Rice Krispies

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a child?  No, not the one your Mom made you eat – those brands that tasted like soggy cardboard.  Did you go for those super sugary brands like Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, Count Chocula, and Capt’ Crunch? For a time, I thought the addition of crunchberries would result in a national holiday.  They were the bomb!  Perhaps you were like “Mikey” and indulged in Life cereal? Yep, don’t admit to that.  How about Sugar Smacks with enough grams of cane sugar to wire you for an hour or so and then caused you to crash like an Iraqui scud missile.  Then, of course, were the cereals with the prizes in the box.  I still have scars from the fist fights over just who was going to claim that useless decoder ring hidden in the mass of grains covered in a non-nutritive cereal varnish (just had to get that Christmas Vacation shot in) .  One cereal that you may have tried is Rice Krispies – you know, the cereal that talks to you?  The brand is represented by three characters:  Snap, Crackle, and Pop; characters with feet disproportionate to their body size.  These animated fellas have sold a whole bunch of cereal based on hearing those three sounds when adding milk to your breakfast bowl.  Do you still lower your ear to hear that sound?  Come on, be honest.   

Schools need to be like Rice Krispies.  Although I eat Grape Nuts most every day, it is a boring experience and one that sounds as though you are chewing gravel.  I would not recommend that we become like Grape Nuts = very pedestrian with little pizazz and not a lot of substance.  Plus, it’s just plain boring!  Walk through our main office when the telephones are ringing off the hook.  Laura and Lynette answer the calls with a snap, their voices crackle with friendliness, and they pop to fulfill the need of the person calling.  They are our first line of customer service and they do a remarkable job. The first impression of our school, either over the phone or at the desk is one of high-quality and excellent service.  Parents enjoy the willingness of our teachers to meet with them; sometimes on multiple occasions to plan together ways to help their/our child. Kids enjoy our adults establishing positive professional relationships with them.  Our kids are drawn to people and not programs. Let’s go deeper -  how does an experience in your classroom look to a student?    Does it invoke a sense of excitement as class begins at the snap of the period or does it routinely lag for the lesson to begin? Does your classroom crackle with excitement because you make it relevant or is it just a presentation of material that has no connection for them?  Do your activity transitions pop as you keep it moving or are they are slow as molasses in January?  As you know, I have recently been advocating during our morning time the teacher skill set of engaging students.  That’s where the snap, crackle, and pop comes in.  Whether it’s your high energy or high-yield engagement strategy, you’re a Rice Krispie.  Use games that focus on academic content.  Use inconsequential competition.  Manage your questions and response rates.  Use physical movement and appropriate pacing.  Most importantly, demonstrate intensity and enthusiasm for what you are teaching.  The easiest way to get kids excited about learning is to be excited yourself – that is being a Rice Krispie.  Choose to be a “Snap. Crackle, and Pop” teacher.

Money Ball

Mary and I had the opportunity to watch Money Ball a few weeks ago.  It stars Brad Pitt…pause for the ladies to catch their breath…and centers on the 2002 Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball.  Pitt plays the role of Billy Beane, the general manager of the A’s, a team that is dismal at best and league doormat at worst  (do not insert Cleveland joke at this time).  The owner has a set budget that he is willing to pay all of the players and it is well below any other team in the big leagues.  Beane’s task is to put a winner on the field for the cheapest payroll possible.  At the end of the season, he is surrounded by his veteran staff of scouts who have canvassed the world looking for the right, and few, high dollar players that they can afford.  These are “baseball men”, guys who had been around a long time and touted their years of experience.  However, they annually failed to produce a winner.  In a nutshell, Beane tells these guys to take a hike and hires a statisitcs guy from Yale who understands just which data to look at.  They are faced with a dismal financial situation and are convinced to buy into the sophisticated “sabermetric” approach (computer-generated analysis) toward scouting and analyzing players.  The big ticket stats like home runs and pitching victories were not so coveted.  The “little stats” such as on base percentage and percentage of walks allowed became much more important.  Why?  Simply put, they found that these seemingly “little stats” actually provided the big difference in the success of their team.  They were right.  The next season, the A’s went to the divisional playoffs.  Seeing the right data made all the difference in putting together a winning team.  Today, this approach is employed by the teams who are consistently at the top (again, refrain from Cleveland jokes).

We just concluded our final set of Acuity testing prior to the first round of ISTEP.  What are you looking for in the data that you get back?  Find the “little things” that will make the big differences.  Use strategies to remediate that have the high effect sizes where you get more bang for your buck.  Time is of the essence and you will have to put your foot on the pedal.  Take those Advisory period ISTEP prep days and solidify them.  Make sure that you are taking that data apart to see where the critical needs are.  Do not be data rich and information poor.   Our school is no different than others in the sense that we are all doing the “big things”.  We all offer the three R’s, provide lunch, and throw in some extracurricular activities.  That is all well and good, but if you truly want to make a difference, it doesn’t even come close.  The “little things” make the big differences.  It is more than just offering courses and then just presenting information.  It is about engaging students and making it more relevant.  A recent study found that as students make their way from elementary to middle and high school, their levels of engagement drop significantly.  Why is that?  Part of the reason is that kids do not see how what is taught is relevant in their current and future plans.  Hmmm. We have to be reflective (that’s one of those little things) in what we do and look at the formative data that comes back with the best interests of the kids in mind.  We have to engage them not only academically, but behaviorally and emotionally as well. Be on your toes with sharp eyes and ears.  You have to see the right data and use it to build a winner.

Running in Every Lane

In my freshmen year of high school, I was fortunate to get cut from the basketball team.  What?  Did he just write, “fortunate” to not make the team?  Yes, I did.  You see, that disappointment on a Thursday (still remember the day of the week) turned into a great opportunity on Friday.  On that day, I met with the Head Track & Field Coach, and asked him if I could run with the winter squad. “You bet ya” was his reply. This man instilled a love for the sport in me and taught me that the fastest way to success was to train hard and listen to what the coaches taught.  I bought this hook, line, and sinker.  That year, I earned my first varsity letter and finished sixth at the conference finals in what then was the 220 yard dash.  I made a goal that day in May of 1973 that I would strive to be the conference champion the next year.  Sadly, my coach left that summer to become the Head Coach at Purdue University.  I met my new coach, Jim Steed, early in my sophomore year as I was in his class.  This man remains to this day the finest teacher that I have ever seen.  He taught me a great deal about technique and how to get the most out of every training session.  He told me that if I wanted to achieve my goal I would have to follow the training plan to a “t”.  Equally important was that I would have to “see that victory in my head” with every conceivable roadblock a thousand times before race day and that I should “practice winning” from every lane on the track because I would not know my assigned lane until race day.  I believed every word he told me. After supper (that’s what we called it in the 70’s), I would sneak back to the track and hop over the locked gate and starting from lane 1, would run through an imaginary conference championship race until I had run in every single lane. This was done day after day rain or shine. Mom thought I was going to study at a friend’s house. I think Dad knew, but pretended to be oblivious. The big day came and I lined up to run a race that I had already seen at least 1,000 times in my mind, in an absolute downpour, with the advice followed to the letter from the greatest teacher ever,  I …

Be the teacher that many would call the greatest teacher ever.  Be the teacher that can pinpoint struggling areas for kids and help them shore those up.  Be the teacher that finds ways to make it all work for each of your kids.  that relates to the different ways in which kids learn.  Be the teacher that sees potential roadblocks and either cut them off at the pass or find a way to compensate for them.  Often, you will have to show them versions of “running in every lane” as there will always be multiple ways to accomplish the tasks before us despite things that get in the way.  Be the teacher that gladly hops over the fence and works through time restrictions creatively to help kids grow.  Be the teacher who is visionary and passes his/her visions to their students.  Be the teacher who helps kids set goals and the one that shows them just how to achieve them.  Be the teacher to show them that one failure does not necessarily lead to a life filled with failures.  Setting goals with your students and having them track their progress has a very high effect size.  As you have them set individual ISTEP goals, make certain that you have them practicing in every lane while you differentiate your instruction.  The constant here is the finish line – let’s be ready for it.  Practice winning by running in every lane.

Your Super Goal

On Sunday, the San Francisco 49’ers and the Baltimore Ravens will face each other in Super Bowl XLVII. Along with Super Bowls come “Super Goals”. The boys in my family (ages 13-77) will meet in a testosterone heavy atmosphere at my little brother’s house complete with manly talk about chainsaws and having dental work without novocaine.  The ladies will go their separate way (I think my wife enjoys that) and talk about just how silly it is to put so much emphasis on a stupid football game. For the past two weeks, coaching staffs on both sides have spent a great deal of time breaking down game films of the opposition.  Why?  In short, they want to find tendencies in the offensive strategy of their opponent and defensive schemes against offensive sets as well as special teams coverage and alignments. These films will have been viewed, analyzed, viewed again, and then discussed for hours on end. Data will be collected and adjustments will be made relative to this data. In all of this, they hope to find the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent.  The key is to find matchups that can be exploited. For example, a 6’6” wide receiver typically wins against a 5’9” cornerback.  I know this because it happens every week in Cleveland.   The weaker players will be attacked. I know this as well because it happens every week in Cleveland. The stronger players will hopefully be marginalized. There may be a little trickery inserted into the plan. Each team will take what it does best and use it to reach the goal while along the way disrupting the way the other team wants to play. The coaching staff is trying to put together a winning game plan; a plan that gives them the best chance of winning.  That’s what great coaches do.

As you plan for your students to achieve and improve, think in terms of putting together a winning game plan.  Make a plan that gives your kids the best chance to demonstrate what they have learned.  In your Super Goal, called the ISTEP, we are not matching up against a visible opponent. Each student is trying to improve their score from last year and show growth accordingly as evidenced by their individual goals. We are not attempting to exploit weaknesses; we are trying to accentuate strengths. We are not attacking the weaker players; we are supporting them.  Our goal is for each student to improve from the previous year and to get more kids to achieve at higher levels than in the past. That is what those individual goal conferences are about. The culture that we have created is one of continuous improvement.  Our strategy is to maximize opportunities through relevant, purposeful, and deliberate instructional practice.  We want to minimize errors by working through student misconceptions on concepts.  You are like the Head Coaches of the Niners and Ratbirds (sorry, not high on a Browns’ fan list of teams to love) and you are formulating the game plan.  You are using informal and formative assessments to plan your instruction.  You are analyzing data to find out if what you are doing is working and then making adjustments.  So, what is your game plan to reach your individual, team, and school goals?  Finish the preparation in a purposeful way.  Make sure that your plan will be the one that gives your kids the best chance of winning. That’s what great teachers do.

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So, who wins the big game?  A.  Niners      B. Ravens        C. Indigestion

See the Shore

Florence Chadwick was determined to be the first to swim from Catalina Island to mainland California.  This wasn’t the equivalent of taking a lap in a pool.  This was a 26 mile swim through the Pacific Ocean.  The year was 1952 and young Florence had a goal.  She was determined to reach it.  She already had great success at long distance swimming as she was the first woman to swim the English Channel…both ways!  So, off she went on this pursuit.  The weather was chilly and the fog was so thick that she could barely make out the safety boats that were on each side of her.  Fifteen hours later, she was still swimming.  Lactic acid has overtaken her muscles and she began to beg to be taken out of the water.  Get this – from one of the rescue boats, her Mom told her to stay tough because she was getting close.  Now, the perfect ending for this would be that she overcame her fatigue, set her mind on the goal and became the first to swim across this chasm.  That isn’t what happened.  She quit swimming due to physical and emotional exhaustion.  The rescue workers pulled her out of the water.  The next day, she discovered that she was only a half mile away from the shore when she quit.  Her comment about this speaks volumes – “If I could have seen the shore instead of the fog, I would have made it.” Forever, she had to ask herself, “What if…?”

After you set goals, you never want to get to “game day” and ask yourself any question that begins with these words – “What if”.  Sadder words may never have be spoken. You need to do everything you possibly can to reach your goals. If not, they are just cutesy-dutsey idle talk designed to appease.  In the education world, our game days are summative assessments like unit tests, final exams, and yes, the ISTEP.  Once you reach the dates of these exams, it is far too late get your kids ready.  The real difference isn’t made on game days.  The real difference is made on days leading up to game days.  It is the preparation.  It is the constant reflection of evaluating how effective the preparation is.  It is the informal assessments.  It is the formative assessments.  It is taking a professional and honest look at the data and seeing what you need to change. It is about working tirelessly to reach the goals you have set well in advance of the big day.  To reach goals, all of these need to take place.  You will also need to fight through some foggy days when it would be easier to take your eyes off of goal.  You have some big games days coming up.  We have some big days coming up.  Make a decision right now that you will keep swimming with your eyes on the shore and not on the fog.  Don’t get to game days and ask yourself, “What if?”

Being Purpose-Driven

“What on Earth am I here for?”  Ever ask yourself this question?   “What is it that I am supposed to be doing?”  Has that thought ever popped in your head?  Most people, if required to be honest, would answer in the affirmative to these questions.  Let’s set something straight from the start – you are not an accident!  You are here for a purpose.  About a decade ago, I read Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life.  What I found from this 40 day journey is that there are reasons we were created.  We were created by someone else and for someone else.  We are here for a purpose; perhaps a purpose that extends far beyond our time here on the third rock from the sun.  It is a blueprint for a lifestyle based on purpose and not on culture while challenging conventional thought.  If you live your life with a purpose, several benefits begin to happen. Your stress level will decrease (I am still working on that), you will be able to focus your energy, and simplify your decisions. One principle that I learned is to never confuse activity with productivity.  If you want to have an impact, focus on the purpose. Prune away the activities that have no purpose.  Sure, you can be busy without a purpose, but what’s the point?  Throughout history, people who have made the most difference were the most focused on the purpose.  That includes the greatest teachers ever.

What does a “Purpose Drive School” look like?  For us, it is preparing kids for the next level, to facilitate growth in each student no matter where they begin while providing an incredible educational experience.  The school should be a place where kids want to be and are challenged every single day.  Those schools are easy to manage when there is clarity of purpose.  That purpose governs the way we teach, the ways we interact, the example that we set, and the manner in which we conduct ourselves.  There is less fuzziness between what is right and wrong.  There is more integrity.  The purpose sets the standards and defines the expectations.  Purpose Driven schools have a common goal within its walls.  They deliver a quality education because quality is defined by the purpose.  When high performing teachers plan lessons, they ask themselves, “What is the purpose of this lesson?”  When quality teachers assign work, they precede this with “What is the purpose of this assignment?”  Ideally, a “Purpose Driven School” will be almost self-governing because it is based on high principles.  Let me be succinct – we are well on our way to being the type of school that I have described above.  That is because we have the ability to “walk the talk.” As we enter our second semester, let’s focus on providing all that we can for these kids.  Let’s focus on the purpose for each and every one of them.  In doing so, we will make a difference.

Resolutions

Okay, here we are more than a week into the New Year.  What is/was your New Year’s Resolution(s)?  According to Newsweek (which has discontinued its print version much to my chagrin as a loyal subscriber for over 30 years), the top ten New year’s Resolutions are:  losing weight, reducing debt, making more time for yourself, saving for a financial emergency (unlike the mindset of Congress), reducing personal spending (again, see Congress as a poor example), exercising more, eating better, spending more time with your family, reducing stress, and having more fun.  Do any of these match your list?  Statistically, 89% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions.  However, only 46% are successful at achieving their resolutions six months later.  Less than half of all those making resolutions in the chill of a winter night still are holding true as we move into summer.  Why is that?  Lack of focus on what you’re trying to reach, failure to write the goal down and keep it visible, and not monitoring your progress along the way. (sounds a little like Marzano’s learning goals, huh?) Of course, there is this little matter call willpower.  I hope you are still chasing your resolutions.  Beat the odds.

As we begin the final five months of the school year, there are some big events down the road.  One of those, of course, is the state testing that begins in early March.  Our push to reach our school goal became more visible this week with daily announcements, trivia questions, signage outside of every classroom, and many more planned events.  Now is the time to make and keep resolutions relative to our school goal.  Really, that time was in August, but this time period fits the theme much better…call it writer’s privilege.  Making a resolution is about making a firm decision to do or not do something.  It is about sharpness and clarity.  Reaching our goal will take willpower on the part of everyone in the building.  We will need to focus on what we are trying to reach every single day.  We will need to write the goal down.  Evidence of this is outside of every classroom.  In your classroom, post your short and long-term goals.  Refer to them daily in your lessons.  Monitor progress toward them on a regular basis with informal and formative assessments.  Use that data to adjust your instruction.  Have your kids chart their progress regularly. Let your team know what the goal is.  Let each kids know that they play a vital part in reaching the goal.  Make them understand that anything less than their best effort on a daily basis is unacceptable.  Set the example for your kids.  Show them that hard work does pay off.  We just missed our goal last year.  I, for one, resolve to reach it this year.  How about you?