MiddleView

In an article in this week's Education Daily, reporter Kris Kitto begins with the statement, “Of the many unsung heroes in American public education, assistant principals might be among the most neglected” and it appears he has hit the nail on the head.  After announcing the creation of a task force on the Assistant Principal, NASSP has been flooded with calls and emails regarding this hot topic – an exposed nerve has clearly been touched.

A recent NASSP survey asked how assistant principals spent most of their time and discipline was the overwhelming choice of more than 80% of the respondents – and therein lies the problem for schools.  How does an assistant principal - a certified administrator - serve as an instructional leader, provide classroom support, develop positive relationships with students, staff, and parents, work on school improvement issues, etc. when the majority of his/her time is spent on discipline issues – often a reactive, rather than a proactive, use of time?   And how can principals find time to develop the needed leadership abilities in his/her APs should the AP aspire to a principalship in the future, if the majority of the AP’s time is taken up with discipline?  It’s a difficult task and no one answer will work for all schools.  When I reflect back on my own time as an AP, I realize just how lucky I was to have a principal that allowed me to move beyond the role of disciplinarian and learn other aspects of the job (Thanks, Steve!). 

My initiation into the role of AP was a bit more abrupt than most.  I was hired in August when the school was in the final stages of transitioning from a 7-8 junior high to a 6-7-8 middle school.  When I was hired, the schedule was not complete, the building was still in final stages of a remodel, a failed budget measure meant deep cuts in programs (no sports program for one thing), and several teachers were being involuntarily transferred to teach at the middle school because their program at the elementary schools had been cut.

One evening during the first week of school, I received a phone call from the superintendent and the first words out of his mouth were, “Are you sitting down?”  Not a good sign!  The principal had had a heart attack and was in the hospital – I was now in charge and hadn’t a clue what to do!  Fortunately, the heart attack was fairly mild and I was able to muddle through the month or so he was out.  For the remainder of the years I was the AP, I was encouraged to grow and gain the skills needed to assume the job of a principal.  Reflecting back, here are a few ideas that allowed me to do so:

•    We established a counselor/dean position in the school that helped with discipline.  It’s a tricky line to walk – as the person in the job put it, you either (figuratively) pat them on the back or pat them on the butt depending on what it needed.  The position served the school well and today there are two people filling that role in the school, allowing the AP more time to devote to other issues.

•    I was an accepted and respected member of the district level administrative team.  I attended the district leadership team meetings and took an active part in the decision-making.  Yes, it meant both the principal and I were out of the building at the same time, but we were only a phone call away and could return to the school if needed for an emergency.

•    I was encouraged to grow professionally and attend workshops and conferences that helped me improve my leadership abilities.

•    Responsibilities were divided up – to name a few, I supervised/evaluated about half of the staff, oversaw several content area curriculum development/meetings, worked with the school improvement council, and attended parent club meetings.  And yes, I was in charge of the student services program and that did include discipline.

•    I was allowed to try out new ideas – I know there were probably times that the principal cringed when he heard me say, “I have this idea….” but if I could show him that I’d thought it through and that it could have a positive impact on the school, I was encouraged to move forward.  And no, the ideas didn’t always work for the best, but I was able to learn from the mistakes I made and do better the next time.

The payoffs – when the principal’s position became available, I was able to seamlessly move into it – and I’d had great role modeling on how best to work with my own assistant principal.  With the high demand for effective school administrators, the challenge is clear – we must move the role of the AP beyond that of disciplinarian and discover ways to tap into his/her talents and give those that aspire to be a principal the opportunity to develop the needed skills.

Posted by Patti Kinney at 02:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sunday morning, as the sound of Taps filled the air, tears came to my eyes as I watched students lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.  Little did I know that about that same time on the west coast, cancer claimed the life of a friend and colleague.

In the town of Ashland, Oregon, Dave Kitchell’s status as a teacher and coach was legendary.  In 1985 we worked together as teachers to help transform Ashland Junior High School into Ashland Middle School.  While I had met Dave prior to that time, I really only knew him through his reputation as an elementary teacher in another building; and frankly, I thought the reputation was exaggerated – no one could be that good.  I was wrong; Dave was everything I’d heard he was – an outstanding teacher who was enthusiastic, caring, charismatic, and who always put the best interests of his students as a top priority.  Because of this, he was able to build those special long-lasting transformational relationships with students.  When I left to become an administrator in another district, I hired his wife as a PE teacher and so the relationship continued.    

Dave was one of the most courageous people I knew.  Battling cancer since 2002, he did not let it slow him down and did all within his power to live his life the way he wanted to live it – enthusiastically, with passion, and with an amazing strength of character.  Every time I saw him, he wanted to talk more about how I was doing rather than how he was doing. 

As the high school assistant football coach for more than 20 years, he was not only the defensive coordinator, but the inspirational leader of the team – a role he continued to the very end.  On Friday night, the team was in the playoffs; Dave was bed-ridden and unable to attend the game.  Never-the-less, he helped devise the game plan, gave a pre-game inspirational speech to the players over the phone, watched the game on-line via a live video feed, and even called a play using text messaging.  The team won – 14 -7!

One of my favorite leadership books is A Leader’s Legacy by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.  In it they write:

Leadership is about taking people to places they’ve never been before, and we can’t go to those places without courage.  Leadership is courage in action.  Courage gives us the energy to move forward.  Courage gives us the confidence to believe we can make it.  Courage gives us the strength to sustain ourselves in the darkest hours.  Courage enables us to leave a legacy that declares, “I was here and I made a difference.”

When we move on, people do not remember us for what we do for ourselves.  They remember us for what we do for them.  They are the inheritors of our work.  One of the great joys and grave responsibilities of leaders is making sure that those in their care live lives not only of success but also of significance.

Dave Kitchell understood this call to leadership and modeled it in all aspects of his life.  He has left a tremendous legacy; the way he lived his life and his courage in the face of adversity truly made a difference – in the lives of his wife Tricia, son Brian, daughter McKenzie, and in the lives of the countless students, friends, and colleagues that he came in contact with.  He will be missed but his legacy will live on.

Posted by Patti Kinney at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

“I can’t believe you gave up your weekend to do that!  Whatever were you thinking?”  That’s been the typical response I’ve heard when I share that I spent this past weekend with 66 eighth graders on a tour of Washington, DC.  The general public does not always have a positive picture of young adolescents as they are often portrayed in the media as rude, self-centered, and uncaring.  And while at times that’s true, they can also be very caring, compassionate, and concerned – and hanging out with the kids over the weekend confirmed this and reminded me why I continue to work on behalf of this age group. 

For someone who worked directly with students for more than thirty years, I’ve found it harder than I thought to be away from them on a daily basis – that’s why I jumped at the opportunity when a friend said he was bringing a group of students from his school to visit the capitol.   A few observations that serve as good reminders for all of us:

Adult relationships are important to young adolescents.  As I watched the students interact with the chaperones, I was reminded how much middle level students crave approval from adults they care about (even if they don’t always show it at all times!).  And the key to developing this type of relationship is mutual respect.  Students responded favorably because they knew the adults with them truly cared about them and had their best interests at heart. 

Kids will be kids because they’re kids.  These were typical middle school students with typical middle school behaviors.  There was the requisite amount of pushing, shoving, teasing, giggling at the wrong time, leaving items behind, etc.  But as we look at these types of behaviors, they are examples of students behaving irresponsibly because they are young adolescents – not acts of defiance.  As we deal with student behavior, it’s important to recognize the difference and respond accordingly - and the adults with this group modeled this beautifully.

Students respond to adults who genuinely enjoy being with them.  The kids obviously enjoyed being with the adults who came with them on the trip, but I was a complete stranger to these students – yet once we got past the “Who exactly are you and why are you with us?” they accepted me as one of the group and quickly responded to my admonitions to settle down, pay attention, stop talking and listen, etc.  I was even privileged to share in conversations regarding makeup consultation, romantic break-ups, concerns about appearances, and worries about family members serving in the military.  Originally, I was only going to be with them on Saturday, but couldn’t resist the invitations to “please come back and be with us tomorrow!”

Students rise to the level of expectations.  It’s not an easy task for four adults to supervise sixty-six students in a big city and it was obvious that much prep work had taken place prior to the visit.  Many places in DC call for a quiet, respectful atmosphere and the students responded accordingly – perhaps my favorite example was the visit to Arlington National Cemetery.  After the changing of the guard ceremony, the trip organizer had arranged for the school to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Two representatives from the school walked through the crowd and placed the wreath as a solider played “Taps”.  It was a beautiful fall day and the ceremony takes place high on a hill overlooking the city -- as I watched the students silently and respectfully taking this in, tears came to my eyes.

As middle level leaders, we are held responsible for the academic achievement of our students – and we should be.  But we must never lose sight that we are also responsible for educating the whole child.  Not everyone can bring a group to DC, but everyone can find ways to build personal connections with students and give them educational experiences that will live in their memories.  To principal Doug Lowery, teachers Jim Hume, Linnet Knight, and Donna Long,  the students of Memorial Middle School in Hilliard, Ohio, and even to “Uncle Joe” (the bus driver) – thanks for the memories!

Posted by Patti Kinney at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why do we teach?  A simple yet profound question.  I have been an administrator for about 3 years now, so I distinctly remember leading my own class.  I taught American History to juniors in high school.  Amazingly, this was before there was so much pressure to nail the standards.

When I was a high school student, I had no idea what I wanted to be, but I knew a teacher was out of the question.  History?  It was o.k., but it did not spark any love for learning.  This all changed my junior year of high school.  I had a wonderful teach, Ms. Hearn, who changed everything.

She created a love for history in me.  I am not sure I remember all of the details she taught us, but she taught me to love history.  I pursued this as an undergraduate.  To this day, I still love history.  My book shelves are split between history books and educational practice/leadership books.

When I was teaching American History, my goal was to spark this same kind of interest in history.  I knew my students would probably not remember much of the details as well.  I just wanted them to find it interesting, which would hopefully lead to a love of history.  I knew the standards and for the most part stuck to them.  I am not so sure this would fly today.  If this took place in a state tested subject, I KNOW it would not fly.  But I truly felt if I could create the interest it would lead to authentic learning.  Looking back, if I had to do it over again, I would focus more on the standards, as it IS the right thing to do.  However, I know I would find a way to create the same atmosphere of history is exciting, riveting, happy, sad, personal, etc…

I am not really sure where the focus of this post is going.  I guess I just want to shed light on one of the most crucial jobs of educators - focusing on the standards while making your class enjoyable.  Looking back, I never had many discipline problems in my class.  I was never really sure why.  I never yelled at the students and I was not always the “authority” of the room.  I also made a concerted effort each and every day to keep my class exciting.  We did all sorts of things–mock talk shows, living history demonstrations, you be the leader simulations, anything to keep the kids from dreading history class.

This can be translated to all subject areas.  If the kids are excited and interested, they will learn more.  The discipline issues will decrease dramatically.  You will not spend the hour forcing kids to wake up and pay attention.  Your focus on the standards will be much more authentic and real for the kids.  Isn’t that what it is all about?

Posted by Michael Waiksnis at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I had an “ah ha” moment last week at the NMSA annual conference in Houston, Texas. I had the opportunity to hear Rick DuFour keynote the opening session and he spoke of how we have tried for many years to improve schools - one teacher at a time.  His description of the formal clinical supervision process brought back memories for me from both from my teaching and early administrative days – a pre-conference to discuss objective and strategies, a three day cycle of observing the same class while taking meticulous verbatim data, a post-conference to review the results, followed up by a written report that documented the whole process.  As a teacher, I never felt living through this lengthy, time-consuming process helped improve my skills to any great degree, nor as an administrator did I feel it made a significant difference in the teaching of those I observed – especially those teachers who could make teaching look effortless!   Dr. DuFour then remarked how much more effective it would have been to instead spend those numerous hours helping a group of teachers learn to work together to improve their teaching by focusing on what was being learned rather than what was being taught. 

As I reflected back over the years, I realized he was right - that the greatest payoffs in student achievement and school improvement did not come from observing teachers, but rather had occurred from spending time with a group of teachers, collectively focusing on what our students were learning (or not learning).  One of the core areas from the Breaking Ranks in the Middle framework for school improvement is collaborative leadership and professional learning communities – if we truly want to effect long lasting improvement in our schools, we must build this collaboration into the school culture.  So ask yourself the question - Are you spending the majority of your time trying to improve your school one teacher at a time or by modeling a more collaborative process?

Posted by Patti Kinney at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A gathering of more than 8000 middle level educators generates a lot of enthusiasm and energy!  As I reflect back on my recent attendance at NMSA’s annual conference in Houston, Texas I am happy to announce that middle level education is alive and well in our country.  Over the course of the three days, this unique gathering of teachers, professors, administrators, and others involved in the field of middle level education provided many thought-provoking conversations about best practices in the field. 

If you have never attended a national conference, plan now to do so!  The networking, the opportunity to hear from renowned experts, discuss best practices with colleagues, and to simply have fun with other educators is an experience that all educators should experience at least once in their career.  But trust me, it becomes addictive and you look forward to meeting those friends from around the country that you only see at the yearly conference.

NASSP will be giving you this opportunity in San Antonio on February 22-24.  Plan now to attend the convention – you’ll be glad you did!

Posted by Patti Kinney at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came across this great article via the ASCD express.  It was written by Jennifer Booher-Jennings.  The article does a great job comparing how hospitals and schools are graded.

Posted by Michael Waiksnis at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

     My favorite teacher in 7^th grade was Mr. Johnson – he was my math teacher and made math fun so I looked forward to that class every day.  Of course, that partially may have been due to the fact that I loved math and it came easily to me.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case for many of today’s students – for them, learning the language of math is a struggle and they dread the daily math class.  I’ve always thought it was interesting that in our society there’s a stigma to being illiterate but it is okay to be “ilnumerate”.   

     As a principal, my staff discussed this issue as we looked for ways to emphasize “math across the curriculum" in the same way we looked at writing and reading as an integral part of every subject.  One of the simplest ways we determined to do this was to banish the comment, “It’s okay – I wasn’t very good in math myself” coming from mouths of school staff -- a message meant to be understanding, but with the subliminal message that you don’t have to be good in math to be successful.

   I wish the new NASSP resource had been around when these discussions were happening at my school.  Making the Mathematics Curriculum Count: a Guide for Middle and High School Principals was recently mailed to all principal members of NASSP and I urge you to do more than put it on your bookshelf for future reading.  (If you’re not a member and would like a copy, click here for more information).

  The guide sets down seven action steps that school leaders can employ to build a culture that not only supports a challenging math curriculum, but also integrates numeracy skills throughout all content areas.  Additionally, the book contains examples of how these steps are being implemented at middle schools and high school across the country and gives school leaders tools to initiate conversations regarding numeracy in their own schools.

   Proficiency in math is critical and middle level leaders must take the responsibility to help students gain the mathematical skills necessary for success in high school and beyond.  Reading this guide and holding these conversations with their staff is an excellent first step. 

Posted by Patti Kinney at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)