Lead Like a Pirate - Chapter 2: Immersion

Chapter 2: Immersion  

"Hope on its own doesn't create change.  Action does."

As an educator I have had an opportunity to work with several schools in numerous districts. I have seen well-intentioned leaders that focus on tasks that do not support long term goals and real change within their schools.  Like Shelley Burgess drives home in Chapter 2, "If you want to transform what is happening in your school or district, you have to immerse yourself in the work that has the highest impact on increasing student learning and building a rich, powerful and positive climate."

I have had an opportunity to work with high achieving, well functioning teams during my years as an educator.  What did those schools look like, sound like?  In those schools, teams had one goal in mind - student success.  Student success could be academic, but in these schools, we looked at the total child.  We took the time to find student strengths and used those strengths to build on their individual weaknesses.  Every child had an "I.E.P." in these schools.  We worked together to build a culture in which we ALL knew OUR students. We planned together.  We created interventions to support student growth together.  We met with vertical teams to better understand where OUR students had been and where OUR students were going.  As a staff, we understood the importance of early literacy instruction and put our strongest teachers in those roles to help our youngest students build a strong foundation.  We supported one another by creating transparent classrooms in which any teacher, administrator or parent was free to walk in at any time and leave feedback to help us grow in our craft.  I loved that environment.  The positives outweighed the hard work, and (yes, often the long hours) that it took to create this environment.  When negativity tried to creep in, we asked for solutions instead of "whining" about WHY our students could not perform as expected.  We adopted a culture of growth over grades and educated our parents on this concept.  All teachers in this type of environment had a VITAL leadership role.  Teachers led professional development, student groups/clubs, curriculum writing, social gatherings, etc. The leadership on these campuses was shared.  We all had an equal part in continuing the hard work that needed to be done.  PLCs were an important part of our campus culture. Our teachers led those PLCs and totally bought into the "brand" of our school.  If our PLC time was interrupted, we made time after school to continue our conversations because they were TOO IMPORTANT to not have.

I have also been on a campus where negativity was king.  Teachers often complained about not having time to do the things that had been identified as important for our students' success.  I heard excuses that our kids were somehow "different" from other kids at other schools.  Our kids were less motivated.  Our kids had terrible home lives and very little parent support.  In reality, our kids WERE far behind other kids in other schools within the same district.  The negativity was strong in this school.  The sad thing is that these teams didn't even recognize that they were being negative.  As a positive teacher coming from a high performing campus, I began to get sucked into that negativity.  I'm not going to lie. I started to feel that our kids were often unmotivated and unable to make the gains that they needed to in order to be academically successful.  I started to feel just like the teachers on my campus.  The teachers on my team often got to school just before their students and left as soon as they were able to.  Planning consisted of - Jenny "did" the math plan. I "did" the reading/writing plan. Mike "did" the science/social studies plan, and we would "get" them on the Sunday before we taught on Monday. Talk about a lack of immersion and a lack of focus on how to build a culture that REALLY puts our kids first.  Our kids were not making progress because WE were too focused on what our students couldn't do, how little time we had to "teach" all our standards, and how behind our kids were.  It was a vicious cycle.  All the efforts on this campus were simply towards SURVIVAL.  Oh, we had dreams too -  We might dream about the next year when we MIGHT get a group of students with a little more understanding of the standards, when we MIGHT get a group that was motivated, and that we MIGHT even have a group with parents that actually supported the education of their kids. Thank goodness THAT campus also had a new leader come on board.  Her leadership, drive, and positivity lifted me up immediately.  It was amazing the change the campus made when challenged to immerse themselves in quality team partnerships. When we became vested in our students and we took charge of OUR actions and immersed ourselves in the work that HAD to be done, we saw the MAGIC start to happen for our students. It was a pretty easy process for me to switch back to the leader that I had been on my high performing campus. I realized that I was part of the problem.  It was much more difficult for teachers with a fixed mindset that perpetually set up road blocks to hinder our growth as a campus.  Ultimately, those teachers found new places to spread their negativity on new campuses.  The biggest change I saw on my campus in the end was student growth and campus accountability for that growth.  Students were more committed to their own learning. They were engaged and we saw a marked decrease in student misbehavior.  It IS amazing when you sprinkle positivity on your campus, how the shared hard work becomes less daunting and manageable.

The challenge for Chapter 2 is to take the CALENDAR CHALLENGE.  Think about how you spend your time in school.  Are you part of a high functioning campus or is your school more like the campus that I described above?  Use a calendar (paper or online) and make a list for each day of something that you are going to immerse your team in that will bring about positive changes to your team and to your campus.  Think about ways that you can LEAD out for your team.  Think about how your positivity can change the mindset of those negative team mates.  Think about how you will immerse yourself in the work that has the highest impact on increasing student learning and building a rich, powerful and positive climate.  Anyone can be a leader.  You don't have to have an Instructional Lead title or an Operational Lead title to lead out.  You just have to have a willingness to do the hard work in a positive way that will transform the lives of the students you teach.    You have it in you! Do it!  And remember this, "Hope doesn't create change.  Action does."  

Think about these things and feel free to leave me a comment.  It gets really lonely writing a blog.  You wonder if you are doing a good job.  You wonder if anyone is really reading it.  Let me know!