Prior to taking part in our first chat session with the #educoach group, I wanted to blog about chapter one of Unmistakable Impact myself.  (You see, I’m an introvert, and we need time to contemplate before sharing thoughts—if you’re interested in the introvert/extrovert approaches, which is NOT simply a matter of outgoing vs shy, I would recommend Laurie Helgoe’s Introvert Power or Marti Olsen Laney’s The Introvert Advantage).

Excerpts and thoughts from chapter 1 from Unmistakable Impact:

“Unless the current trends change, more than 12 million students will drop out during the course of the next decade—at a loss to the nation of more than $3 trillion.”

I am so thankful Knight pointed this out.  I think society sometimes focuses on assessing the effectiveness of education via test scores and student achievement.  While those are valid measures (along with others), I think we also must view effectiveness of education on the impact (positive or negative) it has on society.  Think of the impact 12 million dropouts at a cost of $3 trillion will have on our society.  That affects the economy in terms of productive citizens, cash flow through the economy, possibly more people on entitlement programs, etc.   Improving education is imperative if our society intends on a continued path towards productiveness and success.

“Unfortunately, traditional school improvement plans are often very complex, and because they focus on literacy and mathematics to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind, they frequently overlook core instructional strategies.”

I first heard of School Improvement Plans when writing for a small-town newspaper while getting my bachelors over 10 years ago.  I wrote a story on the district’s MSIP process and loved the idea of a school improvement plan.  When I later got into education and studied these plans more through my masters, I had a recurring thought: These plans are long, complex and, most importantly, teachers and staff members know very little about them.  So, how can they really be an improvement plan if the entire staff is not aware of what the plan is?    Knight hit the nail on the head with this one.  True change must be more targeted and “close” to those who are responsible for implementing it, including teachers.

“In Impact Schools, teams of teachers come together to intentionally plan how to use  the high-leverage teaching practices, such as guiding questions, formative assessment, effective questions, or behavioral expectations, described in the Target.”

I think the key here is teams must be intentional.  I see this beginning to happen in education and it is exciting.  Getting together because you were told to or to plan things such as who is going to make copies is not teamwork.  Teamwork is intentional discussion about what practices work and which ones do not.   This key component can dramatically affect not only teaching, but more importantly, learning.

“The challenge of improving instruction in schools is so complex that likely only simple plans will work.  However, simple is not synonymous with simplistic.  A simplistic plan might be a dummied-down plan, one that removes complexity by removing sophistication.  Simple is just the opposite.  A simple plan is one that removes distractions so that only what matters remains.

How true this is.  As a current classroom teacher and lead teacher, I feel this on an everyday basis.  There is so much to focus on in teaching, so many ideas out there, it is sometimes hard to figure out where to put your energies.   Do I focus on Marzano’s instructional strategies?   Do I need to find strategies to build on my classroom atmosphere?   Do I use Study Island, blogging, Twitter or other motivating technologies?  Etc?   With a constant influx of ideas and the newest trends in education, one must focus on this: What strategies are found to yield the highest impact?  That is what a teacher, principal, teams, administrators and school boards need to focus on.  Don’t work more, work smarter.

My husband, a seventh-grade communication arts teacher,  and I have been listening to Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership podcasts, which can be downloaded at http://www.daveramsey.com/entreleadership/podcast/. These podcasts are phenomenal, some of the most downloaded podcasts in the business section.  They are not only helpful to the specific people they are targeted for (business leaders), they are also helpful to educators, leaders in any field and quite frankly anyone wanting to understand themselves and others. Today, I listened to episode 5, which was about recognition.  A lesson I took away from this was the importance of recognizing not just outcome (when someone accomplishes a goal), but also effort.  What a simple concept, but one I’m not sure I do enough.  I obviously give lots of encouragement to my little third graders, but how often do I really time take out of our busy days to “celebrate” effort?  The answer is easy: not nearly enough.  Putting myself in the shoes of those kids who take sometimes an excruciating long time to accomplish a goal (like memorizing their basic multiplication facts), I realize the importance of recognizing and celebrating effort, not just the outcome.  From their perspective, accomplishing the goal must be hard to see down the road.  I wonder if some of them believe they won’t even get to the end result. Thus, less effort is put out.  I wonder what a difference it would make if I was more proactive about encouraging effort….would they start to believe in themselves a little more?  Would they put in more effort?  Would I have even more students accomplishing the goal?

I think this concept also applies to administrators, and as far as that goes, teacher-to-teacher relationships.  Being a highly effective educator is a tough task to accomplish.  It is one that includes effort, time, energy, thinking, re-thinking, collborating…and sometimes “failure.”  Sometimes, teachers put so much effort  forth trying to help a student accomplish “x” skill, only to find that it was the wrong approach to take.  This is to no fault of the teacher. This is simply how hard teaching is.  It is not always easy to figure out why students struggle with certain skills. This can be daunting and if you are not careful, it can cause a teacher to doubt their abilities (while it certainly should not).   Having a culture where your colleagues and your administrators foster and encourage that effort, no matter the outcome, is so important.  It is like the saying goes, you have to fail in order to succeed.  So maybe all the effort you put in the first strategy did not work, but if the encouragement and recognition of the effort of trying to help a student is in place, maybe a teacher would then go on to find the light bulb moment for their student.   Adults, no matter how much of us like to admit it, need this encouragement as much as our students do.

This concept also applies in everyday life.  Think of your personal goals–give yourself credit for trying (just be honest in whether you’re actually trying or not!)   Then move forward.

It also applies to relationships in your personal life. Give your loved ones and friends recognition for trying, despite the outcome. I bet it could make a world of a difference in your interactions with them.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the concept of rewarding effort, not just outcome.  Thanks, in advance, for any thoughts you are willing to share!

One of my Christmas presents this year was The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D. So far, this book is very similar to Introvert Power. After reading Introvert Power, I contemplated doing a blog post describing applications to the classroom. I never got around to it.  After starting this newest introvert book, I figured it was time to get to that blog post!

Let us start with some core misperceptions about introverts. Being shy or outgoing are not necessarily accurate  words to describe introverts and extroverts. Prior to reading Introvert Power, I remember the feeling of frustration when people would perceive me as shy.  I hated that description and I wasn’t quite sure why.  I think it’s because the perception that shy people do not like people and prefer to spend their life in the solitude of their own home.  I, on the other hand, LOVE people–their strengths, their experiences, their values and view points.  It interests me more than I can say.  In fact, most introverts do like people and are interested in deep meaningful conversations.

So, what’s the difference between introverts and extroverts?  One of the main differences is where we get our energy.  Extroverts get energy from socializing and being around people.  Each new conversation propels them to continue talking throughout the night.  Introverts, on the other hand, get their energy from within–through reflection and deep conversations that cause them to contemplate about life.   The application to the classrom in relation to this difference is to respect the need of the introverts in your classroom when it comes to providing time for them to be “within themselves” for a while.  Every since I was in my bachelor’s program, cooperative learning was a big push. Let me first say, I am a big proponent of cooperative learning. I think the speaking and listening skills kids learn via cooperative learning is a must for success in the workforce and in life.  However, so is reflection time.  I myself am guilty of getting too caught up in students always having to work together and talk through problems in a group, with no time to allow individuals to reflect.   The cooperative learning is fine and must continue, but teachers may need to build some quiet time in prior to or after cooperative learning to allow reflection time.  As a student myself, in some of my masters classes, I was the same way.  There were always groups projects and I hated (with a passion) how we had to immediately get into groups after the assignment was described so we could brainstorm with our group.  If only I would be given the time to think through things myself first, I felt like I could have offered so much more to the group.

The other thing to keep in mind in regards to cooperative learning is how draining this situation can be for your introverted students. This does not mean that they struggle with cooperative learning.  In fact, if you give them time to contemplate prior to or after cooperative learning, the understanding and knowledge they gain can be amazing.  However, it does mean that instruction throughout the day should allow for down time for your introverted students.  They need that time to “re-charge.”  If they do not get that ”re-charging” time, it may affect learning the rest of the day.

Another key difference between many extroverts and introverts is depth vs breadth of information learned.  Extroverts tend to want to know a lot about several topics and introverts would prefer to hone in on a few topics and know them in depth.  What comes to mind for me is the amount of curriculum we’re expected to teach kids. We are faced with the pressure of teaching a mile-long curriculum only an inch deep.   In addition to the fact that this is not always sound classroom practice, it also is a dis-service to our introverts.  I am thinking of the students in my classroom that tend to always have more and more questions on topics that peak their interest and sometimes I am guilty of saying “I’m sorry; we have to move on.”  While this is sometime just the practicality of the situation, I think I could sometimes handle it differently.  Why am I stopping that love of learning?  What might that student be able to accomplish if I simply facilitate an environment where they can continue to investigate “x” subject in depth?

I’m only 37 pages into The Introvert Advantage so I will likely have more thoughts to share. I just needed a little reflection time before I went on to the rest of the reading. Yes, I am an introvert, too!

It is a longstanding ugly fact in education: the child’s socio-economic status is tightly correlated with test scores. The just-released SAT data from the College Board are right there for all to see and contemplate with the telling pattern visible for the umpteenth year: for every additional 20,000 dollars in parental income, scores rise in an almost perfect linear relationship by approximately 15 points. Liberal policy-makers use such data to r … Read More

via Granted, but…

As teachers of this amazing country, what role do we have in instilling these values? I believe we have a vital role. In fact, along with parents, I believe public schools have a responsibility to teach the values our founding fathers fought for: freedom and individual rights.  I also believe at times like this (the 10-year anniversary of 9-11) we have the responsibility to teach and instill patriotism in our children.  For if they do not know how precious, amazing and unique this country is, the very freedoms so many have fought and died for will perish.  I look forward to talking about America with my students, not only now, as we pay tribute to the heroes and victims of 9-11, but also throughout the year.  For patriotism lies in my heart everyday. And, I hope it will lie in their hearts everyday as well.

 In addition to Kelley’s book, I am also reading another “business” book entitled Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. I think some teachers are turned off by business books because they see all the differences between the private and public sector.  (Side note: The misguided education philosophy of Bill Gates might affect this as well).   While I don’t think we in education should let the leaders of the business world dictate education policy, I do think we have a lot to learn from the business field.  Difficult Conversations, as with most business books, does not apply to just business.  A lot of times, it has to do with people, human nature and all our strengths and weaknesses.  For it is understanding each other and ourselves that is likely one of the biggest factors to success. 

 I just started Difficult Conversations, but I’d like to do a little reflection on it.  I plan to do this with all future books I read.  With eight years of teaching experiences and three years of middle-level leadership experiences, I feel like I intellectually understand what needs to be done.  For me, that is the easy part.  The hard part is applying the strategies, approaches and philosophies given the complexities of humans.  It is my hope that these reflections will help me go beyond understanding and lead to real change.

 What I’ve read so far…

I love that the authors of Difficult Conversations simply and without judgment state that difficult conversations are avoided by all of us, sometimes on a daily basis.  These conversations can be as complex as addressing a deep-rooted issue with a family member or as simple as sharing with your neighbor the fact that their dog keeps you up all night.  The authors go on to say that it is not the actually conversation that we fear; it is the consequences.  Will they misperceive your intentions?  Will you hurt their feels or vice versa?  Are you being too petty in complaining about a small issue and they will think less of you? Should you just be the bigger person and suck it up?  Avoiding these issues only causes them to boil inside of you and leads to more pain than what you are avoiding. 

 As the authors say “There is no such thing as a diplomatic hand grenade.”  Sometimes, you have to have those conversations, even when you know things will get heated. Do not avoid the heat, because dealing constructively with tough topics will likely strengthen the relationship in the end.

 So, what makes difficult conversations so difficult?  It’s the gap between what you’re really thinking and what you’re saying.  This really hit home for me.  It seems like my mind is always thinking in conversations, and not just on what is being said by the other speaker.  It is understanding these other “inner conversations” that will make difficult conversations easier.

 There are three things topics we are often thinking about when having a conversation: the “what happened” conversation, the feelings conversation and the identity conversation.  Here is a brief explanation of these conversations:

 1)      “What happened” conversation: You know this conversation, the one that entails truth, intentions and blame.  Both people in a conflict get caught up in being right, doubting the intentions of the other and laying blame, all of which is counterproductive. 

2)      The feelings conversation: As rational as we have the ability to be, we are human and have emotions.  While it is prudent to not let your emotions get the best of you, it is also wise to address them in a mature manner.

3)      Identity conversation: We all tend to worry, subconsciously at least, how a difficult conversation will affect our self-image and it is human nature to “protect” that, to a certain degree.

 My reflections on how this relates to education…

 Education has evolved into an arena where we can no longer shut our doors and do our own thing.  Of course, this still goes on, but if we truly want what is best for our kids, we must learn to collaborate and have difficult conversations.  You are seeing this already in some districts as they take part in professional learning communities, response to intervention, high-stakes testing, etc.  What I have noticed is educators are great at expressing their concerns in the hallways or behind closed doors, but not so effective at expressing and solving these issues.  In no way am I pointing my finger at teachers here.  Principals have to create a safe, trusting and respectful environment so teachers feel comfortable having difficult conversations.  And superintendents have to do the same for principals.  Doing this, I understand, is harder than what it seems when you are dealing with humans and their complexities.  This is where the book Difficult Conversations comes in.  I think this would be a great book study and one that should be required.  The acknowledgement of the facts stated in my above summary of the book is key. All of us deal with those issues, whether you’re a first-year teacher, a veteran teacher, a physical education teacher or principal.  Understanding human behavior can avoid a lot of issues and open up the door to problem solving. We do a great job in education with learning new strategies to teach reading, learning new way to motivate kids, knowing how to prepare kids for the lovely state-mandated exams, but we are also good at avoiding the very thing that holds all humans back, lack of knowledge of human nature, something that affects us every second of the day.  I think if we can expand our knowledge in this area, our students can only benefit form it.  Part of me wants to reflect more, but I think I will leave it at that for now, since I am only on page 25 in the book! More reflections to come.

Back to the email from a parent.  The parent told her child she had noticed that he had taken a much bigger interest in reading this year.  The parent said she was taken aback when he said “Mrs. Palmer has changed my life.”  He went on to explain that he loves reading because of the new approach we have taken in our classroom.

So, what is this approach?  It is the one suggested in the book The Book Whisperer.  The basic premise of this book is that we are killing the love of reading in our kids with so much skill and drill.  Because of this, we are not creating life-long readers.  Miller also discusses how our job needs to focus more on facilitating the love of reading.  If we can create an exciting, encouraging and supportive community of readers, our students will be much more likely to become life-long readers and those pesky standardized test scores will take care of themselves! 

I have to admit, after reading this book last summer, I asked myself  this: “Really?  Does this approach make that much of a difference?”  I have never been a fan of book reports and had already decided to stop assigning them.  But, I also knew something was lacking in my classroom.  What was lacking was an exciting community of readers.   So, I decided to give Miller’s approach a shot. (I’m aways willing to try anything that may benefit kids).  I declared an official end to any and all types of book reports in my classroom, which was met with LOTS of elation from students and parents!  In place of this, I am requiring my fifth graders to read 18 books this year, 14 of which are chapter books.  There are specific genres they have to read, but there is still room for lots of choice in what they read.  I started off the year spending lots of time talking about books, sharing my excitement about books and teaching the kids how to be independent readers.  The excitement was balanced with a little nervousness from the students as they were used to being told what to read and to do reports after reading.  One student even exclaimed “Wow, I have to do 18 book reports!?”  I said “No, you just have to read.”  The students were amazed at this and got right to work on their 18 books they have to read.

I am not going to explain all the ins and outs of this new approach. I will say that on 90% of our days, the students have independent reading time in class (15-30min. per class period).  They have learned to be self-sufficient readers, they are in the habit of responding to their reading via reading responses and they absolutely love to share what they’re reading.  (And, I love hearing about it!)

I used Survey Monkey to get feedback from my parents mid-year.  I received an immense amount of support for this approach.  About 75% of my parents said their child is reading more than they did last year.  (Some of the 25% said their child had always read a lot).  They had a place to leave comments and thanked me repeatedly for no book reports and for letting their kids “just read” this year!

So, I am happy to say, I was proven wrong. I really did not think Donalyn Miller’s approach would make that much of a difference.  But, it has.  I see a consistent excitement in the eyes of my students as they daily share about the books they’re reading, I receive emails and comments of support from parents, and I witness a motivation to read like I have never seen before. 

If you are an educator or parent, I highly suggest you read The Book Whisperer, and help re-ignite a passion for reading!

I love the fact that teachers have the summer “off” to improve their skills. I can’t imagine going through a summer and not improving  on my knowledge and skills as a teacher.  Yes, it’s time to recharge and get a break from the stress of teaching, but once I’ve done that, I’m always hard at work (in the “luxury” of my own home, of course), looking for ways to improve myself professionally. 

I’d like to share some discoveries and learning I’ve accomplished this summer.  It’s partly for my sake, to kind of recap my learning, but it’s also to stimulate discussion about your reactions and comments about what you’ve learned!

Discovery 1: The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.  This book was recommended by several of my colleagues.  I was excited to read it because there was tons of positive reactions to it.   This book was a refresher for me as I tend to do a lot of reading on researched based information.  This book, however, was simply a teacher sharing her experiences, which is just as valid as research-based information.  I’ve always allowed my kiddos time to read whatever they want to in class, but what I haven’t done is encouraged the excitement and fun of reading enough.  This is a main focus of The Book Whisperer. Did I walk away from this book thinking that I had been “transformed” into a new and very different teacher?  No. But, I did walk away with slight changes in my classroom that will make reading more fun for my students AND make teaching more fun for me! As a result of this book I have spent a lot of time organizing my classroom library (leveling books), reading children’s literature, and familiarzing myself with authors of children books.  I look forward to seeing what positive changes result from my reading The Book Whisperer.

Discovery #2: Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.  This book was recommended by my principal and colleagues.  It was a short and easy read.  I walked away with active learning lessons that will make my basal reading series a little more exciting!  I love active learning.  I am a firm believer in learning CAN be fun (not always, but somtimes!)  This book helps to solidify my belief in that.

Discover #3: I’ve reminded myself how much I love children’s literature!  I’ve read Stolen Children by Peg Kehret, Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson, and half of The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis.   With the exception of  Curtis’s book, I have enjoyed all of these books. I’m looking forward to discussing these books with kids and sharing the fact that I had to abandon The Watsons go to Birmingham.  (I’ve only read half of this book.  It’s suppose to be funny, but simply is not.  I am disappointed because I love historical fiction books.  I’m guessing the latter half of the book would be better; I just cant’ force myeslf to read it). The very fact that I will be able to talk about these books with students will hopefully bring motivation for reading!

(Though there’s still books and learning on my list of things to do, summer is running out.  But, future reads include Mosaic of Thought, Lucy Calkins reading books, and Professional Learning Communities.)

Discovery #4: Internet tools: I have become a bit of an internet tools junkie.  I’m still in the virgin stage of this as there is so much I don’t know, but I have had fun playing with the following tools that I might use in my classrom this year: Diigo, Learning Central Community and Edmodo.  I see potential for all of these tools, but wonder if I will have time to upkeep them!?  I’ve also fiddled with Twitter and have been able to do some networking with teachers in the area and across the United States.  There’s so much to learn and know in education. I can’t imagine trying to do it on my own!

Discovery #5: The importance of teachers being knowledgeable and speaking for or against mandated policies handed down from state and federal governments.  I’ve spent a lot of time this summer researching about the Obama’s adminstration’s Race to the Top and the U.S. Dept of Education’s Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  I am simply angry that Obama, Sec. of Edu. Arne Duncan and others are demanding more standardized testing.  Not only that, they are encouraging that states tie teacher evaluation to student performance.  That is simply absurd.  I will be first to say that we need to revamp teacher evaluations, but tieing it to something that is not always in control of the teachers is simply not fair or right; nor is it what is best for kids.   My bigger frustration is that I do not know how to get more teachers to speak out against this.  One fellow teacher/twitter friend suggests simply refusing to give standardized testing.  That’s not reasonable.  However, I’m not sure what the solution is. For now, I will continue to speak out via my blog, Twitter, Facebook and with colleagues that are willing to listen.  However, until more teachers speak out, politicians on both sides of the isle will continue to mandate policies that hurt teachers and students.

So, as the summer comes to an end and I get caught up in all the less important, yet demanding parts of teaching (ie setting up my classroom and doing paperwork), I can head into this school year knowing that I am a better teacher now than I was in May!

I am not always an advocate of doing what other countries do in education simply because they have better test scores than us (which is another ball of wax I will save for another writing).  However, the approach suggested by Deming in this article is great.  It is similar to the Professional Learning Communities so many districts have found to be successful in the United States.  It requires colleagues to come together in a respectful and  collegial nature to help one another figure out what they’re doing that’s working and what they’re doing that’s not.  This team approach has proven to yield some of the highest results in student achievement.

The tough part is that it will require a change of culture in many buildings.  It requires teachers to not be afraid of admitting that something they’re doing is not effective. And, beyond that, it requires them to purposefully change their approach. (I find that some teachers continue to do a certain strategy, method, etc. despite the fact they know it’s not effective).  This will also require teachers to work together.  For so long, teachers have been isolated in their own little classroom where the only reflective person is themself.  Two (or more) minds are always better than one.  In addition, administrators must take the lead on requiring this of their building AND being a part of these teams.  We need administrators to be instructional leaders, not just managers.  Their experience and expertise can shed light on a situation that otherwise wouldn’t exist. 

So, how do we make things like this happen?  We need leaders IN the education field to step up and make changes in their buildings and their districts.  Otherwise, changes will be forced upon us by the high and might people like Gates and Duncan.  I certainly don’t want this? Do you?  I encourage you to step up to the plate in your district and be part of the positive change that can happen when teachers take on this responsibility.

“During my nineteen-year career in the classroom, I taught for sixteen years in grades 9 through 12 in three good schools and for several years at the college level at an Ivy League institution.  In all those years, I was never hired on the basis of a real job description or a performance-based test of my abilities. Rather, as in almost all teacher hiring, I responded to a notice about a content-area slot that needed to be filled.  I was never required to directly show that I could teach.  More importantly, perhaps, I was never given a real job description framed in terms of performance standards and learning goals.  I merely had to provide reference in which I was praised and that verified my paperwork was accurate concerning my readiness to handle the job to be filled.”

This excerpt had real meaning for me.  Let me first say this, I think there are many effective teachers out there.  As a teacher myself, I certainly don’t want to go on a teacher-bashing tirade.  It’s important that I don’t  do that because there are so many out there that blame public education; those people often don’t understand the field of education at all and have no clue about how to improve it.  However, being a teacher and a teacher leader, I have seen first-hand some issues that need to be addressed.  One of these issues is real accountability.  We use that word so much in education, but don’t always hold ourselves or each other to the level at which we should.  I think the aforementioned quote by Grant Wiggins is a perfect example.  His experience, unforutnately is what many experience when looking to be hired.  We really don’t have to prove ourselves to a great degree.  And school district rarely give a job description as far as standards and expectations.  The business world is notorious for expecting results. Education does not need to fully function as the business world does, but we have something to learn from the business world in the aspect of accountability and expectations. We need to step it up a notch.