On a national stage with an audience invested in learning about all the candidates, left and right, Democrat and Republican...with everyone listening, the announcement that schools are filled with teachers who gather in "teachers' lounges" to complain to one another is ludicrous.  Read more...

Successful change begins within the leader. Sustainable improvement and motivation of others calls for the ability to form and articulate the vision, build a culture of trust, reflect on decisions, coach, encourage, reinforce, take risks, and celebrate just to name a few. All of these abilities spring from the integration within the "mind-body-spirit" domain.  Yet, typical annual goals exclude the personal well-being as they focus on professional skills and knowledge …

There are schools and districts that have stepped outside of the fray and, within the design context that remains our framework, have made inroads toward something new. But no matter the measure, we keep getting the same results. Challenges remain as achievement gaps, schools that struggle to raise mastery and graduation levels, issues presented by poverty and race, students whose poor attendance prevents successful learning, and now a …

The ability to listen influences trust, work productivity, job commitment, safety, student achievement and can even reduce burnout. Here, Dr. Kluger shares his findings from a meta- analysis done on the value of listening and its positive effects on behavior of both the listener and the listened to, and his own life experience.

The recognition that I needed to improve my listening skills changed both my personal life and my…

Teachers and their leaders all, as human beings, naturally repeat behaviors and decisions out of habit. There is a comfort in doing the same thing over and over, a security and assurance that comes with habit. A successful implementation of a new student information system, or schedule, for example, offers feedback to the one leading the change that the method "worked." A successful lesson in a classroom, one that yielded high scores for the students, offers feedback to the teacher…

Recently, we were invited to address a group of educators in central New York. It was mid-summer. Eighteen school districts were represented.  About 200 teacher, school and district leaders were attending the Second Annual Collaborative Educators Summit hosted by the East Syracuse Minoa Central School District and their business and higher ed partners. These educators had come together to both learn and share how they are changing the way teaching and learning is…

A challenge for schools is the divide that exists between the culture within our schools and the culture that exists outside of our schools.  What we teach and model is not what they see and experience when students walk out of our doors. Schools face the challenge of helping children learn and become, hopefully, empathetic, compassionate, and courageous, and contributing adults. Schools, in preparing students for work and life in this century, fight gender stereotypes and all other…

On my way in to the John A. Coleman School in Yonkers, NY, I noticed a small framed statement of mission hanging on the wall.  Very unobtrusive, it read "In the tradition of Elizabeth Seton, we cherish all children and believe in the healing power of loving relationships..."  That simple statement summed up clearly what I saw over the next few hours, and was moved to share in this piece.  It was so unlike the "Mission and Vision" statements I have seen in…

Any number of things can cause an educator to experience stress: challenged students, discipline, time pressures and workload, coping with change, being evaluated by everyone, self-esteem and status, everyday issues of administration and management, role conflict and ambiguity and often poor working conditions (Myers & Berkowicz).  A Google search reveals…

The morning newscasters around the world were reporting that a piece of an airplane wing has washed ashore on Reunion Island, it was big news, as it might be the first piece of an airliner that disappeared 15 months ago. One foreign correspondent reported that there had been "162 souls on board." The phrase caught us. It is not how an American would likely characterize the human lives that might be lost. Juxtapose that to a recent Time Magazine article "A jailbreak shows…

In the last few years, an attempt to extinguish bullying has taken center stage.  Few disagree with the premise that bullying is harmful and must not be accepted in our schools.  But, a narrow focus on bullying can be a distraction from the bigger value of overall social emotional health. Students' "emotional centers of the brain" have an impact on cognitive learning.  …

The potential for gender bias lies within all of us. There are educators in classrooms who tend to call one gender more frequently, accept a brief answers given by boys and expect and welcome longer answers from girls, throughout the building there are those who greet boys with a pat on the back and girls with a gentle hand on the shoulder. Encouragement is offered, even in the earliest of years, in ways that are gender defining. The long held term "guys" is considered gender neutral,…

Teachers need tools and support to be effective in their work and maintain emotional well-being. Although the rewards can be profound, educators face job stresses that challenge the maintenance of emotional balance. Teachers are tasked with creating a structured learning environment that promotes academic achievement, intellectual curiosity and social-emotional development. Accountability to standardized learning outcomes intensifies the demands of teaching.…

We recently wrote a post on shared values and the important way those shared values, when lived in practice, can help the organization. This is especially true when parents and students trust the invitation to join teachers and school leaders to contribute to student success.  Trust is essential in an efficacious and healthy organization. Stephen Covey described it as the bank account…

So much professional development is focused on skills and methods and so much is necessary to learn and do.  Unless we grow as confident, open hearted, resilient humans, the skills and methods we learn and implement will remain as work to be done...We can find wisdom and knowledge within that speaks to who we are and how we act. How we revere others must not be an act of comparison, but one of celebrating their uniqueness and, therefore, our own. If we can do that, then...and…

Leaders are cognizant of the need to have a strong and positive school culture, built over time among a community with shared values. They are also under pressure to incorporate change to the routines within the school and sometimes to the culture itself.     Read more...

With all the attention being paid to improving student performance and the assessments designed to measure that improvement, trying harder and doing more is the first response. Sometimes, it is the only response. For students and teachers alike, after school sessions, tutoring, and practice are replacing exciting and engaging learning.  The attention paid to what is happening in classrooms, that teachers need to change some practices, and the hyper-focus on the standardized test…

Too often we choose a goal for ourselves or our school and because it isn't achieved quickly, frustration and stress replace passion and energy. Most educators end a school year knowing exactly what went well and what didn't and have a good idea of why they think that is so.  Summer comes and a more relaxed time and a step away from the school year pace allows for stress and angst to slowly wash away.  Yet, while that washing away is a relief, it also a loss.  Buried in that stress and…

Teachers and leaders both are expected to be masters of communication, carry the responsibility of communicating and making sure their listeners understand.  The larger the audience, the greater the possibilities for misunderstandings. Communication is complicated. Very complicated. Any time two people share a conversation there are possibilities for complete understanding and for a plethora of misunderstandings. The range of possibilities multiplies with the number of listeners. So,…

Leaders, the vision keepers, thinkers, and role models have an opportunity to take this tiger by the tail. Their role of enforcing the Common Core has not resulted in anything other than compliance for many.  Now, next steps are needed. For no matter who - teachers, parents, community members, even students - the school environment must remain warm and welcoming, inclusive and safe.  This Common Core business is not faring well and the students who are meant to be the beneficiaries are…