Out of My League

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my third year at Smithfield Elementary. I can’t believe I have been there this long. My how time flies.

Let’s see… in the past two years…

I have hired 2.5 people. Great hires I would have to say. Two office workers and .5 of a teacher. I think stability is a word that is synonymous with Smithfield. Makes the summers sort of boring… but I embrace that.

I started on a doctorate in education. One year down… two more to go. Five of us (four from BISD and one from EMSISD) are in this together. 

My two seventh graders started school sports this year… football season had us out of the house two nights per week. I felt like I was coaching again.

I copied this from another blog (I have seen  it in numerous places), I would love to give credit to the creator.

I have one simple question for you… where do you fall on this graph?

I hope that I am on the green line headed above the kicking ass threshold. I feel like I am in the “flow” more than I am not… but who knows?

Where are you?

I have a handful of blogs that I read religiously routinely. I was checking out http://principalspage.com/theblog/index.php?/archives/163-THE-PERFECT-SCHOOL..html the other day and the title hit me. The Perfect School. We, the royal we of all of us who think we know something about nothing, think we could create the perfect school if just given the permission.

Go read what he has to say… and come back here… I’ll wait… no really… I’ll still be here… go on…

Wow… you are a slow reader… what took so long?

Having worked in the real world before getting into education… I am an expert on what we have and don’t have in education. My belief about school is very simple…

School should be free for all those who attend… you need something… you get it… we pay.

Let that eat at you… soak it in… level the playing field… open the doors… fan yourself… ready? okay…

Usually when I roll that out I’m talking about the kids. You want to play baseball… here is a hat, jersey, glove, bat, pants, spikes, and a ball. Everything you need we will provide. This time I’m not just talking about the kids. I’m talking about the workers… the teachers… the administrators… the custodians…

Let’s chat about Google… you know who (what) I’m talking about… you know you googled yourself… admit it… it’s the first step. When I google me I find that I write this blog… and I am a pretty famous minor league baseball player… I think the two fit nicely…

Back to Google. If you were to work at Google you could get…

Health and wellness*

• Medical Insurance: 3 Carriers
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Flex Spending Account Plan
• EAP – Employee Assistance Program – Services for employees and their dependents include free short-term counseling, legal consultations, financial counseling, child care referrals and pet care referrals.
• Life and AD&D Insurance – Automatic coverage at 2 times annual salary.
• Voluntary Life Insurance – Option to purchase additional life insurance.
• Short Term & Long Term Disability – Short Term Disability Insurance coverage provided at 75% of salary.Long Term Disability coverage provided at 66 2/3% of salary once Short Term disability is exhausted.
• Business Travel Accident Insurance – Automatic coverage at 2 times annual salary.

That enough… that’s not it…

Retirement and savings*

• Google 401(k) Plan
  Employees may contribute up to 60% and receive a Google match of up to the greater of (a) 100% of your contribution up to $2,500 or (b) 50% of your contribution per year with no vesting schedule! We offer a variety of investment options to choose from, through Vanguard, our 401(k) Plan Administrator. To help you with those tough investment decisions, employees can access Financial Engines to receive personalized investment advice.
• 529 College Savings Plan
  This plan provides employees with a way to save money for post-secondary education.

Time away*

• Vacation
  

  1st year 15 days

  4th year 20 days

  6th year 25 days

• Holidays
  12 paid holidays (sick days taken as necessary) 
• Maternity Benefits
  up to 18 weeks off at approximately 100% pay
• Parental Leave (for non-primary caregivers)
  up to 7 weeks off at approximately 100% pay
• Take-Out Benefit
  To help make things easier, new moms and dads are able to expense up to $500 for take-out meals during the first 3 months that they are home with their new baby.

Benefits … beyond the basics*

• Tuition Reimbursement
  We’ll help you pursue further education that’s relevant to what you do. You must receive grades of “B” or better. Why a “B” or better? Because we said so. Tuition reimbursement is $8000 per calendar year.
• Employee Referral Program
  Good people know other good people. Our best employees have been hired through referrals. Google encourages you to recommend candidates for opportunities here and will award you a bonus if your referral accepts our offer and remains employed for at least 60 days.
• Back-Up Child Care
  As a California employee, when your regularly scheduled child care falls through Google will provide you with 5 free days of child care per year through Children’s Creative Learning Center (CCLC). 13 Bay Area locations serving ages 6 weeks – 12 years.
• Gift Matching Program
  Google matches contributions of up to $3000 per year from eligible employees to non-profit organizations. Bolstering employee contributions to worthy causes with matching gifts doesn’t just mean helping hundreds of organizations, both locally and globally; it’s also a tangible expression. We want Googlers to get involved – and the company is right behind you.
• Adoption Assistance
  Google assists our employees by offering financial assistance in the adoption of a child. We’ll reimburse you up to $5000 to use towards legal expenses, adoption agencies or other adoption professional fees. Parental leave and take-out benefit also apply. See Time Away.

Benefits … way beyond the basics*

• Food
  Hungry? Check out our free lunch and dinner – our gourmet chefs create a wide variety of healthy and delicious meals every day. Got the munchies? Google also offers snacks to help satisfy you in between meals. 
• On-site Doctor
  At Google headquarters in Mountain View, California you have the convenience of seeing a doctor on-site. 
• Shuttle Service
  Google is pleased to provide its Mountain View employees with free shuttles to several San Francisco, East Bay and South Bay locations.
• Financial Planning Classes
  Google provides objective and conflict-free financial education classes. The courses are comprehensive and cover a variety of financial topics.
• Other On-Site Services
  At Google headquarters in Mountain View, there’s on-site oil change, car wash, dry cleaning, massage therapy, gym, hair stylist, fitness classes and bike repair.
• Other Great Benefits
  Ski trip, company movie day, summer picnic, Halloween & holiday party, health fair, quarterly group offsites, credit union, sauna, roller hockey, outdoor volleyball court, discounts for products and local attractions. 

Okay… so I got a little carried away. Google is doing what I think we should be doing in education. Not just doing for the staff… some of this would be great… some of this would keep the good ones from going into the private sector.

If we are going to transform education… we have to truly transform it… attract the best and the brightest… change it for the better…

Free pencils for everyone!

I am amazed about the things that occur in school. Amazed by what happens in the progression of the school year. Amazed at the changes that occur over that time. The changes in the students. Not the changes of maturety and age, those are a given, I am amazed at the changes in them as they learn.

They learn how to act in community. They learn how to work with others. They learn the proper way to do things. One of the most magical things that they learn… is how to read!

The ability to read takes kids places they could never go. They can find the magic in books. The year I was born produced the following books:

1964 Medal Winner: Where the Wild Things Areby Maurice Sendak (Harper)
Honor Books:

• Swimmyby Leo Lionni (Pantheon)
• All in the Morning Early, illustrated by Evaline Ness; text: Sorche Nic Leodhas, pseud. [Leclaire Alger] (Holt)
• Mother Goose and Nursery Rhymes, illustrated by Philip Reed (Atheneum)

I know… I’m old… but one of my most favorite children’s books was produced that year. I love reading “Where the Wild Things Are ” to my kids. The older two aren’t into having Dad read to them. However, Riley is right in the sweet spot for that.

As I go through classrooms I get to see adults teach students about the magic of reading. I am not an expert on reading instruction, but I know good instruction when I see it. I love watching a good teacher teach a good reading lesson. I am drawn in.

I have three sometimes four kindergarten teachers. They are the first line against illiteracy in our world. They teach kids how to read. I have the luck of having three sometimes four very very good teachers. They are extraordinary in many ways.

They take kids at the beginning of hte year and make readers out of them. I would venture to say that students never grow academically in a year as much as they do during the kindergarten year. I could be wrong, but not too wrong.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The routine of school starts… as does the magic of reading.

I know many of you have been waiting for my next great interview (many being the operational term for both of you who read and listen here).

I spent a little time yesterday with Dr. Robert Marzano. (click his name to listen)

How do you get staff members to work in cooperative groups?

How do you get staff members to work in groups outside of their grade?

How do you get staff members to try new things?

How do you get staff members to work outside of their comfort zones?

How do you get staff members to work outside of their area of specialization?

Most of all, how do you help your staff have fun?

I think you challenge them!

I think you find a way(s) to engage them!

I don’t have the answers… but what I do have gives me better questions.

This is the end of my first year as a building principal. I have worked on large campuses with many administrators and many teachers. This is my first rodeo with a small campus and no other administrators. I have struggled to find ways to engage my staff in pursuit of doing the above.

Our school district calendar changed this year due to a new state law saying all schools must start the same week. Our fall semester in past years had ended before the Christmas break. Now it ends in January. I decided to have somewhat of a modified scavenger hunt. I divided the teachers into groups of three based on a mug they chose at our last faculty meeting. No mug on each team was alike.

 I was disappointed by a couple of my staff. They really didn’t want to participate. They said all the right things. Family comes first. Students come second. I get that. I respect that. But, there is nothing wrong with having a little fun and getting to know those you work with better. Nothing wrong witha  little competition. I digress.

Once the teams were divided I gave them a task. Then added more tasks as we went along… here they are:

Subject: Let the Games Begin – Competition #1

We all need more margin in our lives… if that doesn’t make sense I can explain later…

We are having a team competition… you have been placed on one of thirteen teams. You are   competing for the fabulous award at the end… (we are working out the details… but it is worth playing for).

Each team will earn points (each competition is will have a point value assigned to it).

Competition #1

Do the impossible… the note card that was in your mug… cut a hole in it that you can crawl through… the card must not be taped in any way. This is worth 100 points… style points can be added!

Subject: Let the Games Continue – Competition #2

I am impressed by the group for your competitive play… very impressed…

If you have not completed competition #1… fear not… it is never too late… but here is #2

A – design a team logo (I am using the term logo loosely) that includes a piece of each members name (one letter is enough)

B –  a 1953 penny

Subject: Let the Games Continue – Competition #3

Pick ‘em… you can choose to do three (minimum) out of the five… choose wisely…

1 – Picture of all group members with Santa… (together with the same Santa)

2 – Create a wiki for your class… (each group member would have to do it)

3 – A picture book of your team (minimum 25 photos – digital are best)

4 – Recreation of the Beatles “Abbey Road” album cover. (Submitted digitally – if you do not know what this is you really need to listen to some good music)

5 – Picture of your team (whole group or individual members) with a firefighter in full bunker gear. (All must pose with a firefighter – you just do not have to be at the same place at the same time.

I have three boys. Two of them in school. I love the days they come home from school so excited about something they learned that they do it at home. The keep working on it. Why? That should be your question? That should be what you look for in every lesson. Why do they want to continue working on it? How do I design lessons that make that happen?

 You know… only one team can win the award… but… I think everyone who is participating is a winner.

I’m not sure if I ever believed in Santa Claus.

I’m not sure if I have stopped believing in Santa Claus.

One of my administrative interns, who uses the term ‘crack smoker’ way too much, let a cat out of the bag the other day to her 6 year old. One of my kindergarten teachers has guest readers come every Friday. One Friday Zorro came in full regalia: mask ,boots, and sword. He read a great story. I have proof he was there… see my blog about Zorro. Zorro, much like Superman, can’t make a living out of fighting crime and can’t make a living out of reading stories to little kids. He has to moonlight, or in this case, daylight, as a high school assistant principal. You see, many of the same qualities that are required of a Zorro or a Superman are required of a high school assistant principal. My intern’s daughter just happens to be in that class.

I digress. My intern saw Zorro at a high school sporting event sans the Zorro attire. She tells her sweet little angelic daughter… “see that bald guy over there… that’s the Zorro that came and read to your class!” Which makes me wonder… has she already killed off the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and Santa with her daughter?

I believe in Santa Claus. I believe in the goodness of what Santa stands for. (Truthfully, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny freak me out.) Should we encourage our children to believe in these things as well? I think we should. We should all have wonder and amazement somewhere in our lives. We should all have that secret belief that goodness exists. We should take whatever avenue is available to make the world a better place. If believing in Santa (and the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny) are the way to do that, then so be it.

Wonder and amazement are good. Two of the reasons to love elementary school.

Halloween

I have to rely on my fellow principals to keep me out of trouble. In secondary schools we don’t have party days. In elementary, I have found that we do. We get a couple a year. So, I have had to ask the questions to keep me out of trouble. Trouble lurks… waiting… I’m on the look out.

I sent an e-mail to my distinguished colleagues in my district asking them about HalloweenFall Harvest and I got many different responses. My favorite was from a principal who will remain anonymous. He/She said that he/she loves Halloween and starts singing songs  a few weeks in advance. For the life of me I can only think of one Halloween Fall Harvest Song. Come on, you know it, it’s Monster Mash.

I was delighted to find the little red light illuminated one morning about a week before Halloween Fall Harvest. (I’m lying. The little red light of doom never makes me happy, but for this story to sound good, it made me happy. Just for the record… if that light is on… there is trouble!) When I played my messages and made my way through the phone tree hierarchy of the ones from unhappy people… I found this… and I’m sharing with you…

          anonymous principal message about Halloween Fall Harvest 1

On my birthday the day before Fall Harvest I had another message.

          anonymous principal message about Halloween Fall Harvest 2

Just a question for my anonymous friend… do you know any Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus Winter Holiday Songs?

According to Wikipedia,

Zorro is an extremely agile athlete and acrobat, using his bullwhip as a gymnastic accoutrement to swing through gaps between the city’s roofs, and is very capable of landing from great heights and taking a fall. Although he is a master swordsman and marksman, he has more than once demonstrated his more than able prowess in unarmed combat, even against as many as twenty armed opponents.

He never uses brute strength, more his fox-like sly mind and well-practiced technique to outmatch an opponent.

I tell you this because Zorro visited our school today. One of our high school assistant principals (his name will not be mentioned to maintain his Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent identity) came to read to a kindergarten class. He brought his own book. A book that he has read to his daughter so many times that she can recite it word for word. He had the kids eating out of the palm of his hand. Talk about engaged learning… Phil would have been proud!

Time for an analogy… if I had only taught English…

teaching : kindergartners : : herding : cats

I have a fabulous group of kindergarten teachers. I am amazed at what they have accomplished with the students this far in the year. They work well together. They plan well together. They are truly a team. When I watch them work with those kids I am amazed. Everything is so well planned. They operate so smoothly. It’s much like cowboys/cowgirls/cow-people? working a monstrous herd of cattle. You keep the whole group moving the same general direction while simultaneously looking for the strays and bringing them back into the fold.

I get to practice this daily when I relieve the K teachers for their conference period. They dismiss their kids to the parents and I take the few kids that are left waiting for a ride. It’s never very many. I don’t have the skill that those teachers have. The look like seasoned ranchers out on the range. I look like a city boy herding cats. Have you every tried to get more than one cat to do what you want? Have you ever tried to get one cat to do what you want? Do you even like cats?

Zorro had those kids in the palm of his hand today. He was reading a book called, “Skippy jon Jones” by Judy Schachner. A wondrous book by a wonderful author read by a fantastic educator. Today was the cherry on top for the week!

And Zorro… wherever you are… thanks for reading to my kids!

Thirteen years of public education in Texas culminates in graduation. An event that, for many people, is one of the top five lifetime events.

One of my favorite things about graduation is the regalness of it all. Yes, I know, regalness refers to royalty or the king, but I argue the day of graduation you are the king or the queen. Everyone dressed in regalia for the occasion. Everyone looking like royalty. Everyone there to celebrate the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another. (We can argue this point… but I’m conceding to you for the sake of this post that there is an ending and a beginning… conceding just for this blog.)

I have had the pleasure of sitting through a dozen or so high school graduations as a teacher and administrator. I say pleasure and I mean that. I remember sitting in my first graduation as a teacher at Haltom High School and watching the six hundred kids walk across the stage. Many I had not seen since they were in the eighth grade. How proudly they walked across the stage. What a great event that day was for them. I also remember my last graduation at Birdville High School. I sat on the dias as the associate principal and watched the students up close process across the stage and receive their papers to be free from the clutches of the man.

I have also been quite amazed by how many people don’t show up for these events. By how little regalness they see in graduation as a life altering event. My colleague Greg Farr wrote a piece about a program in his school for the kids in danger of dropping out. The article is called, “At-Risk Students – Situational Unawareness“.

I am writing this blog to get to this. Most kids spend the greatest amount of their time in elementary school. Many of them have fond memories of that time. Learning was fun. School was fun.

Why are there not any elementary or middle school teachers at high school graduation? I’m not looking for more work or days added to my contract. I’m not asking that my teachers work another day for free.

I’m just asking the question: why don’t elementary teachers celebrate the culmination of what we do? Maybe they do. Maybe in the crowd of thousands in the graduations that I have been to there are many teachers sitting among the families. Maybe they are there to see their former students process in with regalness and walk across that stage to the cheers of family members. Maybe I just cannot see them.

I have spent the majority of my educational career working in secondary schools. For the past ten months I have been an elementary school principal. I would like to see my staff members get a different perspective of graduation. I would like to see a place for us, the elementary people, at our high school graduations. I would like for my people to process in with the faculty and students from our high school. I would like for my teachers to see how successful their (our) students have been. How they have met all of the requirements set forth by the state and succeeded. How they came into kindergarten not knowing their letters or their numbers, and how they have amassed a great wealth of knowledge. Enough knowledge that the State of Texas has deemed them fit to be high school graduates.

I think elementary teachers need to see that their work is not in vain! They need to see the culmination of their blood, sweat and tears.