Top Down or Bottom Up?

I had the privilege of visiting a school that had fully implemented a SCORE program in less than six weeks.  I asked the principal his secret.

I followed a principal who was well loved by the faculty.  I realized I couldn't quickly change things so instead I spent my entire staff development budget last year allowing faculty to visit schools that were implementing exciting reforms.  They returned saying, "Why don't we do that!"

This year, we did!  They were ready, they selected the innovation, and it was smooth and easy. 

That's the key.  "Top Down" change faces implementation sabotage.  "Bottom Up" change faces administrative budget cuts.  You have to communicate...create...cooperate.

When an administrator follows a respected leader, change must be gradual.  When an administrator follows a disliked leader, change must be immediate.  But change must always be mutual.

Teachers, this works in the classroom, too.  When you inspire students to want to learn what you are teaching, your job is so much more rewarding.  Communicate...create...cooperate.

When planning your summer staff development, consider SCORE, a division of Lockett Learning Systems. SCORE is validated by the United States Department of Education for effectiveness in getting high-risk students turned on to learning, achieving in a rich curriculum at a level of content mastery, and graduating ready and eligible for the college or career of their choice.

Send us your information, and we will send you information on implementing our successful strategies.  Click here.

 

Failing Forward

I asked my 4-year-old grandson if he would like a "Do-over."  He looked at me a little puzzled and asked, "Grandma, how to you know about do-overs?"

I've welcomed a lot of do-overs in my lifetime.  One of the great things about teaching is that you get a "do-over" every semester and a new beginning every school year.  You start fresh.  You work from a clean slate.  You build your reputation.

As a first-year teacher, I learned quickly that if my students didn't gain the knowledge base they needed, I had to work harder for the rest of the year.  I did them no favor to allow them to scrape through with a 'C' or 'D' if they didn't have content mastery.

My second year of teaching, I announced to my keyboarding class, "Now, listen carefully and take notes.  This information is crucial and foundational.  If you don't pass the test on this material, you won't pass the class."


A student sitting center rear yelled out, "Hey, you don't know me, teach.  I don't do tests."

I quickly responded, "In my class, you do."

The moment the lecture was finished, I walked to his desk and helped him with his notes.

When test day arrived, 8 students did poorly.  While the rest of the class was working on an assignment, I gathered them together and said, "Evidently I didn't teach this the way you need to learn.  There are several ways you can approach this.  Use the one that works for you."  I reviewed the material three different ways, all coming to the same conclusion.

Two students took the test 3 times. Everyone passed both the test and the class.

The next year, I announced to my keyboarding class, "Now, listen carefully and take notes.  This information is crucial and foundational.  If you don't pass the test on this material, you won't pass the class."


A student sitting center rear yelled out, "Hey, you don't know me, teach.  I don't do tests."

Before I could respond, a student sitting across the aisle from him said, "Hey, in this class, she means it.  You better take notes."

What is the point?   

Content Mastery, Not Just a Passing Grade!

Our job is to empower our students.  Our job is to teach the way they need to learn.  Our job is to give second and third chances during the developmental stages of our content so they don't need them by the time they get to the final.


I always tell my students they have the right to fail my class, but I have a responsibility to make failure harder than passing would be.

Do your students get "do-overs?"  Do they start each unit, semester, and year with a clean slate?

Make sure, when they fail, that they fail forward.

The only ultimate failure is falling down one more time than we get up.

What Happened Over the Holidays?

It seems the same Christmas holidays that bring us joy and celebrate peace on earth bring out the "Crazies!"  There is an increase in violence in its many forms.  Driving on the freeways sometimes feels like a contact sport.  And how about this weather craziness?

A few years ago, we got notice that one of our students wasn't going to graduate with his class.  Shocked...he was on track just a few months earlier...we started asking questions to find out what happened.  It seems his history teacher noticed a "major change in his behavior" when he returned from Christmas vacation.  She suspected he was using drugs but didn't know what to do about it so she did nothing!

What was the problem?  It wasn't drugs...then.  By the time she sent home a non-graduation notice, it was.

The culprit?  Grandma died over Christmas vacation, and in his mind, Grandma was the only person in the whole world who loved him (of course that isn't true...but when it is true in their minds, we must deal with it as fact to help them through their crisis).

Helping him mourn Grandma would have been so easy.  Instead, a normal life event became a big life crisis.  Instead of prevention and helping him with healthy grief strategies, he needed intervention and major rehabilitation.

There are two tragedies in this true story:

1. What could have been a healthy grief lesson turned into a lost diploma, a life wracked with substance abuse, and a long road to recovery.
2. A teacher saw the signs but did NOTHING.  Ignoring an unacceptable behavior doesn't make it go away.  

When you see the signs, ACT.  Act now.  Get help.
 
Lockett Learning Systems has resources to help you with your children and/or students who are grieving.

Pay It Forward

Christmas is a season of giving.  Ask your students to give, too.


When I created SCORE, we designed multiple interventions for our students.  We called it "spoon feeding" them.  We counseled, tutored, motivated, offered field trips, worked with their parents.  It was wonderful, and they responded...

The first year.

By year 2, they began dropping out.  We had to re-think our effort and realized that "spoon feeding" is for infants.  By year 2, they were ready to give back.  If we didn't create an opportunity for that to happen, they looked for another cause to become involved in.

We designed a 4-year plan that started with "spoon feeding."  Year 2, we continued services, but they had a responsibility to mentor younger classmates.  By year 3, their responsibilities increased and their services increased.  By their senior year, they had a wealth of experience...mentoring, tutoring, providing guidance and information...and they got more benefits.

It worked!  In our first graduating class, 40% graduated in the top 12 1/2% of their class.

With opportunity comes responsibility.  Pay it Forward!

I Just Don't Understand This New Group of Kids!

Things change. 

I began my teaching career in the wake of the Viet Nam rebellion.  Campus culture had changed.  Drugs were rampant.  "Everybody's Doing It" was the life motto.  None of the motivational teaching techniques I had learned worked on this changing population. 

I've been at this long enough to realize that everything changes!  We have a new population, and what we learned in school doesn't always work with them.  

We must constantly be learning and growing ourselves.  Otherwise, we become bitter which means we are the problem, not our students.

The thing is...we don't often like what we see with a new generation.  Current surveys say the new generation of employees have no work ethic.  Yikes!

We educators continually face two dilemmas:

 Is our job to teach students our subject or to keep them from destroying their futures with whatever vice is in at the moment? 

We know the answer.  Our job is to do both.

Is it more important to demand excellence or to instill a love of learning in our students?

We know the answer.  We have to do both.

We can't do it alone.  We need parents as our partners.


As a beginning teacher, I had no children of my own.  I was reluctant to contact parents...they intimidated me. 

As a parent, I realize that anyone who loves my child is a friend, not a foe.  We are on the same team.  I can face any parent with any problem and begin the conversation with a version of, "You have an amazing son (daughter)!"  Parents are begging to become involved.  They are seeking tools. If schools survive this generation, we must empower parents and learn how to partner with them.

My evening parent workshops are usually scheduled from 7:00 to 8:30.  I always begin and end on time, out of respect for those who come on time and those who need closure so they can leave.  Then I say, "I'll be here to answer questions as long as you like." 

At my first meeting, I formally closed at 8:30, and no one budged.  They began asking questions.  The custodian kicked us out shortly before 10:00 PM.  Parents are insatiable when it comes to learning tools to help their children! 

Find tools and programs for your PTA meetings in Home Sweet Homework.

Don't be intimidated by parents.  You're on the same team.  Teaching can be a lonely profession.  It is always easier, more productive, and more fun to work as a team. 

Disarming the Grain of Truth for Success in College

There is a sick joke among college professors:

"You send us your children in September, and 

we try really hard to send them back home before Halloween!"

Sadly, there is a grain of truth in this statement.  The first six weeks of college are crucial; many students drop out that quickly.

There is a grain of truth inside almost every criticism and almost every sick joke.  Our job, as both parents and educators, is to find that grain of truth and do something to offset it.

Disarm that grain of truth!  Here are four practices to implement long before your children are looking into colleges:  

Mindset of the Student.  I attended my college reunion when my son was a senior in high school.  Chatting with an old friend, he asked about my family.  I told him my son wanted to attend Point Loma, but I didn't know if I wanted to work hard enough to pay for a private college because he certainly wasn't "studious."  My friend laughed and said, "How soon we forget!  You and I were not studious!"  I looked at his business card..."Superintendent of Schools," an laughed.  Yes, how soon we forget! 

Let's plant a mindset in our children from birth that success...in college and in life...is hard work, but let's not forget that their informal education is also valuable. Help them to learn from their little mistakes.  Then the big ones won't be quite as traumatic.

Mindset of the Institution. I met with one of my SCORE students who earned his Bachelor's degree from UC Irvine and his Masters from Harvard.  I asked him to compare the two institutions.  Without hesitation, he said, "At UCI, they told me, 'don't fail; don't fail.'  At Harvard, they told me, 'Succeed!'" 

Let's plant in our children a mindset of success...from birth through adulthood.

Academic Preparation. Students with good study (metacognition) skills graduate at higher rates than their peers.  They have learned how to negotiate content and adapt learning skills to meet their goals. 

Teach your children to experiment with learning tools.  Make sure your school teaches metacognition (check out our curriculum...LockettLearningSystems.com ).

Emotional/Social Preparation. During my son's junior year of high school, two colleagues' children were kicked out of college because of the fallout of substance abuse.  It is traumatic to leave home and assume responsibility for yourself for the first time in your life.  We joke about the "Freshman 10," indicating that we expect freshmen to gain weight now that they must manage their own eating habits.  That is minor compared to the problems associated with poor life choices. 

Teach children to be responsible and make their own decisions while they're still home.  Ease that transition.  I gave my son "custody of himself" during his senior year.  He could make his own decisions about when to go to bed, what to eat, where to go.  He also had to assume responsibility to get his homework done, keep his grades up, ask for help when he needed it, and get up in the morning in time for school.  I maintained veto power to prevent something harmful, and we talked about his decisions...but he had experience taking care of himself before he left home.  He gained his "freshman 10" at home drinking cokes instead of at college drinking beer.  We discussed making healthy choices.  It was a good trade-off.  

Success really is the best revenge!  May all your children and students sail through Halloween!  

Just 15 Minutes. I Promise!

“If your children are not reading at grade level by third grade, they have already failed college.”  

–Madeline Hunter

Reading is the primary focus and great divider of children Kindergarten through Grade 5.  When I work with schools and parents who are concerned because their children struggle to learn, usually poor reading skills is the root cause...from kindergarten through college.

We now expect kindergarteners to have well developed pre-reading skills.  If your children are not reading at grade level by the end of kindergarten, get help.

Oh, Yes!  I can help you!  Here is the easiest technique I know for building strong readers:  

Choral read with your children for 15 minutes a day, every day.

That means find a book (any book) your child will enjoy, sit beside your child, and the two of you read it aloud simultaneously for 15 minutes a day.  

That's it.  It's that simple.  In one month, you will see a noticeable improvement in both speed and accuracy.  I promise!

The side-by-side simultaneous reading helps children learn left to right, pronunciation, auditory clues to words they can't sound out intuitively, interpretation, and inflection.  It helps them with both word recognition and phonics.

It comes with other benefits, too. The biggest is quality time!  You enjoy 15 uninterrupted minutes a day, every day, exploring the world with your child.

By the way, this technique is so powerful that my schools require it of their parents.

Find this and other techniques for both school and parent at LockettLearning!