The Relationship Business

The Relationship Business

 

Three high schools in our district were given a few extra teacher allocations this year under a Federal Graduation Initiative Grant to create a plan to help support student achievement and graduation.  All three school created three very different plans. When each of the leaders of the three pilot schools recently facilitated a student focus group session at one of the other schools, one theme stood out clearly—It is about the relationships the adults make with their students that count!

 

Question after question—throughout the focus group session, students told me about their teachers not giving up on them.  “The teacher does not allow me to fail,” one senior student told me.  “Before, I could miss class or put my head down and they would not care.”

 

“If I am absent, they call looking for me,” another student mentioned.

 

I saw smiles from students who explained they are now passing all their classes.  They told me they would previously cut school to avoid classes they struggled in.  Sometimes they would misbehave to avoid the work.  

 

When I pressed the group on why things are better it really came down to the teachers caring about them.  “The teachers really get to know me and what is going on with me.”  

 

One student told me, “I am never tardy or absent now because I respect my teacher too much and they want me to be successful.”  A combination of persistence and caring from the teacher really helped build confidence with students who previously struggled in school.  Some of the students failed all their classes last year and some chose just to not come at all.

 

“Before, when I missed a day the teacher would tell me to go to their website for the missing work…I never did that.  Now they hand it to me and insist I get caught up.”

 

When I chatted with my colleagues from the other pilot schools, they shared the same themes from their focus groups.  We discussed how our programs differed but they were all successful-- so far due to the amount of dedication, caring and persistence from the teachers.  It was wonderful to see those genuine smiles.  

 

In retrospect, taking the time to hear how students feel is very powerful good or bad.  I think we need to do it more and hear what they have to say.  They have wonderful ideas we can implement with a little creativity.  But what students really want is to know you care.  Once they know you care and trust is present—their potential is endless.  We work in the Relationship Business.

“Students do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”-Unknown

Defining Student Engagement

Defining Student Engagement

In November our staff participated in a professional development targeted to provide some much needed time for reflection and thought about our work and daily practices.  One topic I was very interested in discussing with teachers was what they “look for” when it comes to student engagement. I would argue that educators can spend all the time in the world developing new standards and assessments but without strong student engagement, students will never get where we want them to go.

In my view, developing a school wide definition of student engagement can serve us in many ways.  Students can reference the definition to help understand the expectations teachers have for their involvement in their own education.  Teachers can use the definition to remind themselves to be creative in their planning and to make sure our instructional practices are student-centered.  Administrators can use the shared definition as a starting point to initiate meaningful conversations with our wonderful teachers when we visit classrooms.

Some might say, why student engagement?  If you look at the current state of education we have new standards, new assessments and new expectations for our learners.  Everything is happening so fast and as we catch up in aligning our instruction to our standards, our assessments, our interventions and our class activities---I believe the biggest impact we can make with our students in the meantime is to engage them as much as possible in the learning process on a daily basis.  Every student! 

I remember my favorite teachers growing up thought outside the box.  We had presentations, group work, projects and the overall classes were collaborative and required me to get out of my chair and apply what I have learned! Those teachers impacted my understanding of the material and I remember many of the lessons to this day. Colleges and universities want to have independent thinking problem solvers who also have a grasp of the content.  Interestingly enough, so do employers!  So let’s use a definition as a starting point to guide our instructional practices in this ever changing world of education! 

Reno High School 

Student engagement means all students are actively thinking, speaking or writingabout relevant topics associated with the learning objective or essential question of the day. In general, the teacher facilitates the learning collaboratively while students do the heavy lifting required to meet or exceed standard.

Chasing the Extraordinary

My travels took me to Eugene Oregon recently for my second visit to the University of Oregon as a member of the Admission Advisory Board.  Last year I shared I was recruited, along with other west coast high school principals, to serve on this board to share our perspectives with the University along with the University in turn sharing the various aspects of their school.  On my October visit, I heard from over 25 high school principals from Colorado, Hawaii, all over California and Oregon.  My wife and I then attended a VIP tailgate party prior to attending the Oregon vs. Arizona football game broadcasted on ESPN.  Yes, they lost the game but we got to see the Duck mascot body surf the entire student section!  The next day I toured the new OU football and sports complexes before returning back to campus to hear from the Law School Dean.  It was a fun trip and it allowed me and my wife the opportunity to experience the athletics of the school.

One major take away from the Eugene trip was the tour I received from their Athletic Director, Rob Mullens, 8am the following morning after the Duck football team lost their ESPN game vs. Arizona.  The other administrators I was with all joked the AD would pawn off the tour on one of his staff members but that was not the case.  Mr. Mullens was fully engaged and began the visit by going through a presentation in one of the team meeting rooms…more like a theater.  He shared the school athletics budget, goals and facilities but one area in particularly that struck me most was his vision statement: “Chasing the Extraordinary”.  

He said it in a very direct way.  He explained there are three things you need to achieve this goal:

1.

Talented staff-you have to hire multi-talented, caring, hardworking staff.

2.

Every team member is responsible for identifying areas for continuous improvement-say it in the meeting…not after the meeting.

3.

Decision making is much better with collective intelligence of the entire organization.

So as we continue to strategize with staff on how to make Reno High School the very best high school it can be...I think we can definitely apply some of these concepts. We continue to hire talented people when the opportunities present themselves and we must do this work together-as a team-with a shared commitment to becoming extraordinary. It seems to be working up there in Duckland.

Say Hello to a Stranger

 

The first week of school can be intimidating for students—especially a newcomer like an incoming 9th grader to a high school.  Students gravitate toward familiar faces and locations in the hallways but for the newcomers making the decision where to stand and who to hang out with can be very stressful.

 

As I stand in the halls before school, after school and during the passing periods I try to read the facial expressions of our students.  I want every student to feel comfortable in our school but the reality is they all won’t—at least for a little while.  So how can we help the newcomers to our school?  Well…how about everyone simply saying hello to a stranger once a day.  This may seem simple but could be very powerful.

 

Saying hello to a stranger can initiate a smile, start a conversation or begin a friendship.  At the very least it is a genuine way to build community and welcome newcomers to our school.  We are all Huskies…even the nervous “Pups”.  I am looking to the students who know the culture of the school to say hello to a stranger!

 

So students, if I come up to you and say hello don’t be alarmed or scared.  I just want you to feel comfortable in your new school.  This is your home now—so please enjoy and make the most of every moment!

Break a Branch, Plant a Tree

 Over the years I have changed my views on how to handle student behavior issues .  After serving as a disciplinarian for 8 years at another school in our district, I dealt with behaviors ranging from disrespect to staff, habitual tardies, fighting, bullying and gang activity.  

 

Early in my career I remember a student I received on a classroom referral as a dean of students.  The students was18 years old, on an IEP (Special Education for emotional issues) and he came to the office because he was arguing with the teacher.  The teacher had called me from the classroom and had expressed her frustration with the student.  When the student showed up he immediately wanted to speak.  I did not know the student very well but I raised my hand up and told him I didn’t want to hear it and he was going to get a detention for arguing with his teacher.  He became very agitated, stood up and told me off with some “choice” vocabulary.  

 

Later I realized this student had severe biopolar disorder and my strategy to not hear his side of the story was not the best plan to take.  

 

I learned many things from that situation among many, many other situations with dealing with student discipline.  I have found students need to be heard and the behaviors need to be diagnosed (why are they happening).

 

The next step is to reteach expectations and provide a “teachable moment” built in to the consequence when appropriate.  I think when dealing with young people, no matter what age, if the consequence is fair, consistent and they have had the opportunity to be heard—the student will buy in a little more.  

 

This approach takes a calm, respectful demeanor from the adult at all times—no matter how the student is acting or rationalizing.  It also requires a great amount of creativity when attempting to reach the desired outcome of students not repeating unwanted behaviors (especially students with differing home lives).

 

So when I interview teachers or administrators during the hiring process, I am always looking for how the potential staff member establishes relationships with students.   When interviewing a person last year I asked a question about handling discipline at the high school level.  One person in particularly told a story of how a few boys at his previous school were horse -playing on campus and they broke a very large tree branch on a beautiful tree on the campus.  When deciding how to handle the situation, this person chose to take the boys to a nursery where they bought a tree.  They returned to the school and planted the tree together.  

 

Break a branch, plant a tree.  The behaviors had to be addressed but the consequence wasn’t a meaningless detention, suspension or a tongue lashing from the adult staff member.  A mistake was made and a solution was created.  Did it take extra time by the adult?  Of course. Did those young men repeat their behavior?  Absolutely not.  Did we hire the staff member? You better believe it!

Water the Bamboo...what I learned from Greg Bell in Portland

WATER THE BAMBOO

 

Last June I had the pleasure of taking a team of educators from Reno High School to the Fusion 2014 Conference in Portland Oregon where we attended multiple sessions focused on monitoring student growth, literacy programs and transition programs.  There were also excellent keynote speakers who presented each morning.  One speaker in particularly, Greg Bell, shared the concepts of his book, Water the Bamboo.  

 

Education is a hard job where we are often expected to show immediate results.  It is not that simple but teachers tirelessly grind everyday hoping to see growth at some point in the undetermined future.  Greg Bell compared the work of an educator to the job of a bamboo farmer.  Many people are unaware of the growth process of a bamboo.

 

Bamboo farmers must water the ground where they planted for four years.  During this four -year period the bamboo shows no sign of growth—not even breaking the soil.  Farmers must stay consistent, not missing a day of watering.  Patience is a key for a bamboo farmer—just likeany good educator.  Day after day, month after month, year after year the farmer waters the bamboo with no evidence of growth.

 

Then it happens.

 

Greg Bell explained and even showed a video to further prove that after 4 years a bamboo will grow 90 feet in 60 days.  It is one of the most amazing natural phenomenon I have ever seen.  The bamboo breaks the soil and explodes to a remarkable height in a very short time.

 

The lesson here is simple.

 

It doesn’t always happen but if we keep the perspective of a bamboo farmer—staying patient, having faith and consistently working with our students everyday—we may just see amazing individual growth.

 

So keep grinding, keep working, never give up and water your bamboo!

2014 Grad Speech Excerpt-the Immigrant, the Artisan and the Waitress at the Pancake House

The last piece I’d like to share with you is the concept of “Average being officially over”. There is a contemporary author by the name of Thomas Friedman who wrote the book The World is Flat, who explains this concept in more detail.  

His argument is we are sending you into a world economy very different from the one we entered years before. We have gone from a connected world to a hyper-connected world where employers can access the cheapest technology, cheapest communication and cheapest workforce than ever before.  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google and Amazon are just a small example of the tools of hyper-connectivity.Employers are looking for intellectually curious problem solvers who are able to not only perform their job duties, but have the ingenuity to actually reinvent their job—performing it more efficiently—adapting it into a new job or career altogether.  The possibilities with technology are endless.  To compete in this hyper-connected world we must find what Friedman explains is our little bit of extra—because “Average is officially over”.

So there are three things Freidman suggests for individual success going into the future. Think like an immigrant, think like an artisan and think like the waitress at his favorite pancake house.

First, think like an immigrant.  Immigrants came to our country with no contacts or legacy to rely on for success.  They had to be creative and hungry in finding their niche to be successful—and they began their journey from scratch in a new country not knowing anyone.  

Think like an artisan.  Artisans worked with their hands and developed a unique skill they were very proud of—whether it was a potter, a shoemaker or a smith.  Artisans were known for being skillful.  They were also known for carving their names into their work out of pride.  Be proud of your work and be willing to carve your name in everything you do.

Think like an immigrant-be hungry and don’t rely on others for success, think like an artisan-develop a unique skill you are proud of… and finally, think like the waitress at Thomas Friedman’s favorite pancake house.  He was eating breakfast one day with one of his associates. He ordered his favorite buttermilk pancakes and his friend ordered eggs and fruit.  When the waitress brought the food, she stated very plainly to his friend, “Here you go Sir...and I gave you extra fruit.”  Now the waitress at the pancake house didn’t have control of much but what she did have control of was the ladle for the fruit that day.  She thought like an entrepreneur and Mr. Friedman’s friend gave her an extra tip that day.  That was her “little bit of extra”.  

Class of 2014, don't forget your little bit of extra. I will miss you, be safe and remember, we are respect, we are honor, we are respect--we are Huskies!