Hide & Seek

I got this image in an e-mail - the perils of being a surveyor in Alaska. Not quite the exercise I will be looking to do for a New Year's resolution. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable holiday season thus far and continues to find comfort in spending time with family and friends. As the year winds down, it is a great time to reflect on the past year and the things we were able to accomplish as well as those things we weren't. I know the list of things I would like to do in the coming year is long, but I've decided to take some advice I read recently on limiting the number of goals. I'll write more about that (on New Year's Day, of course.) May you have peace and love on this special day.

Thanksgiving

As the holiday season begins and Thanksgiving weekend has passed, I wanted to make a list of some of the things I was thankful for again this year. As I was driving in today, I was a sign that said something with the words "Gratitude" and "Attitude." (So much for details.)  I thought that so much of gratitude is our attitude about where we are in life and what we have. We need to be grateful for all the things in our life - they are there to teach us something - and hold that attitude daily. It is not always easy to do, but if we can convince ourselves to be grateful each and every day, things certainly seem to go a lot better. So, here are just a few things for which I am grateful. Happy Thanksgiving and may the holidays bring fellowship and good cheer.

1. Life

2. Love

3. Family

4. Health

5. Challenges 

6. Ideas

7. Friends and co-workers

8. Good food

8. 

Act Now

The title sounded a bit like a sales pitch when I wrote it. Maybe it is. The idea behind this post came from an article written by a person well-versed in that area.

The premise of the article was to not put off things you could do today to protect yourself in a number of different areas in your life, including personal, professional, and health. The author wrote that his wife had mentioned some months ago that they had a security system at one of their homes, but not the one in which they were currently residing. A comment of "Yeah we really should do that," was not followed up on. Of course a few weeks later, they were robbed. The point of the article being, don't put off until tomorrow the important things you could do today.

As I read the article, I thought, I really need to post to the blog, I haven't written for a while; I'll do that later. Thankfully, the article reached out of the computer screen, smacked me and said "read that again, it says act NOW." So I did. As is the case so many times when we don't put off things, it felt good to do it. For procrastinators, it can be difficult. For others, not so much.

One of the tools I've started using is a calendar on the computer that sends reminders for events that are scheduled. I'm finding that as I get those reminders, I'm more prone to either act on them right away or "snooze" them for a short time if I'm in the middle of something. I think I will add this article to my bulletin board, highlight the quote about acting now that is at the end of the article, and repeat the mantra, "Act Now."

Perceptions

I had a thought this morning as I reflected on an electronic conversation I had yesterday. As I sat working in Cody on our Body of Evidence document, I noticed it was snowing outside. I texted this back to Guernsey to find out it was sunny there. For some reason, it made me think of how perceptions can differ greatly in the same situation. Now, I realize we were in two widely separated geographic areas, but for some reason the analogy was there.

The stock market "corrections" is another example of how a persons' perception of things can determine how they feel about situations. One could look at the falling prices as an opportunity to invest in solid companies with good fundamentals at a time when emotion is overtaking the market. On the other hand, losing 40% (or more) of one's net worth may cause some to feel panic or confusion about what to do. I do understand as well that a person's situation will have a bearing on perception because someone who is relying on their savings and investments to live out retirement is in a different place than someone just starting out in their career. However, our perceptions will still determine whether we look at the glass as half full or half empty.

We do have a choice in such matters, and I believe we should exercise that choice in a positive manner. It reminds me of the elderly gentleman who was moving to an assisted living facility when asked how he thought he might like his room. "I love it," he said, without having seen it yet. Wake up every day with a similar thought - "it's a great day" (notice I didn't say "it 'will' be a great day") and the day and all that goes into it, will indeed be great.

Personal or Professional

A comment in the last post asked the question about personal vs. professional growth. As I thought about the question, I found myself thinking along two different lines. Reflection is so important for growth and I don't think most of us do enough of it.

The one avenue of thought I had was comparing personal and professional growth. I don't believe there is much of a difference. If it is true growth, I don't think there is. One might argue that a person could grow professionally and not personally, but to truly grow, there is only one way, and that is personally. Along those same lines, I don't think a person can help an organization grow if that person don't grow in some respect him or herself. This is how organizations can become stuck in the status quo. To me, it is similar to Einstein's comment about not being able to solve a problem "with the same mind that created it." If, as a leader, I don't grow (change) in some aspect, I don't think I can create the environment for growth or change in the organization.

My second line of thought had to do with perceptions. Our world is shaped by our perceptions. We see the world as we want and make judgments about what is happening around us based on that. I am reminded of the story of a man getting cut off in traffic who becomes irate and cusses and gestures at the person in the vehicle. Would his reaction have been the same had he known it was a family member rushing to the hospital? Would his perception of the situation change his reaction? More thoughts on that later.

Questioning

Following along a similar line to the previous post on reflection and the reader comment made me think of the book by Peter Block, The Answer to How is Yes.In it, Block writes that we tend to ask ourselves the wrong questions. These questions take the form of "How?" questions and tend to "(express) our bias for what is practical, concrete, and immediately useful, often at the expense of our values and idealism." 

Asking what Block calls Yes questions enables an individual or organization to focus on deeper concepts like values and purpose. Again, going back to the piece on reflection and the questions in the comments, this process is not always easy, nor should it be. However, when we do not look at bigger questions and concepts, we tend to get mired in the quick and easy answer, something that can lead us further from that which is important and worthwhile. 

For instance, one of the questions often asked is "How much does it cost?" Instead, Block suggests we ask ourselves, "What price are we willing to pay?" This price is not necessarily monetary. A bigger price can sometimes be paid when we take a risk and fail. The conversation though may lead to commitment to a path that leads to bigger things. As organizations and individuals, we must be willing to ask ourselves difficult questions and be prepared for the work that ensues as we look for answers that lead toward growth. 

Updating and Reflecting

A couple of weeks ago an account rep from a copier company came in and mentioned that he had read the post on "uncomfortable conversations." He said it pertained to him greatly, because as a someone in sales, the more uncomfortable conversations he might be able to have, the better he could serve his customers and create sales.

I didn't think much about it until later in the day, when a comment on the same post appeared that asked the question, "How many (uncomfortable conversations) have you avoided at the expense of growth or truth?"  The question caused me to reflect for quite some time. In fact, I am still asking myself that question and searching not only to answer that question, but to find an answer to the question of "Why?"  

Another thought that has occurred to me is that these conversations are not necessarily between two persons. The conversations we have with ourselves present some of the biggest obstacles to success. How often do we sit back and reflect on our own thinking and the discussions that occur internally? How does our own mind cloud our thinking, producing negative results? 

I am reminded of a Buddhist proverb that states, "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear."  If we open our mind to allowing learning to come to us, all sorts of opportunities come our way. 

Uncomfortable Conversations

An article in LeaderTalk got me thinking about some things. One of the contributors wrote of his new-found habit of starting conversations with strangers and learning from them. It reminded me of something Tim Ferris wrote in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek. To paraphrase the book - a person's success is related to the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.
I found that interesting, and along with the LeaderTalk article, have decided to pursue that a bit further. It seems to me, in this age of political correctness and more volatile society, that we sometimes avoid difficult conversations at the expense of growth or truth. Overcoming the fear of rejection or failure that accompanies talking to strangers or having uncomfortable conversations with anyone is the first step in achieving success at this type of communication. I would be interested to hear of success or learning that has occurred from an experience with this.

Advice

I was recently reading an article in the May 12, 2008 edition of Fortune. The article was entitled, "The Best Advice I Ever Got," and was an interview with several highly successful persons from the business world about the best, and for some the worst, advice they had ever been given. 

Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of Pepsico, was one of the interviewees and her best advice came from her father. He told her that, "whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent." Her thought is that too often we assume the negative intent, get angry, and risk missing an opportunity to learn something from someone else. What also tends to happen in those situations is that both persons in the conversation become defensive and negative and nothing good comes from that. 

I once learned from William Glasser in his book, Stations of the Mind, that there is a gap of time between stimulus and response. (I may be paraphrasing greatly, but that is how I remember it.) Anyway, in that gap, we have the opportunity to choose our response. So often, we choose unconsciously and allow emotions to direct our response. By adopting Nooyi's philosophy of finding the positive intent, we begin to see opportunities to listen, build relationships, and find success.  

We can Learn

I read a recent Scientific American online article about a study done that showed that certain memory exercises can bolster intelligence. There are critics of the study and its methodology, but if the data holds, it is a great finding. It is common thought among psychologists, that transference of improved intellectual skills from one kind of task to another does not work. This study would alter that line of thought.

As I think of this, I am reminded of the studies on expectations and success. Students whose parents and teachers hold high expectations and helped their students realize that they could learn tend to learn at a higher rate. In another study, students who were led to believe they could learn a subject, even if that subject were difficult for them, had more improvement than those that didn't believe. One example of this might be math. Too often I've heard from parents or other adults, "I understand why he/she can't learn math. I wasn't very good at it either." Instead, we must help our children see that learning some subjects may be difficult, it is not an impossible task. Giving examples of others who struggled with the subject before finally "getting it," helps provide students with a model for perseverance in learning. 

What do we measure

I began thinking about measurement after reading a short article on LeaderTalk about a book that discussed certain aspects of measurement. One of the premises of the author was that of making sure we are measuring what is important rather than measuring a lot of things. In particular, we want to avoid measuring for the sake of gathering data before determining if the data is worthwhile.

No pun intended

One of the things I find sometimes gets lost in our day-to-day living is a sense of humor and laughter. Not only does effective use of humor help make people feel better, it has also been shown to help strengthen our immune system as well as help children learn. So in that vein, here's a link to some creative puns. Enjoy and if you have a favorite, post it in the comments section. 

Nutrition and Academics

Somehow, I think this topic may keep appearing here. Having firsthand experience with the benefits of healthy eating, I am pleased to see more data backing up the success with such good habits.

A study from the University of Alberta determined used a scoring device call the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) to determine diet quality. "Students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake and less caloric intake from fat were significantly less likely to fail (a) literacy assessment. Relative to students in the group with the lowest DQI-I scores, students in the group with the best scores were 41 % less likely to fail the literacy assessment."

Forty-one percent is a large difference and it would seem to me that providing a more healthy diet for students would not only help them in school, but in life as well. Many studies exist to show that longevity, decreased risks of disease, and better function are linked to a healthy diet. I would think all those would be worth the effort to make such a change, especially for our children.

Shorting trades

No this is not an article about stocks and investing. Here is a link to an article on the shortage of apprentices in the construction trades. Although the article is based in Seattle, I think the same holds true throughout the country. Education's shift away from offering trade-based education as well as other electives due to NCLB has helped create this shortage. Students whose strengths and interests lie in these areas then have fewer opportunities to excel, exacerbating the problem of disengagement. Schools can find ways to offer the electives, training staff to integrate the core academic areas into those electives to help students receive a great education.

Starting Young

I found an interesting article about companies targeting middle school students in their recruitment effort. By building brand recognition, these companies not only provide students with help in preparing for life after secondary school, but are hoping that students will remember them after graduation when seeking employment. The more information that our students get, at younger ages, the better prepared they will be to make career choices later.

Helping out

It has been awhile since I've written and the reasons are pretty poor. 

"I can't think of anything helpful to write."

"I'll get to it tomorrow." (And as we all know tomorrow never comes.)

However, after reading a short e-newsletter, I realized that information, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, can be useful for someone. The article was oriented toward networking, but the theme is the same no matter what we are doing: Help other people; be intentional; and look for ways to help every person you meet.

The key point is to "cultivate a habit of being interested in the needs of others." It reminds me of an earlier post on becoming a needs hunter. Once needs are discovered, you are well on your way to finding a way to help.

With that in mind, I will try to help others by providing information that may be useful here. If it is, great. If not, stay tuned. Maybe a future link, or article, or insight will provide you with a nugget you can use.

Professional Development

As Guernsey-Sunrise continues to find ways to increase student achievement, one of the things we are doing is to increase professional development for staff. There is research that shows that the teacher is a powerful influence on student achievement. Now an article in Education Week shows research that confirms that students of teachers that have had high quality professional development had higher gains on reading test scores.

One of the obstacles to providing high quality professional development tends to be finding time to implement such programs. It is an area that we will continue to look at improving and working with to enhance the achievement of our students.

National Board Certification

I had the honor of attending a dinner last night celebrating the newest National Board Certified Teachers in Wyoming. Guernsey-Sunrise's own Kathy Watson was one of the 67 new recipients. Congratulations, Kathy.

Teachers that pursue National Board certification have to meet rigorous standards in order to achieve this designation. The task is not easy, but is well worth the effort as each teacher who goes through the process comes away a better teacher. The Ellbogen Foundation, the Wyoming legislature, and other partners realize the importance of the journey teachers take to achieve certification. Their financial support helps provide not only an incentive to partake in this meaningful work, but validation of its importance. This past year, the number of NBCTs in Wyoming increased over 300% from the previous year, they highest gain in the nation. I hope the growth in NBC teachers continues, as it can only help better the learning of the students of Wyoming.

Perkins funding cut

President Bush's proposed budget has eliminated funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. This would reduce the amount of money available for career and technical education as it takes away state grants that help fund those programs. This money helps schools develop programs that meet the needs of more students. In a time when the Wyoming workforce is in need of skilled workers, cutting career and technical education is not in the best interest of our students nor the state.

Click here to read about what other programs are proposed to be cut.

Contact your U.S. legislators to express displeasure with these budget cuts.

Senator Mike Enzi
http://www.senate.gov/~enzi/
100 East B Street, Room 3201 P.O. Box 33201 Casper, Wyoming 82602
Phone: (307) 261-6572

Senator John Barrasso
http://barrasso.senate.gov
100 East B Street, Suite 2201 P.O. Box 22201 Casper, Wyoming 82602
Phone: (307) 261-6413

US Representative Barbara Cubin
1114 Longworth, HOB Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2311
http://www.house.gov/cubin/

Contact the White House:
White House Comment Line - (202) 456-1111
White House Fax Line - (202) 456-2461
President Bush's email - president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Cheney's email - vicepresident@whitehouse.gov
White House address - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500

Listen Up

A recent study  from Vanderbilt University found that when adults listened to 4- and 5-year olds explain their learning, the children's ability to transfer their knowledge to unique problems increased. If we want our students to be able to solve problems, asking for an explanation will help them get better. The same holds true for older students as well. Explaining forces a student to use the same skills they would use to solve a novel problem, thus enhancing those skills. So, if you want to help a child improve his or her problem-solving skills, have them explain their reasoning. 

Doing Right

Too many times, we read the newspaper and hear about things that are wrong with education. A brief article I read recently was about some kids in Maryland that are being honored for doing something right.

Fifth-grade students from Crellin Elementary School in Maryland will receive the National Civic Star Award from the American Association of School Administrators this month. The honor goes to the students for their work in getting an industrial site cleaned up near their school. The site was polluting their playground and a nearby stream and when students noticed they decided to do something about it. They worked with their teachers, families, the Department of Natural Resources, and Bureau of Mines to clean up the site.

By working together, a problem was solved. As educators, we need to be aware of the many opportunities to work with students to address issues in our communities. We can help our students make the news, in a positive fashion.

Never too late

This is a link to an interesting article about a former teacher, now an author, who finally learned to read after many years of not having that ability. On the one hand, it is a testament to the fact that we are never too old to learn yet the amazing thing is that, while he was illiterate, he got a job teaching.

The story brought me back to the point of life-long learning that we try to instill in our students (and staff for that matter.) The world is changing rapidly and those persons who use their ability to adapt and learn will have more opportunity than those who don't. When I hear of adults learning to read, I am encouraged to know that we are all capable of continued learning if we put our minds to it. If you haven't learned something new recently, it's time to start.

Creating Change

"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

11%. Roughly 1 out of 10. That is the number that speaker Marianne Williamson says is needed to create change. In the short video snippet I saw, she did say that social scientists have come up with that number and the Women's suffrage and Civil Rights movements were used as examples and it makes sense. Not everyone is going to be thrilled about change, not everyone is going to commit to making change happen, but if a relatively small number of committed individuals driving change can force an entire nation to change, then I would think the same thing can happen at any level, state, district, or school.

As I thought about that number, I began to think about what that would mean for different districts. Getting four persons to drive a change could get an organization of 36 moving. Eight persons could move an organization of 72 and so on. Four or eight is not a huge number.
All it takes is one person to convince two others and those two to convince two each and the number is now five, including the original change agent. The key to that, is the first person.

The concept is interesting and I will continue to try to find the research that goes into that number.

Revolution

This is a link to an interesting post about change in education. The premise of the article is a comparison between the symbolic action of dumping tea in Boston Harbor prior to the American Revolution and throwing something out the window to symbolize the change necessary in education. What would you throw out the window to start the revolution?

I've thought quite a bit about that question and I can't seem to come up with a good analogy. The clock came up in the article because learning has become a 24/7 event. Students can get on a computer at any time of day and learn virtually anything they choose to study. Having students sitting in a classroom for a prescribed number of minutes seems to be restrictive. We should be offering students opportunities to expand their knowledge in methods that work for them.

As well as the clock works as a symbol for the change that is needed in education, I have a sense there is something else, although I can't quite put my finger on it. So I ask you again, what would you throw out the window?

Setting goals-realistically

I read an article this morning on setting achievable goals. Many of you may have heard of SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. To me, the biggest question of those five has to be the realistic part. Couple the attainable with the timely and you come to the point of realistic. However, one person's realistic goal can be another person's unrealistic expectation.

The point of the article was to set goals that stretched us, but did not put us over the edge. For example, setting a goal of losing 50 pounds in 3 months would seem rather ambitious (and possibly unsafe.) Whereas a goal of losing 50 pounds in a year might be more realistic and manageable. An educational example for a school district might be to move all students to proficient on a certain assessment in one year. Depending on the number of students below proficient and how far each is below that score, that goal may be too steep. The district may have to adjust the timeframe for completion. Setting goals that are too difficult can lead to frustration and eventually failure.

I am an idealist, however. And I tend to think that nothing is impossible, that we just haven't figured out how to make our extremely lofty goals happen. Maybe it's time to start breaking down goals into long-term and short-term objectives and see if that helps in the process. Going back to the goals you have set for the new year, check to see if they are SMART.

Decision-making tool

I read an interesting article on decision-making this past week. Part of the article dealt with making a decision between two competing choices. In the decision-making process, the author applied what she called the "two-two-two rule." To quote, " I ask myself, 'What will be the impact on both sides (of the decision) two weeks from now, two months from now, and two years from now?'"

This is an excellent tool to use when trying to make a difficult decision. Many times, the future impact is not recognized or fully thought out and a decision may be made in haste. This method forces a person to think of the results for actual timeframes before making a decision.

Don't Blink

I've heard that phrase used in different ways, but not in the way this blog post by Seth Godin mentions. It is a very interesting thought. The difference between being remarkable and average, maybe?