OCCRAP Got Me Thinking...

     I read @jmsprincipal's blog today regarding OCCRAP (you can read it here), and it made me think about how hard our teachers work in Oklahoma to be successful under such crazy circumstances.  Our teachers have had to deal with TLE, CCSS, PARCC, No PARCC, a state created test that will affect their TLE evaluation next year they know nothing about (because it is being field tested after the EOI - how fruitful will that data be??), and increased rigor and cut scores teachers may or may not know about.  (Anyone thinking of the biology test last year?)  With all this craziness, our teachers still show up to work daily, work their tails off looking at data in order to remediate each student for what they need individually, as well as differentiate instruction in the classroom while incorporating collaboration and real world connections into their authentic lessons.  Nonetheless, those outside of education want to say our teachers aren't doing enough!
     I for one (and there are many more out there) believe our teachers do a phenomenal job at a task that continually morphs into a different expectation as they get close to mastering the objective set before them.  Do our teachers give up, shake their heads, and sit down behind their desks and cry - NO!  They push up their sleeves and work harder to hit the more narrow and distant target.

     However, pointing out a problem is nonproductive unless one has a solution.  So, how do we support our amazingly hardworking teachers?  Here are 8 BFO (Brilliant Flashes of the Obvious) ways:

1. Listen to them.  As a building administrator, I may be busy, but I always take time to stop and listen to my teachers and their concerns.  If I'm in my office, I push my laptop closed, and I look them in the eye.  I work hard to be fully present when I have the opportunity to talk with teachers one on one.
2. Be aware of the changes coming their way.  With all the work a building administrator must do, taking time to be aware of all the curriculum changes is not easy.  However, if we expect our teachers to be aware of those expectations coming their way, we too must be aware, so we can help prepare them.  
3. Be an instructional leader.  Make time (and I do mean carve out with a dull knife through the ugly, grimy, gritty packed full day) to be in classrooms and PLCs to answer questions, give suggestions for improvement / collaboration opportunities / real world connections, and offer technology support for curriculum.
4. Take care of discipline problems.  Take care of discipline issues quickly and firmly.  If a teacher takes the time to write a referral, they obviously think something needs to be done with the offensive student.  Support them in this aspect of classroom management.
5. Be real with your teachers.  When given the opportunity to take a moment and visit with teachers, laugh with them, and be yourself - do so.  There is so much more to you than your professional side.  Your teachers will enjoy seeing a different side to you in those few moments when you lift the professional veil and "hang out".
6. Be truthful.  Teachers appreciate an administrator who will tell them the truth.  Let them know when they are doing a great job, but don't "blow smoke" when they need to improve.  All teachers can improve in some way - help them in that journey.  Most teachers know and will admit when things didn't go well.  Failure is a great learning opportunity.  As Edison says "I haven't failed.  I just found 10,000 ways it won't work."  
7. Help your teachers be metacognative about their teaching.  When you are in their classroom or PLCs ask questions that will cause them to think about what they are doing.  Some questions could be "How could you have improved that lesson?"; "What were the strengths and weaknesses of this unit?"; "What DoK levels are in this CFA?  Are there too many level one questions?  Are there enough level 3 questions?"; "How are you scaffolding your lesson?"; "What differentiation strategies are you implementing?"; "What strategies do you have ready for your ELL and SpEd students?"  Be prepared to offer answers to your questions if they don't have one - even if your answer is, I'll find the answer for you.
8. Take time to celebrate their success - big and small.  We all love to be validated and recognized for our hard work.  Do this for your teachers.  Celebrate them in public and private.  Find big and small ways to appreciate their hard work.  

While these are BFOs, sometimes we need reminded in the midst of our busy work lives that we need to stop, look, and listen to our teachers.  When we do so, we will develop the connections that allow teachers to tell you about their sick father-in-law, their simple surgery that became complicated when the surgeon found cancer, or their frustration with the lack of copies allowed for teachers or the jacked up printer.  While we all try to keep our personal lives out of our classrooms or office, it can still affect us.  These are the connections we learn as we institute the 8 elements above.  It is worth making the time to support teachers.

Six Women Who Changed My Life

     I was born in southern California...a few years ago.  My mother was a feminist who used to ask me when I was little what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I would reply with "a mommy".  She would say, no darling, you can be anything - a business owner, a lawyer, even president - what do you think you want to be when you grow up?  I would reply again "a mommy".  She then said honey if that is what you want to be, then that is great because you can be anything you want.
    Many...or a few...years later, I did become a mom of two beautiful girls.  I made some unwise choices, so I found myself - when my girls were 6 and 11 - completing my bachelors degree with honors and walking across a very hot stage in Weatherford, OK.  Being an older student, I did not really care to walk across the stage, but I did it in order to show my girls that being successful can happen at any age.  I wanted them to know education is important, and if by some unwise choice of their own, they end up wanting to capture a dream at a time they feel is past their prime - they must follow through with that dream.  Some dreams take longer to accomplish than others, but that doesn't mean they are any less worth chasing.  As my mother used to say "you will be five years older in five years.  Why not be five years older with ______?"
     A couple of years later, I found myself taking masters classes in Educational Administration at SWOSU.  I met a formidable, intelligent, strong, wise, kind, and funny professor who became my mentor.  Dr. Mary Aspedon made me want to be the best female administrator I could possibly be.  She not only set a high example of what a successful administrator should be, but she also believed I could meet those lofty expectations.  Because of her guidance and belief in me, I finally faced my fear of the GRE (math portion) and took the test.  Not only that, but she also taught me to wear clothes with pockets. 
     During this time, I met my second mentor Dr. Jean Cate.  I had the privilege of working for the University of Oklahoma at the K20 Center.  I worked with amazingly intelligent, gifted, and dedicated educators.  Dr. Cate modeled what a strong, wise, benevolent, and extremely organized leader should be.  While working at the K20 Center for Dr. Cate, I decided to pursue my PhD.  She guided my writing, she nurtured my research skills, and she supported my educational expansion. I learned more in my short time working for Dr. Cate than I ever knew was possible. 
     A year later, I met Ms. Tamie Sanders.  She was the first administrator willing to give me the opportunity to serve as an assistant principal and allow me the chance to prove I could fulfill the promise others saw in me.  I had to wait three years for Ms. Sanders, and while it was an onerous time waiting, it was for the best. I work indirectly for Ms. Sanders, an amazing, strong, visionary leader who has become the director of secondary schools. Additionally, I work at a fantastic high school and with the best teachers in the world! 
     While there are many other marvelous women who have influenced my life (I must mention Janise, Lori, and Karie), these six women have made a profound impact on my professional career, and I would like to thank them for the honor of knowing them and learning from them.  I would not be who I am without having met them, and I would like to thank them for investing in my life. 

Lessons From A Turnaround School

      I am blessed to work at such an amazing school with such amazing faculty and staff members.  Nonetheless, the school I am at previously spent several years on the school improvement list. The school had a reputation of low graduation rates, poor academic test results, and apathetic teachers.  As a result, more than half the teachers were replaced, the administration team was replaced, and funds were made available for 3 years to make substantial changes.  That was four years ago.

     Due to the administration making such amazing gains in student achievement, they moved upward and outward to share their knowledge with other schools.  Thus, we have experienced another overhaul of our administration team.  Nonetheless, we have continued to improve from a previous F school, to a C school, to this year a B+ (89) school.  I believe there are several strategies we have implemented to support the improvement process.

     One strategy we have introduced at our school is an enhancement time block (TB) for our Algebra 1 and English II classes.  Our students are double blocked for those two testing subjects since they are the only two specified required tests to pass of the 7 End of Instruction (EOI) tests.  Just adding an extra TB for a subject area does not in itself mean one will have a better testing outcome.  In addition to the two enhancement classes, our teachers are given a personal plan and a PLC plan.  Believing the PLC is a major part of our success, we placed time within the day for our teachers to meet in a PLC every day.  This is an essential element of our success.  Also, our teachers have been given Professional Development on differentiated instruction focused on adapting for IEP students, the RtI processes, and best teaching strategies.

     These are some of the strategies we put in place to overcome obstacles to success for our low SES, inner city students.  Sustaining and increasing students achievement is a challenge, but it is one we are excited (and nervous) to conquer!

     However, I have recently learned that Rep. Jason Nelson and Rep. Tom Newell are proposing House Bill 3398.  This bill will offer public education money to parents to move students from one school to another should the parents think a school is not meeting their student's needs.  I am opposed to this.  Public education needs more money, not less to enact strategies like US Grant did to change the culture of student learning for all students. 

    Rep. Nelson states, “This is an exciting and timely proposal that will help address one of our state’s most pressing and challenging problems – the effects of poverty on our families,” said Nelson, R-Oklahoma City. “Two thirds of the births of children in our state are paid for by Medicaid. More than 60 percent of the public school students in our state are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. Educators I’ve talked to say that students living in poverty present the greatest challenge in our education system. This bill would begin to help these children and help schools with one of their greatest challenges.”

     My response to this comment is that I agree poverty does affect our students, but this bill is NOT the answer to helping low SES students out.  This bill has the potential to kill the positive movement made at inner city schools like US Grant.  US Grant has made amazing growth in equalizing the learning between those who are high SES and those who are low SES.  Let’s ask our legislators to fund public education at a higher level, so our schools can afford to offer PLC plans, to open up a few hours for pull out time in secondary schools, and to be able to hire and offer enhancement classes for those high stakes mandatory testing subjects our students must master.  

Education is NOT a Business

     When third grade students are throwing up prior to their reading test, there is something wrong.  With the high-stakes testing environment, our students, teachers, and administrators are feeling incredible pressure. With the quantitative measurement of TLE being added next year, we might see faculty and administrators joining those 3rd graders in the bathroom to toss their lunch.
     Anyone think this is too much stress for an already high stakes job even if you discount testing.  Seriously, if you think about it - which we do often - our teachers are tasked with teaching the future leaders of our country.  Do we want cookie-cutter leaders?  Do we want cookie-cutter doctors?  Do we want cookie-cutter teachers?  If not, then why do we want cookie-cutter students.  I say this in response to the 3rd grade RSA.  There is plenty of research out there to show students learn at different rates, in different ways, and in different context.  Why do we expect 8 - 9 year-olds to all be ready to read at the same time?  What research supports that?  Even in high school, students who do not pass and EOI test are allowed to continue to retake the test until they do pass.  If they don't ever pass the test, they are offered alternative ways to show their proficiency in that testing area.  However, for 3rd graders, we are expecting a specific level, at a specific time, or the student will be held back.
     Again, where is the research to prove this is the way to go?  The 3rd grade RSA can actually cause worse problems down the road.  Let's take a hypothetical student who doesn't pass the 3rd grade RSA two years in a row.  That student will now be 19 or 20 as a senior depending on the month of his/her birth.  Now, that is just from the 3rd grade RSA.  Should that student hit any other obstacle in their educational career, they are now 20-21 when they graduate.  They are now pushing the maximum limit of time allowed by law to be in school.  Additionally, we will have many 19-21 year-olds in high school with 15 year-olds.  I can testify, as a secondary teacher, this is not a good thing.
     Some might say these older students have the opportunity to go into an alternative school setting.  Coming from an inter-city school district, this is not the best educational opportunity - it is an alternative educational opportunity.  These students would be less likely to succeed in that setting than in a regular high school.  In addition, the inner-city alternative schools are already bursting at the seems with students, so many students who need to be in that setting are already turned away.  How then, will they be prepared for an influx of future students?
     My concern is that we are allowing non-educators to run education.  Education is not a business.  There is not one perfect model to follow for student learning success.  Each student is different from another.  Our teachers are tasked with teaching students using differentiation, collaboration, RtI, remediation, literacy skills in all disciplines, and making sure their test scores are acceptable in order to have a decent evaluation.  How in the world can you do that in one, two, or even three models (just as business has their models).  There is no step by step process.  What worked last year may not work this year with these students.  This is why allowing legislators alone to lead our education system is ludicrous!
    Can anyone explain to me why those in education are not the ones drafting legislation for education in our state?  Why do our legislators not consult the PROFESSIONALS in education - our teachers, our administrators - when drafting bills that affect education?  Why does our voting public allow such things?  I'm sure if a group of people who knew nothing about oil decided to make laws regarding the big business, big money oil company, this would NOT be allowed.  However, the public AND educators have just stepped aside and allowed those who are not in education to determine what will be required of those in education.
     As educators, we must become a loud voice and active participants in the legislative process.  We must share our stories with our legislators.  We must take back our profession from those who are not educated in education.  I'm not saying we shouldn't test our students; I'm not saying we shouldn't hold teachers accountable to student success in some way; I am saying educators must have a voice in what is mandated by law for those in education.

Writing for Common Core (OAS) in the HS Classroom

         By using texts* while teaching writing and requiring students to respond to texts in writing, the process of reading, analyzing, and reflecting on texts has a flow to it that sometimes has been found missing as when I and others previously truncated teaching into sections by unit.  Reading and analyzing literature or non-fiction should happen in the course of writing about the texts.  By segregating the analysis of literature from the analysis of non-fiction, from the analysis of poetry, from the writing process, our students do not understand the fluid relationship between reading and the analytical process. 
     As students are exposed to this process, they will see connections and will clarify the expectations for analysis that can support all content areas.  Not only will this process help students in secondary schools, but it will also help them as they transfer to college.  In composition I & II, students are required to read a text and respond to that text in some way using evidence from the text to support their conclusions.  In life, we are often asked our opinion on topics, and the best responses are supported by evidence.  This is a life skill, as well as a reading skill, as well as a testing skill.               
     OAS** requires students to write about texts they have read.  The assessment focus for OAS is on persuasive / argumentative writing.  In order for our teachers to teach writing in a way that will support this focus, we need to have excerpts of texts or short texts for our students to respond to writing prompts related to those texts.  Does that mean we no longer teach how to write - heavens no.  However, if we combine teaching how to write with responses to texts, we will be making the most of limited class time in order to teach all we must. 
     In order to give a more clear picture of what I mean, I will provide an example of how I would teach this.  (By no means is this the only way to teach writing with OAS.)  I would take a week to review the basics of writing.  The school I am at uses the Schaffer paragraph writing model, but all English teachers know how to teach paragraph / essay writing.  After a week of teaching / reviewing the basics of writing, I would take a text (or excerpt) and prepare a writing prompt for students to respond to using the text.  Good places to look for examples of writing prompts are parcconline.org and smarterbalenced.org: look for their item prototypes.  These are the two national testing consortiums for CCSS. Here is a specific example from PARCC for 10th grade English:

Use what you have learned from reading "Daedalus and Icarus" by Ovid and "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph" by Anne Sexton to write an essay that provides an analysis of how Sexton transforms Dadedalus and Icarus.

As a starting point, you may want to consider what is emphasized, absent, or different in the two texts, but feel free to develop your own focus for analysis.

Develop your essay by providing textual evidence from both texts.  Be sure to follow the conventions of standard English.

As you can see, students are required to synthesize information from two different texts in order to answer the prompt asking students to identify changes from the original mythological story to Sexton's poem. 

     Should I want to change this up a bit, I might use The Cask of Amontillado by Poe and Those Winter Sundays by Hayden.  I would plan a week to two to have students read the short story, the poem, and write their paper.   As a class, I would read the story.  I would then group students together to analyze and annotate the story for genre, theme, mood, tone, imagery, and diction at a minimum (OK PASS standards 2.2, 2.4, 3.2, 3.3 & CC standard RL.9-10.1).  I would do the same with the poem except I would add analyze and annotate for poetic devices to the other items.  I would follow this up with a prompt: "Using both texts - The Cask of Amontillado and Those Winter Sundays - discuss how people can often be different than what they seem.  Please explain the differences from appearance to reality in both texts using textual evidence to support your statements."  This prompt would relate to PASS writing and grammar standards as well as 2.1, 2.2, and 2.4 and CC standards RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.2, and RL.9-10.7. 

     Reading in the secondary English classroom should not be limited to excerpts: extended texts, plays, novels, articles, and poems all have their place within teaching.  However, excerpts can be used successfully in the classroom.  Teaching the writing process using excerpts, I believe, will deepen student engagement, understanding, and involvement in content standards within each content area. 

                     *I use text(s) in this blog to mean fiction, non-fiction, poems, novels, ect.

                                        **Oklahoma Academic Standards (OAS)

One Way to Battle the IDK in the Classroom!

     As teachers come back from Christmas break, we need to narrow our focus as we only have 13ish weeks before testing starts.  Some ways we can help our students understand the content standards we are teaching is by scaffolding questions (also know as leading questions).  Sometimes, in the classroom, we feel pressured to get through so much in an hour, that we allow students to respond with "IDK" (I don't know) and move on to another student who we know will give us the answer we are looking for.  However, by allowing students to respond with IDK, we are allowing them to check out and not be responsible for what is being taught. 
     Is this a dilemma?  YES.  This has always been a struggle - to get apathetic students involved in learning; nonetheless, it is still our job as educators to do so.  Do we kick them out of class because they are not paying attention?  NO!  We must engage these students as best we can - thus...leading questions.  Leading questions are those questions one uses to get students to talk.  They should start out easy and scaffold/lead to high level thinking.  This allows those students who feel unsure in the content area to build some confidence and feel successful.  These questions should *start off simple and build to higher DoK levels *help students recognize misconceptions *redirect students thinking if they are going in a different direction, and *build on each other to bring the student to the desired thought process. 
     Some examples of scaffold questions are *Where in the text can you find...?  *Give me a specific example of...  *Why is ... important?  *What would happen if...?  *How does ... affect ...?  *Explain how ...?  *Explain why...?  (Follow all of these except the first question with where in the text does it support your statement?)  These questions build from easily found in the text to drawing conclusions, analysis, and application. 
     One big shift as we move into Common Core State Standards (CCSS), or in my state Oklahoma Academic Standards (OAS), is for students to be able to explain their answers.  Often there is not one correct answer with CCSS; the assessments are looking for how students support their answers with textual evidence from whatever text they are using.  Thus, these kinds of leading questions help students get to that end point - their thoughts about a topic using evidence to back up their opinion(s).
     So, as we move back into the classroom, refuse to accept IDK.  Require your students to be active participants in their education.  Ask your students questions that take them from "I don't know" to "I know that answer" to "I have an opinion, and this part of the text supports my opinion."  What a confidence booster for those students who have struggled in the past.  Students will feel more at ease as they understand as long as they can show evidence from the text for their answer - their answer is not incorrect.
     Here is a two minute video you can watch from the Teachingchannel.org (a great resource) on questioning for understanding.  https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/questioning-in-the-classroom  

Thoughts for a New Year

     As I reflect over my first completed semester as an administrator, I realize this job is more invigorating and stressful than I had first imagined.  Working at a large high school in Oklahoma City, I didn't realize how much discipline would eat up my time even though I had been told that prior to my entering administration.  I also didn't realize how little time I would have to be an instructional leader - which is my love. 
     Nonetheless, I love my job.  I have learned so much more working in OKC than I would have working in a smaller school.  I have learned how to work with differing personalities within the faculty, how to squeeze a spare minute into something worthwhile, how to stay calm when dealing with discipline issues no matter how crazy, and how to make time to be an instructional leader whenever possible. 
     I have learned the value of being in the hallways during passing periods - that being visible is just as important to the teachers as it is to the students.  I knew, and have seen it proven, that teachers are hard workers who do not care if my day is good or not.  I don't mean that in a harsh way; I just mean teachers are the hardest working folks in schools, and their focus in on what they are doing.  That is why having a PLN of other administrators is so important.  One needs to have other administrators to share daily happenings with, to bounce ideas off of, to listen to other ways of accomplishing goals, and to generally support each other.
     I have learned making changes after school starts, if it is in the best interest of the students, should be made.  Sometimes this means changes occur in the fifth week of school or the ninth week.  We must always make what's best for students our motivating factor - not what's best for teachers. 
     I have learned PLCs are most effective when they meet 3 - 5 times a week.  I am blessed to work at a school where our teachers have a PLC plan and a personal plan.  This gives our teachers the responsibility and ability to meet daily to do the work they must in order to achieve what we have not achieved previously.  Watching our teachers in their PLCs analyze data by standard, by student is a beautiful thing.  Our teacher know what standards their students have mastered and which standards they still need to focus on.  They use the SDE Blueprint to guide their focus on standards, and they make each moment count. 
     I have also learned that relationships are at the heart of leading.  In order to lead my department, I made connections, spent time listening to my teachers, I valued their opinions, and I honored their requests whenever possible.  By building relationships with my teachers, I was able to have tough conversations and walk away with a positive outcome; I was able to ask my teachers to join me in moving in a direction I felt would improve the department, and they would comply even when they had doubts; I could ask teachers to move teaching assignments in the middle of the semester, and they would do so knowing I was asking because I was focused on what was best for the students.
     I have so much more to learn, but this first semester has been a blast - an exhausting, exhilarating, educating blast!