Simplexity

Michael Fulland & Joanne Quinn  coherence—The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

As principal of a school in improvement, there is a constant sense of urgency. The need to facilitate learning differently is evident by our initial data, but the opportunity to be innovative to make it happen provides us with a multitude of possibilities. Recommendations are plentiful from a variety of researchers promising growth and positive change. What stands out with Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn's new book coherence is the endorsement from one of educations top researchers John Hattie, author of Visible Learning

On the first page, first paragraph, Hattie states it eloquently. "Coherence is a book that demands action--it moves from the narrative of fixing one teacher at a time to asking about the coherence of the system (be it school, national, or world issues).  Fullan and Quinn create an important narrative about direction, working together, deepening learning, and securing accountability. The book sparkles with examples of coherence in action; it makes no excuses for employing the wrong levers of change.  This is the blueprint for a new vocabulary of education action; it shows where we need to go next, and is another example of Fullan at the top of his game" (Hattie, 2016).

Fullan and Quinn developed a coherent framework for school improvement planning starting with putting the "right drivers in action" as their foundation and leadership at the center. Their action framework puts the right drivers in action on the "route to success".  Start with focusing direction in each of your school systems, cultivating a collaborative culture with strong groups and individuals, deepening learning for better outcomes, and building capacity for results by developing skills to secure accountability.

As a building leader with many systems in need of revisiting with a pressing sense of urgency, the "simplexity" of the framework makes the task of prioritizing easier to facilitate the change that needs to occur.

Breaking Away from Isolation

Spike Cook, Jessica Johnson, & Theresa Stager BREAKING OUT OF ISOLATION—Becoming a Connected School Leader

One of the biggest surprises of being a school leader is how isolated you feel on a day-to-day basis. No longer is there a teacher next door you can drop in on for quick or engaging conversations. Your days are long and filled with other important conversations to lead the learning in a forward momentum.  If every minute is precious and geared towards supporting the teaching and learning system, how does one “overcome leadership isolation” (p. 3).

The author’s of Breaking Out of Isolation have a solution to this separation a school leader might feel and it starts by getting off the island. They coined the term Gilligan Syndrome after the famous TV show Gilligan’s Island.  It is easy to have the mindset of being “stranded”, it takes another mindset to reach out and be connected to like colleagues. These authors provide alternatives to the isolation found in school leadership with specific recommendations to find the tools for survival.  Here are a few highly recommended favorites:

·      Twitter: “Twitter is the faculty room you always wanted.” Ada, Bellow

o   Get away from just posting to connecting and contributing.

·      Voxer: “Messaging, Walkie Talkie Apps for Team Communication.” 

o   Have conversations, and keep them going.

·      PLN: Professional Learning Networks

o   Start small with about 5 to 10 people, follow them on Twitter, follow their blogs, participate in chats, and respond to their Tweets.

·      Read & Listen: Learn & Grow

o   Share new thinking with colleagues and move away from groupthink.

Start small and be purposeful. Learning one new pathway of connectedness and build on that new strength to another.  Find balance in the process and remember do not be plagued by the Gilligan Syndrome. There is a way off the island and these connected tools will help you build the raft to get off the island and overcome leadership isolation.

Helping English Language Learners Excel

February, 2016  EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP—Helping ELLS Excel 

In a period of five days the subject of co-teaching has come up in three separate conversations with different colleagues. One colleague uses this model for student teacher with a high success rate for teaching candidates. One teacher just took a class and wanted to share with me the possibilities of engaging in this practice with a classroom colleague.  The tipping point came from a well-respected colleague who works with principals all over the state and thought this would be a great model for our summer school.

The December 2015 Educational Leadership edition features the thinking and research behind this practice. Starting with a quote from one of educations top researcher John Hattie and his book Visible Learning for Teachers (Routledge, 2012). “The co-planning of lessons is the task that has one of the highest likelihoods of making a marked positive difference on student learning.”

For other who want to learn more about co-teaching here are some guiding questions with answers from the authors and editors of this edition.

What is co-teaching?

“To Clone or Not To Clone?” by Anne M. Beninghof p. 10

What are the approaches to co-teaching?

“Welcome to Co Teaching 2.0 by Marilyn Friend p. 16

How can the co-teaching model by applied to student teaching?

“A Better Model for Student Teaching” by Teresa Washut Heck and Nancy Bacharach p. 24

How can an administrator support co-teaching in their school?

“An Administrator’s Guide to Co-Teaching” by Wendy W. Murawski and Philip Bernhardt p. 30

How to unleash co-teaching potential?

“Revisiting Classroom Routines” by Gloria Lodato Wilson p. 50

There are many other articles with practical applications and lessons learned from the perspectives of ELL, Special Education, and classroom teachers. Although as we move in the realm of students having more ownership of their own learning, authors Fisher and Frey provide insights of having students be a part of the peer-teaching experiences. The model of teaching and learning is quickly evolving and co-teaching is becoming more prevalent in our educational communities

Will AND Skill

Anthony Muhammad & Sharroky Hollie  THE WILL TO LEAD, THE SKILL TO TEACH—Transforming Schools at Every Level 

After reading The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach by Anthony Muhammad & Sharroky Hollie, I was surprised how much I heard these words in the day-to-day language of education. The author’s defined these terms as follows:

“Will is the belief that all children can learn and perform academically.”

“Skill is the use of responsive instruction that is the practical key to ensuring that students learn at high levels.”

Skill being the more popular of the two words, and often is used both referencing the skills students are taught and the skills students are learning. As we continue on our growth mindset journey, what we are finding is they don’t always align. What is necessarily taught, is not automatically what students are learning. This circles us around to “Will”, which is exactly the point of this book.

As educators we must be our students biggest advocates in believing and ensuring all students will learn and grow and be the amazing people we know they can be.  Every staff member is a leader in this crusade, but in order to transforms schools the journey must be guided by a strong leader. This leader leads by communicating the why of the work with data, in a learning community that collaborates, providing targeted professional development to support the skills needed for “responsive instruction,” with an accountability framework for teaching and ­learning.

“Educators must have the will to lead and the skills to teach” (p. 5) in a learning culture that values effective teaching and learning to meet the needs of all students.

Simply A Hard Task

Douglas W. Carnine, Jerry Silbert, Edward J. Kame'enui, Sara G. Tarver & Kathleen Jungjohann TEACHING STRUGGLING AND AT-RISK READERS—A Direct Instruction Approach

Teaching students how to read well and for meaning is simply a hard task. There is so much more to it than one would expect. It goes way beyond knowing your letter names and sounds, blending them together and poof—a word with meaning. 

For those of our students who have difficulty with learning how to read, this process is even more difficult. The multiple authors of Teaching Struggling and At-Risk Readers A Direct Instructional Approach have looked closely at what works and is needed to support these students to become successful readers.    

The authors begin with laying the foundation of who these students are and what literacy and language skills they are lacking to become proficient readers. With the abundance of literacy programs available claiming to remedy reading proficiency, this often becomes the reading teacher’s biggest challenge. Which program to use? 

The “essential features of effective reading programs” (p. 11) are clearly identified. More importantly, the authors distinguish the specific steps needed to adapt their current reading program with lessons that make instruction “explicit and systematic” (p.17) for the struggling reader. With dwindling funding a reality in schools across the country, using what works isn’t always an option. Making what you have work is more of the current alternative. 

Instructional presentation techniques that are consistent and clear for students are critical key components of direct instruction. These techniques require reading teachers to be purposeful in their signaling when they want all students to respond. The pace must be quick enough to be engaging, but slow enough for think time. The teacher must monitor student responses closely, routinely correct errors, and provide individual turns to ensure mastery. 

Each of these techniques is revisited through the five big ideas in reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. What it looks like and feels like in a kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classroom is discussed in the author’s final chapters. Creating a schoolwide reading program for students who are below grade level also includes developing a system for routine and on-going assessments, consistent time for small and whole group instruction, instructional focused groups, and selecting material to create the program needed for catch up growth. Not an easy task, but one that is clearly laid out in Teaching Struggling and At-Risk Readers.

“The majority of children who enter kindergarten and elementary school at-risk for reading failure can learn to read at average or above levels, but only if they are identified early and provided with systematic, explicit, and intensive instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension strategies . . . early identification of children at-risk for reading failure coupled with the provision of comprehensive early reading interventions can reduce the percentage of children reading below the basic level in the fourth grade (e.g., 38percent) to six percent or less” (G.R. Lyon, 2001). 

The Growing Gap

Robert D. Putnam OUR KIDS—The American Dream in Crisis 

                                                

Once in a while there is a book that comes along that just makes you think and reflect about the world you grew up in, the world you are living in, and the world where our children will lead us. We each navigate our own path in this world but the load we bring and take with us is incredibly different. Different is good, but not necessarily fair. 

The steps we take in life and the hills we climb are often dictated by where we started. Robert D. Putnam’s book Our Kids shares many contrasting stories of our children’s strides through life and the economic disparities that can occur if ones life’s resource is less than another’s. The children’s stories are more than the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Putnam looks closer at the widening income inequality to the opportunity inequality our kids are experiencing

Putnam carefully explains this gradual decline of opportunities that has continued over time. As each of his stories unfolds about real kids in real families, privilege or not, and “at different times in different parts of America,” each case illustrates a strong correlation of income inequality to opportunity inequality. Putnam states, “As our cases illustrate, it took several decades for economic malaise to undermine family structures and community support; it took several decades for gaps in parenting and schooling to develop; and it will take decades more for the full impact of those divergent childhood influences to manifest themselves in adult lives.” 

Putnam addresses this dilemma with posing this complex but thought provoking question, “What is to be done?” What can be done for Our Kids who are experiencing unequal opportunity and economic growth? This widening opportunity gap poses a threat and even undermines their engagement in our democratic society. What can be done for Our Kids who are experiencing unequal opportunity and access to democracy? “Equality of opportunity is not a simple guide to public action” (p. 242). What can be done for Our Kids who are experiencing unequal opportunity and moral obligations?

Putnam explores these complex questions and advocates solutions will not come easily. He does offer a “menu of complementary approaches that have some collective promise of changing our current course” (p. 243). We all can start small.  We can look at what’s working with different policies, in different settings, with our current family structures, child development and care, parenting, schools, and our communities. Although before we begin we all need to change our mindset. “For America’s poor kids do belong to us and we to them. They are our kids.” (p. 261).