Social Capital

Today, I had the opportunity to listen to Andy Hargreaves speak about the whole concept of professional capital. Professional capital is the function of three different types of capital - human, social, and decisional. While all of these are important and play a distinct, important role in the success of a school or other organization, I couldn't help contemplate the role of social capital in my current context.

Social capital is defined as, in my own paraphrase: who we are together and how we work, communicate, interact with one another for the benefit of ourselves, others, and the organization. For any business or organization where success is dependent up on interdependence, social capital should remain a constant focus and area of nurturing.

Social capital is highly dependent upon nurturing trust at all levels of the organization. Trust doesn't happen overnight and needs to be cultivated. While trust needs time to develop, it has to be developed with intentionality. Hargreaves put it best when he said, "Trust doesn’t come from micromanagement or leaving people alone. It comes from engaging with people about their work." This engagement has to be intentional, thoughtfully planned, and monitored by all involved.

Each of us experience roadblocks to enhancing social capital within our teams.  In my current professional life, the size of the organization is a challenge.  The elementary school where I proudly serve as principal has nearly 140 staff members serving over 1,000 students.  In an international setting, we experience a lot of staff attrition.  Any time a new staff member joins, the whole dynamic of the team changes.  By team, I really mean teams – grade level teams, curricular teams, and the entire elementary school team.  Of course, time is a challenge.  How do you create opportunities to build trust at grade levels, between grade levels, horizontally and vertically?  How do you work to establish a culture of trust that, regardless of staff movement, permeates the building so that anyone who enters feels that trust is high, honored, revered, respected, and cultivated?  How do you help newcomers realize that trust is not just earned, but it’s given and supported?  How do you help everyone within the organization understand that levels of trust are constantly changing and that the only way to get trust moving in the right direction is to be vulnerable about practice and to communicate openly and professionally? 

Social capital is what we as leaders need to focus the majority of our time on.  How much time in your daily schedule is dedicated to raising the social capital of your organization?

Motivation is Everything

One of the most popular articles in the New York Times this weekend caught my attention. The article describes a recently published paper that examined the two types of motives that exist, internal (motives that are inherent in the task such as writing a blog for the joy of writing) and instrumental (motives that are not inherent to the task such as writing a blog to become a thought leader in education). The article further describes how all of the activities that we undertake have both internal and instrumental consequences (writing a blog can be both for the joy of writing and make the writer a thought leader in education), but that having both types of motives does not predict success and that, “instrumental motives are not always an asset and can actually be counterproductive to success.”

The research, based on data collected from West Point cadets showed that, “remarkably, cadets with strong internal and strong instrumental motives for attending West Point performed worse on every measure than did those with strong internal motives but weak instrumental ones.” This seems to make sense when we step back and think about achieving any difficult goal. If we are motivated by the outcome, and not mastery of the task itself, we can easily step back when it becomes too difficult and find another path towards our goal.

I think often of my students that want to go to college, “to get a good job and make money.” When the Advanced Placement or introductory college classes become challenging, they see that there are much easier ways to get “good” jobs and make money.  Since the opportunity to learn or the experience of going to college were not what was driving them forward, they found it easy to pass up on the college dream.

 Like any successful article, I find that after reading it I have to reexamine how I approach my students about the value of an education. As an AVID teacher, a program designed to support marginalized students in their path to college, I often use instrumental motivation to get them to perform their best. I explain how success in school can lead to acceptance to a good college, earning a good job, and earning a living that will support a happy family. The article makes a clear point that, "for students uninterested in learning, financial incentives…for high performance may prompt them to participate, but it may result in less well-educated students."

After reading this, I see that I may need to step back from the instrumental motivation I use. As the article states, just because there are instrumental consequences of being good in school it does not mean that is the best way to motivate my students. Instead I need to focus on the value of learning for its own sake, which I have tried to do in my class and explained in a previous post, but need to continue to consciously incorporate into my classes. 

Just like everything in my teaching career, it ends up reminding me of coaching football. I want my offensive linemen to block well. I do not talk to them about the fact that the better we block, the more likely we are to win. I simply value the skill of blocking and motivate them to master the skills, irrespective of the outcome it plays in the game. Whether the player is a starter or will never see the field, I expect them to master the skills. The end goal is the by-product of doing everything else right. It is as true for one of my AVID students as it is for my offensive linemen.

Cross-posted from: http://notfillingthepail.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-trip-is-more-important-than.html

Please follow John @jhhines57 or check out his blog at notfillingthepail.blogspot.com

Learning From the Ground Up

While we do not often think about it, we can start redesigning schools with the physical space. As I think about how to structure a high school, I see ways to change the school simply with the furnishing. Open spaces, natural light and comfortable seats can all take a school from “cells and bells” to a place of innovation and invention. I have often said that I go onto college campuses and I see how I wish to teach. It is amazing to have open manicured lawns, wooded paths, and some time to be outside. Being at a traditional high school, cooped up inside, it makes me wish I could escape, not stay and learn. If I feel that way, and I had a positive experience at school, I know my students feel the same way.

Along with how the school is designed, I am interested to see how much schools could become like the best idea companies. Places like Google, Microsoft, and Twitter have to give their employees space to think. Google has become famous for its Genius Hour in which the employees are given time to simply pursue whatever interests them and some of their newest innovations (Google Glass, the Google self driving car) have come from this time. These companies thrive based on how well their employees think. This is how we should be approaching schools. We should treat our students and teachers like thinking, and developing new ideas, was their job. We should give them time to pursue their passions and interests. We have to trust teachers to develop systems and solutions for the issues they face. We then further need to trust students to learn and find passion in learning.

When we think about public education, it is frustrating that while we want to have schools as a place of learning, growing , innovation and invention we run them like factories. With fixed amounts of credits, minutes and grades, we are trying to mass produce graduates (the all important graduation rate as the critical marker of success) with teachers working on the assembly line. We have this system, not because we think it is the best, but because accountability demands clear criteria to measure (test scores, graduation rates). Free time to generate ideas and follow passions is not as measurable as 3 years of high school science or 55 minutes of Geometry.

While places like Google see Genius Hour as a way to allow its engineers to follow intellectual endeavors as vital to it continued success and relevance, it is hard to see this becoming part of our public schools in our current high stakes, high accountability climate. There are some educators calling for the changes, to make schools more like our most innovative and productive companies, it has failed to penetrate the average school and is not part of the much of the current popular reform conversation. Less is more is not as prevalent as more is more.

If we are serious about schools being places of idea production, we have to build them to support the creation of ideas. We have also recognize that learning is an organic process, not a mechanical one. We cannot simply speed things up and have students simply learn more in less time, just like we cannot double the fertilizer we put on crops and expect them to grow twice as much in half the time. What we can do is create a set of circumstances, a climate, that can support higher growth. This can be done many ways, but one way that might need to be considered includes natural light and some free time.

Cross-posted from: http://notfillingthepail.blogspot.com/2014/07/designing-climate-for-growth.html

Please follow John @jhhines57 or check out his blog at notfillingthepail.blogspot.com

What does your legislator know about your work? If you said, "Nothing!"....please read on.

‘Critical Questions’ Series – This post is also available at the Washington State ASCD affiliate website blog: http://wsascdorg.blogspot.com/ as well as the link to the article as pdf: http://www.wsascd.org/downloads/critical_questions/June_2014_CQ.pdf.  

June 2014

What does your local legislator know about your work?

“The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.” –Hillary Rodham Clinton

Policy changes can move slowly and impact people – including our students and teachers – for years while we learn about actual consequences to well-intended mandates.  For those of us used to the crazy pace of the classroom, the geologic-timing of governmental response can be frustrating.  (Although, to be fair, if policy change happened quickly – that would have its own set of consequences.)

Here in Washington State we have what is termed “citizen legislators.”  In general, while the “salary and time required for the job” significantly limits who can serve, it is also “difficult for legislators to obtain and maintain outside employment.” According to the Washington Citizens’ Commission, (Washington) state legislators typically spend about 70% of a full-time job.  Although their income from legislative work is greater than that for (other types of state) legislatures, it is usually not enough to allow them to make a living without other sources of income.

According to a 2012 National Conference of State Legislatures survey, Washington state elected officials have average annual salaries of $42,106. If we take the “70% of a full-time job” figure at face value, this means our elected officials are in jobs that would average annual salaries of … wait for it… $60,151.

Wow.  Why would someone do such a difficult, important job for such paltry compensation?  I mean – the complexity, the stress, the 24/7 public element of the position…it sounds so…so much like…TEACHING.

Clearly, both members of political and educational professions must work from a reserve of passion and dedication, and not omnipotence.  Understanding that they are dedicated, what is the best way for these folks to learn about your day-to-day professional issues?  From YOU.  You and I must engage our citizen legislators and be the teachers we claim to be.  Educate our representatives.

One recent example of this occurred in Eastern Washington.  My colleague Dr. Lambert, from Whitworth University, and I convened a panel of student teachers, mentor teachers, a supervisor, and professors to teach our area senators and representatives about the new exam required of preservice teachers, the educational Teacher Performance Assessment

(edTPA).  One of the legislators left with this comment, “This was one of the best events of this type I have attended.”  Others agreed and thanked us for the format, which was a bit different than what they usually experience.  Instead of asking them to come with all the answers, we invited them to come with questions while we supplied the “testifying panelists.”  Every participant seemed grateful and expressed a desire to work further on the issues together.  I feel great confidence that each of these legislators is going to the state capitol with a much better understanding of what is happening in this area of the profession and will move purposefully toward action that supports quality teaching and learning. 

We felt proactive. We felt like we had been heard.  We did not wait up in the tower, sighing with our head in our hands, hoping that someone would come ask us about the issues of the day.  We refused to gripe… and then sit idle.  Understanding that communication is our duty as good citizens and educators, we felt good as we partnered with our citizen legislators.

We educators always have our eye on the next generation, and so do our legislators.  How can you help our well-meaning citizen legislators to become better informed about our profession?

Suzann Girtz, Ph.D. Asst. Professor Teacher Education Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA girtz@gonzaga.edu

Professional Relationship Dos and Don'ts

We all know that relationships are at the heart of everything we do in leadership.  Our success in leadership hinges on our ability to develop and maintain positive, working relationships with our colleagues.  Oftentimes, navigating these relationships with our colleagues can be the biggest challenge we face.

Having worked as a principal in a fairly large school district, fostering relationships with my principal colleagues was a challenge because of time and proximity.  The bi-weekly or monthly principal meetings were just enough for us to check in, ask about each other’s families, exchange a few professional pearls of wisdom and go on our way, only to wait another month to “rinse and repeat.” 

During the last three years, I have been a part of a leadership team in a small international school.  All of my principal and administrative colleagues work under the same roof.  While some of the same challenges of working in a larger educational system are still present, other obstacles present themselves in a smaller setting.  Having had experiences in both small and large educational systems, Based on my experiences in both settings, I’ve come up with four pieces of advice to help you navigate these relationships and keep peace, harmony and collaboration at the focus!

Challenge #1:  Communication – Don’t take the easy way out!

Communication in any setting can be difficult.  Oftentimes, we rely on the easiest and most time-saving way to communicate.  This is typically email.  When sensitive topics need to be discussed, it’s important to use methods of communication that allow all participants in the conversation to understand fully and let nothing get lost in interpretation.  Use your phone or walk down and have an actual conversation with your colleague, especially if the topic of conversation is time-sensitive or delicate in nature. 

Challenge 2: Collaborate – When decisions need to be made, don’t skip important steps.

Leadership can be fast-paced, requiring decisions to be made quickly.  Thinking through the decision and the potential impacts is helpful in determining your next steps and who needs to be informed and/or involved in a decision.  Proceed with extreme caution when attempting to make decision, big or small, when others are involved or need to have their opinions heard.  Rushing communication or skipping it altogether can only lead to mistrust and frustration.

Challenge 3: Assume positive intentions - Have a positive presupposition, but hold your colleagues accountable.

It’s important when working closely with our colleagues to have positive presuppositions.  The reality, however, is that this can be very difficult, especially in an environment of distrust and poor communication.  Always assuming the best intentions is an effective practice for school leaders.  This does not mean that when we feel a colleague has done something offensive or unprofessional that we turn the other cheek and say to ourselves, “I’m sure (insert person’s name) had good intentions so I will let it go.”  Repeated offenses of this nature can cause frustration and lead to more friction in the professional relationship. We owe it to our colleagues and the culture of the school to address these issues in a constructive (not destructive) way. 

Challenge 4: Talk it out – When there’s an issue, don’t ignore the problem.

When a colleague feels the need to talk something out with you (based usually on an interaction or experience they’ve had with you), don’t ignore the request.  Typically, these requests are intended to surface and resolve relationship issues so that they can be laid to rest.  When these requests are ignored, colleagues can only speculate as to why the request was ignored.  This speculation usually leads to dangerous territory and can ultimately lead to the demise of your professional relationship.

Remember Your ABCs - Always Be Coaching

I am a fan of Corner Office in the New York Times. I read it every Sunday and I think that there are valuable leadership lessons to be found for any career. One recent interview with John W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments that I read was about the influence of sports on his career. He described how his time on the Princeton basketball team taught him taught him the value of teamwork and caring about teammates more than oneself. As a former collegiate athlete and a current high school and middle school football coach, I know the valuable lessons that can be learned through sports. Lessons on teamwork, dedication, perseverance and humility are all ones that can serve athletes in any career path that they choose.

Along with reading this interview, I have also been captivated by the Jonathan Martin/Richie Incognito bullying and harassment case. If the John Rogers interview is the best of sports, then the sordid tale of the Miami Dolphins offensive line is the worst. As I read about the investigation and the details of the case, I can easily understand how this kind of climate could be created in a locker room. When winning, and not player development, becomes the sole focus of a team, the types of behaviors demonstrated by Incognito and others, are tolerated because of good on field play. The lessons learned in these situations are that if you are good enough on the field, no one cares how you act off the field. When winning becomes everything, anything is tolerated.

In the end, I believe the impact of sports, for better or worse, comes back to coaching. As an assistant coach, I have been lucky enough to work for some great head coaches. Each one of them focused on player development more than winning. That is not to say that they did not want to win, they wanted to win desperately, but they knew that winning took a back seat to making our young athletes into better men. If we focus on making our players better teammates, encourage and reward hard work and dedication, and support them in the classroom and their lives away from the field, we will make them better people, and the wins will take care of themselves.

As I continue to coach, there are some lessons that I have continued to use with my players on the field. As a leader in my classroom and at my school, I have found that these lessons also apply. The best of sports should be reflected in the best of our schools.

• Everyone has a role in which they can contribute to the team  - Too often we think that a team needs the best players to be successful. The best coaches I have worked for have never believed this. Those coaches have believed that it is about putting players in a position in which they can find success. In my work at school, it reminds me that all students have talents and that my job as a teacher is not to wish they were better, but to find a way for them to succeed.

• How you act off the field is how you will act on the field - Often we think that the on-field success is all that matters, but in the end, character is always revealed. If a player is not working hard in the classroom, they will fail to work hard on the field. Quitters will always be quitters as my father reminded me The best coaches and teachers will always encourage and support students to work hard and do their best in all endeavors.

• Winning is the result of doing things right - If players work well together, execute the game plan, and play hard throughout the game, the winning will take care of itself. We do not need to focus on winning, because all of the steps along the way will lead to it. In the classroom, we do not need to focus on test scores if we can make sure students do all of the steps to be successful along the way. The score will take care of itself.

In the end, it is the coach that has the ultimate responsibility. Focusing on the powerful lessons that sports can teach will lead to stories like John W. Rogers, Jr. Focusing on winning alone are much more likely to lead to situations like Martin/Incognito. My current head coach has said that we are not here to do our best, we are here to be the best. As I relate this to my players and students, I remind them that I want them to not try their best to be a good person, I want them to be the best person they know. I want them to try and exceed all of the examples they see in their surroundings. It may be the only way for them to exceed their situation and create a better life for themselves.

As a coach, and a teacher, I know the important role that we fill for many young men and women in our society. While some may remember the wins and losses, many more will remember the life lessons that they learned on the field. It is time we focus on what will leave the mark, not what will be in the paper.

Cross-posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_Remember-Your-ABCs-Always-Be-Coaching/blog/6562706/127586.html

WILL #19

What I Learned Lately (WILL 13/14 #19)

5/23/2014
By Dr. Josh Garcia, @Garciaj9Josh

“Dreaming or Awake – Is There A Difference?”
Early in my life, my mom encouraged me to dream.  I am not sure if she was teaching me to escape the present or plan for the future or both.  Recently, I have been dreaming a lot about life personally and professionally.  My dreams have not been limited to the moments of sleep.  I have often found myself “day dreaming”.  As I have reflected on why I dream, what I am dreaming of and should I share my dreams, I have been left numb by the question, “what if”?  As my body lay motionless last night, I found myself questioning was I awake or asleep?  Then, I felt a strange sense of peace – did it really matter?

I have learned that dreams can prepare us for the awaken life.  It is one thing to dream, it is another to understand the nature of the dream.  Without examining the nature of our dreams, they are merely moments in between two breathes.  As leaders we have dreams and we try to operationalize those dreams through vision and mission statements, action/improvement plans and our daily work.  In education, we often use terms like equity, access and achievement gaps as ways to add context to our dreams.  I am not sure we pause often enough to question the nature of the dreams and our actions.

I have a dream that one day our schools will rise up and lead our great nation.  Lead you ask, yes lead!  For if it is not us, then who shall? Although we the educators know that we are not all created equal, we know it is our job to create equitable opportunities for all our children.  This is the true intent of our great nation, access to the dream, the American Dream.  I have a dream that my two little boys, my daughter and every child that I serve  will one day attend schools where they will not be judged by the AYP cell they are assigned to but by the content of their character and their ability to create their own new knowledge. 

I dream that one day educators will open the doors of gifted and talented, honors and other college preparatory curriculum; one day in each of our towns, all students will be able to engage in the richness of Advance Placement and International Baccalaureate; one day in every school house, students will have one adult that believes that they deserve to and can achieve at the highest levels.  I dream that we will not place barriers in front of our students and pretend that we are trying to protect them from failing before they have tried.

I dream that one day every hidden curriculum will be revealed, every lesson will be scaffolded, teachers will work collaboratively to provide portals to language, instructional strategies will the topic of conversation around the staff room table and the glory of new knowledge shall be revealed and all students will create it for themselves.

I dream that others will recognize that this is our chance.   I dream that others will share the same conviction.  I dream that we will all go back to our schools  this year and every year until our dreams are our reality. With this conviction we will be able open the locked doors of promise for all students and be able to transform the clattering dissension of our profession into a picturesque web of support for our students.  Then we will be able to collaborate together, to learn together, to struggle together, to walk the steps of the capital together, to stand up for access together, knowing that we will all be free one day.

As we wrap up one school year and begin to plan for another, I hope we relentlessly dream and ask ourselves, “what if”.  More importantly, what if we the adults relentlessly asked our students to dream, plan and act?  What if our students felt safe enough to share their dreams?  What if we defined our work by ability to teach students how to learn and facilitated their dreams?  What if we shared our dreams with our staff and students?  What if…

Finally from, Stella Stuart “Dream - Everyday”
Behind me infinite power
Before me is endless possibility.
Around me is boundless opportunity.
Why should I fear?

Cross-posted from: http://edge.ascd.org/_What-I-Learned-Lately-WILL-1314-19/blog/6565621/127586.html

Leading through Grief

Our morning staff meeting came to a halt as a staff member shared that she visited Facebook on her phone and saw a memorial post on our counselor's Facebook wall. While our principal brought the meeting to a close, our office manager and I went to the office where I called the family. I made it about halfway through the conversation with family before starting to tear up. The family confirmed that our elementary counselor lost her multi-year battle with cancer that morning. Within an hour, the district had a counselor on campus who coordinated a crisis team that spent all week on campus supporting students and staff.

Below are some lessons I've learned so far about leading through grief.

Public displays of compassion. This goes for both staff and students.
-The crisis team taught me that, if people are interested, a staff tribute can be helpful in the grieving process. Our staff decided to invite the whole school to wear pink in honor of our counselor who passed away from cancer. Coincidentally, our monthly potluck was on the same day we wore pink. Beautiful stories of celebration and hope filled the staff room as everyone ate together and honored our counselor in pink.

-The Giving Tree was one of our counselor's favorite books so one classroom decided to create a giving tree where all students in the school could share what was on their heart.

Everyone brings their own experiences and feelings. It's important to acknowledge this as we all grieve in different ways.
-A student had his head down when I went into the lunchroom and I saw he was crying. As I walked the student to our library, where additional counselors were housed, the student shared his mom passed away from cancer two years ago. There are many stories like this, where students or staff experienced loss. These emotions can be stirred up in times of crisis, and it's important we provide avenues for sharing and support.
-Personally, the day before our counselor passed away, I found out a close relative was diagnosed with the same kind of cancer our counselor had. To take care of myself, I've taken longer walks with my dog and savored more time with family.

Find joy each day.
-I was on the playground as students exited from recess the other day. A classroom job is often "door holder". I noticed a kindergarten student going above and beyond his traditional door holder job to console his classmates. "Hug?" he asked each of his peers as they entered from recess. Most kids took him up on the offer. It's moments like this that provide me with joy each day.

My prioritization of tasks inside/outside of school is still shifting as the needs of our learning community fluctuate. I continue learning each day, and I use this learning to adjust my approach as I lead through grief.

Cross-posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_Leading-through-Grief/blog/6565673/127586.html?b=

Shaping Educational Outcomes

This weekend, my family and I visited the Oregon Coast. As I stared at the ocean, I thought: Ocean waves are one of the most powerful phenomena on Earth - they shape the Earth's coastlines. Similarly, educational systems are powerful forces that prepare students to grow up and shape the future of our economy and society. 

This got me pondering how ocean waves are made and how they crash against the shore 24/7. From a scientific perspective, waves are imparted from a combination of wind blowing over the surface of water and currents running under the water. I'm always amazed that when I simply look at the ocean, I don't see the system of wind and currents - I see their byproduct as the ocean waves crest and fall.


Just as nature puts a lot of energy into shaping waves all day every day, a multitude leaders at every level strategically create & cultivate systems that shape high quality educational outcomes on a daily basis. The educational systems that yield the highest outcomes and maintain sustainability result from a collective approach to shared responsibility and leadership that's cultivated by lead learners.

I invite you to join me in personalizing this idea by contemplating: What are the strategic approaches that lay the foundation for your educational system to generate high quality educational outcomes? How do you articulate these educational outcomes to different stakeholders? What is your role within this system?

Cross-Posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_Shaping-Ed-Outcomes/blog/6564441/127586.html 

WILL #18

What I Learned Lately (WILL 13/14 #18) by  Dr. Josh Garcia

4/16/2014
@Garciaj9Josh


“Are you OK, Am I OK?”

How do I ensure that today I am wiser, calmer, and more relentless than yesterday? As I continue to learn, I find that leadership in its easy silence of my thoughts, is truly as simple and complex as – “to be or not to be”. I have found that in this time of year, we are both tired and excited. It is an interesting time for educators, communities and most importantly our students. During the spring many would like to rest. Some lose their urgency and others may never have had it. Yet, I see others that thrive during this time. I am left to wonder if urgency is lost or mistaken for crisis when we are tired. How do we continue to be urgent until the very last minute? As an organization, can we handle relentless urgency?

For our students, this time of year is filled with the realities of time running out and excitement of the unknown. What will I do this summer? What will next year be like? What will my next school be like? What will it be like after graduation? Will I make it this year? Will I make it today? Additionally, there is a sense of running out of time. I heard one student recently say, “It is isn’t because they (staff) haven’t been telling us too, we just haven’t done it.”

As a leader how do you “check yourself”? How do you know if your vision is just? How do you know if those who you are trying to serve value your service? We are in the final stretch of the school year, we will blink and we will be headed into summer. As we relentlessly drive forward, we must be clear. For those who put their own interest ahead of the students that we serve, we must have no time. Amid the doubt and unknown, we must relentlessly put our trust in our students’ abilities and in our staffs’ commitment to serve each of them. Am I Ok? Are we Ok? Our pain and our struggle is our everyday life. I pray that we never become numb to them, for I know that we will have given up. The time is now to become urgent, one last push, our best effort, and I am confident that we will ensure student success.

Finally from, “Edmund Vance Cooke”
Did you tackle that trouble that came your way?
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it.
And it isn’t the fact you’re hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

Cross-Posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_What-I-Learned-Lately-WILL-1314-18/blog/6564283/127586.html

Ghost Busting

While schools seem like historical institutions that anchor a community with continuity, they are always changing. While one school can provide a connection through generations in a neighborhood, the school that existed for the baby boomers is not what exists for the millennials. I went to a high school that just celebrated its centennial and while the name over the door remained the same, almost everything else has changed.

Every year the students, staff, and community change. New educational policies and reforms are instituted and old ones are forgotten. New events become traditions and new initiatives become protocols. One of the reasons that schools are so hard to change is that they come with history that was created through the efforts of the many people that were part of moving a school from a building to a monument to community accomplishment. While some traditions provide connections within a neighborhood, others hang on long
past their usefulness.

As we have moved forward to change things in my school, there has been continuous discussion around how we got to where we are today. My school is less than fifteen years old, but there have been many changes since its inception. Many of the policies where put in place in order to solve problems that we are still facing, but others have lost their relevance. As we push forward to make the necessary changes to address our current student, staff and community needs, we are often stopped by these irrelevant policies, procedures and traditions. Last year, I began to call these policies ghosts because they continue to haunt us long after they are no longer relevant.

These ghosts haunt us for many reasons: we have failed to reassess their ability to meet the needs that we currently have, we lack an understanding of why they were put in place, and or we simply are still doing them because we have always done it that way. Most of the time, they do not cause problems. We have adjusted them to meet our needs each year, but in adjusting past practice, we find it difficult to develop new practices that better meet our needs. They continue to hang around and distract us from the work ahead, clouding the next steps in the process, and make us a less flexible school. Instead of developing something new, we are consumed with making something we have always done survive for another year.

Over the past year, a few teachers have engaged in a ghost busting process. We started getting together to discuss where we want the school to go and what ghosts haunt us from getting there. Throughout these meetings, I have seen that three steps are needed to bust ghosts.

• Figure Out the Ghost Story - Do Research - Find someone that was there when it was created. As the years go by, schools change. People responsible for policies are no longer with us and we are left with an incomplete understanding of why we do things the way that we do. Ideas that were created for one set of circumstances, may no longer exist. The policies then still hang around, bent for a new purpose, when a brand new policy is needed. By finding someone who was there when it was created, we can better understand the development of the policy, procedure or tradition, why it was created, and why it was changed or maintained throughout the years.

• Determine if it is Ghost - Re-examine the Circumstances - once we know where the ghost came from, we have to decide if it is a friendly ghost, or one that we need to bust. We need to see if the original circumstances still exist and if the policy, procedure or tradition is still relevant or valuable. If it is still valuable, it is not a ghost. Many great ideas are lost through the years and would be great to bring back. They are ghosts due to neglect and not due to their irrelevance. These policies should not haunt us but rather guide us forward. In conversations with colleagues, we came up with many of these that we felt should be brought back to life. The critical step is then the reflection on the relevance. If it is no longer relevant, then it is a ghost and we must bust it.

• Ghost Busting - Eliminating the Irrelevant - Busting ghosts all comes back to open dialogue and honest discussion. We need to discuss the old policy, why it was there, and why it needs to be brought back or eliminated. This has to be done out in the open, with all parties involved. Staff, students and families need to be part of the discussion. As with any policy, procedure or tradition, there will be detractors and defenders. By allowing all parties to come in and advocate for their position, a ghost can be busted and a new, more relevant policy can be put in place. If people are not privy to the discussion, they will continue to be haunted by the ghost. Only by bringing the ghost to light through discussion will they be changed and stay busted.

This process is long and we have had real challenges at my school with making it happen. One person’s ghost is another person’s sacred cow and worth defending. We have taken steps forward and steps backwards, but we are working together. Schools are buildings with long institutional memory full of ghosts, but also the great work of generations committed to making it a great place. By ghost busting we hope to only to continue building that monument to community accomplishment.

Cross-posted at http://edge.ascd.org/_Ghost-Busting/blog/6564149/127586.html

What was that quote again?

I love finding inspirational quotes about leadership.  I am often inspired by the words of others, these great pearls of wisdom that help you reflect and hopefully refine you.  The only problem is there are very few I remember.  “Oh, that’s a great quote. I need to remember that one.”  Then, within a few hours (Who am I kidding, it’s usually only a few minutes.), it’s lost – forgotten. 

One of very few that I remember is the following:

“Work for a cause, not for applause.
Live life to express, not to impress.
Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, make your absence felt.”

I probably had heard it before, but found it again in a gas station in eastern Washington on my way to our family cabin in Montana.  I made my wife take a picture of it with her iPhone so I could refer to it later, just in case I forgot it.  Knowing me all too well, my wife printed the quote and framed it for me for Christmas last year. 

While I certainly agree with the quote and I think it’s a good reminder for all leaders, I can’t help but question some of the underlying messages.  Of course, every leader has a cause. For us educators, our cause is a great one – make the world a better place, inspire the youth of our schools/districts, bring hope to the disadvantaged – all valiant purposes!  However, leadership can be a thankless job.  We often have to take appreciation in indirect, less tangible forms because we are supposed to be on some pedestal where direct appreciation for our work, time, and dedication is unwarranted, undesired, and unnecessary.  While this appreciation is not the reason for our drive in leadership, we have to stop and appreciate it when it comes our direction.  We should be giving applause to our teams regularly, but we shouldn’t be above receiving it, relishing it, and being motivated by it.

Leadership in the realm of education is, of course, about doing what’s best for our students – no matter what.  It’s about inspiring a common mission/vision for education within a community.  It’s about expressing yourself as a leader in ways that build individuals, teams, colleagues, and the larger community.  Yet, I feel a good leader should also impress those with whom he/she interacts.  I feel leaders should impress others with their knowledge, dedication, humility, desire to learn, and relentless pursuit to make a difference.  Effective leaders impress others not through an intentional focus on being perceived as great, but as an unintentional byproduct of being great.

Finally, good leaders build capacity and try to work themselves out of a job.  As effective leaders transition, they ensure that the work continues in their absence.  They strive to make their departure not impact the great work happening within the school community.    During my experience as a principal, I’ve transitioned to several different schools.  Each time, I’ve wondered and secretly hoped that the teachers, students, and administration would miss me when I left – that my absence would be felt.  If I’m doing my job well, the school will continue to flourish with students and teachers continuing to learn and improve, teams will work collaboratively around improved student learning, the community will keep a focus on the future – despite my departure.  Moreover, they’ll have the tools and capacity to do this independently.

I still love the quote and will hang it in my new office next year - it’s still one of my favorites.  The ebb and flow of leadership is a crazy, but awesome thing.  We have to seek inspiration, motivation, and wisdom from whatever sources we have available.  Sometimes, this means understanding that we can get multiple perspectives from the same thing, based on what challenges this wonderful opportunity called “leadership” brings us. 

Divergent

My friends often mock me for my reading selections, seeing as I rarely read beyond of the YA (Young Adult) section of the store.  I love Harry Potter, The Maze Runner, Divergent, and more fantasy/sci-fi adventures.  The latter, Divergent, was just made into a movie that debuted recently.  While I was watching it (sitting behind a row of 13-year old girls, who were sitting behind a row of 13-year old boys…birthday party), I was struck by the repeated message to “trust the test”.  In the story teens are sorted - not by a hat, but - with another type of test that determines where and how they will spend the remainder of their lives.

Diabolical, eh?  Yes – it turns out that it is a part of a government conspiracy to wipe out citizens capable of divergent thoughts and incapable of being easily controlled.  The teens are terrified of the test and its results, but they know that it is of upmost importance in determining their ultimate destinies due to predictive nature. 

  

But our heroine IS capable of thinking differently, and therefore she is a threat.  And – surprise, surprise…the test does not work on her.

Hmmmmm…

Trust the all-important test that will steer you towards your ultimate destiny.  But, what about people for whom the test DOES NOT WORK?  How do we handle them? 

Educators?  Please – take a minute to figure out a way to log on and comment because I would love to hear your answers.

WILL #17

What I Learned Lately (WILL 13/14 #16) by Dr. Josh Garcia

3/16/2014
@Garciaj9Josh

“Standing Next To a Mountain”

As we enter the spring with gusto, I feel like we are standing in front of mountain. There is a pile of initiatives that are standing right in front of us and it feels like we are trying to push a boulder up that mountain. I often hear how much there needs to be done and how many new things are being added. I am not sure what is new or what is just renamed? We have done standards, now we have different standards called the “common core”. We have done standardized testing, now we have new ones. We have come to recognize these test scores are essential to our perceived future success as schools, but not necessarily essential to the success of our society. We are constantly bombarded by negative messages of how bad our American education system is. Most of legislative conversations in today’s politics are based on adults outcomes and struggle to connect to the students we serve.

This week, I become clearer that pushing the boulder is not the best work. For me the mountain has unfortunately remained the same. It is big, it is daunting and it is real. We still have a mountain of prejudice in our system. Now more than ever, we must renew our commitment to eliminating prejudice in our schools and society. We must identify and prioritize our work, focusing on only work that continues to dismantle the framework of segregation. We must work to support initiatives and systems that don’t restrict student rights by adult perceptions. We must identify multiple measures to demonstrate mastery not as gate keepers but rather keys to access and success. We must remove our egos, it doesn’t have to be our original idea for us to believe in its mission. We must create a manifesto for our students. One that articulates what we the adults will do for every child, every day. This manifesto must be so clear that we can hold each other and ourselves accountable when we don’t live it. We must study our current practices to unfold why we still have segregation. Is it based on learner skills or because of our adult beliefs? We must recognize that segregation in society is about power and those who are in power are not going to give that up easily.

Let us tell our children that education is the most important thing and we are renewing our
commitment to each and all of them. Let us run towards our students’ pain and recognize their pain is only our pain that we have run from. Today, is the day that you find your fierce urgency to save our children. Today, we must become a part of co-conspiracy to help each child reach our shared definition of success. Today, may be a good day to stop trying to push the boulder up the mountain. Today, may be a good day to begin to tear down the mountain…

Finally from, “Unknown”
“You can do this! We can do this!”

Cross-posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_What-I-Learned-Lately-WILL-1314-17/blog/6563440/127586.html

Journey of Choice

I have the privilege of speaking with several principal interns regularly. Last week, one of these principal interns asked me about the different leadership positions I've served in. Then she asked, "Knowing what you know now, would you have taken different steps in your career?" My response came surprisingly easy, "No. I have accepted positions because they leveraged my strength to make a difference for kids, while allowing me to grow and learn from amazing leaders."

Leadership is a journey of choice, and I was reminded of that this week as I proudly reflected on the difference I've made during my leadership journey so far. I'm privileged to make a difference for students on a daily basis as I continue my journey of learning and leading.

Cross-posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_Journey-of-Choice/blog/6563342/127586.html

Revitalization Without Revolution

As an aspiring leader, I have thought often about who to look to for inspiration. I was told early on that an aspiring leader always has to have an example to emulate. There are many leadership examples that an educator can follow, but I have recently been following the leadership of Pope Francis. He has come into the position of Pope and helped to bring a new sense of excitement and possibility to an ancient institution.

As a leader in the public school system, an institution that is prone to tradition and slow to change, I am often frustrated by what I cannot seem to do. In looking for inspiration to overcome my frustration, Pope Francis provides a good example of what a leader can do within an organization. He has not made any radical changes since becoming pope, but his demeanor, his humility, and his willingness to embrace others has energized many Catholics. This is a good reminder of what a leader can do to bring change when dramatic action may not be possible.

In all of my reading about him, I found that there were three pieces of leadership advice that I think are especially applicable to any educational leader

• Know who you are, the good and the bad. And find the courage not just to be yourself, but to be the best version of yourself. These are the foundations of self-leadership, and all leadership starts with self-leadership because you can’t lead the rest of us if you can’t lead yourself.

This belief about leadership is especially important in the classroom. A leader must first know themself: what they can accept, what they must challenge, what they can are willing to risk everything for. It is only then that they can answer the situations that arise. In education, a leader is constantly asked to compromise, and if they do not know themself, they will struggle to know when to stop.

More importantly, if a leader tries to be something they are not, it will come across as inauthentic. Many times we underestimate the abilities of others (especially our students) to see through our act and truly know who we are. The challenges of working in a school are real and if a leader does not lead from a place that is their own, they will not be able to sustain the energy needed to succeed. They will back down, they will doubt, and they will burn out. We must be first confident in who we are before we can be confident in what we believe and what we do.

• [Much of his leadership is due to] the Jesuits’ yearslong training, much of which revolves around self-examination and working among the people they seek to lead. It’s “dirty-footed leadership” with a focus on understanding other people and their circumstances and putting their needs ahead of one’s own.

To lead people, they need to know that you understand their situation and put their needs ahead of your own. They need to know that you are part of the struggle and that you will be there for them throughout. If people believe that you are selfish or do not understand where they are coming from, they will not follow you. They may do what you tell them to do, because you are an authority figure, but you will not have authority.

This further connects to how decisions about leadership should be made within our schools. Leaders should have applicable experience working closely with our communities. This is the most important way to build critical early support  and credibility as we look to improve our schools. Leaders must be creditable along with being knowledgable.

• Commit to yourself deeply, including your frailties, and come to some peaceful acceptance of yourself and your calling to lead. Then, commit to ‘get over yourself’ to serve a purpose greater than self.”

When leading change, leaders wish to seem like they have all of the answers. In the classroom, having all of the answers is the way to quickly gain authority with students. The reality is that no leader or teacher knows everything, and to portray that to those that we lead will not support growth in our classroom or our schools. If students are to grow and schools are to change, people must see that learning is part of the process at all levels. Leaders must model the behaviors that they want. In the classroom, students must know that even the teacher has to look up an answer and that is acceptable and encouraged. By admitting frailties, but not allowing them to limit their actions, leader demonstrate that everyone can succeed in spite of their limitations.

Often what we want is revolutionary change. We want to remake an institution instantly to address the issues that we see. As with any institution, change is slow, reform is may be stifled and instantaneous revolutions might be anything but instant and revolutionary. Yet while revolution may be far off, revitalization can happen today. As I look at what Pope Francis has done, I see a leader that knows his limitations, but still moves forward, and that is often what we must recognize in our schools. While we may be limited, we are far from stopped.

Cross Posted at: http://edge.ascd.org/_Revitalization-Without-Revolution/blog/6563164/127586.html

Works Cited:

Huppke, R. (2013, Nov 04). Lessons in leadership from pope francis. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-11-04/business/ct-biz-1104-work-advice-huppke-20131104_1_leadership-style-first-jesuit-pope-jorge-mario-bergoglio