Sunday, October 27, 2013

No Secret Sauce on This Burger

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure"
Colin Powell
What makes a burger great? Why do people choose to buy their burgers from one place over another? Is it the choice of meat? Is it the freshness of the bun or the lettuce and tomato? Or is it the special sauce that you can only get in one place?
I have talked with colleagues about my views in education and I have used the burger analogy often. I can get a burger anywhere, but I have clear opinions about the best burgers. The same is true for education. Students can learn anywhere, but they have clear opinions about the best teachers. If the students are supposed to be getting the same thing no matter where they go to school or who they have for a teacher then the question that must be answered is what makes one burger (or teacher) more desirable than the other? How do we get all burgers (or teachers) to at least be the best they possibly can be.
As we think about what makes burgers great, I want to focus on the things we all can see: freshness of the ingredients, quality of service, and options and customization. What I do not want to focus on is the secret sauce. We cannot use the secret sauce to make all burgers better. The secret sauce is a secret, and therefore it cannot be transmitted or shared. I have often heard people say things like a colleague was a "born teacher" or "just had that special something" that made them good. It often seems to me that we often think that what makes a teacher great is their secret sauce, the special things they do that are inherent in who they are. The unique things in their classroom or about their personality that cannot be reproduced and shared are what separate the gourmet from the dollar menu.
I have also found that teachers, once they have a secret sauce, do not want to share it. They want to hold into it because the enjoy being popular, or successful or well regarded. They see the secret sauce as what makes them unique and special. As a leader, I want everyone to feel that way, not just the one or two people that, "have it figured out." I also want all of my students to get a great education, not just the ones that have the teachers with the secret sauce.
We have to get away from the secret sauce mentality in education. While this sounds easy in theory, it is much more difficult in practice. Many teachers have spent years developing their secret sauce: highly polished lesson plans, powerpoints, simulations, or modes of delivery. They have made an investment and want a return. To break out of the secret sauce mentality, we have to get teachers to recognize that they get more when they give more.
We cannot believe that there are any secrets to what we do, and instead need to share our best practices with each other. Only if we do that, would we be able to make the system great, instead of depending upon the flashes of greatness of our staff. If we want greatness to be more than a flash, we will need to share the secrets.
As leaders we have to be concerned with the system, and creating systems that ensure success, and not just about individuals that are part of the system. This does not mean that we treat people poorly, or that we treat them like they are interchangeable, but that we take the best from everyone to make everyone their best. Focus on what we can do, what we can see, what we can share in the classroom and in our schools to make the experience of all students great. If we hold on to the secret sauce, will never get a better burger for everyone.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Defining Failure


I was recently interviewed by a school for a leadership position and was caught off-guard by this question:  When have you failed as a leader and what did you do about it? 

 

I am certainly not a perfect leader and have made my fair share of mistakes, but I really struggle with the term, or any derivation of “fail”.  What does it mean to fail?  What does it mean to fail if you haven’t defined what success looks like?  If you are making marked improvements towards but not yet achieving the definition of “success”, are you failing? 

 

As leaders, we have those days when we feel less effective than others; when we aren’t seeing the gains in student achievement, improved instruction, or a positive shift in the culture of our schools.  There are those days when we feel we have failed our students, our teams, and ourselves.  Yes, I have had many of those days.

 

Are we failures or have we failed in any of these situations?  I would venture to say that we haven’t.  We only “fail” when we don’t demonstrate and act with courage in response to adversity.  We only “fail” when we allow intended or unintended immoral, inequitable, or unjust acts to occur without trying whole-heartedly to prevent them.  We only “fail” when we refuse to courageously fight for what is right in spite of obstacles, big and small.

 

In response to the question from the interview, I asked what the interviewer meant by the term “fail.”  Not intending to turn the question back on him, that’s what happened.  He struggled to define what it means to fail and rephrased the question.  Tell me about a mistake you have made as a leader and how you responded.  This question I could much more confidently respond to -with many examples.  Instead of focusing on the mistake, I was able to elaborate on the successes experienced due to my own courage and the courageous professionals around me.  Failure is not an act, it’s a refusal to act.


“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill

Monday, October 14, 2013

At the table or on the table?





I was able to go to Washington DC in September to meet with representatives of Congress across minority and majority groups – House and Senate, as well as the Department of Education.  The first challenge for me is to try to work with the awe-factor that is immediately induced by the witness of monuments, the Capitol building, and the feeling of power in the air.  I have to remember – in one way, this is just someone’s workplace. 

But in another – it is the fulcrum that will pivot our nation based upon policies it chooses to adopt….or not.

I vividly recall my first years of teaching, head down, trying to get from day to day.  And with all the changes upon education, I can’t imagine ever feeling much different than that.  What I didn’t understand was the impact of federal and state policies on my day-to-day practice.  Only later in my career did I really feel an obligation to better understand these policies and become vocal about their adoption.

In a hallway conversation yesterday, a colleague told me that developing lessons to be formally observed under our state’s current evaluation model added, on average, about 9 additional work hours in the district she visited.  Still – even knowing that – I had the gall to ask, “Why aren’t more teachers involved in policy?  What are they doing that is more important?”  One of my students cheekily replied, “Nine hours of lesson planning for their evaluations.”

Touché.

So, educators are becoming increasingly consumed by the time-costs of mandates, and decreasingly able to participate in policy conversations about those very mandates?  Fantastic.  Great recipe.

My boss said in meeting last week, “I’d rather be at the table than on the table.”  So, I have found some ways to get to the table.  I’d like to share them with you.

No one can keep up with everything, but the ASCD has help for you.  You can do as little or as much as you are ready and willing to do.  If you go to the website below, you can become an “Educator Advocate.”  You will get a weekly newsletter that gives overviews of key issues for teachers, email alerts on issues where you can make a difference, and see other opportunities that are ready for you when you are ready for them.  (One I suggest – LILA:  Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy.  At the end of January – only a couple days – and they teach you most of what you need to jump into the politics of education.  Last time I went, I met with my state senators and representatives personally.)

Hope to see you at the table!
Suzann

Friday, October 11, 2013

WILL #6

What I Learned Lately (WILL 13/14 #5) by Dr. Josh Garcia (@Garciaj9Josh)

When I was growing up, I wasn’t always proud of my address.  I was pretty sure, I would never grow
up to be anything “royal”.  In fact I don’t think I really understood what a royal was.  As a kid, I needed to learn to dream.  I needed to learn to dream in color, I needed to learn to see the love my family was giving me.  Ultimately, I needed to learn how to learn.  Over the course of my life, I needed to learn how to be a producer and not just a processor.  A producer not for myself but a producer on behalf of others.  This often brought me close to the “fire”.  Recently I was asked by a group of students to reflect on how to produce and not just process an idea to death.  Here was my thinking:

#1 Move carefully,
If they tell to only do 2 things, do 3,
Outwork everyone,
Don’t let them tell you to stop,

#2 When you ask yourself, where is the “Love”, look in the mirror,
Don’t look at the haters, look past them,
When they are all in your ear, because they will be in your ear… Breathe…
Take a deep breathe, a really big one and know that you are in control of you

#3  The reason we practice every day is that it’s easy to stray from the view; everything else in our life pulls us in different directions, stay focused
The more we’re able to gather our attention and focus,
The stronger our mind becomes,
The stronger the experience becomes, and
The stronger the result becomes

#4 What marks the border between small motivation and great motivation is a shift in focus from own happiness to that of others.
Be your own ruler,
Be your own dreamer,
Create your own reality by bettering the reality of others.

I am even clearer now that I will never be a royal.  However, I am very proud of my address (I am 253), because I now know the structure does not define the interior.  Recently, I experienced “We Day Tacoma” and it solidified my views above.  Real people willing to produce on behalf of others.  A title doesn’t define quality.  People define quality by their willingness to stand for something.

Finally,
"Fire is something we should all embrace - it has changed "mankind".  Be willing to stand next to the fire - you may change the way we live."

Cross-post: http://edge.ascd.org/_WILL-1314-6/blog/6552536/127586.html

Sunday, October 6, 2013

What is the Goodness of your School?

Shortly after I accepted the position of principal this summer I had a student show up to school on his bicycle to see me. The school year wasn't scheduled to start for another three weeks. Having worked at this same school for the past 3 years I knew this student quite well. We had a great conversation about his summer, the books he is now reading, his family vacation, and the excitement about being a 5th grader.  

On his way out the door of my office he turned back around and said, “Ms. Clayton, this is really cool.” When I prompted further to understand what he was referring to, he said, “You know how the teachers and students at our school always talk about being college bound and that you can work towards whatever job you want? Well you did that. You went to UW last year, worked really hard and now you get to be the principal. The kids at this school can see what that really means now.”

His insightful comment has run through my mind a million times this fall. It was present as our staff came back together in August and engaged in activities relating to the culture of our building. Providing the opportunity for the staff to reflect on the goodness of our school was a powerful experience and continues to weave through our conversations and decision-making processes.

With simple prompts including What is the goodness of Lake Hills? and What brings you back to the work each day/year? we created a foundation of core beliefs, understandings, and values between staff members. The conversations were deeply rooted in the passion and commitment to reaching the needs of every learner. There was a clear emphasis on educating the whole child and a desire to always remember that our students are more than test scores.

In navigating these first several weeks of the school year I am constantly reminded of the above experiences. As I've walked through classrooms, interacted with staff, students, and families, observed instruction, and attended meetings with parents and community members, I constantly see evidence that all the different parts of the school are interconnected.

It is in those smaller, daily moments when evidence of school-wide efforts are present that our passion for the work is refueled. When you happen to overhear students having a conversation with one another about what it means to go to college you know the messages are being internalized. Similarly, when an emphasis on more parent engagement shows in record attendance for curriculum night or when a student meets their daily goal for positive behavior we are reminded of the importance of our work.


So, I ask you…
How do you gauge or assess the goodness of your school?
As the building leader what signs are you looking for that the school's vision and mission are grounding the work occurring in the school building? 
What does it look like and sound like when the needs of every child are being addressed and action is put into place to ensure each child is on the path to success? 
In what ways do your school-wide goals, efforts, and initiatives get assessed each day? 
What evidence do you have to show that efforts are transferring to students, families, and the community? Similarly, what evidence to you have to show that your school and staff are responsive to the ideas and needs of students, families, and the community?



 What is the goodness of YOUR school?