Notes from the Principal

Winter Break Thoughts on School

2011-12-23T13:46:00.001-06:00

The clear blue sky gives way to a more appropriate grey-colored hue on this cold winter morning. I was actually hoping for tons and tons of snow, until my wife kicked me and reminded me that we are driving to Colorado in just two days, and to please keep my selfish thoughts to myself until we get there. I oblige. My thoughts turn, instead, to other things - this is not hard for me to do - and end up where they usually do. For anyone working in schools, this is always where our thoughts end up: in our classrooms, offices, hallways, cafeterias, playgrounds. I received a call yesterday from a teacher, who was supposed to be on winter break, telling me that the lights which are supposed to be illuminating the school at night were apparently not on. I reminded her that, although it was a dismal day, it was still day. Those lights do not come on until dark. She gave an uncomfotable little laugh. I asked her what she was doing at school and reminded her that she was supposed to be taking time off to rejuvenate. She said she was doing this - at school.

This is typical of many teachers, of many educators, and although I, myself, don't go in over a holiday break, I find myself constantly thinking of school. I can't help it, and I share this story today. Because I can't stop thinking of school...

Walking the hallways one day, I happened upon an unusual thing. It was after making my usual morning rounds up and down the halls, in and out of classrooms, talking with kids and the occasional teacher if I happened across one on her way to the work room. Most of the time I will stop in a classroom if I see or hear something cool and exciting going on and I want to be a part of the action. It is the best way for me to know what's going on with kids and with teachers. I need to feel connected, and I can't think of a better way to do this than by being out and about for a good portion of each day.

On this day, I happened upon a classroom where I didn't hear a thing. Not too unuusal; I mean, the kids were in there, this much I knew for sure, because I had already made a pass on my way to another room and I saw them in there. And I saw the teacher. And you could hear a pin drop. I thought maybe they were taking a test, or someone was dreaming up an answer to a question posed just the moment before and I hadn't heard. So I moved on, not being one to interrupt in serious moments of thought like what was certainly happening here. I stopped for another visit on the classroom across the hall, where these kids and their teacher were dancing a Mexican Cumbia. Very typical in this classroom, these kids were intensely focused on their maestro, as he moved with them through the steps in this dance. I joined in and everyone laughed at my two left feet. After breaking for a few hugs and some discussion on the history of the dance in this very important culture at our school, I bade them goodbye and returned to the classroom across the hall.

From the moment I stepped out into the hallway, I could hear only sounds wafting from the lively room I had just closed the door on. My heart broke as I moved into the doorway of the quiet room across the hall and witnessed the students sitting in perfect quiet (minus pencils scribbling) at their desks, their teacher staring out at them from her perch at the front of the room. Books were open on each child's desk and they were furiously scribbling definitions from the vocabulary section of a basal reader. I cautiously made my way about the room, attempting to engage the eyes of at least one child. No one would dare look at me. The teacher made no attempt to rise from her desk, if only to look over the work of her pupils, ensure that she was checking their understanding (although I cannot answer what it is they are supposed to glean from simple copying)... something. At least something in the way of engaging these children.

There are two ways of responding in these situations - the right way, or the way I wanted to respond. The way I really wanted to respond would have caused serious repercussions for me, in the form of low teacher morale and feelings of inadequate self-worth. This is not something any principal needs when the education of children is at stake. Everything we do translates back into the classroom. The way I did respond is undoubtedly the right way. It is not always the easiest, of course, as tough conversations never are, but the results are definitely worth the planning and preparation that go into having them.

As I spoke with that teacher in the privacy of my office later that day, sharing with her the notes from my reflections that day, and asking her direct questions about the teaching practices and techniques I witnessed, some genuine, reflective conversation around pedagogy ended up taking place. I understood but disagreed with her on some issues, and she with me. That was okay. The important thing is that she felt comfortable disagreeing with me, which was why we were able to come to some mutual understandings on my expectations for how things run in this school, while still allowing her the creative liscense she desires as an educator. She agreed to try some things, and I agreed to be patient and help her along when I noticed her getting stuck in old ways that come from years and years of doing things the same way. The status quo.

I, by no means, rule with an iron fist. I like to think I treat adults like adults, and that I have no need to look over their shoulder all day long. At the same time, there are certain things I am responsible for, and the bottom lines for me are student achievement and social well-being. This begins with relationships, but that is the subject of another post...

Outside, it has started to snow. Much to my wife's dismay.

This Christmas

2011-12-21T17:01:00.000-06:00

On a gloomy Wednesday afternoon, no sun in the sky to speak of and a few hours of Christmas shopping under our belts, my son and I plop down in the living room and breathe a sigh of relief. It is over with. Or so I think. For there always seems to be yet one more person to buy for, one more gift we "should have bought." I start to get nervous and my head starts to pound. Did we buy enough? Is there someone we forgot? Will the kids be satisfied? Always there is this nagging thought that lingers until the day has passed. And I begin to find myself hoping for it to pass. That is the shame of it all.

My thoughts turn to the kids at school. The ones in my school and so many others like it. The ones who don't get Christmas, who don't look forward to two weeks off. For these kids, this is two weeks away from perhaps the only caring, stable environment they know. These parents don't worry about how much money they will be spending on their kids because there isn't any extra money to spend. And the kids know that. And they are okay with that.

Let me repeat the last line. They are okay with that. This is an important point because this is, possibly, the biggest difference betweeen the so-called "haves and have-nots." These kids don't need us to feel sorry for them; they don't need hand-outs, as so many people are quick to think. Poverty is a horrible, ugly thing. Kids and families who are living in poverty wil be the first to tell you that. But they have learned something that many others have not. Family is everything. Relationships come first, and when the chips are down, family is what matters most. Not worrying that someone will be happy with the gift we bought them at Christmas.

This Christmas, let's not worry about the things we don't have. Let's not worry about the last-minute shopping we should be doing. Because what we should be doing is counting our blessings and spending these two weeks we are fortunate enough to have off, with our families.

Funeral in December

2011-12-13T20:37:00.000-06:00

Today was a day to remember, for all the wrong reasons. Adults and children alike were crying - sobbing - into each other's shoulders, holding onto each other, coming together as one in a way I have not seen in a while. Over the funeral of a child. She was a 6th grader who had just left us last year; so recent I still remember that she did not show up for the 5th grade graduation ceremony we hold every year for our students, and the time I spent with her in the office, patiently discussing some of the choices she had been making, the grandma she loved so dearly and who would be so disappointed to learn of her poor decisions if I had to call her. We talked of her father, and how he had died a few years ago, how she made bad decisions sometimes because of her anger over him not being there for her, how he would definitely want her to do the right thing.

As Christmas fast approaches, I think of the family and the horrible timing of this event. I think of how stressful holidays can be for many families, and how hollow it will be for this particular family. At the same time, I think of how proud I am of my teachers who attended the visitation with me today, of how strong they were, of my health clerk who stayed the whole day with the family, and with 6th grade girlfriends who needed a familiar face, and who had so many questions about death and about why and about how, and who wanted someone to buy them lunch later on in the day... which she gladly did.

Sometimes life does not go as we plan. Sometimes we struggle to understand the whys and the hows and we can't comprehend that there just are no earthly answers to so many of our questions. It is even harder when something like this so unexpectedly happens to someone so young, someone who had so much to give and so much more time on earth. And how to explain all of this to children when we don't even have the answers ourselves?

Later today, I discovered a few teenagers back at the elementary school where I work. It was late afternoon, many teachers had gone, but many were still hard at work and would be for another few hours yet. Teachers are, by far, the hardest working people I know. These teens had all gone through our elementary school and were all at least a year or two into middle school. A couple of them were at the funeral earlier today. They had come back to a familiar place, a place they knew they were welcome at any time, a place they had grown to love because of the people inside - the people who had spent so much time with them over the years, the people who treat these kids as if they were their own. There is only one thing that I hope children leave our school with, above all else - a sense that they are important, that they have purpose and that they matter in this world. They get this from the adults who care about them, and if they have that, they can get through anything. Even a funeral in December.

Sunday Thinking

2011-12-11T16:13:00.000-06:00

As I sit here thinking about this blog, which I haven't updated in months, I decide to come up with a list of reasons that I can go to when I need to make excuses. So here goes:

Too many books to read
I don't have any ideas to write about
It's too much work
My dissertation takes up all of my time (I haven't written a word in two weeks)
My wife's to-do list for me is too long
I'm depressed because I have to put up the Christmas decorations
I have teacher evaluations to write
I still have teacher evaluations to write
Too many emails to answer
My kids won't turn off the TV and it is OH SO distracting....

I could go on. Really, I could. There is always so much to do, and I am really, really bad with managing my time. Many of us are. And I think blogging is important, it is good for people, and it keeps people together - a community sharing ideas and learning from one another. And so I will fire it back up again, get the juices going. Because I have a lot to say. Whether you want to hear it or not.

The Drive to Keep Moving

2011-07-09T11:08:00.000-05:00

I will write about the above topic in the coming days. I have been so busy working on my dissertation as of late that I have neglected blogging. In reality, it could have helped me....

I Hear Things

2011-01-17T16:12:00.000-06:00

I hear things I don't want to hear.
Things that should never be.
Things that are not fair.
Things that hurt.
Things that mean I will never be the same, and are supposed to make me stronger.
But that is not the way it happens.

It was the week before last and I was resigned to the fact that it would be what I call an "office day." This is when I find myself so backlogged by phone calls, emails, reports and other administrivia, that I lock myself in and tell myself that if I don't get this stuff done, I will be fired. It rarely works, but on this day, it did. I stayed.

No walking the halls,
No schmoozing with the parents who stay for hours after dropping their kids off,
No trying to fix all of the problems that weren't mine.

And then this mother came in. Her first grade son was with her, and he was looking despondent.
I ushered them in to the office, cleared a chair for them, and sat across from them.
In cases like this (not that I knew what kind of case it was yet, but you could just tell), I always sit with them at a table that I have in my office. Behind my desk wouldn't be right.
I have known this parent for a few years. All of her kids had gone through the school, and she had two left - the boy now sitting on her lap, and a second grade daughter, probably sitting in class.

As she started to talk I focused on the boy.
His eyes were hollow. He stared at the floor, not really seeing.
It appeared that he could not lift his head off of his mother's shoulder. It had rested there, propped and held by her expert maneuvering, even as she sat down and took off gloves and hats and scarves and began to speak.
Her husband, the boy's father, had just been diagnosed with a rare cancer.
Terminal.
She said it was terminal and yet she kept on speaking, her voice unwavering, her eyes glued to mine, and her one free hand stroking, gently stroking her son's sandy brown head of hair.
I asked if there was anything I could do.
She declined, only to request that I let her know if there was a change in her children's behavior.
And she took my hand.
Told me there was nothing to be done.
Thanked me though there was nothing I could think of that she should be thanking me for.

I realized I had been crying only after she had left and walked her son to class.
I was not embarrassed, only wished I had not cried in front of her.
Wished I could have been stronger.
Wished, sometimes, that I did not have to hear things, that I could just sit at my desk and answer phone calls and return emails and fill out reports and fix all of the little problems that people wanted me to fix.

A Rare Friday… and Then.

2011-01-16T19:56:00.000-06:00

It being a Friday, I knew not all could possibly be going as smoothly as it seemed.

It was a joke, a trick.

I looked up phases of the moon to see if a full moon was scheduled.

Checked my email,

Expecting word from the Superintendent:

“All principals are to report for a Special Friday Night Board meeting.”

Nothing.

I radioed my Assistant Principal. Surely he was, at this very moment, entangled in a heated argument with a dozen or so 5^th graders, with which he would need my help to sort everything out and make phone calls home, letting parents know their sons would be suspended for a couple days next week.

Nothing.

He was, in fact, taking advantage of the rare and quiet moment, eating lunch in his office. A sandwich his wife had made him that morning.

I checked my watch.

Double-checked it against the Master Clock, by which all things run in the school –

Fire drills and

Spirit Assemblies and

Washroom breaks and

Recess;

Lunch schedules and

Break times and

Lockdowns and

Testing schedules.

It was 2:00pm.

I could hear kids returning from PE, or Music, or perhaps, if they had been good –

A rare afternoon recess.

I could hear teachers shushing the kids in the hallway.

Making more noise than the kids.

And still, nothing.

Which is okay.

Really.

I’ll take it, but it doesn’t usually happen,

Not on a Friday.

My door opened. The secretary. With a phone in her hand.

“You’re going to want to take this one, sir.”

Ah, Friday. Rare indeed.

Twin Wonder

2010-03-27T14:14:00.003-05:00

Walking toward the front door a few days before Spring Break last week, I watched as one of our 8 sets of twins in the school linked hands and walked out the front door together. Next to me was their mother, a wonderful woman of great character and deep insight, who shared with me that she doesn't even think they are conscious of the hand-holding. They'll be walking along and, it seems, their hands automatically find each other. She says they've always done this. When I ask if they get along at home, she looks at me like all the rest of the parents look at me when I ask this question, as if I have gone mad. No, she says, sibling rivalry still runs strong through their veins, as it does with all other brother and sister teams. And they are most definitely a team, she informs me. At third grade, they are nine years old, and have recently taken to teaming up against their mother. If mom is mad, they will whisper quietly amongst themselves, cross their arms and stare across the room at her. Forever co-conspirators. Forever sisters-in-arms.

I think it's cute, in a way. Mom smiles at me and I know from her look that she does, as well, but she can't let the twins know this. She's doomed if she does. Doubly-doomed.

Friday, March 12; 11:01pm

2010-03-12T23:01:00.010-06:00

While I sit here waiting for my family to come home, I think of the reasons why I have, perhaps, been waking during the night lately. I usually sleep like a rock. It is unusual for me to wake at all and I am concerned that it is because of something hanging over me. A cloud about to burst.

I had a conversation with a wonderful family last night after our annual Spring Chorus Concert. They had come to see their 4th grade daughter sing, and had stuck around afterward for the ice cream. It was a combination night - concert, book fair and ice cream social. A great turnout, overall. Anyway, we struck up a conversation over a "ribbing" I had given their daughter, teasing her over a joke she had played on me. It was all really quite funny, and I cherish the relationships I have with the families in my school community. We got to talking about families and cultures, and eventually I asked them if they had to do it all over again (they are from Mexico and had raised their two older children, for a good number of their formative years, in Mexico; the 4th grader has grown up thus far in the United States public education system), would they do it the same way, or would they stay in Mexico? Raise their family in Mexico?

Mom answered almost immediately: Mexico. Dad became quite passionate and went into great detail to explain his position. Everything he has is because of the opportunities the United States has afforded him. He wanted to assure me that, throughout his story, he meant no disrespect toward Americans or the United States. I assured him I was not easily offended. Feeling comfortable, he pressed on, explaining that he felt it very important for his children to understand that they were Mexican. They were living in the United States, and felt a connection with the United States and other Americans, but they were most definitely Mexican.

He began to explain to me that he felt like kids in the United States seem different than kids in Mexico. He couldn't quite come up with the word, so I went out on a limb: "spoiled?" I asked. Yes, he said. That was it. Kids in the United States seemed more spoiled than kids in Mexico. Kids in the United States (some, not all, he was sure to point out) seem to take things for granted, including their parents, as evidenced by the way many kids talk to and treat their parents these days.

We did not get to finish our conversation, as I was pulled away to conduct the book raffle and thank people for coming out tonight. I understood where they were coming from, though, and vowed to continue the conversation. It is intriguing to me. I wonder just how different kids in other countries are from kids in America. I wonder about kids and families coming to America to find the "good life," do they ever find it? Is it all they hoped and dreamed for? And what happens when kids begin learning in our public education system? What happens to the bond between the family? Do they begin thinking in different languages? Does this do something to the deep, personal connection to heritage? I vowed to find out.

I found the family after the raffle was over and asked them if they would be interested in continuing our conversation. Of course they would, they said. We shook hands, I gave the kids hugs goodbye, and we parted for the evening. On Monday I will call to invite myself over for dinner.

Friday, March 5

2010-03-05T22:21:00.001-06:00

March 5, 10:10pm

Long few days, wish I'd had more time to write.
ISAT Week.
Enough said, for anyone who understands what state testing week is like in a public school: Discipline gets put on hold (except for the extreme cases, of which there was only one), emails go unanswered, projects have to wait, classroom walkthroughs thin out, and the office is turned into "ISAT Central." We all do our best not to let the world stop during this week, but with pressures coming from all angles to succeed on this one, it's hard not to.

Thursday, 9:00pm

2010-02-25T21:00:00.000-06:00

9:00pm
Went to see Bob Marzano speak today. Drove two hours to get there, and it was worth every minute of it. The discussion was mostly on assessment and standards-based grading. We will initiate a standards-based report card committee in the district at the start of next year.

It was good to get out out for the day. The conference was invigorating, Marzano is an excellent speaker, and I am refreshed and ready for Friday. It is important for us to leave the building every now and then in the name of personal professional development. I missed the kids today, but it was good to get out and surround myself with professionals who are in the same boat as me, listen to their stories.

Wednesday, 9:28pm

2010-02-24T21:28:00.000-06:00

Can't believe there was no time to blog today, but there really wasn't. Talked to my wife at about 4:00pm after having kissed her goodbye at 5:30 this morning. I still hadn't eaten anything save a handful of peanuts and a sticky piece of candy a first grader pulled from her pocket.

I ate it, though. I was hungry.

Learned that one of my little girls had to go back in to the hospital to have a tube inserted into her chest. Two weeks ago she had surgery and had a piece of her lung removed. I spent a lot of time in her classroom today. Her friends are worried about her. I don't know how to comfort them.

Tuesday, 10:00pm

2010-02-23T22:04:00.002-06:00

Sitting at home tonight, watching "16 & Pregnant" in an attempt to take my mind off of events from the day and realizing that this show is probably not the way to do so... I have yet another disciplinary situation tomorrow that I'm not looking forward to tackling, boxes and boxes of ISAT materials arrived today that need to be sorted, stacked and delivered, and I worry that the kids who watch this show will find it cool to be disrespectful.

Tuesday, 7:20am

2010-02-23T07:53:00.001-06:00

District Admin meeting last night. First item on the docket – Budget Cuts. I am taking this news particularly hard. We are looking at a $600 dollar per child reduction in state aid next year; not especially good news, as we are already well below average in funding already. Became more depressed as the meeting wore on, discussing probable areas that would be cut.

Nonetheless, we must always remember that no amount of money or “things” can replace an excellent teacher. Much research has shown that the teacher has more direct impact on a child’s education than any other school-related factor. We must not let things we cannot control keeps the cogs of education from churning.

"That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends." ~~ Maria Callas

Monday, 12:50pm

2010-02-22T12:57:00.001-06:00

12:50pm

Late for articulation meetings this afternoon. I am supposed to sit in for 5^th graders going to 6^th. Lunchtime exploded. Again. Jorge was running around trying to kiss girls, a teacher needed information on FMLA (and she needed it right then), someone wanted to talk to me about their evaluation, and I had to go and extract a 1^st graders from recess. He refused to leave and was running from the supervisor. I never would have run after him. By the time I got out there, he was sitting on a pile of snow with his coat off, shirt hanging off his shoulder, nose running all over the place. I picked his coat off the ground, helped him put it on, wiped his nose with the extra tissue I always keep in my pocket, and put my arm around him. The supervisor, I’m sure, was angered that I was showing him affection, but I did not need to run after him. And he came inside for me. Lesson learned. Oh, and then I called the truancy officer to come and take him home for the afternoon. I thought my brief check-in with him this morning would be enough. Not every day, I guess.

9:00am Monday

2010-02-22T09:05:00.002-06:00

9:00A.M. Debating to have one more cup of coffee or not. Deciding against it in favor of making the rounds and checking in with some kids. I started this a while back – “check-in/check-out” – with a few of my students. They are mostly boys, for some reason. One of them get dropped off every morning by our district’s truancy officer. His parents don’t have a working car. He is in first grade. I find that if I don’t check in with him every morning, his day quickly goes from bad to worse. For future reference in these writings, I will call him Allen.

I am also listening to a conversation in the outer office about our paper supply (It’s the end of February and we’re out of white paper). People are wondering why we’re out of paper and if there is more coming. One of the office secretaries tells her the local Wal-mart has it on sale.

Monday

2010-02-22T08:11:00.001-06:00

Okay, so emailing to my blog works. That is pretty cool. I am here, sitting at the Round Table in my Office. My tie is not yet done up, but the coffee is made. I have butterflies in my stomach because I am looking over my calendar for the day, my list of things-to-do that I created yesterday, and realized I forgot to prioritize them. Doug Reeves would not be happy with me. As he points out, I need to break my tasks down into prioritized lists… Until I do this, my butterflies will continue to flutter.

I hope to post throughout the day. Must go tie the tie. It is always the last thing I do in the morning…

Later That Day

2010-02-21T15:31:00.000-06:00

Okay, so later that morning, after the phone call with the parent (turned out it wasn't so bad after all), I ended up racing down the hallway to cover a duty. It was 8:00 and the teacher who was supposed to be on duty called to say she was stuck in traffic and wouldn't be in until the first bell rang. I was going to have to cover the duty. Which wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that on my way there one of my 6 first grade teachers stopped me to say that her ceiling was leaking and that it felt like it was about 100 degrees in there. I said, "Of course it's leaking. It wouldn't be leaking if it was 20 degrees." She gave me a blank stare and I realized I was thinking out loud, all the while still moving away from her, needing to get to my post. I pulled my radio off my hip and she nodded, knowing that I would call the custodian. Not that this would take care of anything.

I think people are used to seeing me running down the hallway, always off to the next thing. That still doesn't stop them from stopping me to ask if I have a minute. I never understood this, yet I do. I mean, who else are they going to tell? I've always wanted to ask if it looks like I have minute, but I realize there is just no way this can come out sounding even remotely professional. All I ask, however, is that they write it down in addition to telling me. I will never be able to remember the hundreds of things I need to remember unless I have it in writing. When I first started asking people to do this, they looked at me questioningly, no doubt wondering if I was capable of this job. I have since moved beyond their befuddled looks, knowing that if it is to get done, I must have a written reminder. More later, friends. Wait till you hear what happened next...

Above is a picture of the hallway down which I went running, and continue to traverse nine million times daily. I don't really run, though. Someone once told me that if the leader runs, someone will think there is a fire somewhere, thus causing them and everyone else to run as well. I haven't tested this theory out, but it could be true.

Tequila and the Mitten

2010-02-21T15:25:00.000-06:00

And then the next day I noticed a mitten. It was hanging above the same classroom lockers. Behind it, hidden up on a shelf in the teacher's room, was a box. What was that word? Tequila?

Oh boy. I guess I'll be spending more time in the classroom than out of it...

The Shoe

2010-02-21T14:37:00.001-06:00

Second grade shoe clipped above a locker.

A New Direction

2010-02-21T10:14:00.000-06:00

It is Sunday. I have brought home a stack of work and arranged it on the dining room table in neat, orderly piles. It has not been touched, though I know I need to get through it. At least some of it. But there is a thought playing out over and over in my head and I sit down to read, or write this damn blog, and my mind keeps reverting back to that nagging thought. So I do some research, get up to pour more coffee, stop to let the dog out the back door, and sit back down again until I hear the scritch-scratch at the glass. He's letting me know he wants to come back in, though he's only been out long enough to stretch his long, muscular legs.

And so I come back to my resting point at the table, my son keeps asking me to come and watch his progress on our Wii - he is addicted to Super Mario Bros. I can't help but feel guilty about letting him sit in front of the video game for the next hour (or two) while I try and pound out some words. I try and rationalize it all away by convincing myself that he's doing what he wants to do, and I'm doing what I want to do, so it all must come out in the wash... right?

So here is a typical day for me last week. Enjoy, because my plan is to blog my daily experiences as an elementary school principal. Thus the title of this post: A New Direction. Because I need one.

6:00am
The alarm goes off and I really don't want to get up but Louie (my 125 lb. English Mastiff... he's not done growing. He's only 11 months old) has made his way up on my bed and the warm breath in my ear that I thought was my wife's is really his. I get up and tackle my morning ritual.

6:20am
Downstairs, the kids are having cereal and arguing over who will get the last yogurt in their lunch today. I solve this problem (I am a principal, after all) by putting it into my own lunch sack. After kissing everyone goodbye and wishing them all a wonderful day (for my 13 year old, this means hoping she has a day without tears over the next friend-break-up-or-boy-dilemna-or-the-teacher-is-ignoring-me" issue.

6:40am
I am just about to work and realize that I have forgotten my lunch on the island in the kitchen. Again.
Thus prompting a renewed fight over the yogurt...

7:00am
Unlocking the office door, I am the first one here (besides the custodian) and am able to find a few golden moments of silence in which to make the coffee and maybe even take one precious sip before the chaos begins... It is orderly chaos. Really, it is. I'm not kidding. I really do know what I am doing... Really.

7:05am
The phone rings on my cluttered desk. I take a peek at the caller i.d. display. It's the parent I forgot to call back in my haste to get to the board meeting the night before; the one that didn't go into closed session until 9:15pm, thus finding me rolling into the driveway at almost 10:00.
So here we go.
I answer the phone.

To be continued...

Don't worry, it really will be continued. I'm only at 7:05am, after all. But I need more coffee. And Louie needs to go out again.

November 27

2009-11-27T11:30:00.000-06:00

The day after Thanksgiving and so far I have done a mile on the treadmill, walked another mile with Louie (our English Mastiff... we really don't walk with him; usually, its behind him) outside, read parts of two books, fiddled around on the computer, and played Wii with Ty for about 45 minutes. Not much of anything, really, but sometimes that feels good, and it’s okay. Too often, I tend to get bamboozled into thinking that I have to be accomplishing something 100% of the time (I'm sure you do too... tell the truth now). I’m afraid that’s what happens to too many parents - mine included -and what they’re left with are feelings of regret for not having done the stuff in life that truly matters when you look back on it.

So excuse me for awhile. I think I'm going to go channel surf. I'll be back later, and hopefully will have found some inspiration, some mind-shattering piece of wisdom that will transform our lives - both yours and mine. I hear the couch calling...

Thanks For Giving

2009-11-26T09:22:00.001-06:00

While I can't believe the length of time that has passed between this post and the last, here it is nonetheless, and it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving (although I am extremely thankful for many things, at the top of my list being family, health, and employment in a career that I am passionate about). And so, to get to the point, I want to take a minute to say thanks for giving me the ammunition necessary to keep going in the direction I have been headed for the last 13 years. That was the time I got into the education field, and although I didn't realize it then, my reasons for staying in this field would change over time. I came to education because of two beautiful little girls and their mother who, through their concerted efforts and brainwashing capabilities, made me realize how much I had to give back to kids. I certainly never could have come to this conclusion on my own, nor did anyone seem to think I could give back to my community up to this point. The reasons I have stayed move beyond this simple and exceptionally pure rationale, and progress into the deeper psyche of my inner self. Deep, huh?

So let me say thank you, once again, to those who have given me the ammunition to carry forward. It is because of you, in your elementary, middle and high schools, with your rules for how kids should behave and talk and look and act and sit and walk and eat and smell and breathe, that I can walk as loudly as I like into classrooms and cafeterias and down hallways, that I can talk to kids of all creed and color and let them know that they belong, and have a place in this world, and a purpose for being here. I have learned life's rules by studying the people that I would never want to emulate. I have learned to be the teacher I am today by making sure I don't do things the way my teachers did them. I have learned to be the principal I am today by vowing never to scream at the kids who weren't walking on the correct side of the hallway, the way one principal from my past did to me and a group of kids at our elementary school. We were nine.

Thanks for giving, and for teaching me how to be the leader and mentor I am today. I still have a lot to learn, and I am still looking for a mentor myself, because I realize how cynical this all sounds. I really do understand that the way I look at things is, perhaps, not the healthiest way to look at things, but it is what I know how to do. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift I possess - that which I can give back tenfold to those who deserve it the most.

Forward Thinking

2009-04-26T12:09:00.000-05:00

Sunday, April 26. It has been raining non-stop since the middle of the night, my son's first baseball game of the year has been cancelled, I am pondering the bad play of the Cubs over their last four games, and also contemplating how to balance the duties of my life. I know I must finish my homework, for example, before class Tuesday night; I also have work to complete for the four committees and task forces I am on in the district; there are several home improvement projects we have started that need finishing (why do I start plumbing jobs that I know will end with pieces everywhere and a phone call to the plumber to come and bail me out?); and then there are the hobbies and things I like to do for enjoyment... okay, never mind all of that stuff. There will not be time until, perhaps, the end of June.

There is a book, for instance, that one of my teachers recommended - Three Cups of Tea. I started this book and can hardly put it down. If you have it, please finish it for me and tell me about it, because if I don't get to my studies and concentrate on work, I will fail my classes and lose my job. And then I won't get to hear the stories of the students I love so dearly, which was really to be the central purpose of this posting. Ramblings, however, are perfectly acceptable on blog sites. In fact, we were made for rambling, we humans. And this is the perfect space for that. So read on, if you will, and I will continue rambling, only on a more defined level.

At our monthly Spirit Day Assembly on Friday, which featured 1st Grade and was, perhaps, the cutest and most entertaining performance we have had thus far this year (although the 5th Grade Variety Show is coming up yet, and this always promises to offer wonderful fresh talent), a teacher pulled me aside to tell me of the disappointment of one of her 3rd grade students. As it turns out, he was upset because we have 1/2 days on Spirit Days, which are also School Improvement days for staff. He didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of his day (which happened to be close to 85 degrees), and told me he would rather be in school.

Gotta love this kid. He would rather be in school. He would rather be in the place that offers him the only consistency he receives during the day. Only he makes me sorrowful to think that the end of the year is coming up. Which makes me think of all of the students who, for close to 3 months, will be at home with not much to do, minimal adult supervision, and with little interest in reading a book for pleasure. He makes me think forward to August and kids are complaining that they have to be back at school when it is still nice outside. Only I know what they are really thinking. They are thinking how nice it is to be back, thankful for some consistency.

Finding the Time

2009-03-27T18:58:00.000-05:00

Funny thing, this blog, but it has forced me to stay away from writing for over a month.... okay, really it has nothing to do with the blog, but I didn't have a better excuse. I've actually been so busy that I have not had the energy, and even that sounds to me like a poor excuse, but it is the only one, and it is the truth. We do this to ourselves all the time, those of us in education; we get up in the morning and the first things on our minds are - in no particular order: students that always need something other than what you're giving them and, depending on if you are a teacher or you are in administration (sometimes it doesn't matter which), lesson plans that need to be tweaked, and grading that you didn't get finished, and parents that wanted to meet with you today, and that darn Board presentation that seems like it will never be good enough but you only have two more days before you stand before them... you get the idea.

We do this to ourselves. We run ourselves ragged. And we sometimes don't have anything left to give.

So this Spring Break, which starts today for me, I will take it easy so that I can give my time and energy to my family. They are the ones who wait for me to come home, sometimes three and four nights a week, so that they can kiss me good night and hopefully get a few words in with me before it's off to bed. That's not how I want them to remember me.

We have to find the balance in our lives. While it is important to give 110% to the work of our schools, it is even more important to find this much time and energy for your loved ones. Hard to do, I know. But it must be done. For everyone's sake. You will be a better, healthier person for it.

The Reality of State Testing

2009-02-28T12:36:00.001-06:00

Today I think about testing and kids and teachers and real learning and what these state tests really measure anyway... Because we have to, being in the public school system, there is nothing to be said about it. We can complain about it all we want, argue with legislators, state and federal officials, and this will not make much of a difference. I am just curious what it does to people in a school. I can tell you that, since coming back from Winter Break, the talk has been all about state testing: what to focus on, test-taking strategies to use, short and extended responses in math and reading, test preparation, and on and on and on...

Question: Has state-mandated testing forced us to cover material for the sake of coverage, or are we covering material for depth, for the sake of learning itself? When we panic to make sure that certain items are covered before the test, to make sure that kids are at least exposed to material, I can tell you that the answer to the above question is certainly not learning for the sake of learning.

There is a better way. If we want to get back to learning for the sake of learning, for the sake of creating in kids a desire to learn more, we must change the way we do things. We must offer kids opportunities to do projects, to read and write and think and talk, to play; we must offer students the opportunity to become more than just great test-takers. We must offer our students a shot at being prepared for a future that will contain jobs that have not even been created yet.

A teacher commented the other day that even he was bored.

Certainly, there is a better way.

Leaning on One Another

2009-02-19T21:05:00.000-06:00

I work with one of the greatest groups of people you could possibly want. They are truly amazing, and yet I don't tell them this enough. We held a "parent information" meeting just the other night to discuss the state test (ISAT) that is coming up all too soon. In my infinite wisdom, and being so typical of myself, I waited until the afternoon of the event before I really started doing any of the legwork for the event. Everything else was ready - I met with a group of teachers beforehand, spent time thinking about the pertinent facts and information we would share with them, and discussed the logistics of the event as well. Not to mention, this is the 4th year holding one of these nights! Everything should have gone off without a hitch. Should have.

It was 4:00 and the After-School Bus was late, five people stopped me in the hallway or caught me in the office with problems that needed solving right then and there, a parent called looking for her child, who was supposed to have been home 30 minutes earlier (the young man,a 2nd grader, ended up being right next door...), and 8 teachers were going to be out the following day. In elementary-school-land, this last piece tranlastes into both copiers being jammed for an hour at the end of the day! Not only did I still have to copy, make transparencies, and make sure we had enough sharpened pencils for our guests, I still had to run out and get the refreshments we had promised in all of our fliers advertising the event! It was 5:30. When I looked out the front door for the first time that day, another surprise awaited me. It was snowing. Blizzard-Style.

In most cases, I would have gone into a frenzied state of panic. I would, perhaps, have used a few choice words, stomped around as if in a temper-tantrum, and begun blaming everything else under the sun except for the fact that I tend to procrastinate at the very worst moments. And so I did just that. I panicked... until I remembered that I have the very best staff in the whole world. A quick call into the classrooms of a few very dedicated teachers, and they began putting everything together while I drove through the snowstorm to get refreshments.

I was reminded later that night by one of those remarkable teachers that I need to do a better job of delegating. Delegate? What's that? But she was exactly right. As leaders, we tend to have this thing where we think we should have all the answers, be able to do everything and do it the right way, be everything for everybody. And yet this is so far from the way schools are actually set up to run. If we want to get it right the first time, if we want to be all things to all people, we need all people. We need not only to delegate, but to do a better job of making this thing called schooling a community effort. Doesn't it take a village to raise a child?

By the way, that's the singular form. Child. Meaning one. It takes a village to raise a child. This implies that every child requires multiple adults pulling together to get it right for that child. And with multiple adults come multiple ideas, lots of perspective. And if we still don't get it right, at least there will be more than one person to blame.

We need to count on each other, lean on each other, depend on each other, rely on each other. I was reminded of this again tonight, when a teacher called apologizing. She was going to have to be out for at least two weeks. She had broken a bone in the most unfortunate of places, and yet she was apologizing to me. She would be on crutches upon her return, and yet she was dreading the feeling of putting her colleagues out, felt that she would be a burden to them. I was able to use my experience of the night before with her in this case. I told her that this was the last thing she should be worrying about, because this is what we do for each other. It may not be a classic case of being able to delegate some responsibility, and certainly not the most ideal situation, but this is what we do for each other because it is what we do for kids.

What we Influence

2009-02-06T21:08:00.000-06:00

I was thinking today, after meeting with a group of teachers, about something I had recently read by Doug Reeves in his book, Daily Disciplines of Leadership. In the book, Reeves talks about the concept of leaders, if they wish to be effective, needing to influence behavior, not attitude or beliefs. No matter how impassioned our beliefs may be, they do not persist if not accompanied by successful behavior. He goes on to say that all this talk about creating "buy-in," the stuff that causes people to get on board, is not even necessary if we cannot first influence behavior.

He has a point. Acceptance comes only after successful experience. We have to go through some turbulent times, including reluctance and opposition, before we can expect to change deep-seated belief. Think about the student sitting in the back of a classroom, working the math problem that is just not clicking in her brain. Her eyes are glazed and she scoots lower in her seat, hoping against all hope that her teacher will not notice her. The great teacher will notice her, however, but this is a topic for another post...

This student might have a deep-seated belief that she cannot "do math." This belief probably pervades her every thought when she hears the word math. Her parents probably tell her that we weren't good in math either, honey.

This pattern can only be broken when the great teacher takes the time to show her just how easy it can be, maybe showing her that there are more ways than one to get to the same answer.

This pattern will only be broken when this student experiences success.

As with the teacher who has taught the same way year after year, and therefore does not believe there is another way, so, too, the way with the student.

Acceptance comes only after successful experience.

100th Day and Culture

2009-01-31T13:56:00.001-06:00

100th Day Celebration!

Wow, it's here, and so quickly! I've really got to get in to my office and clear a spot for our little ones to come marching through! This is a cherished event, and I just love seeing the whole 1st grade parading into the office.

I was speaking to a couple of middle and high school people in my Tuesday night class, and they had no idea what the significance of 100th Day was! I just thought, "Aaahh, to be in elementary school." They really have no idea what they are missing - the traditions, the culture, the little things that make our elementary school life special.

To be fair, of course, all schools are made up of rituals and celebrations, those things that make up the culture of our schools. For some, it is easy to see. Visitors can sense something special the moment they walk through the front door. It may not be in the rituals that a school has. It certainly should not be relegated to strictly rituals and traditions, for some of these, such as the old, "That's just the way we do things around here," may not be as healthy as you would like.

But for others, such as 100th Day, where all 1st graders decorate a t-shirt with 100 of something - Cheerios, stickers, buttons, macaroni - and come parading through the office to show off their 100 Day Pride, culture comes shining through in a significant way. Because it's not about 100th Day (really, are we celebrating that we made it through 100 days?), not really. It's about the cultural aspect of 100th Day, the anticipation of 100th Day, the looking back on school days and remembering the fun little breaks we took in the middle of a hectic, busy year filled with learning CVC words and how to blend and chunk, and how to go to the neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar (subrtraction with borrowing).

These are the things that make up our school days, the memories we are giving to children, the culture we are intentionally and purposefully creating.

100th Day. I can't wait.

Culture in Question

2009-01-27T10:32:00.000-06:00

Roland Barth says, "Show me a school whose inhabitants constantly examine the school's culture and work to transform it into one hospitable to sustained human learning, and I'll show you students who graduate with both the capacity and the heart for lifelong learning."

In almost every school mission statement, you can find a line about lifelong learning and the culture of the school. Where, in this age of standardized testing, in an age where teachers feel an incredible, unbelievable, and riduculous amount of pressure to create students who can perform well on tests, is the lifelong learning? If you ask me, and I'm sure Roland Barth would agree, the price of short-term success is long-term failure.

Standardized tests are used to measure everything about everyone. Everything, that is, except the extent to which our teachers and students and classes and schools and communities are turning out lifelong learners.

Inauguration Day 2009

2009-01-21T21:19:00.000-06:00

It was almost 11:00AM yesterday morning, the 20th of January. I had just put the public address phone up to the radio so that the entire school could hear our President be sworn in to Office. It was the only thing I could do. We don't have cable television, and to try to get a live stream off of the internet was proving to be impossible. Everyone in America must have been trying to access the internet at once. It was the best we could do, and I was afraid that it wouldn't be enough. In my eyes, the biggest, most important political event in our lifetime, and all we could do was listen.
A whole range of thoughts entered my mind - what if the teachers don't share my enthusiasm? What if the kids just don't care? What if they don't have the attention span to pay attention for that long? I was panicked, so I secured the receiver next to the radio speaker, bade my secretary goodbye, and went for a walk. I couldn't take it.
Stepping out into the hallway, an eerie feeling overtook me. It was a sound that is not familiar to schools; at least it shouldn't be, anyway! The place was silent. The only sound that of the speakers in classrooms, of a voice introducing Chief Justice Roberts for the swearing-in. I went from room to room. In one fourth grade classroom, all of the kids had gathered around the classroom speaker and were staring up at it, as if it were a television set they couldn't tear their eyes away from. Walking down the stairs and into the first grade hallway, I peeked into a classroom full of seven and eight year-olds. Sixty of them! Two classrooms packed into one, all of the desks and chairs pushed back and all of the kids sitting on the floor, intently listening to the broadcast! I was floored!
Down the third grade hall I went, not believing what was happening. It was like a ghost town! Not a soul was out in the hallway. Peeking into a third grade room, a sight that I will never forget. Her name is Jacqi. She was standing at the front of the room, as close as she could get to the classroom speaker. Her hands were folded and her eyes closed.
Praying.
She was praying as hard as I have ever seen anyone pray and she didn't care who was watching her or if anyone was saying anything about her.
She didn't have to worry. They weren't.
I went in and was flocked by kids, third graders who wanted to share this moment with me. I put my arms around as many of them as I could get hold of and we listened to President Obama take the Oath of Office.
It was an incredible moment, an historic moment on so many levels. But the greatest pleasure for me that day, was the pleasure I took in hoping that this day was one these kids would never forget. It is these kinds of moments that kids remember about school, and I was thrilled to be able to share it with them.

Just Before the New Year

2008-12-31T19:49:00.000-06:00

It is about four hours from the New Year and I am sitting with my son playing video games (Star Wars). We just bought it today, on sale at Gamestop while we out purchasing yet another gift for someone. This always seems to happen, does it not? You're in the store for one thing, and you walk out with something entirely different, or in addition to? It does to me, anyhow.

It occurred to me that the reason I walked out with this game, however, was because the night before we attended the Harlem Globetrotters basketball game at the Allstate Arena. My eight year old son brought along a friend, and on the drive there, I heard the two of them discussing what they each got for Christmas this year. I found myself feeling bad for my son, who had to sit there and endure a lengthy list of toys and electronics his friend had been "lucky enough" to receive. I sat there thinking about the kid's parents, who would most likely be paying for this Christmas extravaganza until next Christmas. And then I heard my son speak up.

He went through his much shorter list.

And he was happy.

He did not brag, did not sound unhappy that he couldn't match his friend's list.

He was happy, and still I found myself searching for a game that he would like - unconsciously, or so it seemed, attempting to make up for the fact that my son did not have everything that his friend did.

We teach our children that it is not material items that count. It is family. We teach them this by showing them. We show them by making every moment count, by spending quality time together, by making sure they know we love them. NOT by giving them every little thing they want (although I fail in this area today), but by being there for them when it counts - every day.

One of my goals for 2009: Show people, every day, that I care by being in the moment. More on the importance of being in the moment in a blog posting coming in '09!! Happy New Year.

Looking, Apprehensively, Toward the New Year

2008-12-30T14:56:00.000-06:00

"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."

~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

In facing the inevitable second half of the year, I am feeling excited and somewhat apprehensive. I have been reading some great material over this break that all of us "school people" receive, and it is usually at this time that I begin to wonder how to carry this excitement that I feel over to my staff. My boss talks about "sharpening the saw," an analogy he borrowed from Stephen Covey to mean freshen up for the remainder of the year. While I think I have effectively sharpened my saw, I hope others have too. If not, it is up to me as their leader to help people feel refreshed each and every day. So yes, I am feeling a little overwhelmed as I look to the new year. Excited, but cautious. What do I say that will make a difference? Are these things I should be worrying about?

Great Leaders, Part 1

2008-12-27T23:05:00.000-06:00

"If the bottom line of life is happiness, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination."
~Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

What do great leaders do differently from leaders? What separates an average leader from an extraordinary leader? One characteristic that has been weighing heavily on my mind of late is attitude. Great leaders set the example and must remember that everything counts. My office is housed upstairs in our school, and the quarters are, to say the least, cramped. It can be difficult to stay positive 100% of the time when there are days when you feel everyone is on top of one another. I began to notice that if I came in feeling grumpy, by nine in the morning, my whole office staff was on edge, which effects the parents who come in or call, and the teachers who tend to drop by and say hello while making copies. And this, of course, could have a less-than-positive effect on the children in those classrooms. I decided to try a little experiment. After all, I could not possibly have this much of an impact on everyone. Could I?

For one week, I came in bright-eyed and cheery, greeting everyone I ran into, shaking hands with one and all, even bringing coffee into the office staff. They thought I had gone a little haywire, but hey, I could tell that everyone was feeling good about themselves. All right, so this was fun, and I found myself feeling very productive and on top of my game, even though I had forced myself to play this little game. I wrote all of my observations in a notebook.

The next week, I purposefully went out of my way to be grumpy, cut people off in mid-sentence, yell at my office staff (even though it was difficult to find anything they were doing wrong), and just be in an overall foul mood. At around 2:00 in the afternoon, mid-week of the experiment, a teacher came looking for me. I was holed up in my office and hadn't seen her or heard from her all week. She plopped herself down in a chair opposite my desk and said, "So, I hear you're in a pretty bad mood. People are wondering what's wrong with you." I was dumbfounded. I was also happy to know that people noticed my moods.

Whether or not our moods have a positive or negative impact on the people we work with, it is our responsibility to put a positive spin on things. We have the power and obligation to filter what comes out of our mouths, what information we share with others, and to model what kind of behavior we expect out of people. It all starts with our attitude. We set the tone.

In the words of the Hungarian psychology professor, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives." And if we can accomplish this for ourselves, who knows what we might be able to help others accomplish. It's worth a try, and those we serve are worth it.

Tough Leadership Lessons

2008-12-27T15:19:00.000-06:00

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to be.
~ Rosalynn Smith Carter

This morning my daughter and I went through an emotional time which gave me pause. She is twelve and cannot understand the complexities of a dysfunctional family (not that any child should have to). To give a brief backstory to help in the reader's understanding, my brother and I have not spoken in years. Perhaps as many as four of them. It is not something I am happy about, but it is my reality right now, and my wife and I have never minced words with our kids. We have always wanted them to understand their current realities as well, and sometimes this means dealing with not-so-nice issues.

So my mother and daughter are in town (they live in Arizona), staying in our house, and they plan to go visit my brother and his family for the holidays while they are here. Mom invites my daughter to go with them and I have to be the one to say no, which causes a certain amount of frustration and emotion on the parts of my daughter and her grandmother. When I found a free moment (tough to do when you are hosting out-of-town guests) I called my heart-broken twelve year old into the other room and tried explaining to her why I didn't want her to see her uncle until I made things right between him and I.

While she may not have understood in the moment, it was something I had to do. It is what I believe in, my bottom line. In this case, it was her safety, her well-being, my vision of what I see for her, want for her in the future.

I believe school and business leaders must do the same - figure out what your bottom line is, make sure everyone understands what your vision is, and don't waver from it. All decisions are based on the vision, even if they are tough to make. Don't mince words. Make sure everyone knows what you are all about. They may not understand in the here and now, they may walk out of your office upset with you in the moment, but you will be able to sleep at night knowing that you did what you know was right. Because you have an unwavering vision of excellence. No one can stand in the way of that.

2008-12-26T20:06:00.000-06:00

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.

~ Warren G. Bennis

Sometimes it takes more than two cups of coffee to get me going in the morning. Sometimes it might take a visit to my favorite coffee house on the way in to work, and then another pot of the brown stuff brewing in my office. All of this before eight in the morning.

Sometimes that is what it takes.

And then, at other times, it takes less prompting, less push to get the machine rolling. On these days, things come easy, the fog in my head is penetrable after only having risen and showered.

It is in this place that I will attempt to make sense of this phenomenon, the unique differences that make up good days and bad days for those at the forefront - those individuals we think of as leaders.

2008-12-25T23:12:00.000-06:00

I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
~Benjamin Disraeli

Visionary Leadership
(excerpted from an article by Larry Lashaway)

When some future historian tallies up buzzwords of the 1990s, "vision" will be high on the list. Schools everywhere want leaders who have it, and even modest incremental plans are routinely billed as "visions for the 21st century." Unfortunately, the exaltation of vision often leaves one question unanswered: Once you're done praising it, what do you do about it?
David Conley (1996) has found that many school leaders have become ambivalent—sometimes even cynical—about the usefulness of vision. Yet experts continue to regard it as a make-or-break task for the leader.

Why Does Vision Matter?
Robert Fritz (1996) says that organizations advance when a clear, widely understood vision creates tension between the real and the ideal, pushing people to work together to reduce the gap.
This unifying effect is especially important in school settings known for their "isolationist culture." Because teachers typically regard methodology as a matter of individual preference, empowerment strategies do not quickly lead to schoolwide changes in classroom practices (Carol Weiss 1995).
By contrast, schools with a clear vision have a standard by which teachers can gauge their own efforts. According to one teacher in a school that had recently developed a vision, "People are speaking the same language, they have the same kinds of informal expectations for one another, more common ground" (Conley and colleagues 1992).
David Mathews (1996) sees vision as a way of reconnecting schools to an increasingly alienated public. He says communities no longer see the schools as their schools. A vision that reflects the needs and purposes of the surrounding community not only improves education, it rebuilds the relationship between the school and its public.

How Do Leaders Facilitate Vision?
Even in schools that are deeply committed to shared vision, principals remain the key players, both before and after the school adopts a new direction.
Creating readiness is crucial. Conley notes that principals who have already adjusted to new ways of thinking often underestimate the time needed for others to do the same. He says that all participants must have the opportunity to examine their current thinking, develop a rationale for change, and entertain new models. This can be done by forming study groups, visiting schools or businesses that have already restructured, or collecting data that challenge comfortable assumptions (such as test scores or surveys of community satisfaction).
Robert Starratt (1995) emphasizes the importance of institution-alizing the vision. No matter how inspiring it sounds on paper, the dream will wither unless it takes concrete form in policies, programs, and procedures. At some point, curriculum, staffing, evaluation, and budget must feel the imprint of the vision, or it will gradually lose credibility.
At the same time, principals must remain focused on what the vision means in classroom terms. Richard Elmore and colleagues, after an indepth study of restructuring schools, concluded that enthusiasm for new visions does not automatically lead people to see the implications for teaching. They found that it was "extraordinarily difficult" for teachers to attain the deep, systematic knowledge of practice needed to make the vision a reality. Without unrelenting assessment, analysis, and professional development, the vision may remain a glossy facade rather than becoming a vital, living presence in the life of the school.
Above all, principals must create a climate and a culture for change. They do this by speaking about the vision often and enthusiastically; by encouraging experiments; by celebrating successes and forgiving failures; and by remaining steadfast in the face of the inevitable problems and missteps.
Experience has given advocates of vision a new appreciation for the difficulties involved, removing any illusions about a magic bullet. Yet they remain optimistic about its potential. As schools work through the challenges of vision, says Hong, "they discover that they perhaps can make the impossible possible."