I had a teacher on Friday who was visibly sad because it was a student's last day. During that school day the student went around the classroom and started crossing her name off any lists or places it was written. This broke the teacher's heart. In her mind they still had one final day with this kiddo and couldn't bear the thought of her leaving.

The best gift your student can receive is being in the classroom where they know their teacher loves them. This doesn't always mean brightly colored walls or lovely newsletters. I have no way of quantifying "teacher love" but I only need to be in a classroom for a few minutes to know. It's those classrooms where you just want to sit and watch because every student believes they are irreplaceable and valuable.

No, those teachers aren't always sappy sweet and super nice. In fact, some of my teachers with the most love are some of my more no-nonsense teachers. But they give their heart and soul for every student. And I'd put my child in their classroom in a heartbeat because my child will learn so much more than just academics. My child will leave school every day KNOWING that their teacher believes in them and loves them unconditionally. That's powerful.

1.5 days with Rick Wormeli left me exhausted and rejuvinated!

Robin Williams and Steve Martin made a baby. 

Meet Rick Wormeli. 

 

(http://www.middleweb.com/6850/crazy-good-teaching-stuff/)

He dances, sings, conducts, celebrates, all in the name of elevating education. 

But what I think he does best is makes some of the most brilliant, accomplished, veteran educators SQUIRM. They shift in their chairs. They look about and roll their eyes. They search their inner-self to find something that proves he's wrong. But he's not wrong. He's been relaying the same message for 30 years and we are finally listening.

He's not saying anything out of the realm of common sense, here are a few examples, though not always direct quotes:

• The consequences for NOT doing the work is doing the work. Do not accept "zeros" from students. Make them accountable for the learning. Every profession in the world holds their employees accountable for doing their job. It becomes really uncomfortable when your boss has to ask you over and over to do something and eventually you will have a different boss that probably pays less. Natural consequences. But giving a student a zero, a pass, a get-out-of-jail free card if they don't do the work teaches them the work wasn't worth doing. Stop penalizing students' multiple attempts at mastery.
• Let them know what's going to be on the test so they can actually learn it before the test! The driver's test isn't a pop quiz. Doctors don't show up to take their boards without a clue what success looks like. The "real world" gives us the answers before we take tests. And then we learn the material and turn it into knowledge. But many teachers hope their students can memorize the material on Monday long enough to regurgitate it on Friday. They label them "A students." But there was no actual learning going on. 
• Just because colleges/universities model terrible teaching practices doesn't mean K-12 should do the same. Teaching students how to learn while we have them is the most valuable gift we can give them, and better prepares them for the factory model they'll experience in higher ed. 
• Grades don't teach or motivate students, but observation-based feedback helps them improve. Once something is grades, the learning stops. Educators must become experts in age-appropriate motivation. 
• "Nobody knows ahead of time how long it takes anyone to learn anything." (Dr. Tae). One size does not fit all. 9 months may not be long enough for some. Teachers have the obligation to let students demonstrate knowledge for as long as it takes, because, after all, isn't that why we call them teachers, to teach?! Why can't we let a student come by, anytime, and demonstrate they finally got it?
• Using an average to grade does not reflect what the student learned. Just because it's mathematically easy to calculate doesn't mean it's pedagogically correct.  
• Grades should ONLY be an indication of what students learned, not their attitudes, effort, ability to follow a dress code, amount of homework returned, or if they stayed awake in the classroom. 
• We can learn without grades, but we can't learn without feedback. 
• If we make learning the goal AND the reward, there's no reason for students to cheat. 
• The list goes on....

I listened to him for 3 hours on one afternoon and 6 hours the next day and felt like I drank from a fire-hydrant. But as I sat and listened to others in the room mull over what he'd presented, listened to some justify why their way was still correct, murmur about the potential impact this would have on their work, I realized he is doing exactly what needs to be done. That is, he's telling people hard truths about their education malpractice, from an national and international pulpit, backed by data, research, and a mountain of other experts. 

The message that most resonated with me was this: 

Kids learn from recovering from the mistake, not being labeled by it. 

We must teach them how to fail

Your best teacher was your last mistake. (the internet says many different people are the author of this quote, pick your favorite.)

When you make a mistake often times you have immediate data, immediate feedback. Having spent 7 years as a pavement maintenance contractor, I have to admit that I made mistakes when striping parking lots and roads, but nothing as ironic or visible as this:

Sometimes our mistakes are very public. Sometimes we don't realize they are mistakes until some time later. But I bet the gentlemen (sorry guys, but I'm assuming a lady didn't make this one) who made this mistake will never misspell a certain word, ever again!

As an adult, the success of my professional life (and my parenting and husband-ing, for that matter) hinges on minimizing my mistakes. The way I do this is by using all of my knowledge and experience to make the best decision I can, in the most timely manner possible. Much of that knowledge and experience was gained by doing it the wrong way, many times. Hopefully I have remembered all of the wrong ways I did it in the past, or the wrong ways I've seen others do it to make sure this decision/action is better than before. 

The phrase "Well, I'll never do that again!" is powerful. You did something wrong, and you learned something valuable from it. 

From a child's perspective, their whole growth process hinges not on whether they make mistakes, but how they learn and grow from them. And our reactions to their mistakes and failures play a key role. This is connected to a quote in my previous post: If the brain is unrewarded or punished for curiosity, it learns to hide, avoid risks, and stick with what is familiar and safe. (Cozzolino) If our students (children) do not feel safe enough to make a mistake, it is devastating for them when they do. They will shut down, close off, and hide.

Imagine how your child's world will be, how their learning and imagination and potential will flourish, when they know that they were free to make mistakes because they are a necessary part of learning! Imagine how much they will change the world because of the risks they are willing to take!

So, what's my point? Please let them fail. And when they do, teach them how to learn from it. And when the do it right or better the next time, praise their effort, their grit, and point out how it was because they learned from their mistake that they showed this growth. That is an amazing learning lesson they can use the rest of their lives.

Relationships MUST be first.

• If a brain is unrewarded or punished for curiosity, it learns to hide, avoid risks, and stick with what is familiar and safe.

• Anxiety is the enemy of curiosity, exploration and new learning.

• Secure relationships not only trigger brain growth, but serve emotional regulation that enhances resilience and learning.

• Good relationships help learning, bad relationships impede learning.

• Effective teams have more to do with the relationships and development of the group, than with skillful facilitation..

• Without mutually stimulating interactions, people (and neurons for that matter) wither and die.

• Your knowledge can be activated through observing and identifying with other people.

• You gain self-efficacy by observing and interacting with peers as they work on difficult problems

• Exposure to a successful model will encourage a person to believe he or she will be successful as well.

• You don’t have to agree with someone’s opinion, but you need to at least be interested in it.

• Relationships are the foundation of deep learning. If you don’t establish a foundation on that idea, you run the risk of having everything else crumble.

**Quotes and research from Cozzolino, Fedrow, Hattie, Tokuhama-Espinosa

Learning targets in the classroom

Thanks to all of you who attended our Open House last night. As you were looking around the room, you might have noticed that teachers are posting "Learning Targets" sometimes called learning objectives. On the surface, it might appear simple and inconsequential. But let me break it down for you a little.... 
These targets are made up of three components: What, why, and the success criteria. Some teachers are using the same terminology:

I can _______ so that I can _______ . 
I'll know I mastered it when _______.

John Hattie (click name to see some research) is currently the leading researcher in the field of education. He has studied tens of thousands of research projects that involved over 200,000,000 kids all over the planet. Through this exhaustive study, he created a list of the most impactful (not a word, yet) teaching strategies (click to see some research). He identified strategies that, when correctly and consistently utilized by teachers, can help students make 2-3 years of growth during a school year. Without getting too much into the jargon, .40 growth = an average year's growth of a student with an average teacher. Anything over .40 growth is helping a student make more than a year's worth of growth in a school year. .80 means a student is making about 2 years of growth in one school year. Make sense? 

What does this have to do with learning targets? 

Here is the learning target, broken into three sections, aligned with some of Hattie's research on the what the effect of the strategy has on student growth:

I can _______________

Effect size:

• Self-efficacy (confidence they can do it) = .63
• goal setting = .68
• achieving approach = .70

• error transfer of new problems = .80

.....so that I can _______

Effect size:

• worked examples = .57
• problem-solving teaching = .61
• meta-cognitive strategies = .69
• teacher clarity = .75

I'll know I mastered it when _______.

Effect size:

• Feedback = .75
• providing formative evaluation = .90
• success criteria =1.13
• self-reported grades = 1.44

Teachers are doing everything they can to put the learning back on the learners. When students know what they are learning, why they're learning it, and how they can know they were successful, research shows students can show incredible growth.

JCP has changes galore!

There's a lot to celebrate at JCP for our first 10 days of school. As many of you have noticed, we have created many new systems and protocols, feeling like we've created a whole new school. In a sense, we have. We've added 150+ students, totaling over 800, but have only 3 grade levels. So we needed to make some changes:

• Once students are on campus the perimeter of the campus is secured, requiring all visitors to enter and check-in through the front office. This has made it harder for some parents who like to walk their students to class because they have to now check in first. But we decided that making sure our campus was safe and every adult on campus was accounted for was worth making a few adults uncomfortable. We would rather do everything we can to insure student safety than have to wonder, after an emergency, if we could have done more. 
• Students now eat in the classrooms. With this many students, it was physically not an option to have them all eat in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the way this campus is made, with it's hills and rough terrain, we don't have the option of delivering lunches to our different locations. The lunch carts are just too heavy and last year we have a custodian severely injure an ankle attempting to do just this. But having lunch in the classrooms gives students a 30-minute recess before lunch, and as much time as they need to eat their lunches. Previously, students only had 15 minutes to eat. Now they can eat and learn if they need more time. We planned on having many spilled lunches but by my last count, we've only had 5. And yes, that includes our kindergartners. :)
• Lunch money can only be accepted at the front office. We have added an extra office person in the morning to handle this job. We need to get 19 students a minute through our lunch lines in order to make sure lunch is cleaned up before PE begins. Having students turn their lunch funds in to the office is one way to make lunch smoother. And lunch is much smoother! The first day of kinder, it took 35 minutes from when the lunch bell rang to when the last student left the gym with a lunch. They now can do it in 15 minutes, consistently.
• We added a 5th special for students, art. They now have PE, music, library, technology, and art. Students go to one specialist a day, for 45 minutes. 
• Pick-up after school is now all done in front of the school. With the additional students, parents and staff were concerned about having parents and older siblings roaming in and out of students in bus lines and being on campus before students had the chance to load onto the buses. We now have teachers walking students to the bus lines first, then dropping off at the parent pick-up after. The first day, it took 40 minutes for the last student to be picked up. Now, 99% of students are picked up and heading home within 10 minutes. And if we have more parking, I'm convinced this would be even faster. 
• Parking. Unfortunately, this always has been and continues to be an issue. We appreciate those parents who park on Home Ave., in the church parking lot, or down the street and walk. There is no immediate fix to our parking situation in the near future and we appreciate your patience and understanding. 

I am always open to discuss ways we can improve. Any suggestion you may have that will increase the safety and education of our students will always be welcome! 

In October, I will have my first Principal Connect. This is an opportunity for me to share with parents why we do what we do at JCP for students, discuss trends and such in education, and answer any questions you may have. Stay tuned for a day and time. 

See you at the open house on Thursday!

The power of an apology

On Wednesday, we had a very upset, very loud parent in the office after school. He yelled at the office staff, told his child to start walking home because he had more to say, and when I went out there and we moved the conversation outside, he was loud and very animated with me. Luckily (insert sarcasm font) our school is located on the busiest street in town (small town) so many were privy to the conversation. He felt we had told them things would be done one way and we thought we had told him something else. After several minutes, we did shake hands and he walked off, but still very upset. 

I followed up with the teacher, phone calls were made, the mix-up in communication was snuffed out and all was back as it should be. 

But that's not the reason for my post. 

This parent came up to me after school the next day, as we were wrapping up parent pick-up. He said, "Mr. Darling, I owe you an apology. I was way out of line yesterday and I had no right to act as childishly as I did. I have already gone in the building and apologized to the office staff and I needed to come out here and make it right with you."

This still isn't the reason for my post. 

He continued, "I know my son was watching how I acted yesterday. I needed him to see me apologize for my actions and make things right. I need him to know it's not okay to act that way."

BAM. That is the reason. The student. 

This student has had some struggles over the last two years. He is making huge strides and has dramatically improved his behavior. I was genuinely shocked at how dad reacted in the office and with me as it seemed out of the norm for him. I can imagine it was very hard for him to eat crow like he did. But corrective actions like that will change the course of his son's future. For the better. 

Ah, that was nice. I needed a warm-fuzzy.

Change is a Chance

Change is our chance to do something different. If there is no change, there is no chance to improve. One of the most debilitating phrases in education is "But that's not how we used to do it."

How we "used to do it" yielded the results we used to get. 

Those results were not good enough. 

To achieve more, we must to do things differently. 

Week 1 is in the bag

This week was a week of first for everyone. And, overall, things went amazingly.

Here is our first time having kinders line up from recess for lunch. It took 35 minutes from the time the bell rang to when our last kiddo checked out, but I didn't see any spilled trays, we managed to get everyone a lunch, everyone ended up on their correct classrooms, eventually, success. Everyday next week will be faster and faster

We had every student carry their lunches to class. I saw zero dumped lunch trays outside.

We had kids pushing tray-carts back after lunch was over. 

Can't wait for next week! We still have 176 days of learning left! 

First day of school, the day after

Yesterday was the first day of our new school. It may look like the same old school because the building didn't change much, but nearly everything going on inside was brand new. New schedules, new systems, many new staff members, new routines for parents, new lunch model, etc.

And it really went quite well. There were no spilled lunches, we only had one lost student and that's because he got on his normal Monday bus route but wasn't aware that it was different for this first Monday. I had one parent get really upset with me because her son wasn't following his class in line when leaving at the end of the day so I told her we will have him practice following in line. I don't know how well that was received. :)

Staff: thank you for being so willing to go above and beyond your normal job descriptions. We needed an "all-hands-on-deck" effort and we got it.

Students: we are SO happy to finally see you here! This is the most amazing, hardest working groups of students our school has ever seen!

Parents: we are doing everything we can to keep your 800 kiddos safe and accounted for. This means we are requiring you to do things differently than in year's past. It's going to be a little crowded and uncomfortable for the first little bit but once kids and teachers settle into routines. But, aside from the lack of parking and space for parents at pick-up, things will continue to go smoother and smoother.

Can't wait to see what Day 2 brings!

What is your impact?

Our staff spent most of yesterday listening to me, and working with each other, focused on high-impact teaching strategies. These are those strategies that teachers can use that have been shown to be more powerful than poverty, home impact, parent involvement, etc. According to John Hattie,(click on name for research) there are 30+ things that teachers can do in their classrooms that trump whatever a students bring with them. And his most recent research shows that Teacher Collective Efficacy has a 1.56 effect size. 

The highest impact on student growth is having a team of teacher who work interdependently, believing that every student on their team can and will achieve. Hattie found that this strategy can yield 3 to 4 years of growth in a single school year.

The average teacher can increase a student one years' worth of growth, as long as that student comes from a middle class (or higher) home life, has parents who are involved and engaged with the student, and the student has a good relationship with the parents.

A team of teachers working together can make every student meet or exceed standard, regardless of the student's home life.

We have the moral obligation, as educators, that when we know better, we must do better. 

I have teams whose students will make the most amazing growth of their lives this year. 

I am so excited for Monday!

Only 4 more days until school! I'm so excited!!

What does this year hold....

I'm so excited for school to start!

We have been talking about our district's reconfiguration for years and we are now only days away from the first day of our new school, John Campbell Primary.

We have the most amazing teachers. We have the most amazing office staff and paraprofessionals. We have the most amazing support staff, specialists, and administrators.

Students, we cannot wait to see you! Hopefully you'll be able to attend our Back to School night on Aug. 27, from 5-6pm. Join the PTO ice cream social from 5:30-6:30. And parents, please join the PTO! We only have 2 parents that have volunteered to fill the open positions and they really need your help to help our students have an the best year possible.

See you soon!

"Viking pride starts here!

Things NOT TO SAY when interviewing for a teaching position....

I really enjoy hiring teachers. I've been very fortunate to have rich, deep candidate pools for most of my positions. However, sometimes the person we see when screening their paperwork isn't the same person who shows up for an interview. I'm amazed at how some dress, how some sit in the chair, or how their nerves get the best of them sometimes.

Here are some actual responses I've received during an interview over the past few years:

• This really isn't the grade I want to teach, but it's better than nothing.
• I remember you (pointing to another teacher on the interview team.) We interviewed for a similar position last year. Why did you get the job over me?
• I wanted to get into teaching because my last job was too stressful.
• Is the salary negotiable?
• I really didn't come prepared to answer most of these questions.
• When asked if he had any questions for us after the interview questions were finisned, he said, "No, but I have a comment. I was accused of spanking a 1st grader last year but it didn't happen. I appreciate you taking the time to interview me today. Thank you." He then packed up and left.

Can you add to this list?

What book are you reading?

When I lived in the Seattle area I had about a 50 minute commute. But now I literally live 2 minutes from work. I have seen many of our students over the summer. Once they get over the shock of seeing Mr. Darling in shorts, and bearded, and shopping, I always ask them, "What book are you reading?" Some have answers, some make excuses, and many parents squirm because they know the questions is directed at them as much as the kiddo. 

But I just realized that if any of them asked me the question, I would squirm as well. I have a lot of books I'm dabbling in, tons of blogs and articles I read daily, but I'm not really modeling my summer expectations for them. And no, Glad Monster, Sad Monster, Wemberly Worried, or Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed don't count. 

I'll do better. 

Day Two of Hattie's Visible Learning take aways....

There’s a difference between assigning complex text and teaching complex text. 

Learning is a social endeavor. 

Every student deserves a great teacher not by chance, but by design. -Doug Fisher

*Teacher modeling should capture students and let them in to the mind and thinking of the teacher. 

Effective school leaders must leverage their big-winner leadership practices to maximize their impact on learning and teaching 

Interviewing students: What is the learning target of the day? Are you being successful? How do you know?

When teachers SEE learning through the eyes of the student and when the students SEE themselves as their own teachers. 

We need students to arrive at school ready to work, not watch the teacher work. 

A key impact on student achievement is whether they make a friend during the first month of school

If kids had unions and voting powers, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are now

Teachers are the only person in the room who is paid to try something different. It’s their professional obligation. 

Imagine if doctors were paid for performance. They would refuse to take on difficult cases. Why would paying a teacher for performance work? They have zero control over their clientele. 

a culture of collaborative expertise can help every student achieve at least one year’s progress for one year’s input. 

"I’m not a fan of high achievement standards. I want high achievement standards. Parents don’t think schools are any good because their scores aren’t high. But teachers in those schools may actually be amazing teachers and obtaining more than a year’s growth in a year." John Hattie

Teaching is to DIE for: Diagnose, Interventions, Evaluate

87% of talking in the classroom is from the teacher. 

How many questions do children ask per day that they don’t know the answer to? They risk interrupting you. They risk the reaction of their peers.

The fate of students depends on the mind frames of students.  

Day 1 of Visible Learning with John Hattie

Here are a few of my key take-aways so far...

• Leaders: Promoting/participating in ts learning and development has the highest impact on student outcomes -0.84 effect size
• Imagine what your students would be willing to attempt if they knew they could not fail?
• Instead of “What did you learn today” ask “What kind of feedback did your teacher give you today?”
• What if you had your teachers change their "Learning Intentions" or "Learning Targets" to "Learning Promises?
• the best in the world still need coaches. Self-regulatory feedback/feedforward helps solve problems they didn't know they had
• Learning intentions should cover the goal of the lesson and should be mastery-related as opposed to performance-related.
• Just b/c you teach deeper learning doesn’t mean scores will be higher if those tests don’t require deeper thinking.
• Most gifted kids do not become gifted adults b/c they don’t learn how to struggle.
• Teacher collective efficacy is more powerful than anything a student brings to the classroom
• We show students where to look, not what to see.

Update

Attending the John Hattie Visible Learning Institute this week in San Antonio. Stay tuned for updates and some excited posts.

The impact of a father on education

Taken from Fatherhood.gov:

When fathers are involved in the lives of their children, especially their education, their children learn more, perform better in school, and exhibit healthier behavior. Even when fathers do not share a home with their children, their active involvement can have a lasting and positive impact. There are countless ways to be involved in your child’s education at all ages.

According to a 2007 National Center for Education Statistics Report:

• 92% of students in grades K though 12 had parents who reported receiving any information from the school on the student’s performance.
• 83% had parents who received any information about how to help with homework.
• 59% of students in grades K through 12 had parents who were "very satisfied" with their child’s school; 55% had parents who were very satisfied with the school’s parent-staff interactions.

The presence of a responsible father promotes improves academic performance and reduces disciplinary problems among children.

Preschoolers with actively involved fathers have stronger verbal skills.
Radin, N., 1982, “Primary Caregiving and Role-Sharing Fathers,” in Non- Traditional Families: Parenting and Child Development, edited by M. Lamb, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 173–204.

Children with actively involved fathers display less behavior problems in school.
Amato, P.R., and Rivera, F., 1999, “Paternal Involvement and Children’s Behavior Problems,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 375–384.

Girls with strong relationships with their fathers do better in mathematics.
Radin, N., and Russell, G., 1983, “Increased Father Participation and Child Development Outcomes,” in Fatherhood and Family Policy, edited by M.E. Lamb and A. Sagi, Hillside, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 191–218.

Boys with actively involved fathers tend to get better grades and perform better on achievement tests.
Biller, H.B. 1993, Fathers and Families: Paternal Factors in Child Development, Westport, CT: Auburn House.

Research shows that even very young children who have experienced high father involvement show an increase in curiosity and in problem solving capacity. Fathers’ involvement seems to encourage children’s exploration of the world around them and confidence in their ability to solve problems.
Pruett, Kyle D. 2000. Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child. New York: Free Press.

Highly involved fathers also contribute to increased mental dexterity in children, increased empathy, less stereotyped sex role beliefs and greater self-control.
Abramovitch, H. 1997. Images of the "Father" in The Role of the Father in Child Development. M.E. Lamb, Ed., New York: John Wiley & Sons.

When non-custodial fathers are highly involved with their children’s learning, the children are more likely to get A's at all grade levels.
National Center for Education Statistics. October 1997. Fathers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools; National Household Education Survey. NCES 98-091R2. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

Nonresident father contact with children and involvement in their schools within the past year are associated with the same three factors: fathers paying child support; custodial mothers being more educated; and custodial homes not experiencing financial difficulties.
National Center for Education Statistics. October 1997. Fathers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools; National Household Education Survey. NCES 98-091R2. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

High involvement at the early childhood level - frequency with which parents interact with their young children, such as how often they read, tell stories and sign and play with their children. These experiences contribute to children’s language and literacy development and transmit information and knowledge about people, places and things.
Bredekamp, S. and Copple, C. 1997. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children

Reflecting on the old year, preparing for the new one

Here are a few take-away's from this school year:

1. Hire teacher leaders. We don't need a team with 1 leader, we need a team with ALL leaders, who can all lead a PLC, all guide a data analysis, all stand up for what's best for students. 
2. Parents: please, please, please make your kiddos read 20-30 minutes, EVERY DAY this summer. Their futures depend on it. 
3. I didn't do enough. I still don't think I memorized the name of every student. I wasn't able to attend very many of their personal after-school events. I could have been a little more patient with that certain 2nd grader. The list goes on and on...
4. I did a lot! It's no wonder I get sick the week after school gets out. My body can finally let its guard down. Meetings, hirings, evaluations, discipline, one classroom had a fire, several rooms flooded, starting dual immersion next year required a lot of time, teams struggling to be effective, a couple teachers required a lot of my time...
5. Data: I'm still struggling to create (or steal) a simple method of analyzing common formative assessments that results in two things: specific interventions/extensions for students based on the data and specific instructional interventions for those teachers whose students struggled.
6. Did I reach my social-emotional goals? I had a few: 
1. Ask one teacher a day "What did you learn about a student and what did you do about it?" No. There were several days when I didn't ask anyone this question. But after a while I would have teacher come to me and tell me the answer without me even asking. 
2. Tell at least 5 students a day: "I am so excited to see you!! You make our school better, did you know that?!" Maybe. I got pretty good at stopping kids in the hallway, placing my hands on both of their shoulders and asking them this. 
3. Support my teachers. Maybe, hard to assess. But I did have a lot more teachers in my office crying this year about non-work related issues. Could have just been a super-sucky  emotional year for some.
7. I tried to be there for my family more this year. Failed. It seemed like last year, despite being the first year as a principal, was less stressful. This year we had so many more meetings, so many more new issues that arose, that I really felt the stress this year. And I know there were many days I came home grouchy and tired and not ideal. Sure, I was home, but not quality time with dad/hubby. 

For next year:

• Data analysis protocol needs to be clear and implemented. This isn't for big data, this is for the 15-day cycles. This starts with my team leads knowing my expectations. 
• Be more intentional about supporting my new teachers. I will have 3 brand-new teachers, and a couple who are not new to teaching, but new to our district. Strong mentor teachers. Release time for training and peer observations. Individualized professional development. Frequent check-ins.
• Train ELL and LAP teachers to be instructional coaches. Instead of them focusing on their identified students, they can have time to strengthen teacher efficacy. More bang for the buck. 
• When I'm home, be home. Put away phone. Leave work at work.                                                       

How to avoid a project's demise...

Have you ever heard of performing a pre-mortem autopsy? We know a post-mortem happens after something has died and it is used to determine cause of death.

Little too late for the victim. 

A pre-mortem activity is where an "autopsy" is performed BEFORE a death occurs to create a plan to avoid actual failure. It's been around for more than decade or so from Gary Klein, a research psychologist, famous for pioneering in the field of naturalistic decision making.

In it's simplest forms, it makes total sense. When someone really smart explained it to me, it made even more sense.

I'll try to describe it in 6 easy steps:

1. Preparation: Get the team together, each with a few pieces of paper and pencil. Make sure that every person who has input with the project in the room.
2. Imagine the total, complete, embarrassing failure of the project: Explain to the team that a year from now, their current project bombed so horribly that you can't even make eye contact when passing in the hallway. #epicfailure
3. Generate Reasons for Failure: Every person takes three minutes to write down all the reasons why they think things went so wrong. If you have everyone possible there, you'll have many different perspectives. Once finished, have them eliminate those issues that you cannot control. You could even create a cemetery and put them there. :)
4. Consolidate the Lists: Go around the room and have each person share one idea with a facilitator recording on white board. Continue sharing until everyone has exhausted their lists.
5. Create a Plan: Pick 2 or 3 of the big ticket concerns.  Assign experts to oversee these big ticket concerns. Create a team plan to support each other to eliminate the problems before they become lethal. Schedule another time to generate ideas for avoiding or minimizing the other problems.
6. Periodically Review the List: Take the list out every couple of months for the team to assess and re-adjust as needed.

This could be a depressing experience. This can also cure some overconfidence. All share their concerns. All help create a plan. Starting with a huge failure in mind will open minds to identify issues that may have otherwise been ignored. 

Sharks will either eat you or make you faster, much, much faster

Fishing boats will often travel for days and days to find that prize catch. The problem they encountered was, when traveling 3-4 days back to unload their catch, their prize fish were no longer valuable. They spent so much time floating around in their little container, swimming in the same waters, they lost their muscle tone. Stagnant. Complacent. In a rut. This is how we have always done things.

So fisherman started adding sharks to the tanks in the boats. Sure, a few fish were eaten, but the rest stayed active and alive. Adding sharks improved their success.

Admin: Hire sharks. Anyone can join the pack, follow in line, do what the others do. But NO ONE IMPROVES. We need to hire employees that will challenge and extend our teams.

Teachers: change things up, for you and your students. Routines are valuable, but are they routine because it's easy for you, or are they routines that still challenge students. How many times during the school day do you make your students uncomfortable by challenging their thinking? How many times a day are you challenged, chased by a shark?

Parents: there are good "sharks" you can throw into the mix: engaging and fun summer learning programs; academic rewards for students making academic gains (ex. if they read a book, their reward is you buy them a new book, or check out a new book from the library); find ways to challenge your child to get them outside of their comfort zones. It's good for them.

I'm both a stick and a carrot guy. Sharks would work great for me. But I also like having that reward dangling for me to work towards. Find what your team needs, what your students need, what your child needs. But whatever it is they need to be motivated, you need to motivate them.

"If that was your child, what would you want them to do?"

When making decisions for students, I truly believe our leadership teams strives to do what's best for students. We are willing to sacrifice adult comfort for student achievement. We have made some adults upset, but for the right reasons. It is hard to stay angry with us -- though some are doing a great job -- when we can show them (research, data, etc.) that the decision was done based on what's best for the student. 

Fair is not equal. I promise every parent of every one of our students that we will not treat their children equally. We will give them exactly what they need, deserve, earned, and it will look differently than all other students. We are willing to be unpopular, very, very unpopular. 

"On some positions, Cowardice asks the question,

'Is it safe?'

Expediency asks the question, 

'Is it politic?'

And Vanity comes along and asks the question,

'Is it popular?'

But Conscience asks the question 

'Is it right?'

And there comes a time when one must take a position that

is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it

because Conscience tells him it is right."

-- Martin Luther King, 1968

Grit. It's what's for dinner.

I can play the piano because my mom used to beat me. Well, whacked a few time with a whiffleball bat on the backside, wasn't as violent as the first sentence sounds.

But the fact is, she MADE me! Can you believe that?!?! A parent making a child do something that the child didn't want to because the parent...knew what was best for the child!! (Huge sarcastic gasp!)

Why did she do it? She was helping me push through a challenge. I wanted to give up. Sometimes I didn't want to because it was boring and took away from play time. Sometimes it was because it was really hard.

There are times when you'll need to help your child overcome something challenging. Before you grab for the whiffle, first try to determine WHY they are struggling.

It's either one of two things: I can't or I won't.

I won't = they don't like it, don't see the long-term value, think it's embarrassing, etc. This is a personality-related issue. Maybe they have too much on their plate. I see a lot of parents who have their children involved in A LOT of activities. Yes, it is very important for our kids to be well-rounded and involved. But it's ok to not be involved with everything.

I can't = they don't know how. They do not yet possess the skills necessary to accomplish the task to a level that is acceptable. OR MAYBE they do not have the resilience to push through this obstacle.

In a recent newsletter from Pat Quinn, "the RtI Guy", he said:

• How do you get students to not give up when reading a difficult passage?
• How can I help students who have a terrible struggle at home?
• How do I get students to persevere when they are not comprehending something?
• What do I say to help a student who is reading three years below grade level when I pass out the standardized test?
• How do I get my students to have the stamina to take these tests?

The answer to all of these questions is: Resilience.  

Call it Grit, Perseverance, Stamina or Resilience... it is the ability to overcome all obstacles on your way to a goal.

The good news is that Resilience can be taught, practiced, learned and improved.  You can help your students/child/teacher/employee/self increase their Resilience!

P.S. I fought her on the piano-thing until 7th grade. When I joined the school choir in 7th grade there were 40 girls and me. I was the only one who could play the piano. She never needed to prompt me to practice after that, ever again!! Since then piano earned me music scholarships, I make money playing for wedding and such, and even supplemented my income as teacher by giving piano lessons. I guess sometimes it is okay to borrow someone else's grit until you grow your own. Thank you, Mom! And guess who is the one making my own kids play the piano? Nope, not me, my wife. Thank you, Beautiful!