Me, Stop and Ask for Help?

"David, are you sure you don't need my help?  I won't be gone long, and I can help you when I get back."

"No, I'll be fine.  It's not that big of a brush pile."

"But, you never know what can happen.  Why don't you wait and burn it when I get back?"

"I have the permit.  It just rained yesterday.  The hose is set.  I have an extra bucket of water, and I have a couple of shovels.  I'm sure everything will be OK."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes.  It'll be fine."


(You probably know where this is going.)

My wife, daughters, and I live in a relatively rural area where we collect quite a bit of brush each year.  We also have space to have small burn piles as long as we have an annual fire permit as issued by our township.

I have a tendency to want to handle things by myself, be efficient, and just get things done.  I suppose this makes me more of a stereotypical "guy" than not, but I've always prided myself on being able to handle pretty much anything that comes my way.  This is not to say that I'm opposed to stopping to ask for directions every once in awhile.  I'm just glad that with cell phones and GPS units, this isn't as necessary as it was a few years ago.  :)

Let's pick up this same conversation about 2 hours after it started.  I've color-coded the dialogue so you can better understand when my wife is talking and I am talking.

"Oh my gosh.  Honey, what happened?"

"Nothing.  It's fine."

"David, your forehead is bright red and burned.  It looks like a tomato!  What happened to your eyebrows?"

"The fire just got a little bigger than I planned.  The fire is out, but I'm fine."

"No it's not fine!  Look at your face in the mirror."

"It's just a little red.  It's fine."

"David, you have blisters on your forehead.  Doesn't it hurt?"

"Just a little.  I'll be fine."

"You'd better get to the emergency room.  You could be scarred."

"I'll be fine.  Let me go wash it in the sink."


....a rather long and humbling pause...


"Hey, Kim?"

"Everything OK?"

"Uhmmm...  This really hurts.  It's starting to peel.  What do you think?"

"I think you should have waited for me to help with that dumb brush pile."

"I know.  I guess I just wasn't thinking."

"I'll say.  You need to get to the doctor."

"Isn't there an Urgent Care in town?"


For the next week I wore a 4 inch bandage wrapped around my forehead and had to keep everything extra-clean.  Fortunately, the doctor prescribed special cream (a miracle cure) that helped with the pain and any permanent scarring.  I just wish the prescription could have helped heal my pride!

So why would I retell this story?  It's been several years since it happened, and I can laugh about it now.  I made a stupid mistake, and I paid the consequences.  Most of all, I'm glad it was really just my pride that got hurt.  As an elementary principal, I get to work with students who make mistakes.  Some mistakes are worse than others, but fortunately most of them can be seen as learning opportunities.  My fire incident has helped me listen to the warnings of others more and ask for help.  I'm not perfect.  I still make mistakes.  I'm a work in progress, but I feel like I'm moving in the right direction!  I'm hopeful my students learn the same.  It's OK to ask for help and curcial to heed the warnings of others!

(Also, I really hope I'm not the only person who has done some silly things in his past.)

Many thanks to the 2nd grade students in Mrs. Long's class who helped me edit this piece.  Their feedback was invaluable!  Plus, they laughed with me. 

A Valuable Lesson

I was 15 and with my father.  We were sitting on grass amongst a large group of people.  The crowd was getting ready to watch a parade.  Dad stood up.  I didn't know why he stood up, but I followed his lead.  A man behind us rudely yelled that we should sit down so everyone else could see the parade.

My father turned around and calmly stated, "That's the American flag coming towards us.  I'm teaching my son to stand and respect all that flag stands for.  I was in Viet Nam the day my son was born, and I don't take any of those rights, responsibilities, or liberties for granted.  Perhaps you should do the same."  The entire crowd stood.

As we prepare for Memorial Day, a day our country stops to honor our fallen soldiers, I know the greatest lesson I ever learned about respect and our country did not come from school.  My greatest lesson came from that moment.

To be fair, Dad has faults.  I have faults.  Our country has faults.  But there is absolutely no place in the world I would rather live, raise a family, and work than the United States of America, and I am grateful and proud our students stand (and in some instances enlist the right to not stand) each day for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Happy Memorial Day.

Shoot for the Moon!

Our 4th grade students share "Words of Wisdom" every morning over the announcements.  Each piece is usually three to four paragraphs long, and they include themes ranging from responsibility to kindness, from empathy to gratefulness.  It's a nice way for the entire school to hear a common message and to start our day with a little inspiration.

Last week one message caught my interest.  I won't recount the entire piece, but the quote at the end was, "Shoot for the moon.  If you don't make it, you'll be heading for the stars."

I really like this image.  Set high goals.  Have high expectations.  Reach farther than you think you can reach.

Our district, under the direction of our superintendent, has adopted four goals:

1. The Novi Community School District will ensure that each student will make no less than one year’s growth in one year’s time.
2. The Novi Community School District will ensure that all students achieve at a high level. (There will be no achievement gaps.)
3. The Novi Community School District will evaluate and enhance opportunities for students while maintaining a minimum 10% fund balance.
4. The Novi Community School District will improve organizational quality and customer service by creating common standards, systems, and principles.

These goals have been transformational for our district.  First, everyone knows they are common goals for the district.  Just having a common languauge about our hopes and dreams is the first step towards greatness.  Next, having common goals has changed our conversations.  In other words, teachers and staff are asking themselves, "What does this goal mean?" or "How can we make sure this happens?"  "Does this align with the goals?"  Finally, the goals are helping us prioritze our resources.  The goals have helped us be honest with ourselves and our community.  While we can't be everything for everyone, there is a place for everyone to benefit from these goals.

 

Have we achieved all of the goals?  Absolutely not.  That's what I think make these goals so special.  They are a reach.  They challenge us to ask the hard questions and to truly reflect on our practice and our system.

To be truthful, there are days when I disagree with some or even just parts of the goals.  More often, I get frustrated how some of the goals are interpreted or how we will measure our progress on each goal.  Occassionally I get down because initiatives to help us meet our goals seem to move so slowly or I even feel like our school or district will never meet the goals.

Our school welcomed and screened incoming kindergarteners this week.  The students spend time with our kindergarten teachers, and I get about 45 minutes with their parents.  As part of my time with the parents a representative from our PTO shares ways to get connected to the school.  During one of the PTO chats, our treasurer commented to the other parents, "Our PTO really helps the school build a sense of community, and we want and need you to be part of that community."  This immediately reminded me that I work for the Novi Community School District, anintentional and even strategic name.  It's clear to me our schools will not meet these goals without the support of our community.

In the end, I realize we really are heading for the stars.  There is no reason why all of our goals cannot be attained.  The journey will mean all stakeholders...school, community, parents, and students...must collaborate, agree to support each other, dialogue, discuss...and sometimes even disagree...to help each of our students be successful.

What role do you play in these goals?

 

Lawn Mowing...A Clear Goal?

It's lawn-mowing season.

My family and I have lived in our house for 17 summers which means I have spent quite a bit of time "mastering" how to mow our lawn.  We have a pretty large lawn, and I've developed an efficient routine for where to go, when to turn, and how to make patterns that I like to think make our lot look like a Major League baseball field.   Almost as soon as we moved in, I "proclaimed" to my wife that she should not worry about mowing the lawn.  (In actuality, she let's me mow the lawn so I won't mess with her flowers.)

Now back to those Major League baseball fields...  I think they're awesome.  Have you ever taken time to watch a baseball game on television and seen the patterns?  The parallel lines, swirls, and even logos make for professional ballfield artistry.  Unfortunately and even under the best of circumstances our lawn...my lawn...is absolutely not a professionally landscaped work of art, but Major Leage art is my goal or target.

Remember I mentioned how my wife doesn't really mow the lawn?  Our daughters, however, are old enough to mow our lawn, and we think it's good experience for them to drive our tractor and get used to handling a moving vehicle.  Since we expect our daughters to help keep our entire household running smoothly by helping with chores, I decided to teach my daughters to become lawn mowers.

Last weekend I officially got both of our daughters started.  We are safety conscious so they understood the basics about when to turn the blades on and off and which hills they should leave for me to mow.  My directions were clear...

1. Be safe.  (i.e.  Don't go too fast and stay away from the hills.)
2. Don't blow grass into Mom's flowers
3. Don't drive over any landscape rocks
4. Don't hit any trees.  (Actually, don't hit anything.)

Each daughter took turns "mowing" (I use this term loosely.) the lawn.  They were safe.  They didn't go too fast.  They stayed away from the hills, and they didn't hit anything.  (Mom's flower beds didn't fare too well, but we were able to hide the majority of the damage.)  The result, however, was predictably humorouse since I pretty much watched them the entire time.  I just didn't have the heart to stop their fun.

With glorious gleams of independence and sheer joy shining on their faces, each girl commenced to driving around the lawn...in no pattern at all.  They zoomed from corner to corner.  They did "360s" (They're wording.) around trees and flower beds.  They did their own version of zig-zags and swirls, but I can definitively state the lawn did not look like a Major League ballpark.  I know now my expectations were not very clear.  In fact, I forgot to explain the "pattern" goal.

Teachers in my building and district have been actively researching and implementing clear learning targets for our students.  In other words, what...exactly...should kids be learning?  Notice, I said learning and not doing.  If we want our students to be successful learners, we must be clear in our expectations.  Even better, our teachers put these learning targets in student-friendly terms.  An example might be, "At the end of this lesson, each student will be able to put a fraction in lowest common terms."  Or, "At the end of this unit, you will be able to demonstrate at least three different ways writers organize information for a persuasive essay."

Being clear in our expectations for our students is a critical first step toward their learning.  Having common expectations/learning goals across a district requires a commitment towards working as a system.  Our district has allocated literally thousands of development hours towards creating clear and common learning expectations for all students in all classes in all grades.  You can learn more about and actually see our work here.  In my opinion, this alignment process has been the most-powerful work our district has ever undertaken in my almost 20 years as a teacher and principal...and it's only getting better each year!

I want to publicly say, "Bravo" to the teachers and educators who have come together to create this system for our students.  Also, I am so proud of how all of our teachers have used this system to better focus their instruction for our students.  The process has been overwhelming at times, but the results have already been amazing.  (On a sidenote, this tool is also a great resource for parents to better understand what their children will be learning.  Even a little pre-teaching at home can make a huge difference.) 

In the meantime, I've decided my daughters and I should make plans to go see the Detroit Tigers play in order to better "understand" the expectations for mowing our lawn!

Appreciation Should Start at Home

Teacher Appreciation Week in our district starts on Monday.  I am grateful to work in a supportive community where students, parents, and families do so much to appreciate our entire staff.  Of special note, each PTO is remarkable.  Staff luncheons and special, small gifts are so nice.  Our PTO arranges for kids to write notes to each staff member.  Those notes mean more than anything.  I recently shared on morning announcements the best appreciation any student can ever offer is to smile, work hard, ask good questions, and be a great leader.  That's why we do what we do.

While I am preparing ways to personally "appreciate" my staff, I'm also making Mother's Day plans.  I am fortunate beyond belief to be able to purchase cards for my wife, my mother and mother in-law, and both of my grandmothers.  I wish I lived closer than seven hours away from my mother and grandmothers, but I make sure to call them and see them as much as possible.  My time with my grandmothers, especially, is time I never take for granted.  Someday I will write more about these special moms, but I know each of these women have shaped me and helped make me who I am today.  So, is it a surprise that Mother's Day is the final weekend of Teacher Appreciation Week?

I was recently reminded by a colleague that the most important teaching happens at home.  Schools do a fine job of teaching math, reading, and writing, and my school and district are actively teaching leadership skills based on Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  I'm not convinced, however, that schools do as great a job of teaching kids how to smile and work hard as our families do.  From my experience in the classroom and in the principal's seat, students' attitudes about learning and a willingness to persevere definitely come from home.

As a parent, I catch myself reflecting how my attitudes are impacting our daughters' attitudes.  When I have chores to do around the house or a project due at work, do I complain about them or do I find the joy in learning and challenging myself?  Do I find ways to involve others, or do I choose to not collaborate or to not learn from other people?  Do I see mistakes as an opportunity to learn something new, or do I blame others for my faults?  Do I push myself to reach farther than I expected, or do I settle for the status quo?   Do I see the good in everything, or do I only see the problems?  I am grateful how I can usually answer (Honesty hurts!) each of these questions because of my wife, my mother, my mother in-law, and my grandmothers!

Somewhere along the way I learned a saying, "We don't raise children.  We raise mirrors."  If you're a parent, you know this when you go to talk but hear your mom or dad come out in your mouth!  I'm not saying we are exact replicas of our parents, but...for better or worse...children and students are watching us.  I'm blessed to have had and still have great teachers at school and in my family to watch.

As we go through this week and next weekend:

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week.  (Thank you, Mrs. Schmidt, Miss Laird, Mrs. Fauerbach, Mrs. Jackson, Harris, and Miss Salzwedel---my elementary teachers.  I will need to mention my specials teachers and secondary teachers at a later time.)

AND

Happy Mother's Day!  (Kim, Sandy, Grandma Ascher, Grandma Mac, and Mom!  I love you and always will.)