Recently, I was asked this question: "If you were to create a Board of Directors to advise you on your leadership decisions, who would serve on it?" This has resonated with me all week, day in and day out, with each decision I've made.
When I think of the number of decisions I make during any given day, that is one busy Board of Directors! Donham (2008) reminds us that a principal has as many as 400 unplanned verbal interactions a day that span over 100 unrelated topics. Just yesterday, I facilitated professional development on differentiation and assessment, attended meetings on entrance criteria for Advanced Science & Advanced Language Arts, approved a purchase order for a student celebration, talked to a parent about their parent/teacher conference experience...and those were planned! You better believe that I accessed the members of my Board to guide me through each conversation, presentation, and decision. By "accessing," I don't necessarily mean that I had a conversation with them. Sometimes yes, I did have a conversation with them (especially if they were physically with me at the time), and sometimes no.
In all His mighty power and guidance, the president of my Board of Directors is God. I seem to have a conversation with Him that never really ends from the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I fall asleep at night. His presence in my life gives me focus and clarity, all around love and serving others. He knows I'm not perfect, and yet he's still here.
I would not be where I am without my husband. When I think of Mike, I think of the fan that generates the calming noise in my daughter's bedroom when she sleeps at night. He's my "fan" because he provides me with that ongoing hum in my life...that stability and calming presence. He's also my "fan" because he provides unwavering support for me personally and professionally.
The founding member of my Board is my father, as he has advised me and guided me since the moment I entered this world. His positive outlook, passion for lifelong learning, and energetic drive for embracing opportunities have generated my lens for living life to its fullest.
Some seats on my Board belong to mentors who have fostered my growth through various chapters in my life. I must give credit to those who have helped me build a strong foundation in my beliefs on learning and leadership. I'm reminded of my bracelet with the engraved inscription, "WWJD," that guides me to make decisions based on what Jesus would do. There are a number of times when I'm in a situation that requires a decision where I lean on the wisdom gleaned from my mentors..."What would (mentor's name) do?" So, even if they're not active in my life at this particular moment, the impact of their mentoring relationship still has an active presence in my life. I often joke, yet with a serious undertone, that to be my mentor means you are my "mentor for life" without an expiration date. When I shared this with one mentor in particular, he jokingly responded, "Yeah, Jill...more like a life sentence." Gosh - I'm hoping there's not a serious undertone in his response! :-)
A number of seats on my Board belong to the teacher leaders in my building. Todd Whitaker reminds us that we must make our decisions based on our best teachers. Through collaborative, distributive leadership, these teachers are paramount in decisions that impact learning for students AND adults.
My administrative colleagues across the district, whether they are in school buildings or district office, serve on my Board. With our PLC practices and beliefs, I often look to them in making decisions so that my building is seamlessly connected with the district's vision and mission. I often look to their expertise and modeling when it comes to making decisions that impact learning.
My board consists of some revolving chairs...some ad hoc members, if you will, of those experts whose brain I need to tap into based on the particular situation I'm experiencing. For example, if I'm creating a long-term plan on how to use money from our school's magazine sale to purchase technology for our classrooms, I definitely want to bring our Director of Technology into the conversation. However, he would probably not be interested in taking part in the conversation I have with our Director of Maintenance to decide which locks need to be re-keyed so that teachers can have access to the workroom during weekend hours.
And then...the final chair on my Board of Directors isn't a "He" or a "She." Are you ready for this? It's DATA! Any decision that's being made should be accompanied with the question, "What does the data tell us?" When data is current and based on research, it guides our work with such truth and clarity. Data replaces the statement, "I made this decision because it feels right," with, "I made this decision because the data has presented the sense of urgency to do so. It has guided our work to achieve our desired results."
I'm grateful for my Board of Directors. They have molded me into who I am as a servant, wife, mother, child, sister, friend, learner, and leader. They challenge my thinking, they hold me accountable for the important stuff, and they care about me. They model for me that which I aspire to be.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Decision-Making: It Takes Ears, Heart, Research, and Conviction
In my quest to be a servant leader, I look towards Todd Whitaker's book, What Great Principals Do Differently: Fifteen Things That Matter Most. Throughout my reading, I'm reminded of the feeling you get when you're at church breathing in the emotions of the sermon's message. At each page turn, I find myself shouting, "Amen!" Like a sermon, there's no new information. It's the "well, duh" type of stuff that I lose sight of because the day-to-day grind has a tendency to tempt me away from that which I am trying to be. It's cleansing to be reminded of the rules, the expectations, the laws...of the perfect form of being a child of God, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend...a learner....and a leader. Number 10 on Todd Whitaker's list of 15 things that matter most is, "Base every decision on your best teachers." The opening paragraph on page 67 hits home: "Every leader makes decisions that will be controversial. And every principal has teachers who gripe and complain, teachers who drag their feet, and teachers who do their jobs well and embrace change. One of the most critical differences between effective principals and other principals is where they place their focus when they make tough decisions. The best principals base every decision on their best teachers. This may seem counter-intuitive; after all, traditional thinking says, 'teach to the middle.' But if we want our schools to work better, we will find ways to focus on our best teachers." (I know, right? I can hear you saying, "Amen!")
So, here I sit. (Well, not really. If you knew me, you would know that I never really sit. I'm just sitting long enough to blog!) I've made a decision that is, perhaps, one of the most defining moments of my educational career thus far. Not because it's about me. It's because it's about the teacher leaders who I work with every day, which ultimately makes it about the students. Why, you ask? It's because the best teachers don't make decisions on what's best for them; they make decisions on what's best for students. And believe me, they don't take this lightly.
The teachers at Waukee Middle School are not afraid to learn, to take risks, and to stand up for students. Through our professional learning journey, we have entered the most amazing place. It's a place of clarity...of focus...of truth. We have discovered, through studying research-based best practices and collaborating every step of the way, that standards-based reporting is THE answer to increasing student learning. We have entered into a zone that only some dream of entering...because we are united and strong in not only beliefs, but also what we KNOW to be the right thing. It's about bringing together differentiation and assessment so beautifully, that now that we know what we know, there's no going back. Turning back would be compromising who we are and why we are teachers.
Making decisions. It takes ears, heart, research, and conviction. If I place them in a more detailed order, it would be this: Heart, conviction, research, conviction, ears, conviction, and conviction.
First, it starts with having a heart. I wouldn't even be where I am right now if I didn't have a heart. I'm joined by teacher leaders at WMS who also have a heart. We care about kids, and we care about each other. Our hearts serve as our compass in putting kids first. Period.
Second, we have conviction...so much conviction that we developed our Shared Commitments and we live by them everyday. As you walk through our building, you will see them posted throughout, and you'll see them alive in the classrooms:
Bring on the conviction! The research shows us the way, and our conviction gives us the energy. Our Shared Commitments tell us that we must act on what we've learned. We must let go of letter grades at the middle school level. How can we keep going down this path when we know that standards-based reporting is what students need?
So that brings me to ears. Listening to the best teachers just makes sense. During one of my most recent of many conversations I have with them about SBR, one of them said, "Jill, it's necessary change. We MUST do this." And she's absolutely right. When the most student-centered teachers in the building are saying, "This is what we need to do," how can we not?
Conviction, and conviction. This is when it really counts. While inside the walls of WMS we know that SBR is the right thing to do, it's scary for many others. It's scary because it represents the unknown. I would venture to say that probably 99.9% of us grew up with letter grades, so the thought of letting them go seems absolutely frightening, crazy, and unacceptable to some. This is when I have to hang on to my conviction. Listen to my teachers. Listen to the research. Lean on our Shared Commitments. Listen. Listen. Politically, this is emotional for all stakeholders. When I listen, I must also listen to our parents, and really hear their concerns. I need to integrate solutions to their concerns into our plan of SBR because they are important, too. While the teacher leaders are experts on learning, our parents are experts on their kids. TOGETHER, we will get through this, and it will be better on the other side!
One of my mentors once told me, "Sometimes, the right thing to do is the hardest thing to do." Now I understand why schools generally stay within the status quo, for fear of rocking the boat. It's easier to just "make do" and keep doing what we've always done. If we keep doing what we've always done, though, we'll keep getting the same results: the dip in achievement when students come to middle school, the trends that show learning happening at a slower rate at the secondary level, the "touch and go" of making AYP from year to year, and the call to action for our students to be 21st century learners who are learning at high levels. I can't sleep at night if I'm settling for the status quo. And I'm pretty confident that I wasn't hired to allow WMS to settle, either. It's not who we are.
The best teachers give me strength, and God gives me even more. My best teachers are counting on me. And, more importantly, so are our students. Listen.
Listen to the best teachers.
So, here I sit. (Well, not really. If you knew me, you would know that I never really sit. I'm just sitting long enough to blog!) I've made a decision that is, perhaps, one of the most defining moments of my educational career thus far. Not because it's about me. It's because it's about the teacher leaders who I work with every day, which ultimately makes it about the students. Why, you ask? It's because the best teachers don't make decisions on what's best for them; they make decisions on what's best for students. And believe me, they don't take this lightly.
The teachers at Waukee Middle School are not afraid to learn, to take risks, and to stand up for students. Through our professional learning journey, we have entered the most amazing place. It's a place of clarity...of focus...of truth. We have discovered, through studying research-based best practices and collaborating every step of the way, that standards-based reporting is THE answer to increasing student learning. We have entered into a zone that only some dream of entering...because we are united and strong in not only beliefs, but also what we KNOW to be the right thing. It's about bringing together differentiation and assessment so beautifully, that now that we know what we know, there's no going back. Turning back would be compromising who we are and why we are teachers.
Making decisions. It takes ears, heart, research, and conviction. If I place them in a more detailed order, it would be this: Heart, conviction, research, conviction, ears, conviction, and conviction.
First, it starts with having a heart. I wouldn't even be where I am right now if I didn't have a heart. I'm joined by teacher leaders at WMS who also have a heart. We care about kids, and we care about each other. Our hearts serve as our compass in putting kids first. Period.
Second, we have conviction...so much conviction that we developed our Shared Commitments and we live by them everyday. As you walk through our building, you will see them posted throughout, and you'll see them alive in the classrooms:
- We believe in the value of each individual.
- We believe in creating and modeling a safe, positive environment that supports continuous learning.
- We believe learners develop skills and abilities to make positive contributions in an ever-changing world.
- We believe all learners will achieve at high levels.
- We believe in Waukee Middle School.
Bring on the conviction! The research shows us the way, and our conviction gives us the energy. Our Shared Commitments tell us that we must act on what we've learned. We must let go of letter grades at the middle school level. How can we keep going down this path when we know that standards-based reporting is what students need?
So that brings me to ears. Listening to the best teachers just makes sense. During one of my most recent of many conversations I have with them about SBR, one of them said, "Jill, it's necessary change. We MUST do this." And she's absolutely right. When the most student-centered teachers in the building are saying, "This is what we need to do," how can we not?
Conviction, and conviction. This is when it really counts. While inside the walls of WMS we know that SBR is the right thing to do, it's scary for many others. It's scary because it represents the unknown. I would venture to say that probably 99.9% of us grew up with letter grades, so the thought of letting them go seems absolutely frightening, crazy, and unacceptable to some. This is when I have to hang on to my conviction. Listen to my teachers. Listen to the research. Lean on our Shared Commitments. Listen. Listen. Politically, this is emotional for all stakeholders. When I listen, I must also listen to our parents, and really hear their concerns. I need to integrate solutions to their concerns into our plan of SBR because they are important, too. While the teacher leaders are experts on learning, our parents are experts on their kids. TOGETHER, we will get through this, and it will be better on the other side!
One of my mentors once told me, "Sometimes, the right thing to do is the hardest thing to do." Now I understand why schools generally stay within the status quo, for fear of rocking the boat. It's easier to just "make do" and keep doing what we've always done. If we keep doing what we've always done, though, we'll keep getting the same results: the dip in achievement when students come to middle school, the trends that show learning happening at a slower rate at the secondary level, the "touch and go" of making AYP from year to year, and the call to action for our students to be 21st century learners who are learning at high levels. I can't sleep at night if I'm settling for the status quo. And I'm pretty confident that I wasn't hired to allow WMS to settle, either. It's not who we are.
The best teachers give me strength, and God gives me even more. My best teachers are counting on me. And, more importantly, so are our students. Listen.
Listen to the best teachers.
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