"The First 30 Days!!"

Moving fast now!!

You know, when I write a title like "The First 30 Days," I start to wonder if maybe I'm not taking myself a bit too seriously. "The First 30 Days" seems like the heading of a CNN report on the start of a new presidency.

To be fair though, I didn't write that title. Thursday night at registration, a parent asked me about the first 30 days, and even made that joke about the presidential report. (So pretty much that entire paragraph is stolen material! I would properly attribute the source, if I could, but I met so many parents Thursday, the names are all swimming together.) In any case, I write this blog post until today. Because I need to to have the 30 days to meet with staff, students, parents and community members. To have time to relax and reflect in the Canadian wilderness...

The weather and the fishing weren't very good, but if you see one sunset like this, what else do you need?

...and to have an opportunity to see the building with the energy that even a few children can bring. I spoke to one family last night who were registering their 4-year-old for school for the first time. He was bouncing with excitement the entire time he was here. His mother told the story of him standing in the front lawn in May and crying he couldn't get on the school bus until next year. As I talked to that little man, I couldn't help but think of the following blog post, Please Don't Squash the Wonder by Nathan Barber, which I read earlier in the week. What will we do this year to protect and encourage children's sense of wonder? What will we do to build it back up in those that have lost it? What would our school look like if every kid in SPHS responded to the start of school the way that little 4-year old did last night? And what would we have to do to make sure that happened?

What would we have to do to make sure that happened? I've been thinking much about that in the last few days. Of the 56 individual meetings I have had with staff so far, it seems as if the question of the moment in the last week has been, "What do you believe about where education needs to go in the future?" Often that question is asked more pointedly, about a department or a discipline or even about SPHS as an institution. I've been somewhat hesitant to answer those questions when it comes down to specifics for what we will do, i.e. the structure of our programming, the schedule, the courses we offer, etc. My hesitancy stems from the fact that I don't have the whole picture yet. I haven't talked to everyone, and I haven't seen us in action. I need to learn more about who we are and what we want for our future before we can jointly begin to craft a plan for what we will do. And even once that happens, I'll be but one voice in the process. Sure, I'm the principal which means that my voice has a tendency to be a little louder, maybe, in the conversation than other voices, but I will work very hard to make sure we come to a shared vision of our future, and not implement "Chad's vision" of our future.

What Chad Believes about Education

That being said, I think I can answer the question of the week, as I posed it above, "What do I believe about where education needs to go in the future?" Here is a start:

1. If I can google it, I don't need to memorize it. (Schools need to forget the transmission of facts and focus skill development, so that later, students have the skills to learn the facts that they need to learn.)
2. Literacy and numeracy are skills that transcend subject areas and have high leverage in all career applications. These need to be the focus of every single adult who works with children.
3. Creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication are essential to the needs of the 21st century workplace. If schools aren't encouraging the development of these skills in every classroom, every hour, they are doing something seriously wrong.
4. Autonomy, purpose and mastery (as Daniel Pink and others suggest) are essential to motivating people engaged in high level "thought" work. I would add a 4th, interpersonal connectivity. If the business of schools isn't "high level thought work," I think we are making a mistake. So...encouraging autonomy, mastery, purpose, and interpersonal connections should be at the core of everything schools try to do. 

I leave it at those four, because I think that pretty well sums up where education needs to go, and because I believe, as I read recently in an article recently in Forbes, that complexity is the enemy of greatness. Focus on a few key concepts that have high leverage and protect them from all distractions and success will follow (if you've picked the right concepts:)).

Things I am Reading and Thinking About this week

 Do Teachers Have a Voice in Their Learning: A Gallup Survey Says "NO" by Jim Knight
"...even though your child’s teacher already thinks her opinion counts less than does the barista who sold you a coffee today"    I am certainly concerned about the results of this poll. I want teachers to have a voice in their own learning and I want teachers to be empowered to make decisions in their classrooms; instructional decisions about what their kids need next to help them be the best learners they can be. I will however admit to a certain amount of scepticism about polls like these.How much of that feeling of lack of control is a result of failing to grasp that the real power of decision making in a school is what happens in the classroom, the instructional practice, and not what happens in the legislature or central office, the curriculum or the standards. It seems to me that as we've moved to a standards-based system, teachers have increasingly reported a lack of control. How much of that reporting is a result of a failure to transition to a world where the decisions about "what" is taught are less important that the decisions about "how" something is taught. (And yes, I know there are other problems in education, other than standards, that complicate this. This is just what I am thinking about today.)

First Chance to Make a Learning Impression by Will Richardson
Will Richardson is one of my favorite education thinkers. He is constantly challenging me to consider the world as it is, not as I remember it to be. So I read him often and share what he is thinking often. I know that the principal who put together the letter he is complaining about here had the best intentions. I know this because I've sent the same "back-to-school" packet home to families myself. Will is reminding us that we need to keep the focus on learning all the time, if we truly want to transform the culture of our system...and that even seemingly minor gaps in that effort, like a BTS newsletter, can undermine our efforts!


An Eye for an Eye - Isn't the Best Way to Lead by Don Ledingham
I hope as I begin working at SPHS, that this is central to my beliefs will become obvious. With staff as well as students and the community. Failure happens as we try something new and as we are unsuccessful. This quote, "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow" by Emerson, is currently on the signature block of my emails. It's to remind me every few minutes, that I believe risk-taking has to be rewarded in our schools. If not, we may as well give every kid a computer and a Kahn Academy url and close up shop.

10 Ways to Learn From Twitter by Connie Malamed
Simply a list to give you some ideas about why I think Twitter, used as a learning network and not to virtually stalk celebrities, can be such a powerful tool.

One year Ago Today: Lessons Learned in the Wake of Suicide by Angela Maiers
I am touched by the author's reflection on her loss and her attempt to focus on the learning associated with processing one of life's most troubling events. The lessons she shares are good for all of us to reflect upon as we work with kids and strive to be the light in their lives that shields them from the despair the author's brother felt, or to be the lifeline they reach for when that despair does seep into their lives.

Personal Note

On July 25th, 2012, my dear friend, Diane Ishmael, lost her battle with breast cancer. I was asked to be the officiant at her memorial service. And while I felt ill prepared to serve in that capacity, I honored her request. As I sat on the stage that day, at over 380 pounds, and over the next few weeks, two things happened. First, I became angry with myself. I was angry because person after person talked about Diane's battle with cancer and how she fought for every day. I was angry because it was apparent that I was giving away a lot of days at 380 pounds. Since then I have lost 81 pounds, and sometime next week, I will drop below 300 pounds for the first time since 1992. 

The second thing I got angry about took a little longer to percolate to the top. But later in August of 2012, I received word that my sister's college roommate, Molly, had learned that the breast cancer she thought she had beaten in 2011, was back and had metastasized into her bones. Molly is an amazing woman, as are all woman, but Molly personally inspires me every day because of the unquenchable joy she brings to her daily existence. If you find that hard to believe, a person with Stage IV cancer, making everyone else around them more appreciative of life, read this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

My anger now, after losing Diane and worrying about losing Molly "someday" and concern for all of us as cancer, a disease we are on the verge of beating for all time, continues to consume an unacceptable number of young people in the prime of their lives, manifests itself in a commitment to do something. I hope you'll consider doing something as well. Tonight, the SPHS track hosts the Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. (Donate here!) Please consider stopping by to show your support. Or even to participate. I am sure they would love to have you walk even a couple of laps to show your support for the victims and survivors of cancer. 

Next week, I may not have time to write a blog post. My commitment to "do something" has me in Chicago, participating in the Susan G. Komen "3 Days for a Cure" walk. I will be walking on Molly's Army, with my amazing sister Ellen, and her inspiring friend, Molly. I am confident those 60 miles will be a life changing event for me. I am even more confident that the almost $21,000 Molly's Army has raised will play a part in ending cancer in our time. "It is the least I can do." (If you are so moved, you can donate to Molly's Army here.)

Thanks for reading...and be careful out there.