Merry Christmas!

The holiday break is among us, and as a building administrator work must go on. Well, it isn't much work when everyone is gone. It is time to clean the office, and let the custodians clean the building. I found myself today filing all of the articles, journals, phone logs, meeting notes, discipline files, medical notes, etc. It looks like my desk drawers had babies in the forms of piled high papers.

It is hard to stay on top of all the paper work that an administrator must do. How do you maintain order in a building and cannot maintain order in the office? I go home frustrated that I didn't get done what needed to be done. Only to return the next day to an office that isn't organized to maximize my day. So, I am using the break to create an environment that will keep me in the mindset to perform efficiently and effectively.

That leads to my New Year's resolution.

To keep my office organized--to bad my administrative assistant doesn't know this :). It will be just as much her duty as it is mine.

Here's to your year being great, and the second half of the school year full of professional growth and student achievement!

Structural versus Behavioral Change

I was fortunate enough to be at a conference to hear Dr. Anthony Muhammad speak about school culture. He gave a different look on education that opens your eyes to changes we make. Many are structural changes that are purposed to change adult and child behaviors. Such as, block scheduling, dress code, common planning time, etc. All of these structural changes cannot work if we do not address the behavior of the adults and children.

Block scheduling is suppose to give students and teachers more time on task. The change agents would want the teachers to provide intervention and enrichment during the class period. But, if that is the desired outcome, was it addressed? More often, it is not. We put the structure in place and it doesn't produce the desired outcome.

Dress codes are designed to make the climate of the school more professional. A leadership group in conjunction with the community and board of education come together to make a dress code or uniform code that will increase student achievement. But, if a student is out of code, then we punish them by making them miss educational opportunities by putting them in "In-school suspension." The structure change doesn't match the desired behavioral change.

This could go on and on with examples. So, the next time you want to change a behavior be sure to analyze whether the change will get the desired behavior. Do not be afraid to address the behavior, only then will you become a change agent.

Bond Issue Defeated

The Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) was willing to pay for $70 million (about 43%) of our construction plan. Our voters defeated the issue 55% to 45%. Wednesday, the day after the election, many people were somber. I, for one, fealt like we had a fighting chance to pass the bond. Eddie George, OSU Heisman Trophy winner, came to our district to speak about the possibilities that modern schools could give children. Our administrative staff at the high school alone, donated $350 to the committee and gave numerous hours to help deliver literature.

Maybe we need to take a look at our neighbors. One district had the children line up on both sides of the town's main corridor. They were armed with signs stating what the new dollars would do for them. At least if the voter said no to their issue, they knew who they were saying no to. I think our community is saying no to the teachers, administrators, aides, etc., but they are really saying no to the children with this bond issue.

Two of our schools were built in the late 60's-early 70's with the open floor model. Soon after it was discover that this couldn't function walls were erected. This caused a bad floor plan to become worse. Students must pass through one room in order to get to another. Teachers must exit their room to turn their lights off, which in turn interupts the classroom next door. The airflow is awful, because the duct work was done for the open plan. Due to this, room temperatures are 20 degrees different.

It is not official, but we are putting the bond issue up in May. How do we educate our community differently next time around?

Maintaining Personal Goals

I started this year with three goals for myself and my administrative team. They are to be visible, effective evaluators, and to have critical conversations. These goals are easy to uphold and meet at the beginning of the year, but as we progress the states are great and the demands greater.

Visibility takes time away from the paper work associated with discipline and evaluations. Evaluations take away from visibility. Taking time to address situations and have the critical conversations takes away from being visible and parts of the evaluation process. I didn't realize that the 3 goals would work against one another. So, how does a leader make these work in harmony?

1. How does an administrator maximize their visibility in a minimal amount of time?
There are times in the day that we must be out. Lunch, exchange times, and am & pm bus duties. When lunch duty ends take the long way back to the office. Go outside and walk around the building and enter an unexpected door. On our campus we have 14 modular classrooms and a weight room outside the traditional walls.
2. How does an administrator complete evaluations without jeopardizing the other goals?
Being an effective evaluator of talent and teaching is a critical skill for an administrator. Focus your efforts on items that are non-negotiable. In the prior to the mid 90's this was probably classroom management. Although this is important, I believe instructional strategies implemented is a higher priority for teachers. Not all the teachers have problems that negatively effect the climate and culture. Help those that are willing to be receptive to constructive criticism.
3. How do you have the critical conversations so they don't take away too much time and take away from the focus on evaluations?
Nip it in the bud. The critical conversation isn't about you and the reluctancy that you have to tell someone they are doing something wrong. Focus on the fault, describe it in detail, and give the person the opportunity to fix the behavior. Don't wait until tomorrow, it will cause you to miss out on time for other duties.

Good luck. It is always wise to have goals, be able to articulate them, and evaluate the effectiveness of your work.

Stress Added

September 25th, my wife gave birth to our third child. We are an excited family, and welcome him to our family. My daughters absolutely love and adore him. Now, how do I keep the momentum that was created in the first month from home?

I have decide to take 7-10 days from work to enjoy and assist with him at home. This means I have missed out homecoming week festivities, including the dance, but was able to view nearly two quaters of our football victory. I will miss some inportant meetings while I am out, and don't know how to balance the new family with the new job.

Keeping the expectations high is important. I am relying on a great set of assistant principals to carry the flag, to keep the ball rolling, and to fight the good fight. I know they can do it.

Settling In

The first two weeks of school are behind us, and we are beginning to settle in for the school year. The push for the new administration to to be visible (Goal 1 for myself), and we have made that happen. Teachers are excited that we are in the hall, in the cafeteria, and visiting the their classrooms. Students know we are around. The next step will be focusing on the instruction and having effective evaluations for the staff. Currently, we are doing walk-throughs, but the more formal evaluation process will begin October 1.

Setting the table for success is tough. We are telling teachers are expectations and starting to follow through with them. Changing the metality of surviving the room to thriving in the room is hard. I get discouraged, as do my leadership team. But, if we are patient and continue to deliver the message, I know it can be done. The plan is simplistic and the articulation and the implementation of it are critical. Buy-in will be high. I know we can rally the staff and begin to make strides to overall success.

I look forward to writing in this blog about the good things that are going on at GMHS. Good things are being said, now the challenge is to change the attitude that we are great and we can be the best!

Second Monday

Today marked the second Monday of the school year. I must say our school has existed in a state of confusion. I cannot pinpoint many things that have a clear and concise method for occuring. The only thing I know is that our staff has to create or recreate items on a daily basis. I believe this is due to continuous cuts made over the course of a decade. However, we do not allow that to be an excuse for not getting the job done.

We have begun our walk-throughs, and we are seeing some positives. However, there are many teaching strategies that need work. Lecturing is dominating our classrooms and coupling that with worksheets doesn't sit well. We still have a long way to go with the curriculum needs of our school.

Visibility is at the forefront of our administrative efforts. I, along with my assistant principals, have been in every classroom multiple times. Seeing is believing, and I think our staff is ready to open their doors and ask for assistance in delivering their content.

I think of this school year much like my daughter's room. Sure it is messy, but that is just her floor that is distraught. The room is still in good shape. After some tidying up, her room will shine. Our school is messy with some out-of-date practices and methods, but with some collaboration and discussion we will too shine.

Ready or Not, Here They Come!

The teachers that is! Our teachers embark on the 2010-2011 school year tomorrow. They will report to school tomorrow and participate in one of four PD opportunities. In the afternoon, our administrative staff will be working with them in their Professional Learning Communities (PLC). We are going to change the way we operate, and for the better. Too many times teachers to work independently, and miss out on all the core knowledge the other teachers possess. The TEAM approach, Together Everyone Achieves More, is going to be the Groveport Madison HS way.

Is this change the way we in education see it? Working together, instead of in isolation? Will teachers conform and embrace this, or will they be stubborn and obstinent? Isn't collaboration the natural way to learn?

Time. Our teachers will be given time to collaborate. They will have an administrator that will be on their team. Data will be collected and displayed. Curriculum will be reviewed and refined. And, students will achieve more. Teachers will be professionally rewarded and satisfied. Administrators will be heralded for leading change and increased achievement. But, in the end, it will be the teachers working together on the same side, with the same goals that will make the difference.

Tomorrow will be a new day!

Back to School

The administrative team along with the guidance staff start back to school tomorrow. It has been a rough summer to be honest. Closing out the school year never had an end to it. The main office and guidance office were tiled. This caused all of us to pack away items that may have been needed to review for the summer. Enough complaining!!

I am anxious to get this started. I feel that this is the year to make significant gains in student achievement. Our administrative staff is new and excited to get working and couple them with our veteran guidance staff and excellent administrative assistants, and I am pleased to be in this situation.

We are going to tackle this year with a simplistic plan that takes alot of dedication and focus. We will collaborate in Professional Learning Communities and carry the mission of "Every student, every lesson, everyday!"

Credit Recovery Program Recognized

Our local NBC News affiliate came out today to do an interview with me. Tanya Hutchins, Education Reporter, asked me about our credit recovery program. I think she di a nice job with the piece. It is always helpful to provide students with multiple opportunities to succeed. Especially, since we know how important a high school diploma is for future growth.

July is here, what happened to June?

For the past two months I have tried to close out school and begin thinking about becoming the Head Principal. I have been serving as the Assistant Principal for the past 4 years. I was excited May 28th when graduation ended, and excited again June 7th after the closing staff meeting. However, I just haven't been able to close the school year our and begin solely thinking about the upcoming year. Summer school is being housed in our building, and even though I am not directly responsible, I still have some obligation to the discipline that may occur. This has some effect causing the year to linger, and I find myself standing on July 1st.

Other factors that I was not prepared for have been replacing the tile in the main office and guidance office. I am thrilled for this, but I have moved my office in transitioning to my new title, but I haven't moved in because I am waiting for the tile to be laid. That happens next week, and carpets will be cleaned, and walls are painted , and . . .????

To add to my personal pain, I was vacationing in Florida last week. We visited Destin, FL, and were oil free for 5 of the 7 days. I absolutely took 99% of the time off from work. I mixed in a couple emails and a phone call. Now, I am paying for the vacation, but isn't that how it works? You look forward to the trip for months, and the day you return to work the papers are piled to the ceiling. Back to life, Back to reality!

Integrating Technology

I am currently working with a small group of teachers on a technology grant. A team of 4 freshmen teachers will be integrating technology into their instruction using a TPACK model. Roughly, it is combining technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge to deliver instruction. To say the least, the timing is awful. The year is ending and that means graduation, prom, master schedule, teacher check out, etc. To add to this, our principal is moving to another district and I have been named the principal for next year.

I must say that the requirements for receiving the $$$$ holds me accountable to know what is going on. I am taking a course, attending meetings, and having dialogue with teachers not only in my school, but schools across the state. We are sharing ideas and learning from one another. The situation, even with the poor timing, is becoming a nice burden to have at 10:00pm. I can log on and share my ideas before I go to bed. No more racing mind, because I have a forum to release the mind. Nice, I know!

I say all of that to say this: Technology is a must in the classroom. It is time for us to quit being the gatekeeper and to allow the students to take over as the facilitators. They know what to do, we just need to guide their energies and demand that they reflect on their learning. Get out on the front lines and then move out of their way. This is hard to do. I recently said that telling teachers to get rid of their chalkboards, is like asking all dogs to quit chewing bones. Absurd, right? No, the only absurd thing would be to make technology optional for teachers to use.

All Students Learn

Today, I attended a conference for being an effective facilitator for our District Leadership Team (DLT). The focus was on the creating and maintaining the three structures of a district; the DLT, building leadership teams, and teacher based teams. At the conference I ran into my former principal and he offered a way to truly get people riled up. He said to go into the DLT meeting and ask the members if all students can learn. Undoubtedly they will say yes. After they say yes tell them they are all wrong. It isn't that all students can learn, but instead all student learn.

He was right. All students learn. The bigger and more important question is what do we teach them? When do we teach it? Students will learn that you do not care about them, or that you feel sorry for them because they are poor, or that they will never be successful because of their zip code.

When you are with your students or your children, think about what you are teaching them at that particular moment. Are you teaching them something you want them to learn?

March = Mid Season Blues!

Our students, much like those you work with, are preparing for their state graduation test. The tension is building with each day. The teachers are cramming material into each lesson and the students are sponges absorbing as much educational "water" as they can.

Is this where we are as educators? Cramming as much in as possible in the short amount of time we have until T-day--test day. I miss the science classes that have experiments, labs, and dissected worms. The science class that I see has packets of endless pages and word banks of 50+ words. Where did we go wrong?

The inquiry in education has been set aside for the comprehension of vocabulary. How boring! The challenge of the educational leader is this: How can I move the school statistically, as reported in state grade cards for schools AND have classes that stress inquiry, synthesis, and other elements of higher order thinking? Who will be the first to move the class away from the memorization of test questions that may be asked on the annual assessment, and move into the realm of deep and developed thinking? Our country has decided to assess each school by assessing each child, and has done it as cheap as possible. This builds our production of mediocre learners with limited thinking skills. Can we afford to wait for the country and the states to change their testing? I think not. Go out and make a difference today. Don't wait. Challenge the trend of memorization of vocab. and develop the thinking of our teenagers.

-Aric Thomas, Assistant Principal