#SAVMP: Our Perspectives

I wanted to post some collective thoughts on the School Administrator Virtual Mentoring Program I have been a part of for the past year. #SAVMP connects current and aspiring administrators from around the world and I was so lucky to even participate in the program. My fellow mentee (@AndrewSharosAP) and my mentor (@TonySinanis) wanted to contribute a collaborative blog post that summarized our experience learning from each other. 

You will find similar posts to mine on Andrew's blog.

And on Tony's blog here.

I am looking forward to expanding #savmp within my own school district and am so grateful to the work of George Couros and Amber Teamann to connect us. This was an awesome example of how a PLN can really help us grow together.

 1. Why did I sign up for #SAVMP?

Andrew: I was an Assistant Dean and Social Studies teacher in a high school setting looking for an administrative position when I first heard about #SAVMP. I knew it was a great opportunity for me to learn and grow as a school leader. I was interested in connecting with people from outside my PLN and outside my district. I think the perspective that the program offered afforded me a great opportunity to learn more about leadership. I did not know what to expect when we first started but I knew that I had absolutely nothing to lose by signing up.

John: I saw a post on Twitter from George Couros about developing a mentorship program for new administrators. At the time I was finishing up my Educational Leadership program and wanted to continue to learn from others, I knew this would be a great way to continue my learning.
 

Tony: I was entering my ninth year as an elementary level building administrator and for the first time in my career, I genuinely felt like I might have something to offer a new or aspiring educational leader. The possibility of mentoring someone was of interest to me because as an educator I feel it is my responsibility to support and encourage those new to the field - to possibly help them avoid some of the landmines I hit during the early stages of my career and meet with greater levels of success. Also, it was clear to me that being paired with people through a mentoring program meant that I would do a lot of learning myself and that is always a priority for me. The appeal of #SAVMP was that it was using Twitter as the platform for the mentoring experience and that definitely spoke to my interests and made me feel like it would be much more manageable.

2. How did #SAVMP help you learn and grow as an administrator?

Andrew: I am one of those people who claim, “I have never won anything in my life”... until now. I won the lottery by getting Tony Sinanis as my mentor. He immediately reached out to me through twitter and we began learning together right away. He gave me feedback on my blog posts and encouraged me to stretch my thinking as a school leader. I think more than anything, #SAVMP exposed me to a different type of school leader than I have observed in my career. There’s power in learning from someone across the country who works with a different population. There’s agency in a process that encourages sharing of ideas and leadership styles. My interaction with my mentor provided all of that, and more. As I began to interview for different administrative jobs, I scheduled Google Hangouts and phone calls with my mentor. Tony was an amazing asset to have in my corner- always coaching me on the logistics of answering questions but also giving me the confidence I needed to be successful.

John: By taking on a mentor who is completely outside of my own school, district, and state I knew it would allow me a chance to look at education, and leadership through a completely different lens. When I was partnered with Tony Sinanis, I knew I was extremely fortunate. Tony reached out to me and immediately began to develop a relationship with me that went beyond the world of Twitter. Tony invited me to his school to see how his school functions and what a typical day looks like for him. I was immediately blown away. It is easy for someone to state what they believe on Twitter or in a blog post, but it another thing completely to turn those beliefs into reality. That is what Tony Sinanis has done at Cantiague Elementary school in Jericho, New York. We spent the entire day in classrooms and I was treated like a celebrity by the student just because I knew Mr. Sinanis. The students at his school absolutely love him because Tony sees them as children, not test scores. He knows EVERY student’s name and can talk to them about their individual interests. I left Cantiague knowing I had a great of work to do to build these types of relationships at my own school. However, I was comforted by the fact that I had seen a great school in action and if Tony could do it, so could I. Throughout the year I would throw questions at Tony about how he would handle different situations and no matter how busy he was, he was always able to get back to me and give me a piece of advice.

Tony: From my vantage point, it is clear that I learned so much more from Andrew and John than they did from me. Their enthusiasm, passion and willingness to take risks in their current roles was an incredible inspiration for me. They provided me opportunities to dialogue about leadership, the current landscape of public education, pedagogy and a bunch of other topics that I am incredibly passionate about and love discussing. Through our conversations and exchanges - whether through email, Voxer, text, in person, through a GHO, I was able to deliberate with them and broaden my point of view and perspectives, which helped me become a better leader and educator. I have done a lot of research about the idea of social learning and the power of learning through social interactions with other like-minded people and the #SAVMP became just that for me - I was learning something through every interaction I had with John and Andrew and was fortunate to be associated with them. Being that I technically had the title of mentor in this relationship, the highlights for me were the successes that Andrew and John experienced this year - John successfully completing his first year as a building administrator; Andrew securing his first administrative position; John pushing me to participate in national podcasts with our kids; and Andrew becoming a father. These are just some of the highlights and in the end, it is an honor to be associated with these incredible educators who have become friends and mentors for me.   
 

3. What will this program mean for you going forward?

Andrew: I am so thankful to Amber and George for helping me connect to some great leaders in our field. I would love to continue on as a #SAVMP mentor or mentee to continue learning and blogging. I was not able to answer all of the blog topics every week so I am excited to double back to some of them in the future. I would also like to start a mini-admin mentoring program in my own school district using #SAVMP as a model.

John: I am grateful for the opportunity Amber Teamann and George Courus provided me with, to connect and learn from Tony. I feel as though we have developed a stronger relationship than I could have ever expected when I started this program. Moving forward I feel like I am just as lucky to be connected with Andrew. I was lucky to have Tony as a mentor and hear his words of wisdom, but having Andrew to learn with will be an added bonus that I did not foresee when I started #SAVMP. I can’t wait to schedule an #Edcamp where the three of us can get together face to face for the first time.

Tony: There is no doubt that going forward the #SAVMP experience has left an indelible mark on me - both personally and professionally. First off, a special thank you to George Couros and Amber Teamann for facilitating this experience because once again, they helped push me out of my comfort zone and gave me access to experiences that helped me learn and grow. Second of all, I now have access to two awesome educators from different parts of the country who I can rely on for support, perspective and ideas and that is definitely a critical part of the PLN. Finally, participating in #SAVMP has given me two new friends who make my world a better place - I cannot wait until the next time I get to collaborate with John and Andrew! ROCK ON!

How Many Windows Does Your School Have?

One of the things I am most passionate about is trying to make our schools as transparent as possible.  We live in a world where you can start your car from 1,000 miles away (still not sure why you would need to do this), answer emails anywhere you can receive a cell signal, and check your bank account 24/7 and know the exact balance to the penny.  With all of these new technologies we need to leverage some of them to help parents stay more informed about their most prized possession, their children.  We need to create virtual windows where parents can connect with the school on their phone or computer.  Here are three ways to try and make your school more transparent.  


1. Weekly Newsletter
Traditionally parents have received a weekly newsletter from schools keeping them informed about the learning that takes place in the building.  There were two problems with this.  1st many students would lose the newsletter before they walked in the door to show mom and dad.  2nd it is from an adult perspective, not one of the students who are the experts about what is happening in school.  Students are the ones living it every day and we should consult them.  To address this problem I tried to emulate Tony Sinanis and contact a weekly podcast to keep parents informed.  The feedback from parents has been very positive, they love being informed and seeing the students front and center is what makes the videos amazing.  

2. Window into the Classroom
When I sent out our first video I asked parents for any feedback they could give me.  I thank them for getting back to me with two suggestions.  #1:  Fix the camera angle so the viewer doesn't feel like they are looking up the entire video.  That will be an easy fix, no problem there.  #2: Parents would like to see images of students in action as they are learning.  While I will not be able to incorporate those action shots into the Weekly Podcast we send out, we do have an idea to help parents see students in action.  Our administration is hoping our Board of Education will allow us to take pictures of the students in action and then use Twitter to share those images of students with parents.  At the end of the week we will send out an email via Storify to show the parents action shots of the students.  By creating this window into the classrooms we are hoping to change the conversation at home.  As students come home from school the question is no longer, "What did you do in school today?" It is now, "Tell me more about that science experiment I saw you working on today."  It allows parents to stay engaged and have much more meaningful conversations with their students.  



3. Phone Calls Home
While new technologies are great, a phone call home is necessary to communicate with parents on a more personal level.  This year we have our grade level teams to reach out and contact parents at least once by phone before our Back to School Night.  The teachers who have done this have received positive feedback from parents.  Teachers said parents were so surprised to get a phone call when their son or daughter was doing well.  I have tried once a week to make a positive phone call home to at least one student this year.  There are weeks where I have been able to call up to five and weeks where I only called one.  As an administrator I need to do a better job calling parents about the positive, our school has so many fantastic students it is not difficult to find some to highlight.  I just need to do a better job balancing my time to make this possible.  

I am hopeful these three windows, along with traditional ones, will keep parents better informed about what is happening in our schools.  In our community most families have two parents who are at work during the day.  When they come home at night they are busy with so many things from making dinner, to driving to lacrosse practice, to helping with homework, they don't always have time to take a breath and have a long conversation about what happened in school.  Most parents do have a phone however, and if we can push out meaningful information to a parent's phone they can look at that information at a time that is convenient for them.  Parents are our most valuable allies, and we need to do everything we can to keep them informed, breakdown the walls of the school, and get them involved.  I'd like to thank Amber Teamann for reminding me that regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to:   

• Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs
• Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits
• Hve better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school
• Graduate and go on to postsecondary education. (Henderson & Mapp 2002)

I am a new administrator, and I realize I have a great deal to learn.  If you have other ideas on how to 'Add More Windows' into your school, help keep parents informed,  and become more involved in the school I would love to hear them.

Introducing Connected Education

Source: http://nickapedia.com/2010/09/30/vision-of-a-creator-the-silent-revolution-in-technology/

Recently I had my first Back to School Night as an administrator and I was excited about a few minor changes that were taking place. (Click here to read about this in a previous post.)   One of the changes I was most excited about having our first ever Student Ambassadors be a part of our back to school night.  The students were to introduce teachers and discuss how they overcame difficulties during a class or talk about a challenging and exciting project students should be looking out for.  When these students were selected they were extremely excited.  They were filled with pride and smiled ear to ear as they entered my office and I handed them a permission slip that needed to be signed by their parents.  At the bottom of the permission slip I made it a requirement for the students to reflect on their experience.  I did this for three reasons, to reflect, connect, and inspire.

Student Reflection:
Most of the time we ask students to reflect after they have done something wrong, we rarely ask them to stop and take a few minutes to reflect after being successful.  All of our students were extremely successful, they shared favorite moments from last year in school, they provided parents with helpful hints on how to navigate a new grade level successfully, and even provided a laugh with an inside story about a teacher.  Many of the students wrote down what they would say and practiced several times at home in front of parents or even in front of a mirror and I wanted them to see how this hard-work and preparation lead to success.  I was hopeful they would come to realize that even if they were nervous they are capable of controlling their fear and overcome it.

Student Connection:
My school is a place where students and teachers are passionate about learning and growing.  It is a place where you will see teachers go out of their way to help students on both a personal and academic level.  It is a place where once new ideas are shared teachers and students are both eager to try something new.  I realize how lucky I am to be in a school that values new ideas, and I want to help both the staff and students see beyond the walls of the classroom.  A first step in accomplishing this goal was to post Student Ambassador reflections below.  I am asking readers to please leave comments for these tremendous students to show them how powerful it can be to connect with educators and students outside of their school.  They have not had much experience connecting with 'outsiders' and I would be grateful for them to have this experience.

Student Inspiration:
Once students realize they have an audience outside of the school that is interested in his/her Student Ambassador experience, I am hoping a few students become inspired to share something they are personally passionate about online.  Connecting about a school assignment the Assistant-Principal assigned is one thing, but connecting with others about your passion is quite another.  I am hopeful students are inspired to share their passion with others in a positive way online.  If they are able to do so it will change the way they learn and grow exponentially, I know it did for me.

Skyler's Reflection

Mikey's Reflection

Grace's Reflection

An's Reflection

Jack's Reflection

Dayton's Reflection

What is Your Vision for Your School? #SAVMP

As part of the School Administration Virtual Mentorship Program the question I was asked was: "What is your vision for your school?"  I feel as though when I think about what I want my school to be, there is way too much  My vision can be broken down into three parts for teachers and students:

Be kinder than necessary

Find what excites or motivations you and go for it.

Don't settle, for OK, make yourself amazing.

As I was sitting down to write this post I saw what Jason Markey was doing as he welcomed his freshman to his school for the first time.  If you haven't seen the welcome video his staff and students created you should watch it here.  This is definitely something I would like to do next year.  Towards the end of the video he asks three things of his students:

Be kind

Find your passion

Commit to Excellence

I quickly realized that Jason's had a much cleaner way of delivering that same message and it is important this message be clear and repeatable, so I will be using some of his phrases as I explain my vision.

Be Kinder Than Necessary

Middle school is a tough place, and I believe it is difficult because students are trying to learn who they are, what they should be like.  As they attempt to figure this out they will undoubtably try on many hats, and that is a good thing, to find their true voice, to find who they really are and the people that make them happy.  However, I want to deliver the message that no matter who you decide to be, no matter what group of people you surround yourself with, we all need to be kinder than necessary.   As many of you know I am stealing the phrase from the book Wonder, about a 5th grade student entering middle school for the first time.  No matter what level of education you are involved with, if kindness is an important message you want to deliver you need to read this book. Being kind to one another allows students to open up and be themselves, it allows them to take risks, it allows them to focus on school instead of worrying about what someone else is going to do or say to them.

Find Your Passion

I want my school to be a place where students are excited to learn.  While it is true that every student cannot be excited about every single lesson, I believe it is up to every school and every student to develop their passions.  We loose too many students, and I believe a great number of boys, through our belief in what school should be.  I want to encourage teachers to take calculated risks, to allow students to develop their interests.  While I would not make it mandatory, I would encourage teachers to create their own Genius Hour, or develop their own Innovation Day to help students develop these passions.  Seth Godin struck a cord with me when he said, "If it is work, they try to figure out how to do less, if it is art, they try to figure out how to do more."   I want to help the teachers make learning as authentic as they can to help drive our education to become more like art.  If school is supposed to be for the students, shouldn't we at least discover what they students are passionate about?

Commit to Excellence

Being good at something is easy, achieving excellence is hard.  I want my school to be a place where everyone realizes their is a price for greatness.  To be great you must, you must first acknowledge there are things you need to work on and improve.  That self-reflection can be scary the first time you do it, and if the school is not a kind place to be, it will never happen.  Next you must commit to fighting through tough times.  We must let students and staff know there will be times during the year when you are having difficulty, how are we going to handle it?  We need to persevere and keep moving forward to develop our grit.  I am in agreement with Angela Lee Duckworth when she says that IQ scores, and socioeconomic status are not the best predictors of success outside of school, it is a students Grit, that is the best predictor.  How do they respond to adversity?  What happens when they fail?  How do they get up and keep working?  We need to all commit to excellence, develop our Grit, and keep moving forward.

This is the vision I have for my school.

Why Lead? #SAVMP

George Couros asked this question as part of his School Administrators Virtual Mentor Program, or #SAVMP, which I feel lucky enough to be a part of.  The reason I chose to be in a leadership position was because I feel as though teaching is difficult work.  It takes tremendous patience, determination, creativity, intelligence, and empathy to be a teacher.  On top of that, teachers are being pulled in many different directions lately with the sweeping changes that have come across the board.  In New Jersey over the last year teachers have had to adjust the three enormous changes:

• Become fluent with Common Core State Standards
• Adjust to a new assessment model through which they will be observed
• Deal with the continuing pressures of high-stakes testing

While I understand why these changes were made, and do not disagree with their potential positive impact on student learning, I feel teachers can become overwhelmed by them and not have the time to develop their passion.  

I read a story recently where President Kennedy was in a meeting with Charlie Luce Booth, a political advisor, who had some advice for the President.  He told the President his ideas were too scattered, and he wasn't focused enough on one or two things he was passionate about.  That he couldn't make a real impact and be remembered if did re-focus his energy.  Booth said:  

"A great man is a sentence.  'He preserved the union and freed the slaves ... or He lifted us out of  the Great Depression and helped win a World War'  A great man is a sentence.  What is yours Mr. President?"  

I want to help teachers to find their sentence.  For the last few years I have noticed teachers becoming so overwhelmed by what they must do, that they have a difficult time developing lessons they are passionate about.  Teachers are at their best when they can stand in front of a class excited about the lesson they are about to teach.  Students learn best from an engaging teacher who is completely engulfed in what he or she is teaching.  As a leader, I want to help teachers rediscover their passion and  develop their own sentence about who they are as a teacher.  I feel this will allow the teachers to inspire students to do great work instead of requiring work to be submitted.   Your thoughts?