With all good reason we focus school accountability on the improvement of student achievement and accomplishments. The bottom lining in most discussions about education relates to children. School Report Cards measure student academic achievements in reading and math, promotion and … Continue reading
Moving the Needles of School Improvement Begins with the Teacher’s Needle
Don’t Be The Biggest Kid In The Classroom
Read, smile and realize “I know that.” That should be the response a teacher has to reading Sarah McKibben’s “Stay Calm and Teach On” article in ASCD’s Education Update. McKibben succinctly describes the practices of several veteran teachers who work … Continue reading
Whose Learning Needle Must Move? Every Child’s Learning Needle
What we say and what we do matters. If we believe that all children can and must learn, say it aloud and often and then cause it to happen. Imagine walking into a school classroom on Monday morning, looking at … Continue reading
Educating Is Moving The Needle
“What am I doing here?” is a good question to ask oneself frequently. The context of this question is your workplace, your career, your job. I surmise that many respond with confidence that “I am doing the work I want … Continue reading
Calculating a School Lockdown: A Thank You
A locked down school in response to a “potential” safety threat no longer makes the news headlines. School lock downs happen too frequently these days. But, that does not make locking down a school a daily routine. It isn’t. Enacting … Continue reading
Bull Roar Meter – A New Basic Skill
Reading, writing, arithmetic and a Bull Roar Meter. Should these be our new basic skills for an educated child? I hope so. We readily recognize that reading, writing and arithmetic endure as necessary basic skills in the education of every … Continue reading
What Do You See? What Do You Think? Good Questions Always
What do you see, what to you think When I sit with grand daughters at our local park looking at the sky and horizon over the waters of Green Bay, they can anticipate two questions. “What do you see?” And, … Continue reading
“Tell Me” and “Show Me” If You Want To Be Understood
I can hear Robert Shaw’s voice. “Do ya folla’?”, Quint, the shark-hunting captain of the Orca, asked Martin Brody (Roy Schneider) and Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) in Jaws. “Do ya folla’?” was Quint’s way of checking if the Sheriff and … Continue reading
Five Dimensions of an Organizational Selfie
How are we doing as an organization? Are we successful? Are we doing a good job? How do we know? Perhaps we need an organizational selfie; a snapshot using data not pixels. Smile! In our selfie culture we are accustomed … Continue reading
Two Rules: Administer the Policy and Do What Is Right for Children
“Rocks in the pocket” eventually cause most school administrators to leave their current position, wrote Jerry Patterson in The Anguish of Leadership (2000). Rocks are negative baggage. They are the unfavorable stories attached to a person’s reputation by those who … Continue reading