Step Outside Your School

This week in New Jersey educators had Thursday and Friday off to attend the Teachers' Convention in Atlantic City.  I believe this is something New Jersey gets right!  Giving teachers two days to develop their craft, learn new strategies, collaborate with colleagues, and maybe even have some fun in A.C. at the same time.  I am addicted to learning new things, but I did not attend the Convention this year.  Instead I took Tony Sinanis up on his offer to see his school, Cantiague Elementary, in action.  I connected with Tony on Twitter over a year ago, was able to meet him at Joe Mazza's #ParentCamp, and he is now my mentor via George Couros and his #SAVMP project.  Tony currently holds the title of Elementary Principal of the Year from the Bammy Awards, and his school was a National Blue Ribbon Award winner.  That is a lot of hardware for a school and I wanted to see what made Cantiague so great.  

1. Student Choice 

Students had amazing opportunities when it came to choice.  When visiting Reading Workshop classes the teacher used authentic texts to instruct and then every student had books to choose from.  As I traveled from room to room students were excited about reading and eager to discuss their books with Mr. Sinanis.  In kindergarten students were able to fill their bags with short books for them to practice their reading.  In other grades there were projects that were allowed to be completed many different ways.  From posters, and models to PowerPoints, and Prezis it was clear the students were given many choices along the way.   

2. Rigor

Yes, I know this is the trendy word now in education and I have to admit every time I hear it I picture kids sweating over a worksheet.  In Tony's school there was rigor because the teachers had such high expectations.  In a fourth grade Reading Workshop lessons the teachers and students were having a back and forth conversation about symbolism.  As Tony gave new parents a tour of the school, the parents were amazed by the reading taking place.  As they entered a new room they saw students independently devouring books and the mom said to Tony, "So ... this is second grade?"  Tony politely corrected her and told her they were actually in a kindergarten class.  

3. Teaching Philosophy

The teachers at Cantiague all worked towards teaching in small groups or teaching 1:1.  In most classes the lessons were set up in a way where the teacher taught a new concept to the students in about 10-15 minutes, then visited students to work with them in a smaller setting.  As teachers met with the students they were constantly taking notes, most of them on iPads, using programs like Evernote and Google Docs to document the learning taking place.  I saw teachers who had the conferencing part down to a science, they would meet with student for about seven minutes, gain some insight into how the student was doing with a specific skill, offer some helpful hints, take notes, and move on to the next student.  It felt like I was watching a doctor do medical rounds, I was amazed.  I believe the school has this practice down so well because it's Instructional Leader still takes part in the lessons.  He will sit on the floor with students to read and ask questions, and he practices what he preaches.  

4. Allignment

Every class had recently published their Writing Workshop pieces and displayed them for everyone to see.  There was no class that was Going Rogue, or marching to the beat of a different drummer.  The teachers know they have a tremendously important role to play in a student's education.  But at Cantiague they see the bigger picture.  The teachers see how when everyone in the school picks up the same rope and pulls in the same direction they have a greater impact on a student than just one year, they are setting up that student to have great success year after year after year.

                          

5. Love

I have a feeling many administrators are trying to do the things Tony has accomplished.  They are trying to align their curriculum in a meaningful way, they are trying to have all teachers agree on the same basic principals of a teaching philosophy, and trying to have rigor added to the curriculum.  What separates Tony from most principals is his love of his students and of his teachers.  The teachers know when he introduces a change he is doing it with the best interest of his students in mind.  They can see how he greats students and finds out about their personal lives.  Tony is a resource to his teachers so when he has an idea he goes into their classroom and models what it could look like.  As we walked from room to room there was never a time when a teacher tensed-up because the principal was in the room.  It is such a common practice for Tony to enter classrooms the learning just continued.  Teachers also indicated to me how nice it was to get notes from him when he visits.  The only time Tony was in his office the entire time I visited the school was to film one of his school videos.  He loves his school so much he needs to be immersed in it everyday.  Tony's nurturing, loving quality is what has allowed his school to become great.

I'd like to thank Tony for allowing me to step into his school and learn about the wonderful things going on at Cantiauge.  While I know I missed the New Jersey Teachers' Convention, I left inspired by what I saw at Cantiague.  As an administrator is difficult to step outside of your own school and see how things could be done differently in another school.  While it is not easy, I encourage others to find a school you respect greatly, and go there.  Not for a lesson or two, but for as much of the day as you can, to discover how it became great.