Leaders Don't Compartmentalize

Isn't that a great picture? I've just spent the last few days at Orange Beach, Alabama, for a leadership conference for members of Alabama Association of Secondary & Middle School Principals (AASSP and AAMSP). It's always fun to see other school leaders away from our schools where we can learn from each other. The environment is wonderful, too. The picture above is from my hotel balcony. (The average temperature was 71 during the day.)

While there, we heard from our state superintendent, Tommy Bice, who is always inspiring and motivational. He always encourages us to think outside the box and always do what's best for kids. 

Another leader we heard from was Troy University's chancellor, Dr. Jack Watkins. 

He shared many stories and advice, and one that resonated with me was a story about Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-a restaurants. He shared the story about Mr. Cathy going to Congress in 2002 to meet before the sub-committee of Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. He was supposed to share about business ethics. 

He said there's no such thing. Why did it resonate with me? This is (sort of) what I tell students. When I have students in my office, we usually talk about grades in addition to why they are with me. When I have athletes in my office, or students in the band, or a club, or choir... I talk to them about their roles in those activities. They tell me they can't imagine showing up for practice late, or not having their instrument, or not fulfilling their responsibility to their club. Then I tell them not to compartmentalize! The same discipline, preparedness, and follow-through that they use and demonstrate in those activities is the same discipline, preparedness, and follow-through that must be demonstrated in the classroom. 

Then today, I read a tweet from the amazing Lolly Daskal. It was a link to her latest post, Codes of Conduct to Lead By. 

She gives a list of codes of conduct to implement into leadership, such as

• Be your authentic self, because you have to live with yourself every day.
• Always take the high road. No matter what others say.
• Always keep your word.
• Be consistent in all you say and do.
• Give more; expect less.

(The rest of the list can be found HERE.)

She ends the post with this:

"Lead From Within:  The codes of our lives are what help us to conduct ourselves rightly and have the right outlook on life. They provide guidance for our leadership."

Do you compartmentalize as a leader?

What else would you add to Lolly's list of codes of conduct?

When Adolescents Can't Read (My highlights from the book)

I just finished a short book titled, “When Adolescents Can’t Read: Methods and Materials That Work.” In my search for PRACTICAL advice on the most effective strategies for working with high school students who struggle with reading, this book has really made me reflect on the practices I used while in the classroom as well as the practices I observe from our classroom teachers, especially our reading teachers.

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click and buy, I may make a commission at no cost to you. 

The copyright date is 1999, so I’m not sure if the research would still be considered current. I would love to hear from you if you have evidence that what I’m sharing with you is out-of-date or if there is a proven, better method.

The book is based on the Boys Town Reading Center that was established in 1990. It serves a laboratory for adolescents with reading problems. From the website, students in the reading program gain an average of two years of reading skills for each year of instruction. And these are students who are at-risk and whose reading achievement is usually two to three years behind a student’s placement in school.

The framework that guides the instruction design of Boys Town reading program is Jeanne Chall’s six stages of reading development.

According to Chall, the students must master one stage before they can move on to the next. At Boys Town, they have been able to accelerate their readers’ growth by focusing on the skills that are most critical for moving them from one stage to the next.

I highlighted and underlined a lot of things in the book, and I’m happy to share them with you. If you are a reading teacher or specialist, I would love for you to contact me directly with any feedback.

“For the majority, poor vocabularies are most likely the consequence of not having done much reading. By late adolescence, however, the situation has turned into a “Catch-22”; because their vocabularies are weak, their comprehension suffers. But because their comprehension suffers, little new information can be gained when they read. Consequently, for many older teens with reading difficulties, direct vocabulary instruction may be the optimal program.” (Page 14) 

“Incoming youth at Boys Town have a great difficulty with spelling, and since they must fill out forms as part of their admission process, spelling is often the first indication that they have a reading problem.” (Page 15) 

“When we begin a training session with teachers, their first reaction often is that our methods and materials are too difficult, and that we are expecting too much in too little time. This certainly would be true if our goal was to have students perform every task we give them with 100% accuracy. But that’s not our goal. Learning is! Teachers and students need to keep this in mind. When we define success, we define it by how much someone learns, not by how well a task is performed. When we measure students’ success in terms of how much is learned, they are willing to be continually challenged. And, as challenge results in growth, their motivation to learn more increases.” (Page 22) 

“Our experience tells us that when you work with students who a have a history of academic failure, you set them up to fail again unless you start with the first step: direct instruction.” (Page 23) 

“In using spelling to teach word analysis, we’re encouraging students to go from sounds to letters. Spelling seems to work well with adolescents for several reason. First, we find that kids this age are more likely to admit that they are poor spellers than to admit that they are poor readers.” (Page 26) 

“So often during vocabulary instruction, particularly at the secondary level, teachers introduce words at the beginning of the week and tell students that they are responsible for learning their meanings (usually by using a dictionary or glossary.) As anyone who has used this method will tell you, it doesn’t work. For vocabulary instruction to be effective, students need to have numerous opportunities to use words and to receive feedback about how well they are doing their word usage.” (Page 33, my emphasis on “receive feedback”) 

“Asking students to keep track of how frequently they participate in each class period (e.g., by making a check mark each time they raise their hand to ask or answer a question) also helps to motivate them. As one public high school student told us about our reading program: ‘You can’t hide out, and you learn.’” (Page 51)

Do you have a takeaway from this post? Please leave it in the comments below or share with me on Twitter. (@Jennifer_Hogan) 

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Inspiration from John Wooden - Motivation Monday #45 {November 10, 2014}

Every Monday I post quotes and/or videos to inspire and motivate you through your week. Get ready for a great one!

There's so much to learn from John Wooden. I'm sharing 5 quotes from him, one for each day of the work week. Enjoy!

Which one is your favorite?

6 Tips for Effective Parent-Teacher Conferences

I’ve attended many parent-teacher conferences over the years, especially in my role as the administrator of the ninth grade. When teachers hold a parent-teacher conference, the counselor and I try to attend as many as possible. Sometimes, the parent will request a conference, and sometimes the counselor will suggest a conference with all of the students' teachers. I’ve attended some really effective parent-teacher conferences as well as some not-so-effective meetings.

Some of the best conferences I’ve been a part of are when the teacher brings evidence of what the student is doing in class. Some teachers show up with a folder of the students’ tests or an exemplar of a project along with the student’s completed project and the rubric. The teachers who seem to want to partner with the parents are the ones who have taken the time to review the student’s mistakes on assessments to determine where the problems are. Perhaps it’s vocabulary, or perhaps it’s with a certain step in solving a problem. Maybe it’s when the questions ask the students to think critically and apply their knowledge. Once parents (and teachers) understand where the weaknesses are, targeted help can be provided to the student.

When a teacher does this, it also shows that the teacher is concerned about the student as an individual.

When the teacher says, “He made a 62% on the test and the class average is a 83%,” it doesn’t indicate that the teacher has reviewed the individual student’s weakness. It DOES send a message that the teacher is mostly interested in comparing students’ performance.

6 tips for effective high school parent-teacher conferences:

1.  Include the student. Students are usually surprised to be a part of the conversation and realize that it’s about how to help the student be more successful, and it’s not about “bashing” the student. 

2.  Be prepared. Have specific ideas on ways to help the student be successful. 

3.  Find something positive to say about the student. 

4.  Share data, not opinions. (“Your child got all of the vocabulary correct on the test, but missed the application questions,” instead of, “I don’t think he’s studying hard enough for tests.”) 

5.  Make it a two-way conversation. Try starting with, “What questions do you have for me? I want to make sure we make our time together valuable.” 

6.  Be empathetic. Try to put yourself in the parent’s shoes. By high school, the parent may have been hearing similar messages throughout their child's years in school. If you were the parent of the child, what would you want to hear?

As a school leader, how can I help?

Remind teachers to bring evidence to the meeting. 

Ask teachers to be prepared for the meeting. 

Follow up with teachers and parents (How? Put a future appointment in my calendar to remind me to do a “check-in.”)

What other tips would you add?