A Paradox within the Storm

It was after midnight and I laid sweltering in my bed listening to the cadence of the cicadas outside my open window continually interrupted by the cacophony of sirens and helicopters. This particular mix of sounds is something I hope never to hear again.  As a Houstonian who just endured the lashing of Hurricane Harvey, I found my prayers of thanks hijacked by imagined stories of worry about my staff, students and city. Memories of hours spent in a small bathroom with my wife, son and dog as tornado warning after tornado warning passed left me frazzled.  The images of familiar streets and neighborhoods flooded with water stretched my understanding of the scale of the impact beyond comprehension.

One of my top strengths is positivity.  Despite this inherent part of my nature, I found myself struggling to balance hope and optimism with realism.  My mind finally settled on an idea I first read about in Jim Collins book, Good to Great.  Collins shares a conversation with Admiral James Stockdale who survived over seven years as a prisoner of war.  Take a moment and watch the short video in which Collins explains the Stockdale paradox.  (Click here to watch the video)

There are certainly brutal facts to face related to Harvey.  Economic impacts approaching $200 billion, emotional trauma, displaced families and missed instructional time just to name a few.  What steps can we take to retain faith that we will prevail and at the same time confront our current reality?

Get your mind right – Whether we are leading a classroom, a campus or a district, our attitude and approach sets the tone.  Shifting our self-talk from, “I have to…” to “I get to...” shifts the paradigm of our thinking. Leaders make their biggest impact in times of great need.

Stay out of judgement – Human nature tempts us to blame victims.  Nothing positive comes out of this type of thought.  Conversation about what others could have done or should have done do not move us forward.  Shame and blame do nothing to heal the human heart.  Wisdom should drive us toward the parable, “There but for the grace of God, go I.”

Work to discover the true need – It feels good to give.  A real challenge for us is to ensure we are giving others what they truly need, not just what we want to give.  This requires us to be purposeful in collecting information about our friends, students and staff.  Google forms have been a big help as we collaborate to collect information about how our learning community has been affected and what specific individual needs exist.

Plan for long-term comfort and care – The flood waters from Harvey have receded but the impact will be long lasting.  We must be purposeful in providing ongoing support for those who we know are the most affected.  We have assigned specific people to serve as the point-of-contact for continued support over time for these folks.  A space will be created on our Instructional Leadership Team agenda that will allow us to keep this work on the front burner.

Exchange blind optimism with faith through action – No one can know how long it will take to recover from Harvey.  That lack of a clear ending can create depression and despair.  I believe the best medicine for this is service to others.  I realize that my service has evolved and will continue to do so.  What started with shelter volunteering shifted to pulling down moldy sheetrock and shoveling slime.  Now is the time to shift to connecting people to resources that are beyond ourselves.

Extend grace – We will come to know whose homes have been flooded and cars have been totaled due to the storm.  What will be harder to ascertain is the emotional toll. When we are swept up in the many tasks that need to be done, this can be easily forgotten. We can overcome this by focusing on the relational part of our work and extending forgiveness.

Remember the beautiful parts of this hard journey - My favorite memory during the past three weeks is of a family volunteering at the shelter I was working in right after Harvey passed.  It was late when they came in with a cooler full of chicken and food that they had just finished cooking.  Their children came behind them with arms loaded full of a variety of balls that were clearly taken out of their own garage.  This act of kindness exemplified the giving spirit I have seen repeated time and time again.  The lesson they were teaching their children was priceless.

Nothing brings people together faster than a common enemy.  Harvey was truly that. He held no bias in race, class or political affiliation.  His threat was to us all.  How fascinating it is to see how people that would not have given each other the time of day a week earlier are now in service to one another. I have unrelenting faith that our city and communities will prevail over the long term.  We may take a financial hit, but we will be far richer people in spirit.

Cursed! 8 Roadblocks to Success

I am a people watcher.  My wife and I enjoy this hobby together and refer to it as “visiting the human zoo.” Although the appearance of folks can be entertaining, I find the most joy in watching behavior.  I am especially fascinated by how beliefs, perceptions and values play out in our behaviors.  Many people will point to student behavior as the most driving factor in a school’s success.  This simply is not true.  Adult behaviors drive school success.  I can clearly visualize one teacher who almost bounces down the hall during passing, engaging everyone with eye contact and a smile.  The way he carries himself says, “I am so happy to be here and glad you are too!”  A minute later, another staff member passes walking with purpose clearly not interacting with anyone.  The flat affect of their body language communicates disengagement and despondency.  How is it that two highly-educated, well-meaning professionals can respond in such a dramatically different way to their environment?  How can one teacher find success with a group of challenging kids when another cannot?  It is as if some educators have been cursed.  One can define a “curse” as the source of trouble or bad luck.  Let’s take a look at some of these roadblocks to success.  I challenge you to identify specific people that come to your mind as you reflect on this list.

1)      The Culture of Complaint Curse – I am saddened by how often conversations between people start with a complaint.   Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that one of the quickest ways to build an ally is to find a common enemy.  But to be emotionally healthy, this can’t be our only relationship-building strategy.  As educators, we need to hold ourselves accountable to model positivity for our students and one another.  Those who suffer from this curse fowl the nest that is our school culture.

2)      The Curse of Knowledge - The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that leads better-informed parties to find it extremely difficult to communicate concepts at the level that a novice learner needs.  Students can become intimidated and reluctant to ask questions for fear of looking less than smart.  Educators who suffer from this curse often make inaccurate assumptions about their learners.  They believe their students are disengaged and “just don’t care.”  Teachers carrying this curse lack the skill set necessary to meet the learner at their current level of mastery and bring them where they need to be.

3)      The Curse of Invulnerability - This curse drives educators to not allow themselves to be truly seen.  The focus for those with this curse is concern of appearing to be smart, strong and capable.  It is often masked by what people describe as “professional distance.”  This curse interferes with relationship building, transparency, and true connection to others.  Shame leads to blame and true discourse about real issues never happens.  If you are not among the 24 plus million people who have watched Brene Brown’s TED talk about vulnerability, do yourself a huge favor and do so today!  (Click here to view)

4)      The Curse of Complacency – This curse manifests itself as a quiet voice in the mind of the individual that whispers, “I have arrived personally and professionally.” It kills the drive to receive feedback or seek further growth.  Author Jim Collins captures it perfectly with the quote (below) from his book, Good to Great.  Acceptance of the status quo is the order of the day for those afflicted.  This can be a huge issue for leaders working to transform “high performing” campuses as measured by standardized testing.  Teachers in these settings are especially susceptible to the curse since their current practice seems to be effective based upon test scores. The insidious nature of this curse keeps these teachers from actively seeking best
practices. 

5)      The Curse of Standardization – This curse has reached epidemic proportions in education.  It is a sly curse disguising itself as high expectations, clear direction and tradition.  Whether it is the federally supported Common Core, or state-based standards such as our Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, our learning targets are too numerous to be truly learned at a deep level.  In an attempt to fully cover the wide breadth of standards, teachers fall victim to the curse by providing the exact same instruction for rooms full of learners with a great disparity of competencies.   Despite the obvious need for differentiation, the Curse of Standardization keeps us in a traditional lesson cycle of lecture, independent practice, homework, test, grade and move on.  In an effort to create "well-rounded" individuals, creativity is killed and students disengage.  What a tragic curse that directs us to standardize rather than build student’s strengths, support them in following their passion, and ultimately owning their learning. 

6)      The Curse of Experience – There is an old adage that says, “Experience is the best teacher.” I agree with that statement.  I also know that experience can be a killer of the creative problem solving needed to be successful.  People carrying the Curse of Experience are incapable of novel problem solving.  They seek to apply the same set of processes to new problems.  They become frustrated when they have different results from before, not recognizing that different variables are currently in play. Frequently those carrying this curse suffer from “mistalgia.”  Beware the educator that always starts the conversation around problem-solving with, “At my old campus….” This individual might be suffering from this curse.

7)      The Curse of Low Expectations – This curse kills our ability to help students reach their potential.  When afflicted, teachers no longer believe that certain students can be successful.  They will actively seek new instructional strategies, but nothing works because the real issue lies with the teacher himself.  One can sometimes detect those who suffer from this curse when they judge entire groups (class periods, grade levels, etc.) of kids as incapable.   If you hear a professional make the statement, “Bless his heart.” you can be assured that the Curse of Low Expectations is raising its ugly head.

8)      The Curse of Hypocrisy - This is the darkest and most dangerous curse. When afflicted, the curse bearer engages in the same behavior or activity for which he criticizes another.  At its onset, the individual simply lacks self-awareness.  Once the curse has reached its apex, the individual is aware that they are passing judgment on others while demonstrating the behavior they are judging.  Despite this awareness, they lack the self-honesty or motivation to change.  An example of this is the principal that reprimands the teacher who does not differentiate, but provides no differentiation for his teachers during staff development.  Another example is the man who attends church and while processing the sermon, sees the sins of others and never recognizes them as his own.  For this reason some refer to this as “The Church-goers Curse.”

At the beginning of this post, I challenged you to identify specific people that came to your mind as you thought about each curse.  Did you ever identify yourself?  If not, you might be suffering from the Curse of Hypocrisy yourself. :-0)

As a reflective leader, I have spent time lately trying to understand the factors, biases, and distorted thoughts that interfere with our success as educators.  It is easier to recognize these problems than it is to ameliorate them.  How does one go about curing these curses?  Here is what I recommend:

·         Start with self-awareness.  We all have fears, biases and prejudices that influence our actions.  Becoming aware of those that potentially limit us from being our best self is critical.  Reflect on your curses. Perhaps you will want to identify a curse that is a roadblock to your success listed in this post.

·         Once identified, be intentional with how you guard yourself against the curse.  Shift your self-talk. Mind what you do and say when interacting with others. Model what you expect.

·         When you see others who are afflicted by a curse, be willing to have a courageous conversation with them.  Help them with their journey to become the best-of-the-best.  This is at the heart of what it means to be a servant leader.

What other “curses” can you identify?  Please comment and add to this list.  I would love to hear your voice!

Honoring Influencers

     I am a believer in the old adage, “Give credit where credit is due.”  In fact, this was a major issue that I grappled with when I first considered creating a blog.  The last thing I want others to believe is that I am attempting to be credited for their idea.  Professionally, I have been influenced by a variety of people inside and outside the field of education through conferences and various forms of media including books, articles, videos, blogs, etc. I think an apt descriptor for these individuals is the term, "influencer."  I am indebted to influencers for my success as a leader.   How do I honor those that have shaped my thoughts, opinions and ultimately my actions?  This post is an attempt to identify and celebrate a few of the people who have shaped my professional work.  I strongly suspect that as you recognize those on the list and my takeaways from each influencer, you will be nodding your head in acknowledgment of their impact.  

Roland Barth – influenced the way I look at professional relationships in the workplace.  It is critical that we move beyond mere congeniality toward collegiality to foster the growth of our organizations.

Brene Brown – influenced my understanding of the connection between shame, vulnerability, and their impact on relationships.  We must “lean into the discomfort” if we are to grow.

Camerer, Loewenstein and Weber – influenced me to be mindful of, “The Curse of Knowledge.”  This cognitive bias makes it extremely difficult for the experienced individual to think about problems from the perspective of the novice.  Many times, those with the deepest knowledge about a subject struggle the most communicating their understanding to others, especially kids.  Educators MUST beware this curse!

Jimmy Casas – influenced my view of what it means to be a “connected educator.” Without his influence, you would not be reading this post because it would never have been written.

Jim Collins – influenced the steps I use to transform my school.  He helped me to realize that there is inherent complacency when you are in a “good” organization.  The sequence of facing the brutal facts, focusing on getting the right people into the right role, and ultimately providing a simplified focus for your organization based upon passion, drives my work.  Leadership 101.

David Cottrell – influenced my thoughts on increasing the rigor of hiring staff and being purposeful in celebrating the “Superstars.”

Stephen Covey – influenced my thoughts on what to focus on as a leader and the best means to do it… through collaboration.  Love the proactive plea of, “Begin with the end in mind.”

Rick DuFour – influenced the way I see teams working as Professional Learning Communities. His four PLC questions move teams from simple delegation of tasks to collaborating about student learning.

Carol Dweck – influenced my understanding of how one’s mindset put us on a path to grow, or fixes us in our current level of proficiency.  She fundamentally changed the way I praise.  “You are so smart” is no longer in my vernacular. 

Eric Jensen – influenced my understanding of the plasticity of the brain as well as how we best support students that come from poverty.  Our economically disadvantaged students need language development much like an English language learners. 

Patrick Lencioni – influenced my understanding of how trust is the foundation of high functioning teams.  Enemies to our teams are a lack of vulnerability, artificial harmony, an unclear purpose, and ego. 

Robert Marzano – influenced my knowledge of research-based effective strategies. More recently, his work on the development of proficiency scales has been central to our work with standards-based learning.

McTighe and Wiggins – influenced the way I see lesson planning to focus on student understanding.  The concepts of backward design, essential questions and enduring understandings have become so common to PLC planning, many have forgotten where the terms were coined.

Alan November – influenced the way I see technology as a tool.  He led me down the path to Twitter which has fundamentally changed the way I learn professionally.

Malichi Pancoast – influenced how my assistant and I work in partnership to support the school.  Shifts in how my time is managed have put me in more classrooms than ever before.  Breakthrough coaching in a MUST for any new principal/secretary partnership and will even benefit veterans.

Ruby Payne – influenced my understanding of the effects of poverty on students.  An awareness of how the hidden rules of economic class translate into our need teach the ‘unwritten’ rules for success in school came to light through her work.  The concept of language registers and the need to work with students to develop an ability to see the need to move between registers was a big take away. 

Rita Pearson – influenced the way I deescalate argumentative parents.  She reminded me to always start with what the student can do, even it is at a very low level because, “Every child needs a champion!”

Daniel Pink – influenced my understanding of what motivates people intrinsically.  External reinforcers are great motivators for low level tasks.  For high level tasks, autonomy, mastery and a sense of purpose drive us from within. 

Sir Ken Robinson – influenced my views on how we need to adapt our current system to move away from the factory model of education and embrace personalized learning.  Real talk about what we currently DO to kids and what we should be doing FOR students.

Simon Sinek – influenced the way I start conversations to innovate or initiate change.  Focusing on the “why” instead of the “how” engages people.

Randy Sprick – influenced the way I viewed structuring classrooms and lessons.  CHAMPS and elements of this approach are common place throughout classrooms on my campus because of his work.

Carol Ann Tomlinson- influenced how I see differentiation as a means to provide opportunities for success with a range of learner competencies. Her teachings hold the keys to much of the personalized learning that we all seem to struggle to bring into classrooms.

Todd Whitaker – influenced the way I view “greatness” in a variety of educational roles.  Additionally, he has informed my skill set that moves responsibility from one staff member to the appropriate staff member.  Shifting that monkey!

Rick Wormeli – influenced the way I view assessment and grading.  He has created the moral imperative for me to work with a standards-based approach to instruction.

Harry Wong – influenced my understanding of the importance of clear expectations and routines to manage my classroom when I began teaching.  More importantly that is was OK to tell your class, “I Love You.”

     As I am drawing this list to a close, I am smiling at how incomplete it truly is.  Imagine throwing a fistful of gravel into a still pond and trying to find which individual pebble created a unique wave that impacts the shore among hundreds of waves.  That task would be easier than identifying our influencers.  With that in mind, let us as connected educators, not stress too much with “giving credit where credit is due.”  I strongly suspect if you were to interview any of the influencers listed, they would be quick to name those who influenced them to develop the ideas they have shared.  Instead, let us focus on becoming more connected as we act as superconductors of ideas and information.  What are you doing to multiply your influence and number of voices you are influenced by?  

¡Soy Capitan! Navigating the Creation of an Instructional Model

     Have you ever driven a boat?  If so, you know it does not handle like a car.  Acceleration, steering and stopping are less exact.  The bigger the vessel, the greater the need to anticipate your actions to ensure successful navigation.  I love this analogy for the principalship.   As the captain of the large vessel that is my school, it is critical that I ensure clear direction, and steer with a steady hand.  Quick steering, without a clear direction, does little to change the direction of the ship!  One might end up like the USS Minnow!  I think of the verse in Ritchie Valen’s song La Bamba, “Soy Capitan.” I am the Captain and it is my responsibility to mark and steer the course. What follows is the voyage that we embarked upon to bring clear direction to our instruction at Morton Ranch Jr. High.

     On a fine summer day in June of 2011, I sat in my office reflecting on another good year.  I let my mind wander toward what my focus would be for the upcoming school year.  My excitement started to build in anticipation of staff development week.  I love staff development!  I am in my passion when serving in the role of “teacher.”  My possibilities seemed endless.  As I continued to ponder, a critical understanding began to unveil itself.  How would I bring focus to our work?  We had a strong vision statement that captured what our campus climate looked like.  What about how we teach? This question led to my quest for an instructional model to guide our work. 

     As I quested, my mind settled on the work of Jim Collins in the book, “Good to Great.”  One of the power quotes in this book is, “Good is the enemy of great.”  I felt like this was just where our campus was… good, but not yet great.  This book and its accompanying monograph, “Good to Great and the Social Sectors,” are classic research-based leadership texts.

     In this book, Collins discusses Isaiah Berlin’s classic essay, "The Hedgehog and the Fox." The fox is clever in his attempts to eat the hedgehog, but is unsuccessful due to his scattered approach.  The hedgehog is masterful at meeting the fox’s challenges with his simplified approach of rolling into a protective ball!  Collins celebrates the simple, focused approach of the hedgehog over the diffused approach of the fox.  He argues that this is what many successful organizations do.  This simple, focused approach is described as the Hedgehog Concept.  It can further be described as simplicity within three circles.  My desire was to become more like the hedgehog. I was seeking a clear way to avoid the pendulum of educational change.

     This concept can be easily represented as a Venn diagram with three intersecting circles.  Collins provides guiding questions to lead a discussion related to completing the diagram. With this structure, my instructional leadership team embarked on an abbreviated book study of “Good to Great.”  This team is composed of assistant principals, counselors, department chairs, instructional coaches, the librarian, ESOL Team Leader and the campus secretary.  When we met together at our summer retreat, we collaborated to build the model pictured below.

     The first question I asked of the group was, “What is our main thing?”  The answer we came to was student success.  This idea we represented with the picture you see in the central “sweet spot” of the graphic above. I facilitated the completion of the three circles in the model by using the guiding questions that Collins provides.  When it made sense to do so, I modified the question to fit our purpose.

1.         What are you deeply passionate about?  We identified passion for the content and a passion for student success.
2.          What can you be the best in the world at? We made the decision that quality first time instruction was the thing we could be best at.  In a Title I eligible campus, it is critical to get it right the first time!
3.         What drives your economic engine?  I adapted this question to read, “What drives your instruction?” We landed on content as our focus in this circle. 

     The final decision we made was the title of our instructional model.  We ultimately landed on the title, “Accomplished Teaching Model.”  We felt that this moved our expectation beyond what the teacher did toward the ultimate goal of students learning.  Accomplished teaching equals learning.

     In my next blog, I will begin describing how we fleshed out each circle with specifics and our journey to become deeply aligned with the model.  ¡Soy Capitan!