Lead Like A Pirate: Chapters 5 & 6

Chapter 5: Transformation

"Pirate leaders want to make a significant difference, a notable contribution, and transform the lives of their students."

This chapter discusses the need for a clear vision for your school.  Where do see your school?  What is your reality?  What work needs to be done to make that vision your new reality?  Transformation begins with creating a culture that truly wants what is best for every student in your school.  In this chapter, the authors talk about changing from a teacher led school to a more learner (student) led school.  Small changes can and will bring about big results.  On page 58, the authors discuss Response to Intervention.  In my opinion, why ARE we STILL talking about RTI? Surely we all have a good understanding of what it is and how to strategically implement tiered intervention.  RIght? No wait, that is CLEARLY wrong.  I have worked in two states during my teaching career and clearly RTI is still very misunderstood.  I think we basically, need to start thinking about RTI in terms of PLCs and how we will respond when OUR kids aren't learning or need their learning to be pushed further.  So, THANK YOU Beth and Shelley!  It is time that we DO think through RTI and how we are intervening with our students - all our students.  These are tough conversations that HAVE to be had.  These are tough conversations that will take our schools from good to great.

"Provide an uncommon experience for your students, and they will reward you with an uncommon effort and attitude." - Dave Burgess

Transforming our leadership practices will cause your teams to think about tough questions. Continuing to do things they way we have always done things, will give us the SAME results.  So, where do we begin this transformative journey? I'm not sure where you would begin, but if it were me...

• Grow your leadership team.  Use key people to begin a movement.  Yes, a movement that creates a buzz of enthusiasm.  This enthusiasm will be "catching".  And when we all have that "buzz", we are going to do powerful things to save our students. We will know and understand our vision, our mission, and have a shared focus.  
• Create a master schedule that clearly defines tier 1,2, and 3 intervention times.  Get all parties that have a vested stake in your community of learners involved in helping to fill gaps.  
• Use your PLC time to focus. (Focus on the 4 PLC questions to push your teams.) Think about this... What do we expect our students to learn?  How will we know they are learning? How will we respond when they don’t learn? How will we respond if they already know it?  These are hard questions, but they must be answered in order to move forward.
• Planning: Make time for talking, listening, and creating interesting lessons that are relevant to your students. Create lessons that are helping your students MASTER the standards.  Plan for those students that don't understand concepts, those that mostly understand, and those that already understand.

Chapter 6: Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm moves the world. --Arthur Balfour

This chapter resonates with me.  "One difference between enthusiasm and passion is that you can't fake passion."  Sometimes you DO have to fake it, till you feel it.  Sometimes there are mandates that you just don't feel vested in.  We might get a new teaching initiative or a curriculum change that rocks our perfectly ordered world.  As the leadership team, it is our duty to sometimes FAKE that enthusiasm.  There really are good reasons for most things that are added to a teacher's plate.  Find out the WHY behind a new initiative.  Often finding out the WHY is a simple way to change the mindsets of others - including yourself.  If we bring information to our teams in way that shows that WE don't care, I promise you - your team won't care.  They won't buy in and you have just created more negativity.  

"Enthusiasm is often the missing element to engagement."  Think about this - As a fourth grade teacher, I was tasked to teach my students all the different ways that you can and should use commas.  Now, this is NOT groundbreaking exciting stuff here, but I promise you this, my kids LOVED commas.  We rapped with them.  We created "cup songs" with them. We made videos to teach our parents.  Heck, I even had a t-shirt that said, "You had me at the correct usage of you're."  I'm telling you.. my kids loved commas.  Enthusiasm goes a long way towards turning what could be a negative into a resounding positive.  I can assure you that by the time we finished our unit on commas, I was LOVING the whole comma gig. I can also tell you that I had to fake it, until I felt it.  

Your attitude is contagious.  Are you spreading the right message?  Whether you are a principal, a team leader, a guidance counselor, or a bus driver...  are you spreading the right message?  Will you spread enthusiasm?  How will this chapter change who you are and how you will NOW lead out?