Who’s responsible for school morale?

School morale - the ambiance and atmosphere that permeates a building when you enter. It’s reflected in the way the students greet one another and how teachers interact with the students, teachers and parents. It’s part of how visitors feel when they enter the building and staff feel when they exit on Friday afternoon. It consists of thousands of interactions and reactions between individuals as they spend their days together. It’s elusive but tangible. You know when the morale in a building is good and when it isn’t.

It’s been my pleasure to work in a number of schools with great morale. They were places where, no matter what was happening or what was coming at the teachers, they looked to the positive, and to each other, to work towards creating a great school. It was our desire to do the best we could for our students, working and sharing our school lives, that helped us to live, love and laugh. Each of these staffs suffered through tragedies but we supported and helped one another.

At present, as an educational leader, I can see that the school where I am is not what it could be. There is a tenseness in the air - a sense of foreboding, almost like people are giving in to the pressures that surround them. It was brought to me that, ultimately, the morale of the school is my responsibility (and fault if it is negative). Now, as educational leader, I see that I have a part in creating the atmosphere in the school but am I solely responsible? If so, what are ways of looking to improve the morale of the people in the building? If not, what suggestions do you have for looking at the problem and coming up with a solution? Any feedback is very welcome.

Helping others to help themselves

Years back, my wife use to hate when she had a technology problem or couldn’t remember how to do something. In fact, when we (read I) first bought our imac, she wasn’t very happy with the whole thing because everything was “backwards” and she couldn’t find anything. She would avoid asking me to show how to do something AGAIN because of my “attitude” and how I did things. That was 8 years ago. Today is much different. I have learned to be patient, not sigh heavily (that use to drive her crazy) and take my time. If I don’t have the time at the moment, I say so, help out and then, when there is time, get her to show me what is frustrating her. It works the same for my children (well, most of the time. I still use the timeout to keep them alive!)

Over time I’ve been able to transfer this to school and what I do as a principal. In my capacity as administrator, there are many times when people come to me for information, advice or assistance. I use to react in a way that reflected my particular mood at the moment. Now, with all that goes on in a day, that was usually somewhere between stressed and freakin’ stressed. This caused all kinds of misunderstandings and miscommunication which eventually led to problems which led to more miscommunication and misunderstandings and so on (cue Faberge commercial with Farrah.) I knew that it wasn’t how I wanted things to go but I couldn’t understand how to change it. Thank goodness for my wife. She cleared a few things up for me after a particularly difficult day. She explained to me how she felt at times and then transferred it to the situation. The road to change had begun (well, after I stopped pouting!) 

Having worked on this for some time, I really thought I’d mastered the whole thing. Seems I was wrong and I was in need of a reminder. Being reminded about something like that isn’t always easy but I realize that, as a leader, I need to be able to accept when someone gives me advice, even if it’s hard to take at the moment. It made me reflect on what I was doing and the impact it was having on those around me. To be an effective leader, one must be willing to ask trusted people to be honest with you and then take their words seriously.

Personal Impact 

This past week I was asked to describe the characteristics of an educational leader. For me, listening is one of the most important characteristics. Being able to “be in the room” when someone is with you is vitally important. No clock watching or doing other work. When someone is talking to you, you need to make it obvious that you are listening - 100%. Unfortunately, I stopped my description there. Now, listening is important but there are some other important characteristics that I didn’t mention.

Empowering Others

Of all other characteristics, I believe this is the most important. This can be done in a number of ways. Listening is one of them. So is supporting them, seeking their opinion, seeing their strengths and allowing them to use them and allowing them to help themselves.  As an administrator, I’ve come to learn that the best way to help others is to empower them to help themselves. Whether it is helping students to work through a problem, supporting a parent who is having difficulty, making a decision that moves things along, keeping the vision in front of others, cheering on the team or helping someone learn new skills so they can be independent, I’ve come to see myself as more as someone who is there to help empower others rather than having power over others. True, sometimes in my role I need to make decisions that may not make everyone happy or be involved in some form of discipline but in each instance there is an opportunity for empowerment of other individuals. 

We can’t have winners and losers

I often find that this is one of the greatest obstacles to getting to a solution. In so many cases, people want there to be winner (usually them) and a loser (usually the other party.) Instead of looking to see how things might be done to create a solution for the problem, they come in with a predetermined solution and campaign for it. Now, it may be a bit easier to do the “you’re right, you’re wrong” decision but it doesn’t usually bring about a lasting solution. Like my wife who didn’t like my solution to her technical problems because, although it solved the immediate problem, it created a further problem that became much bigger than the original. Helping others to get past that initial campaigning is one of the most difficult things that I have to do and, unfortunately, I’m not always successful.

Helping Learners help themselves

As teachers, one of our goals is to have students become independent of us. We want to help them learn how to do things without us being there. Kind of like parenting, it’s not how your children act when you’re around that demonstrates what they have learned and value, it’s what they do when you’re NOT there. Eventually, all these students will venture out on their own and it will be how they function on their own that will be the true test of how well we’ve done. This is why it is so important to empower them to be learners - to give them the ability to trust themselves to make good decisions. 

What does this have to do with technology?

Well, everything. Today as I was working with another administrator, it was clear that she was frustrated with how things were going and not just with the work we were doing. She was feeling overwhelmed in many different areas. Now, I could have gone the easy route and done the technology part for her but that would have solved nothing. Instead, we sat at the computer and I helped her (forced her at times) to continue doing things, trying things and retrying things. Was she frustrated? Yep. Will she remember it all? Nope but she will remember some of the basics that will get her moving on her own. Over time, she won’t need to call or email me as much. Hopefully she’ll become comfortable enough not to call me at all. While doing this, she was able to talk about other things that were on her mind, not something we get to do very often. We were able to share ideas and solutions about various difficulties we were both having. 

This experience is a snapshot of something I’m seeing more and more in schools. People who are being overwhelmed by all the “things” that need to get done, being frustrated because they can’t learn some things as fast as they want which keeps them from doing other things that they want to do. Whether it’s kids or adults, it is becoming more and more common for people to stop trying once they can’t get something after a try or two. For those of us in the empowering role, it is important to acknowledge that frustration is part of learning and assist them to do the best they can at whatever level. Not everyone will be able to use technology in a seamless manner just like I’ll never play the piano (or any other musical instrument) at the same level as my children but that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate what they do or try it myself.  

As a leader, one of my goals is to recognize those gifted in particular areas and get them to go further in that area while helping them to struggle along with something that is more difficult for them. Part of it is to listen to them but a greater part is to empower them and that is where our learning must always continue so that we can help them to help themselves. It was an eye opener for me when my wife first told me how I acted and reacted but it was one of the greatest gifts she has given me. Truly, she is a great part of my success - she empowered me. 

Effective and Progressive

This week I was asked the question “What are some characteristics of an effective and progressive high school?”

Now, being in a K - 12 school, I took some time and talked to a few of the students in the senior grades. They were a great help, as were the 4 people who answered my twitter call for help. Through their suggestions and ideas I was able to come up with 4 characteristics that seemed to capture the essence of an effective and progressive high school.

Relevant Curriculum

From my discussions, it was clear that students want to learn and know that learning is important. Their biggest issue was that at times what they were doing didn’t seem relevant. It wasn’t that they wanted things to be always “today’s headlines” kind of stuff but they wanted to be able to find connections between what they were doing and what was going on around them. If it was detached or just some facts about things, they found it hard to follow or care about. They wanted to be involved in things that were going on in their lives and were linked to their world. They gave some examples like the problems in the Middle East - it was linked to history in many ways and they were interested in how this came about and why so many problems. They had some ideas but weren’t sure if what they knew was right or not.

Connections

The whole idea of being connected came through, not as one important idea but from how they talked about being connected to other students and other people. This leads me to think that we need to really work on helping students build networks with other students. This is happening in a few cases but they are not the norm. In most cases, students continue to work in classrooms limited to connecting with those in the room. With the tools available to teachers, it seems that this should be something that can be achieved without too much trouble. I think it will require the will of teachers to stretch and try new things but, for our students, these are the things they are already doing outside of school. Maybe it’s time we brought some of these things into the school and examined, in more detail, how we can provide opportunities for students to network.

Transitioning

This was something that the high school students were concerned about. Although they didn’t call it this, they talked about having the skills and knowledge to move from school into the world beyond and be successful. They discussed more than just academic skills. Things like living on their own, budgeting, food and clothing, working, banking and other daily activities were tossed around whether they were thinking about furthering their education or going into the work force. As things change rapidly in our society, maybe we need to spend more time looking at some of these aspects and discussing with students the various parts of living on one’s own.

Engaging

Engaging students. Whether in how the school runs or the classes that are offered, students want to be active participants in what is going on. They want to be part of the process and be part of what is going on in the school. They want a say in how they will spend their day and what they will be doing and, connected with the relevant curriculum, they want to know how and why some things are the way they are. Mostly, they weren’t looking to get rid of anything but just wanted to understand more about how things worked and ran.

We have all seen a change in the students that come into the schools. I would say that most of this change has been positive. They are much more aware of the surrounding world and what is going on. They are curious about how things work and how things happened to get to where they are today. They are very environmentally aware and have a social connectedness that is much greater than a few years ago. As educators, one of our biggest challenges is to tap that curiosity and have students expand their knowledge and understanding and then demonstrate what it is that they have come to understand.

The one thing that wasn’t mentioned was the physical environment. They talked about being able to connect and find information, have access to information and use new technologies but they talked about classrooms have wifi and internet access and being able to use the tools to do different things in the classroom setting but they didn’t seem at all to be put out by the physical design of schools. Or maybe I just didn’t ask the question

So what’s your take? What are the important points that you would consider in an effective and progressive high school?

Go to the source

It has been a very busy week and it will only intensify from now until the end of June. I’ve been working on several projects and just haven’t had the time to get involved in conversations via twitter or read too many blogs. However, as I was working tonight, I’ve been reading a few as they cross my screen. The following tweet by byjudeonline caught my eye:

the thing about twitter. regular teachers can’t sit and tweet all day. we’re missing the most important conversations of all

This response followed:

dmcordell @heyjudeonline I agree, and there’s also the extreme time differences to contend with. Wish we could go back more than 10 pages in updates.

Followed by:

MetaWeb20 @heyjudeonline many of my teachers don’t even use email, let alone tweet!

heyjudeonline @MetaWeb20  my thinking too. It’s to easy to create ‘parochial tweet camp’

kolson29 @heyjudeonline but aren’t the resources you find here valuable enough as is? Just b/c all tchrs not here, doesn’t diminish value IMO

heyjudeonline @kolson29  oh yeah, love what I learn via twitter. just worry too many tweeters are not representative of teaching possibilities. Silly me!

 The idea brought up by heyjudeonline  is a core part of the whole web2.0/21st century learning discussion . As I work frantically to meet deadlines, get ready for meetings, meet with parents, visit classrooms and all the rest, there isn’t time for me to be on twitter or keep up with the conversations and discussions and I just don’t have the desire to go back too far in the discussions to see if I’m missing anything. My edge has about 2 frayed nerves left and someone keeps tapping one or the other.  There just isn’t the time to partake in the discussions that are going on. As someone who has a bit of understanding about technology in schools, I’d like to be part of the discussions. Thing is, there isn’t time and any time I do scratch out of the day, I am becoming more and more stingy about because time demands due to my job have been increasing over time regardless of the technology I or others are using.

Missing a crucial voice?

We are missing a crucial voice in all the discussions that are taking place. I’ve heard many people who are using technology who just don’t get why others cannot see how great it is or they don’t want to keep showing people only to have them not use it or they are “told off” by frustrated teachers or become defensive about what they are doing or…. Sometimes, when someone makes a negative remark about what we do or the time we take up doing what we do, the tendency is to become defensive and react. Over the past few years, I’ve learned that remarks like that have a grain of truth in them even if we don’t agree with the entire remark or with the accusation being made or we don’t want there to be. As a principal, I’ve had more than a few people say things about me that I could just brush off as being of no use. However, to learn and grow, I’ve really looked at what has been said and learned to see the grain of truth that is hidden there. I then take it and let what could be an irritant become something that I use to grow and turn into a pearl.

I believe we miss out on some great insights because we’re offended or dismissed or whathaveyou. There is a tone of superiority that does come across when discussing those who use tech in teaching and “the others.” For many teachers, technology integration and use is the last thing they are thinking about as they prepare to meet the demands of the students in their classroom. Heck, I’m beginning to question this whole twitter craze and really wondering if there isn’t a better way to spend my time than trying to reduce all my discussion into 140 characters (including spaces)! I don’t have the time to surf looking at url’s for this or that or to try out this or that. It just isn’t happening because of the pace. I’ve even tried giving away paperwork but no one would take it! When part of your job isn’t related to technology use, it is very hard to find time to do these above mentioned things even if, like me, you are really interested in them.

The comment by kolson29  but aren’t the resources you find here valuable enough as is? Just b/c all tchrs not here, doesn’t diminish value  makes me fret. I worry that the gap between the “users” and “non-users” will widen because teachers who are full-time classroom teachers don’t have the time to work with these resources. Even tech-savvy educators find it difficult to keep up with the conversations and the tool-sharing because they don’t have time to take in all that is happening or become part of the constant conversation that takes place. Being a follower, the exchange of information is wonderful but it is very fast, always constant, without form and too large to backtrack. Those who have the time are building the networks, others who are being introduced are trying but, I’ve noticed, many fall away because they don’t have the time to keep up with the conversations. I follow about 250 people but, realistically, there are about 25 people who dominate the conversations and who are discussing issues, looking at various tools, building their teaching repetoire and so on. As heyjudeonline says “we’re missing the most important conversations of all” - the other 225 or so who aren’t part of the conversations.

Go to the Source

I know that many people who use technology and want to share it with the masses have been turned down when bringing it to other teachers. Maybe we need to change the tactic a bit. Instead of bringing the knowledge, ask teachers what they want to do. Go to these people who are busy with full days, families, extra-curricular and have some other life outside school and ask them “What would you like to be able to do a bit differently?” “What is it about your teaching you’d like to tweak?” “What part of the actual teaching do you find overwhelming?” Ask questions. Find out what would make their lives easier, better, funner(?), ….. and see if it can be delivered. If they start out a bit negative, find that grain of sand and grow that pearl. I know that I’ve been amazed at what happens when I’ve taken something that came to me in a very negative manner and found that one piece I could use to help myself grow and created a pearl in some way. Sometimes being direct and acknowledging how they feel

I sense that you aren’t happy with certain technology uses that have been tried before and you’re a bit frustrated by___________________ and you feel you don’t have time with all the other demands on your desk and …… I just want to let you know that there are things that will help you if, like you ask your kids, give it your best effort and try. There is something everyone can do.

We are missing a piece of the conversation - in fact I would suggest we’re missing out on the conversation as we’ve moved to another room apart from what most other educators are discussing. I guess the challenge is to decide whether we wait for some of them to ask us if they can join or if we go to them and join in their conversation, bringing with us the ideas we have for improvement.

Note - while doing this post, there were approximately 75 tweets that passed back and forth between people. Interestingly enough, the number of people involved isn’t that large. What are other teachers doing?

In school outside the tech bubble

School is a multi-dimensional place where the lives of students and adults mix and mingle in a very loosely defined thing we call education. Because I am an administrator and know that some of the students in the school do, on occasion, access this blog, I am in a position that talking about anything remotely specific to my school would be rather stupid. Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t address issues that impact the school, but I tend to focus on those that are more generic or deal with the management side of school. I purposely do not discuss incidents with students as this is a confidentiality issue. In discussing any situation that involves students or teachers, using X or Y in place of a name doesn’t really cut it because if someone who knows the situation reads it, they won’t need the name and you’re opening a whole can of snakes by doing so.

This discussion regarding classroom management is the kind of thing I’m talking about. Discussing management is, in and of itself, okay. But when it strays to individual situations or personal debates over what one person does, well, the line gets a bit blurry. As an administrator, the classroom management thing is an interesting combination of so many things from teacher personality to class dynamics to school composition to the school-wide environment and expectations. I could begin discussing what worked for me as a middle years homeroom teacher but it won’t work for everyone. As an administrator, I’ve made many mistakes in school-wide management that have taught me some valuable lessons about interpersonal interactions and people’s assumptions about what will work and what won’t. I’ve heard many different versions about the whole idea of respect and what it means to different people. In the end, what works for some students won’t work with others because they’re individuals and what works for one teacher won’t for another.

Are there “absolutes” that will work?

Some people want a list of “top 5 management strategies for classroom management”. I figure as an administrator I’d have found those “5″ . I haven’t. I cannot give 5 strategies that will work in all classrooms because all classrooms are unique. I use to think the respect path was pretty much a sure fire method of working but people have a different idea of what respect means. Some kids can still respect you even when they react in a way that most people would say is disrespectful while others will use respect to mean that “I should get my own way. When I don’t, you’re disrespectful.” Some problems stem from the misunderstanding of individual “rights” without understanding that there are “responsibilities” that go along with those rights.

Consistency

One of the things I see as being crucial to management is being consistent in what you do and what you expect. Students like to know what to expect when they enter a classroom. When a teacher is consistent in what they expect regarding behaviour, homework, work in class and interactions within the classroom they will act according to those expectations. When they are unsure what to expect, problems arise. Whatever the expectations are that are outlined by the teacher, these need to be upheld as consistently as possible. This builds the foundation for the interactions and actions that take place in the classroom and how students interact with the teacher and other students. Some subjects, like math or science, are more structured in their makeup while art, social and language classes have less structure and may require a different approach to what teachers do. Whatever the class, being consistent is a key ingredient to how a class functions.

Interventions

Interventions are those actions that a teachers uses when something is happening that is outside the expectations of the class. Being consistent in using interventions is important but the type of intervention can impact what happens. Proximity to a student and removing them from the situation can be effective interventions if used judiciously as can calling parents, keeping a student to work on homework or school-wide  interventions that uphold the school-wide expectations of students. Whatever the intervention, it needs to be done in a manner that addresses the behaviour.

My experience has brought me to the conclusion that outside influences on students are at the heart of many of the management difficulties that teachers face. Some of these are related to socio-economic situations, home relationships, peer relationships and student understanding. Teachers, who are always strapped for time, sometimes need to take the time to identify where the management issue lies. Sometimes this is not possible and intervention needs to be immediate. However, at other times, teachers would find it to their advantage to determine if there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed while still maintaining that what took place is unacceptable. Students are individuals who need to be validated and positive validation, acknowledging that the situation might be more than just what happened in class, can be effective in addressing some management issues.

Culture of Teaching

Teachers, by and large, are individual in nature. The advice dealt out to young teachers, don’t smile until February, don’t help young teachers in developing classroom management. This is where we need to work in a more collaborative manner in addressing issues. I suggest that teachers work in teams to discuss and address classroom issues, helping one another in what works and what doesn’t. Not smiling until February may be a common tidbit of advice we doll out, but it doesn’t help young teachers in developing their classroom management style. Feedback and reflection are important keys to helping young teachers. Being less “I do this and I don’t have any problems” and more open to dialogue about classroom management practices will elp young teachers as they establish the structure they need.

Being a Reflective Practioner

Reflecting on situations helps us to discern what went well in any given situation and what didn’t. To do this, teachers need to learn to be unbiased recorders of what took place. This can be difficult when a teacher is involved in a management situation but is crucial to helping one grow in whatever they are doing. Working to develop a more neuteral view of one’s teaching can help a teacher to establish what is working well and what isn’t. By working with other teachers, a teacher may be able to discern areas where things went well and then use this information when reflecting about a situation that didnt go well.

Classroom management is key link to helping students to developing themselves. By establishing a norm and developing a consistent set of expectations can go a long way in helping a young teacher with their management skills. When there is a problem, working with an administrator to come to a solution that is workable is usually more productive than shipping the student off to the office. Generally, once something comes to my office, it now becomes my problem and how I deal with things are now within my realm of influence. Teachers don’t have to agree with what I do but there by discussing the situation with the administrator, it becomes easier to identify where there may need to be some assistance.

Many young teachers look for a “quick fix” to the problem. This may help in the present but it doesn’t address what needs to be done in order to things to be less volitile and roller-coaster like. Experience in dealing with students is something that cannot be described or passed out like fun-tac and textbooks. Examining one’s response and the resulting actions is a powerful way for younger teachers to develop classroom management that is effective, most of the time.

No prescribed cure

There is no one prescribed way of classroom management that will work with all teachers. Establishing a consistent approach to this is one key ingredient to the overall question of classroom management. The rest is a developmental process that is influenced by the dynamics of the individuals in the class at a particular time and how the teacher interacts with those dynamics.

There is so much more to school than just the technology discussion that takes place but coming to a consensus on management techniques that are “foolproof” is not very different to how teachers and schools look at technology integration. Each case needs to be examined in light of the individuals involved.

Meme: Passion Quilt

Linda and mrstucke have tagged me for the quilt meme. The whole idea of this meme is to post a picture that is especially meaningful to you or says something about your passions as a teacher. I was hoping I’d stay under the radar for this one as I’m not a real picture person. However, there is a picture that I took a few years ago while on a tour of England that isn’t flashy but is kind of cool.

I’ve actually had this as my desktop for awhile and had a large print made. People ask me why? My response is that it’s an image that you see all over the tubes of London reminding people that to be safe, you have to “Mind the Gap”. For me, it speaks about life in our modern age. How we must be reminded to stay safe even though it should be something everyone knows.  As an educator, it also reminds me that there is always a gap in what we do and, if we don’t mind that gap, someone will fall through. My passions - students, all students, doing the best they can to the best of their ability. Being able to increase their knowledge and show others what they know. Not letting ANY student slip the gap and become a statistic.

The meme works as follows:  The rules are simple.
1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Okay, now I get to link to 5 people. Hmmmm well, here’s a few new bloggers that it would be nice to introduce to the world: lgatzke,  mathman33, georgygrrl,  cgseibel,  speters. Looking forward to their pictures!