THE POWER OF MUSIC

At #CUEROCKSTAR, Jennifer Kloczko, @jkloczko, show us a video of the dancing Assistant Principal.  If you have not seen it, take the 1 minute and 38 seconds to watch this amazing educator. (http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/09/22/dancing-assistant-principal-conway-arkansas-school-pkg.kark)

The look on the student's’ faces of joy and excitement about coming to school with the “dancing Assistant Principal” won me over.  I knew I was going to steal this idea for my school.

As I sat at Skywalker Ranch listening to Jen, I went on amazon and ordered myself a portable sound system (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KRCJMQ4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01).  When it arrived Monday night (I love amazon prime!) I was like a kid in a candy store.  I ripped open the box and started playing with the system.  It has so many features, more than I can handle.  Once I figured out how to hook my phone to the speaker (via Bluetooth) I was set.  I had made a playlist of oldies and kidz bop songs to play and couldn’t wait for Tuesday.  On Tuesday, I rolled the speak out to the front of the school and hit play.  I watched as the students walked into school with an extra bounce in their step.  Parents, students and siblings were dancing and singing.   At first, they would look around to see who was “blasting” the music.  Then, realizing it was the school, the bounce got bigger.  The little siblings were the best, they would run to the speaker and dance as only a 2-4 year old can.  Even my crossing guard said it made people happy and that the people driving by were kinder to her.

Coming off the high of a fun and stress free drop off, I decided to carry this into recess.  The kids danced all of recess and wanted music at lunch too.  It was the best team builder for the students at the school.  They were singing and dancing together.  They were bonding as a group.  After recess, the 1st graders were running laps for PE, they begged me to stay out with the music.  Awe, the power of music.

We have been doing this for almost 2 weeks.  Students still beg for music before school, recess and lunch.  They love the songs that have dances that go with them.  They still love to sing to the songs.  The staff loves to come out a dance.  Parents comes up to me and say “My student comes how and tells me how cool the Principal is. When I ask why, my student says ‘Because she plays music and dances with us.’” Being with the students and “playing with them” is so powerful.  It is amazing how music has changed the culture of the school in such a short time.

“How is Elementary School different than Junior high?”

So, I keep getting asked, “How is Elementary School different than Junior high?”  I have spent the last 17 years in Junior High.  The last 9 years as a Junior High Adminstrator.  Junior High students are amazing.  They are full of energy.  They have the struggles of hormones and peer issues.  They want to be adults and they are not ready to be adults yet.  They want to be serious and goofy at the same time.

So, the biggest difference in my mind is Kindergarten students.  No, this is not because they need you to open their go-gurt (which I am now an expert at opening) or because they need me to tie their shoes.  It is the wonder in their eyes every day they arrive at school.  It is how they run into the school every day with excitement, joy, and amazement.  It is the excitement in their eyes when they share with you the new word they can spell or showing you their writing journal.  It is how the Kindergarten students hold your hand and pull you to something they want to show you they have learned.

It really got me thinking, when do students lose this spark?  How do some of those in Junior High and High school students kept it?  What are we doing in education to help students keep this love of learning alive?  When talking to others about this, the idea of difficulty came up.  “As students get older, the curriculum is harder. They don’t want to work hard.” is what I have heard teachers say.  At the #CUEROCKSTAR Admin conference this weekend, I heard Ramsey Musallam said “Difficulty builds mental muscle and ease builds confidence.”  Difficulty also is more rewarding and sparks curiosity.  It drives us to learn, as long as we are guided through the difficulty towards success.  For the past 15 years we have been told what to teach and how to teach it.  With Common Core we have been given the permission to actually let students learn.

According to google, learning is defined as:

1. the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.

We get to provide experiences for students to discover knowledge.  We get to watch students learn from each other and work together.  We also get to “teach” them.  If we balance “the experiences” with “the teaching”, will that keep the spark alive?  In Kindergarten, students do much of their learning by “discovering new things.”  They get to learn through “fun” experiences.  The teacher also gets to “teach” them sounds, numbers, counting, how to write letters correctly and so much more.  Why wouldn’t you want to come to school when it is fun and your curiosity is sparked?  

When I took the leap to Elementary, Kindergarten was my fear.  They are little, cry, sneeze, and touch everything. They can get lost.  I knew all 54 names within the first week so I could call for their attention.  I had nightmares about losing a student.  Who knew Kindergartners would be one of my favorite changes, besides the biggest change, about moving to Elementary?? Probably all Kindergarten teachers :)

When a staff meeting goes well...

Wednesday was our staff meeting.  I was so nervous that day.  I kept saying to my Assistant Principal, "This is either going to be amazing or it is going to suck!"

A lot of planning went into the 90 minute meeting.  I had three teachers come with me to attend a presentation by David Jakes (@djakes).  He walked us through a design thinking challenge around 21st century learning.

We came back from this experience jazzed!  I had this group meet many times and discuss how we wanted to work the staff through a similar activity to start thinking about what learning needs to look like and how the set-up of the classroom is important to make this happen. We planned, created, thought about and worked out all the details of the meeting.

We began the meeting with assigned groups.  We tried to mix up the staff to break them out of their department groups.  It was interesting watching the walk in and say, "Really?" or make a funny face when they saw the assigned seating. I responded with "Is this how our kids feel when you move them around?"  We had the AC/DC going on the speakers, snacks on the tables, post it notes and sharpies were everywhere.

We started off the meeting with a few slides about mindset for design.  We then presented the guiding question "What constitutes a 21st century learning experience?" Staff worked in pairs to dig deep into what the looks, sounds, feels like for students, staff, parents and community.  They wrote big ideas onto post it notes with sharpies.

After working in pairs, the groups got back together and
looked at all of their post-its.  They found trends within all the data collected.  From there, the groups wrote up 5 statements that reflect the guiding questions.  They wrote these statements on large post-its. Each teacher was given 5 stickers.
 They were directed to move around the room, read their colleagues' ideas, and put a sticker next to their 5 favorite.

They came up with some great phrases that we will use as our guide for next year.

We decided to use post-its, sharpies and poster paper for this meeting and this was an intentional decision.  We did not want this experience to be about the technology.  We are not making these changes to our teaching and classroom environments because we are going 1:1 with iPads.  We are redoing how and what we teach because that is what is good for students.  The technology we are providing is only a tool to help with the learning.  There are lots of tools in our toolbox, and we need to create spaces where students and TEACHERS are inspired to learn and create and use all the tools we have.

Here are all 6 posters:

We ended the presentation with this video.  

Thanks to Eric Saibel (@ecsaibel) for telling me about it. It was the perfect end to our discussion.

I arrived at work today to an email from a teacher that said "By the way, great staff meeting.  Left with some great ideas.  I did create my first floor plan this afternoon and I would not mind sharing it with you. " Another staff member sent me a vox that said "A productive staff meeting!"  That's what you want to hear!

#NASSP15 day 2 reflection

Day 2 was equally as fabulous as day 1.  I started my day with Todd Whitaker talking about What Great Principals Do.  My favorite take aways of his presentation were:

• Treat every student with respect and dignity every day, all the time, 10 out of 10 days. Great principals.
• Great principals know they have to teach the teachers.
• Great principals know that people are the problem and the solution.  Programs will not fix this.
• Great principals don’t let things happen randomly.
• Great principals know to teach all the teachers at once so “They know that THEY ALL KNOW”. This way they hold each other accountable.
• Great principals know that they are responsible for the culture in the school.

Such powerful thoughts about what are role really is as a site principal.

Then, I attended a workshop about online PD. The ideas I got were amazing. Creating teacher written online PD for teachers to participate in an a cohort using sophia.org or google classroom. I am inspired to spend some time working with my district to create this.

There was a makerspace workshop. I saw the potential of what the library could be. I can't wait for my library to be a place for students to collaborative, creative, critical think, and communicate. It is a place for students to tinker, play, relax, think and invest.

The final presentation was by Jason Markey (@JasonMMarkey) and Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy) about Leading Change in School. The big take away was this quote “You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.”-by Maslow. We need to be gentle disruptors to the system. We do this by:

• Be Courageous
• Embrace Failure
• Model Expectations

I also appreciated Jimmy's quote "You can’t let anyone take away our excellence.

You also get it back every morning." No one got into education to just be "good", everyone wants to be "great". As leaders, we need to help everyone get to their great.

Jason also talked about this concept for staff. Concept: Start, STOP, share: Tell me something you are going to start this year, stop this year, and share with your PLN. With everything we are adding to teacher's plate, the need to take items off their plate. This is a good reminder for them.

We need to remember that the only barrier to our own learning is our own willingness to learn. This is what we, as site principal, need to remember

#NASSP15 #Ignite15 day 1 reflection

So, I haven't posted in a while.  I was using all the excusing we use when we are trying to avoid things.  I am "too busy", "overwhelmed", "no one reads this", "there are more important things to do" and "I suck at this".

Well,  I am currently attending #NASSP15 in San Diego and Eric Sheninger (@E_Sheninger ) reminded me that is is important to blog.  He also reminded me the importance of not making excuses, but making time.  So, I am making the time.

The lineup for today has been amazing.  I started the day with the #NASSP15 digital principals.  They were talking about mission and vision. The hit on the importance of communicating the vision to all the stakeholders.

Eric Sheninger was in motivating self.  He really hit on how are we evaluating the tech we use is helping the learning.  The three big questions I need to reflect on about my school is: How is technology being integrated with purpose? Collect assessments and see how tech integrated in the learning. How do you currently measure the effectiveness of technology integration to support student learning? Now, how do we do this.

I also got some great tips about sortd for gmail and evernote. It reminded me that someday I will learn evernote.

I attended a forum by Linda Darling-Hammond about a variety of educational topics. She talked a lot about the "Why" regarding CCSS, 21st century skills and technology in schools.

I ended my day with @daisydyerduerr presenting about Digital Tools for Digital Leaders. She talked about zite and flipboard.  I am so bad about using a curation method to gather research and information.  She inspired me to look into this.  I had also never heard of Touchcast.  It is a quick video making app for your Tablet.  I can't wait to try this when I get back.

It has been a great day of learning for myself.  I have to remember to fill myself with ideas and tools to support my staff.  I also have to remember to do the things that make my practice better.  I can't be full of excuses any longer.

Going 1:1... and not going gray! Staff PD

So, after attending #NASSP15 today, I opened by blogger for the first time in months.  I have been "too busy" to blog.  I just haven't made the time.  But, I found this blog that I wrote in August that I did not publish.  SO, I decided this was step one.  Publish what I have.   So, here it is.

Have you ever had a day that went so well, you wonder if it really did?  That is how our 1:1 PD session went for day one.  Here is a link to the agenda, however, the agenda doesn't tell you the details.

The teachers that we are training are at all different levels.  We have some pioneers who have been 1:1 or 2:1 in their classrooms for a few years to teachers who still you a chalkboard.

Our first challenge was organizing a day that would be thought-provoking, interesting, challenging, and not too overwhelming for everyone.  We started the day with the teachers walking around and answering questions about how 1:1 would affect the classroom, teacher, student, school and community.  This gave the teachers the opportunity to share fears, challenges, and hopes for the program.  Next was a guest speaker, who has been 1:1 for 3 years, talk about her challenges during the first year.  This allowed teachers to ask her questions about how she managed, changed, and created lessons for the classroom.  They also got to ask the classroom control questions.

After a short break, we did chromebook bingo.  I created a bingo card with squares to challenge my experts and squares that were not as hard.  Teachers worked together to figure out how to do these functions on the chromebook.  Of course, we had cheesy prizes to make it a little more energetic and fun!

After providing lunch, we went over the SAMR model and talk about how it was ok to be in substitution phase at the moment.  We also discussed that our goal was a blended learning model.  Paper and pen should go with the technology use in the classroom.  Then, teachers had about 1.5 hours to create a lesson.

After all of this, we went back to the posters from the morning.  Teachers marked items they still had questions or concerns about.  Over half of the items listed were no longer a question or concern.  For day 1 of the PD (out of 3 days) that is a great result!

The "we" is the PCS 1:1 team of +ReneeSemik (@ReneeKSemik), +LoriDeen (@lorideen), +JaneEscobedo (@jescobedo101) and me (Emily Dunnagan).