LeaderTalk

Ghost-Walks for Learning About Learning

(Cross-posted at Change Agency)

Lately I've been thinking about how to get teachers to reflect more on their own practice.  We've been in school now for nearly a month.  Courses are underway, the first assessments have been given, teachers and students are really getting to know each other, and, at least theoretically, we should be able to see evidence that learning is occurring around our school.

Obviously we can examine assessment data to see if learning is occurring, but that's not enough for me when it comes to examining practice.  How do we reflect in order to understand what is really working and what isn't working?

One way to do this is to take advantage of a professional development day -- or at least an early dismissal day -- to conduct Ghost-Walks on the campus.  A Ghost-Walk is a campus or classroom visit to an empty space where the participants simply make note of what they see and/or don't see in relation to a focus question or specified categories.  In this post I offer one example of how to conduct a Ghost-Walk in order to promote reflection on practice.

Choose a day, after school has started, when you have at least half of the day for professional development.  Meet with your entire faculty to set the stage for the activity.  This could also be done in smaller groups if your school is subdivided into houses, pods, or Smaller Learning Communities.

In the whole group, conduct a focus activity to help everyone come to an understanding of the process and the intended outcomes for the process.  The example I give here is a Ghost-Walk activity used to help a faculty identify evidence of an ideal learning environment.  Your focus could be anything -- creativity, personalization, technology-integration, literacy, etc.  A good focus activity could be as simple as doing some brainstorming around the question "What should an ideal learning environment look like?"

After brainstorming the evidence that the faculty would expect to see in an ideal learning environment, the facilitator should lay out the guidelines for the process.  Generally, you will want participants to avoid making evaluative judgments, and to instead just make observations... "I see... There is evidence of ____ in the form of..."  The facilitator should ask participants to think about what they SEE and what they DON'T SEE.

The next step involves sending the faculty out on the Ghost-Walk.  You could assign teachers to go to certain classrooms -- and to visit any number of classrooms.  Maybe you want each teacher to visit 5 random classrooms other than their own.  This works best if you create a schedule of who goes where rather than allow teachers to just go where ever they choose -- especially if you want to ensure that the campus is well represented in the Ghost-Walk.

After conducting the walk, the faculty should come back to a common meeting area to share what they saw and didn't see.  It works very well to keep this at the "What" level at first.  Avoid discussions that lean toward evaluations and judgments.  The next step involves discussing the "So What" and this should begin with a comparison between the observed "What" and the brainstormed list generated in the focus activity before the Ghost-Walks.  How do your observations relate to what your faculty said should be evidence of the "ideal learning environment?"  The "So What" is the "so what does this mean?"  What are the implications of these observations for your campus?  This could become a long discussion that may last longer than one day.

The last step in the process is the "Now What" step.  In light of what was observed and what this implies about your learning environment, what do you do now? 

This activity may also benefit from a short debrief at the end of the Ghost-Walk.  In the debrief, it helps to ask the faculty what worked about the process for them?  What didn't work?  What insights did they gain about their own practice through this activity?  How can they apply what they learned in the process to their own practice?

Other variations on this can be found in each of the following .pdf documents:

Collaborative Ghost Walk
Ghost Visit
School Walk Protocol

Hopefully the new year has started off smoothly for everyone and you find many examples of learning across your campus.  What other strategies or activities do you use to help your teachers reflect on their practice?

Leading for Change

(Cross-posted at Change Agency )

In a recent Education Week commentary, Tony Wagner (Harvard Change Leadership Group, author of "Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools) proposes and discusses 5 "Habits of Mind" for education leaders that can lead to a deeper understanding of the challenges we face as well as more effective strategies for dealing with them.  Wagner proposes that these 5 questions be asked constantly in our daily work as a way to deepen our critical problem-solving skills -- and as a way to model "Habits of Mind" for our students:

• What is the problem we are trying to solve, or the obstacle we are trying to overcome, and what does it have to do with improving teaching and learning?

• What are our strategies for solving this problem, and how and why do we think implementation of these strategies will cause the change that’s needed—what’s our “theory of action”?

• Who (teachers, parents, students, community) needs to understand what, in order to “own the problem” and support the strategies we’re implementing?

• Who is accountable for what for implementation of this strategy to be successful, and what do they need to be effective?

• What evidence (observable changes in short-term outcomes or behaviors) will we track that will tell us whether our strategies are working?

What I like about the questions above is that they ask us to dig deeper into the problems we face in order to truly understand the problem as opposed to just understanding it at a surface level.  Understanding at a surface level frequently results in proposing incorrect solutions because we don't understand the real problem we are trying to address.  I find this frequently when we begin discussing issues, but don't necessarily share the same definition of the issues or problems -- we may be using the same terminology, but for each of us the terminology may have different meanings.  Wagner gives us an example from his work:

Einstein once said that “the formulation of the problem is often more important than the solution.” Too often in education, we start with answers before we have understood the problem we’re trying to solve.

Working with the Small Schools Project in Seattle, I recently advised a talented group of district teams that had been funded by the Gates Foundation to move their systems toward the goal of “all students college-ready.” Most had been hard at work on this goal for a year and a half when we suggested that they make time to revisit their change strategies. We asked them to discuss in their teams what they saw as the most significant obstacles to getting more students ready for college, and then to see how their list of initiatives stacked up to the problems they identified. Many were surprised to find that they did not agree on what “college-prepared”—a key element of college-ready—really meant. Nor had they considered what might be the most significant obstacles to this goal. As they discussed these issues, and then looked at all of their activities, they began to see that many of the latter did not address the barriers they’d belatedly identified.

For a number of people on the teams, the half-day deliberations were as challenging as any they’d experienced in our work together, and this was just a start. Having had these discussions, the teams were now better positioned to consider the final three questions from the list above.

In his example, the teams he worked with did not share the same definition for "college-ready."  They also had issues with not identifying the same obstacles, but I believe many of our problems begin with not having shared definitions of the terms we are using to describe our problems.

How many other terms do we toss around in our daily work without having hard discussions about what those words mean to us?  How do you define the following terms?  Do your colleagues share the same definition?

College-Ready
Achievement
Assessment
Authentic Learning
Collaborate
Student-Centered
Distributed Leadership
Technology Integration
Web 2.0
21st Century Skills
Global
Community/Parental Involvement
Computer Literate
Literacy
Cooperative Learning
School Improvement
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Curriculum Mapping
Dropout Rate
Data-Driven Decision Making
Hands-on Activities
Intervention
Rigor

How often are we struggling with solving problems simply because we haven't fully articulated the problem by developing real shared understanding of the problem?

The Effectiveness of Schools and Teachers

(Cross-posted at Change Agency)

I recently received a copy of Robert Marzano's new book, The Art and Science of Teaching, published this summer by ASCD.  In the introduction, Marzano addresses the issue of home vs. teacher impact on student achievement.  He begins by citing the Coleman Report which concluded that schools (and teachers) have less of an impact on student achievement than a student's home and family environment:

"Taking all these results together, one implication stands above all:  that schools bring little to bear on a child's achievement that is independent of his background and general social context." (p.235)

Marzano reminds us that since the Coleman Report, many studies have been conducted that provide conclusions that differ greatly.  It is now generally accepted that effective schools with effective teachers using effective instructional practices can increase student achievement despite student backgrounds.  In his new book, Marzano states:

Indeed, those studies demonstrate that effective schools can make a substantial difference in the achievement of students.  In the last decade of the 20th century, the picture of what constitutes an effective school became much clearer.  Among elements such as a well-articulated curriculum and a safe and orderly environment, the one factor that surfaced as the single most influential component of an effective school is the individual teachers within that school.

While I understand that in most instances researchers fall in line with Marzano's position, I wonder how many educators also hold this opinion.  I still encounter teachers and administrators who insist that "these kids" just won't or can't learn because they don't have enough support at home.  As an example, a quick scan of the comments on education related articles and blog posts on the Houston Chronicle website certainly indicate that some of the general population also believe that student background and social contexts play a bigger role in student achievement than the quality of our schools and teaching staffs.  The comments on this recent news article about class sizes provide one recent example of the diverse opinions. (I use the Houston Chronicle as an example only because I live and work in this region and I find it interesting to read the opinions of the general public that I serve.)

From a leadership perspective I believe that it is imperative that we provide a vision and foster a culture within our schools that is grounded in the belief that all students, regardless of their background, can achieve at high levels -- even if we as leaders have a personal philosophy that falls somewhere in between the Coleman studies and more recent research.  If we, or our teachers, believe that we are not capable of increasing student achievement for students of certain backgrounds or income levels, then we are creating an environment where our professional efforts will be weaker than if we adopt the opposite belief.  We create our own reality -- if we believe we can make a difference, we will try harder, and if we don't believe that our efforts can overcome the effects of poverty or violence, then we may not try our hardest to reach all students.

I think it would be interesting to hear from other education leaders on this topic.  If we created a continuum that extended between the Coleman Report and the more recent research (like Marzano's), where would you place yourself on the continuum?  Do you communicate this to your faculty?  How?  Regardless of your personal beliefs, what specifically do you do on your campus to create a culture and climate that ensures learning for all?

On another note, if you are interested in a framework that your teachers or instructional leadership team could use to improve instructional planning, Marzano's new book, The Art and Science of Teaching, provides some concrete examples and action steps that address the following questions:

1. What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success?
2. What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?
3. What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?
4. What will I do to help students generate and test hypotheses about new knowledge?
5. What will I do to engage students?
6. What will I do to establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?
7. What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?
8. What will I do to establish and maintain effective relationships with students?
9. What will I do to communicate high expectations for all students? 1
0. What will I do to develop effective lessons organized into a cohesive unit?

My suggestion would be to use the book in chunks -- perhaps as a book study with teachers.  Some sections contain charts with research results which aren't as useful as the nuts-n-bolts action steps, and you may just want your teachers to focus on the concrete ideas as opposed to the data charts.

Let me wish all of you a wonderful start to a new school year! 

Michael Fullan on Turnaround Leadership

Today I had the good fortune to attend a keynote presentation by Michael Fullan on Turnaround Leadership given at the Houston A+ Challenge Reforming Schools Summer Institute XI, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 at the University of Houston Hilton.

Michael Fullan is author of "Turnaround Leadership (Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education)", "Leading in a Culture of Change", and "The New Meaning of Educational Change".

Here are a few highlights from the presentation (from my notes).  My full notes can be read here.  MY COMMENTS ARE IN ALL-CAPS.

There is no such thing anymore as academic research – now it is “partnerships” with districts and systems in order to create knowledge around effective classroom and system practices IN OTHER WORDS, THE NATURE OF HIS WORK AS AN EDUCATION RESEARCHER HAS CHANGED FROM "ACADEMIC RESEARCH" TO WORKING DIRECTLY WITH SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO IMPLEMENT CHANGE (AND STUDY THAT CHANGE).

You have to be able to bring about substantial change and student learning in one election year.  MEANING -- THIS IS WHAT IS EXPECTED OF US EVEN THOUGH IT GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING THAT WE KNOW ABOUT SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE (THAT IT TAKES LONGER THAN ONE ELECTION YEAR)

He referenced results from his research conducted in England on school improvement and increased literacy.  PDF articles are available at: www.michaelfullan.ca

Breakthrough (his book) – focused primarily on what do you need to do in order to get virtually 95% or greater success in literacy.

Focus now is on whole system change --

Tri-Level Reform  (REFORM TAKE PLACE AT THESE THREE LEVELS)
--District – the minimum basis
--State – too remote for most of us to handle (in terms of affecting change)
--School/Community

Components of Turnaround Leadership
--Relentless instructional focus
--Leadership Depth (not just distributed leadership)
--Capacity building re instruction, and re change strategies
--Lateral capacity building (where schools learn from each other – knowledge flow and sense of bigger we-ness or sense of identity beyond ourselves/our school)
--Non-judgmental (no rush to judge poor performance as something negative – this does not mean we avoid assessment or evaluation – just that we don’t judge performance)
--Data driven / internal and external accountability
--Fostering a we-we partnership

THIS LIST IS INTERESTING BECOMES IT ENCOMPASSES MORE – AND MORE INDEPTH IDEAS – THAN WE USUALLY SEE IN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE CHANGE PROCESS

Change Factor vs. Change Process
Why does change usually fail?  (CAN BE DISCUSSED IN A PAIR-SHARE ACTIVITY TO IDENTIFY “FACTORS”)

Change Factors are the “what”
Change Process is the “how”

It is easy to identify the “what” – but much harder to identify the “how”

What is Change?
--New materials
--New behavior/practices
--New beliefs/understanding

Change is a process of “re-doing” and “re-thinking”

It is hard enough for one person to “re-do” and “re-think” – even harder for more than one person  VERY TRUE!

10 Elements of Successful Change
1.  Define closing the gap as the overarching goal
2.  Attend initially to the three basics
3.  Be driven by tapping into people’s dignity and sense of respect
4.  Ensure that the best people are working on the problem (GOOD TO GREAT)
5.  Recognize that all successful strategies are socially-based
6.  Assume that lack of capacity is the initial problem and then work on it continually
7.  Stay the course through continuity of good direction by leveraging leadership (ALSO – THIS IS WHY SYSTEM-WIDE CHANGE IS SO IMPORTANT – IF A SCHOOL IS UNDERGOING CHANGE AND THE ADMINISTRATOR LEAVES, CHANGE INITIATIVES MAY SUFFER IF THE DISTRICT ISN’T INVESTED IN THE CHANGE INITIATIVE AS WELL – THEY MAY NOT PUT IN A NEW ADMINISTRATOR WHO BELIEVES IN OR SUPPORTS THE CURRENT IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES.)
8. Build internal accountability linked to external accountability
9.  Establish conditions for the evolution of positive pressure
10.  Use the previous nine strategies to build public confidence

Lack of capacity is a big issue – we must be focused on it and concerned about it

(HE SHOWS THE “INTRODUCING THE BOOK” VIDEO)

Chemistry between individuals is important – good people gravitate toward each other

School Capacity
The collective power of the full staff to improve student achievement.
IMPORTANT -- Never send a changed individual back into an unchanged environment – shows dancing penguin video
CHANGED INDIVIDUALS PLACED BACK INTO UNCHANGED ENVIRONMENTS RARELY RESULTS IN A SPREAD OF CHANGE -- USUALLY RESULTS IN FRUSTRATION, STRESS, AND/OR BURNOUT ON CHANGED INDIVIDUAL, AND FRUSTRATION AND/OR IRRITATION FOR UNCHANGED INDIVIDUALS WITHIN THE UNCHANGED ENVIRONMENT.

School capacity includes and requires:
1.  Knowledge, skills, dispositions of individuals
2.  Professional community
3.  Program coherence
4.  Technical resources
5.  Principal leadership

Effective leaders are energizing – not just innovative -- THEY ARE ABLE TO ENERGIZE OTHERS TO WELCOME CHANGE AND INNOVATION

WE SPENT A FEW MINUTES DOING A JIGSAW READING ACTIVITY ON A SHORT ARTICLE (BUILDING PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY IN SCHOOLS, BY KRUSE, LOUIS, AND BRYK, 1994).  ONE OF THE INTERESTING STATEMENTS THAT I READ IN MY SECTION WAS:

Communications from the school's leadership will set the tone for the school.  For example, if a principal contacts the faculty only on matters of organizational procedure, teachers will see these as the school's major concern and may give less attention to teaching and learning.

FOR ME THE IMPORTANT MESSAGE THERE IS THAT IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO JUST PUT A GOOD INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP TEAM IN PLACE AND EXPECT THAT TEAM TO LEAD CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION INITIATIVES -- THE PRINCIPAL MUST TRULY BE AN INSTRUCTIONAL LEADER WHO ALSO TALKS ABOUT/PRESENTS ON INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUES AS WELL AS ACTIVELY OBSERVING AND COACHING TEACHERS ON INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES.

Classroom Improvement Formula
Transparency + Non-Judgementalism + Good Help = Improvement

USUAL FORMULA – EVALUATION + MEDIOCRE HELP = FAILURE

HE WAS RUNNING OUT OF TIME AND DIDN'T GO INTO THIS INDEPTH WHICH IS UNFORTUNATE BECAUSE I LIKE THE "FORMULA" THAT HE SHARES HERE -- THIS IS A VERY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO TEACHER EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT -- VERY SUPERVISION II... VERY TRANSFORMATIVE...

END OF SESSION

Feed Your Teachers

(Cross posted at Change Agency)

This time of the summer I like to re-read a book that I picked up a few years ago called "If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers (Kids' Stuff)" (Neila A. Connors).  As we think about the issue of changing the cultures of our schools, one thing that sometimes gets overlooked is  "feeding the teachers."  (Greg Farr even listed "re-culturing" as one of the steps in his recent post on Effective Principals.) I don't mean feeding them literally with food -- I mean feeding them with affirmation, empowerment, and recognition.  In her book, Neila A. Conners gives us a ton of concrete ideas on how to "feed our teachers" to create a more positive, collaborative, and productive learning environment.

In her first chapter, she outlines the characteristics of a well-adjusted leader:

1.  The ability to care and be concerned for others
2.  The desire to be successful
3.  The ability to handle stress
4.  A general feeling of good health
5.  The ability to think logically
6.  The ability to have fun

She goes on to explain that good leaders use teachers for the following:

1.  To serve as solution finders
2.  To provide feedback
3.  To spread the good word
4.  To share their talents
5.  To provide support

And she provides survey results that gives us some indicators that correlate with effective leadership:

--Effective leaders have a low teacher absentee rate
--Effective leaders encourage teachers to do what is best for their profession, school, and students
--Effective leaders are included in conversations with teachers
--Effective leaders influence teachers to volunteer for additional activities
--Effective leaders take time to plan, organize, and accomplish "to do's" without burning out
--Effective leaders visit classrooms
--Effective leaders are visible and accessible
--Effective leaders enjoy communicating with teachers
--Effective leaders discuss controversial issues with faculty members
--Effective leaders see teacher evaluations as extremely important
...and 40 other "indicators" are listed through the rest of chapter 2

Through the rest of the book she gives examples and ideas of how to help your teachers deal with change -- how to lead them through change -- and in chapter 7 she provides a list of 150 "desserts" that you can give your teachers throughout the year.  (This is the part of the book that I really enjoy reading every summer because it gives me new ideas to implement each year.)  These "desserts" include:

--"Another Great Week" get-togethers with coffee and snacks
--Monthly wellness sessions and updates
--Swap classrooms and/or assignments for a day or a week (you swap with the teachers)
--Organize book talks or journal discussions
--Include drawings and door prizes at meetings
--Distribute a "What would make your job easier" form
--Partner with a massage therapist and have them setup in the faculty lounge once a week
--Have parents write positive notes to the staff
--Send a cup of coffee/tea and snack to a teacher's room unexpectedly with an "appreciative" note
--Have a "sticking your neck out for the kids" award (symbolized with a giraffe pin, animal, certificate)
...and many, many, many more ideas

Each year I implement at least a few ideas from this book -- and the results are usually very positive.  I know another principal who lives by this book, and she has extremely high staff morale and a positive, productive school culture & climate.

There is also a section in her book where she discusses the issue of dealing with D.U.C.K.S. Your D.U.C.K.S. are the people on staff who are Dependent Upon Criticizing and Killing Success (I've also heard it defined as "Determined to Undermine, Criticize and Kill Success").  On my previous campus I worked with very close and highly performing team.  This team had significant responsibilities with regard to school improvement and was under a great deal of stress.  We attended a workshop together one summer where we were introduced to the concept of D.U.C.K.S.  The following year, as we worked together and realized that at times each of us could fall into a D.U.C.K. role, we decided to start calling each other out when any of us starting "quacking" during a meeting or work session.  That Christmas I bought everyone on the team a little yellow rubber duckie and we started using these during our meetings as well -- which of course created a light-hearted atmosphere where we could laugh at ourselves, relax, and get back on a productive task related to our goals of school improvement.  An effective solution to dealing with D.U.C.K.S. in any meeting is to schedule a "Duck Pond" at the beginning or end of the meeting where everyone is allowed to "quack" or vent their frustrations so that they don't interfere with the work during the meeting.

On a similar note, but not directly related to the book I've been discussing, is the idea of B.M.W.s B.M.W.s are defined as "B*%^&ing, Whining, and Moaning" -- and are usually never a welcome addition to any team meeting or work session.  Create a space on a wall or white board (you can even use a large post-it sheet), and label it "Parking Lot".  Throughout the meeting, staff members can "park" their B.M.W.s in the parking lot (using sticky notes, markers, etc.) and then the team leader or administrators can review the B.M.W.s later and get back with the staff on those issues.  This allows the meeting or work session to progress without interruptions.

I know it's the middle of the summer and many of you are on vacation or have already gone through your "summer reading list" (or have so many books on your reading list), but Neila Conners' book is a valuable read at any time of the year -- the ideas and concepts can be applied at any time and just about any where.  I highly recommend "If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students" to all leaders -- leaders in schools or out of schools.  The strategies she describes are fairly universal -- but are especially important in a high-stress field like education.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and best wishes for preparing for the new school year!

Leadership for PLCs

(Cross-posted at Change Agency.)

Before I being this month’s post, let me give all of you a gentle reminder about Personal Learning Plans for the summer. :)

This week our district is hosting an annual week-long Leadership Institute for all district leaders from every campus and regional or central office.  The purpose of this institute, of course, is for all district leaders to “go back to the classroom” and learn new ways of thinking about our work and about improving student learning.  The framework for our work in this district is Professional Learning Communities, and I put together a list of resources related to our work on another blog here.

The key word in the paragraph above is “learning”.  Not only do PLCs require a change in focus from “teaching” to “learning” – but successful implementation of PLCs requires leaders who see themselves as learners and who understand that the implementation will become a learning journey for everyone involved.  During this week a number of concepts will be tossed around… “focus on learning,” “focus on results,” “learning for all,” “collaborative culture,” “mission, vision, values, and goals,” “total instructional alignment,” etc.  However, simply going back to our campuses and speaking this jargon will NOT turn our teaching teams into PLCs.  What will make the difference will be leaders who roll up their sleeves and engage in the work of “becoming” PLCs alongside of the teachers on the campus.

I believe that the work of becoming a PLC requires more of a flat leadership model rather than the traditional hierarchy of most organizations.  For PLCs to be successful, teachers must emerge as leaders and this requires formal leaders to step back and allow this occur.  I have seen administrators attempt to implement PLCs while still trying to maintain a dictatorial-style of leadership – and the results were less than successful.  As leaders, we must be “learning leaders” who trust our teachers to also be “learning leaders.”

I will be posting other reflections on this Leadership Institute throughout the week on this blog as well as on my blog, Change Agency.  As I end this post, I welcome comments and insights from other leaders who have had the opportunity to work in successful PLCs.  What worked?  What didn’t work?  What did you, as a leader, have to do differently in order to create success in the PLC?

Classroom Credibility

A frequent complaint of teachers is that too often they feel that their campus administrators have been out of the classroom too long and are no longer in touch with the students or the teacher's role in the classroom.  This disconnect between administration and the classroom can generate resistance on the part of the teachers.  The teachers see the administrators as lacking in "classroom credibility" due to either the amount of time and distance the administrators have been out of the classroom or to a perception that the administrators went into administration because they were not effective teachers to begin with.

Understanding that this can be a problem, I am curious to learn about any models that may be out there that serve to remedy this situation.  It can be anything from some sort of rotation system where administrators cycle back into the classroom for a year or two every four to five years, or a system or school where administrators teach one or two classes in addition to their campus management and instructional leadership duties.

Who is doing this successfully?  Where is it being done?  What lessons have you learned about implementing something along these lines?  Do you think it is effective?  Why or why not?

A Personal Learning Plan for Summer 2007

Summer is just around the corner and it’s time again to reflect on the past year, make plans for the coming school year, and take some time to refresh/recharge/renew before the new school year starts.  One effective method that I have used in the past for taking advantage of some of the summer “downtime” is to create a personal development plan.

Many of us are probably very familiar with the process of developing School Improvement Plans, but how often do we create our own personal development plan to improve ourselves?  These are frequently referred to as Personal Learning Plans. 

Developing a Personal Learning Plan is simply a matter of following a series of steps – very much like the process of developing a School Improvement Plan.  Of course, the success of the plan – of any plan – is following through and doing what is written in the plan.  For now I’ll focus on the development of the plan… later this summer I’ll post a friendly reminder here about DOING your plan :)

Step 1: Reflect on your successes and challenges from the past year.  Name one thing that went really well that you would like to be able to replicate in the future.  What made this successful?  What did you do or how did you act?  Name one thing that could have gone better for you this year.  What went wrong?  What could you have done that would have caused a different outcome?  What did you learn from this experience?

Step 2:  Look at your responses to “Step 1”.  Where do you see opportunities for growth?  What skills do you need to learn or what knowledge do you need to gain based on your reflection?  Think of this as a Gap Analysis – what skills and knowledge you currently possess compared to the skills and knowledge that you need in order to improve.  What is missing?

Step 3:  Create a S.M.A.R.T. goal (start with one – you can create more later) related to the personal learning need identified in “Step 2”.  A S.M.A.R.T. goal is one that is Strategic and Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.  Here’s an example:  By August 2007 I will learn new strategies for better time management and organization.

Step 4:  Based on your new S.M.A.R.T. goal, begin to develop a realistic Action Plan of steps or actions you will take in order to achieve your goal.  An Action Plan usually answers the following questions (and I usually put mine into a chart format):

• What will you do?
• What resources do you need?
• When will you do it, and/or what is your deadline for completing each task or action?
• How will you know that you have been successful? (How will this me measured or evaluated?)

Step 5: Get busy!  Start locating and acquiring the resources you listed in your Action Plan and then get started on your Action Plan.  Remember to build-in time at the end of the summer for reflection on your learning during this time period. 

Step 6: Take some time AWAY from your PLP and Action Plan – spend time with your family and friends… go on vacation… do something completely non-work-related… relax and enjoy some well deserved time OFF!

And… Have fun!

Wishing you all a great summer,
Stephanie

Walking the Talk

Today at a Leadership Academy meeting I was reflecting on the work and learning that has occurred as a result of my participation in the academy this year.  One of the discussions we had today revolved around the concept of "being the change" or "walking the talk" -- and this led me back to a post that I wrote a couple of months ago on my blog, Change Agency, after participating in a conversation on the Online Connectivism Conference.  I want to re-address that concept with a wider audience of educational leaders, so I am posting some of the text of that original post here on LeaderTalk:

One of the conference forum discussions, titled Breaking the Habits, touched on an area that connects to a concept about which I am very passionate -- the concept of modeling what we want to see in our classrooms. Call it "walking the talk," or "modeling" -- or how about "Being the change"

Here is the question that David Howle presented to forum participants:

How do education administrators help faculty and students break the habits of stereotypical F2F cassrooms ("you sit still while I instill')?

I answered...

My suggestion for "breaking the habits" is to model from the top down. I don't believe it necessarily starts here -- but if administrators are conducting the weekly or monthly staff meetings using the methods and technology that they want teachers to begin using in the classroom -- instead of the typical sit-and-get style where admin just talk AT the teachers -- then teachers can see this in action.

However, it doesn't stop at just providing the model. Administrators need to end the meeting with reflective activities that allow the teachers to see how the activities affected their own learning and some discussion on how they can use the strategies in their own classroom.

One great source of training for this is the Critical Friends Group Coaches training. While this doesn't necessarily include the technology component -- the methods used in CFG require dialogue and conversation, and include activities structured to gather knowledge, connect knowledge, and reflect on knowledge gained during the activities (protocols).

Essentially -- the adults need to change how they work with each other if we want the adults to learn better ways of facilitating the learning of the students.

Another huge benefit to this kind of shift in how we work together -- By modeling more effective instruction techniques DURING STAFF MEETINGS, administrators are demonstrating their ability to be effective and competent Instructional Leaders on their campuses. If you model the methods, you walk the talk.

However, if the administrators "don't get it" -- and haven't had sufficient training in CFG coaching or facilitation (or something similar) -- then it will be more difficult for the teachers to "get it".

I feel like a broken record -- this is exactly what Tony Wagner ("Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools) is talking about when he says "All adult meetings should be about instruction and should be models of good instruction".  It's that simple.  I've mentioned this in a few posts here, and here, and here...

In fact, just this weekend I attended a nearly perfect example of what I am talking about -- it was the Houston A+ Challenge New Visions in Leadership Academy Spring Retreat. I only say "nearly perfect" because it is a perfect example of effective instruction -- but without a specific technology component (no Web 2.0). The retreat was structured around learning activities based on CFG methods and included embedded reflective activities with very powerful "driving questions". You can read my notes from both days of the retreat here (day 1) and here (day 2). As a result of this retreat, I am going back to work tomorrow with some new ideas and an action plan for improving some elements of my school's culture.

While I don't have the official copy of the agenda that I can post here, I do have some examples of meetings that I have facilitated that are similar and will add those to the end of this post. 

So how do you model this as an administrator?

Step 1: STOP holding traditional faculty meetings where you or another administrator just stands in front of the faculty preaching about dresscode, tardies, and other administrivia.
If you can send it in an email, then you SHOULD NOT be talking about it in a faculty meeting. Begin to think of your faculty meetings as a class period -- and your teachers are your students. Start teaching "bell to bell" and model what you want to see in your classrooms. If you don't want to see your teachers lecturing from "bell to bell", then why in the world would you do the same?

Sure -- it takes a LOT more time to plan a meeting that is structured around learning than it does to throw together an agenda that simply lists all of the things that you feel you need to preach about. However, the payoff for taking that time is worth it. What is the payoff? 1) Your teachers become engaged learners (exactly what you want of your students), 2) You model the instructional practices that you want your teachers using, and 3) Your teachers see you as an instructional leader because they can see that you know how to structure effective learning experiences.

It takes time and planning -- but there can be humor in this. I once had a very good laugh with my principal when we realized that we were having a meeting to plan a "planning meeting" for a beginning of the year meeting with the entire faculty. If you were counting, that was a total of three meetings -- one meeting with myself, the principal, and a consultant to plan the "training meeting" that we would conduct with the school leadership team (where they would learn what we wanted them to do with the whole faculty), and the second meeting with the school leadership team followed by the third whole faculty meeting. Looking back, teachers told me that that year was one of our strongest ever because, in their words, we started the year off with some very powerful collaborative learning around instruction and meeting the needs of our students.

Step 2: If you aren't sure how to do this, get yourself -- and your other campus leaders -- into some CFG Coaches or other facilitation training.
Visit the CFG website to find out more about when and where the training is offered. I can't emphasize this enough. On our campus we are looking into getting all of our instructional leaders -- administrators, department chairs, and academy coordinators -- into the training this summer so that all of them are trained in these skills.

It is important that you make this "how we do things around here" and that you ensure that all adult meetings on campus are about instruction and are models of good instruction. If only one person is doing this then their methods will not be viewed as a model. You will need to deliberately change the nature of all of your meetings on campus (or within your district if you are a district leader) if you want this to transfer to the classroom. The leaders set the tone. Be sure that you are setting the right tone.

Step 3: "Train" your teachers to rely on email or, better yet, YOUR BLOG for the administrative memos, announcements, and instructions about procedures, etc.
Of course this will be a challenge at first. Once your teachers understand that this information will only come out through these electronic media they will expect it -- and many of your teachers will appreciate it!

This is also your opportunity to model the use of new media for communication, collaboration, and learning. Where and how do your teachers submit their weekly lessons plans? Why not use a wiki, or at the very least, blogs? How do your teacher teams collaborate with each other? Why not use a wiki in addition to face-to-face PLC meetings? PLC meeting notes and action plans can be posted to blogs and wikis.

Step 4: In the event of an emergency or community tragedy, abandon everything mentioned above and meet face-to-face with your teachers to talk about how your "family" needs to respond to the emergency or event.
Our schools are not immune to tragic events and emergencies, and in those moments a human touch and a sense of someone "being in charge and in command" is most important. Our role as leaders requires that we "lead" our community through the difficult moments with compassion and direction. The teachers and students need to know that you know where to go and what to do -- that you are capable of leading them through whatever has occurred.

Examples of agendas and activities
Here are links to some example documents -- agendas and activities from meetings that I have either facilitated or participated in facilitating.

One very important note about the agendas: The "outcomes" column is probably the most important. Anyone can generate a list of agenda items, but a good meeting facilitator can state WHY those items are important and what OUTCOMES you want to accomplish during the meeting (what your teachers should know and be able to do at the end of the meeting). The second most important column is the "method" column -- this is where you describe the protocol or activity that you will use to facilitate the learning. Sounds a lot like a good lesson plan, doesn't it?

Agendas and Meeting Tools:
Sample Meeting Agenda -- this is just a generic sample agenda
Leadership Team Meeting Agenda -- here is an agenda from a meeting that we held for our leadership team at the beginning of a school year
Reflections -- an example of a reflection form that we gave teachers at the end of a meeting
If all else fails, just develop your Meeting Agendas using a standard Lesson Plan format :) (Just don't forget to incorporate some reflection at the end of each activity -- see examples in the protocols listed below.)

Protocols: (These come from the National School Reform Faculty Website)
Tuning Protocol (for Tuning a Plan)
What, So What, Now What
Consultancy (Solving a Problem)
Networking Protocol (developing teams, collaborative work)
Peeling the Onion (problem-solving)
ATLAS -- Looking at Data
The Final Word (text-based discussion)
More protocols can be found here.

And now -- A challenge to other administrators to provide examples of how they are "being the change"
In this post I have gone into some detail about one way that I try to "be the change" that I want to see in my school. This isn't the only way that I try to "be the change" -- but I do believe it is one of the key methods to modeling for my teachers.

So now I'd like to hear from you. If you are an educational leader at any level, consider yourself "tagged."

Feel free to comment here or to post your thoughts on your own blog -- please tell us "How you are BEING the change..."

School Safety

(Cross-posted at Change Agency.)

This week we are in the midst of TAKS testing on our campus. For those of you not from Texas, the TAKS test is our state standardized assessment -- the big one. But it is now the afternoon and the students have finished and gone on to afternoon classes. I am resting my very tired feet, and taking some time to review our safety and security handbook to assess our preparedness for emergencies. As I look through this book I reflect on a conversation that I had with a friend on Monday evening.

On Monday evening as we watched the news unfold about the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech, my friend and I discussed the issue of school safety and decision-making during an emergency. She asked me if I would be angry with the university administration if one of my children was one of the victims. Would I be angry because they failed to lock down the university after the first shooting? My response was a firm "no" because as a school administrator -- as an educator -- above and beyond everything else our first concern is with safety. Curriculum and instruction are second to the issue of safety for students and school staff.

In fact, just this past Saturday I took the Texas certification exam for principals. A very large percentage of the questions were related to campus safety (or at least referred to "ensuring a safe learning environment." This reflects what I already know -- what I knew even as a teacher before moving into administration. Safety trumps EVERYTHING.  The best curriculum and the most effective instructional strategies are useless in an unsafe or threatening environment.

So my answer to my friend rests in my confidence in other school administrators and their concern for the safety of the people in their care. I understand the logistics and planning that go into emergency procedures. I understand what it takes to communicate an emergency to the school community and what it takes to ensure that the environment is as safe as possible. I understand that we don't live in an ideal world where all of our campuses are small one-room school houses with only one door that can be securely locked in time to prevent tragedy. I understand that school administrators are human beings who make decisions based on the best information that they have at the time.

Instead of feeling anger at school administrators for any perceived lack or delay of action, I feel concern for the faculty and administrators at Virginia Tech who are facing this tragedy on their campus. I can only imagine the sense of loss that they are feeling. I hope and pray that I am never in their position.

As we continued our discussion I recalled a campus shooting that occurred when I was in graduate school. In 1996 I was attending Purdue University in West Lafeyette, Indiana. In October of 1996 we had a murder-suicide occur in one of the dorms on campus. (Link to original news story.) The incident resulted in an hours-long standoff between campus police and the shooter. After the incident it was revealed that the shooter killed his RA after the RA reported finding drugs in the student's room. I vividly remember being aware of the incident and knowing that the stand-off was occurring while we went about our day. Classes were not canceled and offices were not shut down. The area around the dorm was secured, but the rest of the campus remained open. This was in the pre-Columbine era. We had no reason to fear that the shooter might go on a rampage. We were lucky.

Ensuring a safe learning environment is a priority for all educators regardless of whether we are in a classroom or in the main office.  We work diligently to prevent violence, to diffuse tense situations with students, to eliminate weapons and drugs, and to keep intruders off of our campuses.  However, we are human.  We are not omniscient nor omnipresent, and we can't foresee the future.  I really wish we could.

The final comment that I want to make is in response to President Bush's comment that the victims were "in the wrong place at the wrong time."  Under no circumstances should we ever believe that they were to blame.  This comment is so offensive to me.  Everyone has a right to be in a classroom or in their own residence.  Our campuses are open to all who seek knowledge and the dorms should be safe and secure residences for the students.  If anyone was to blame, let us blame Cho Seung-hui for not taking advantage of the mental health resources available to him and for taking so many innocent lives.  Let us NEVER believe that a classroom is "the wrong place."

To everyone in the Virginia Tech community -- my thoughts and prayers are with you.   

For more information about school safety and security, here are a few resources:

National School Safety Center

Keep Schools Safe

ASCD -- School Safety Information & Resources

School Safety Profiler (free tool for assessing the safety of your campus)

National Crime Prevention Council