Excellence is…

CARING more than others think is wise;

RISKING more than others think is safe;

DREAMING more than others think is practical,

EXPECTING more than others think is possible.

Winston Churchill

No Wonder Teaching is Difficult!

World renowned quality guru, W. Edwards Deming used to ask the question, “Who receives directly the product or service that you provide?”  In education, the answer is the student.  He would then reply, “That is your customer“.

What are the implications of “students as customers?”

Dr. Glasser, in his book The Quality School, also identified students as workers because they are given assignments and activities and are expected to “work on them” and produce learning results.

While this is a common view of most educators, what are the implications of focusing on students as workers?

About 10 years ago, I realized that the student is also the primary product of the school or educational system.

What, if any, impact does looking at the student as the product have for educators?

The complication increases because all three labels are correct.  I have challenged thousands of educators to come up with any other group of people that are the customer, the worker and the product in the same system.  No one can identify the three roles anywhere, other than education.

It seems that it would serve educators to remind themselves to answer these questions:

1. When is the student the customer?
2. What does that mean to the instructional process?
3. How should student workers be instructed, evaluated, and provided feedback?
4. How do you measure and/or what is the measure of student/product success?
5. What value is there in answering these questions and  keeping all three of these roles in mind?

Please post your comments!

Teachers as Students

Many years ago when my middle son Daniel was in about 3rd grade, he went with me on a summer trip to Minnesota. He attended the whole 3-day Educating for Responsibility and Quality workshop that I was teaching.

On the first day we went to lunch at Wendy’s. While the following dialogue is not 100% accurate, it is pretty close.

“Dad, those teachers were doing everything they tell us not to!”

“I know”

“They were talking while you were talking.”

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you yell at him?”

“Because most of the time, while I could tell they were talking, they were not loud enough that they were disrupting the people around them.”

“But some of them were chewing gum!”

“I know.”

“And some of them were passing notes! Why didn’t you take it away and read it to the whole class?”

“Think about it Dan. If I took away the note and read it out loud, do you think the teachers would be embarrassed?”

“Yes.”

“How would it help me keep a good learning environment if I embarrassed people in front of the group? Do you think those teachers would listen to me after I embarrassed them?”

“Probably not. Then why do my teachers read notes out loud?”

“Some teachers think that is a good form of discipline. I just don’t agree.  I wouldn’t want to be embarrassed in front of the whole group, so I wouldn’t do that to them.”

In almost every workshop that I present, some teachers demonstrate the behaviors of talking while instructors are talking, texting, writing notes to each other, etc.

My comment to the group is always, “Just don’t be a hypocrite.  Please remember your behavior here when you intervene with your students.”

Teacher Receites Her Own Mission Statement

I received this e-mail last month from a teacher in Lee County, FL…

My students have been reciting their mission statement daily after the pledge so I have been reciting my mission statement as well.  It seems to have an interesting effect on the students.  They really like hearing what I strive to do and they hear daily how much I really try to give them.

“To create a safe, creative environment with high expectations, positive relationships with students, staff and families.” 

Bob’s Comments:

This sounds like a great idea!  I do not know of many other teachers that do this.

1. Do you have a personal Mission Statement?
2. Do you recite it?
3. What do you think of the practice of writing and reciting your personal mission?

Please share your thoughts…

Kindergarten Teacher’s Amazing Results with a Plus/Delta!

Here is a perfect example that children are often smarter than they are given credit for.  The principal sent out a question/topic about the use of Quality Tools in the school.  Here is Ms. Emerson’s response.

Responses to the topic:  “Our Learning”….what is the teacher doing well/what are we enjoying & what do we need or what can the teacher do to better help us?”

Procedure:
·         Discussed staff meeting and how we all talked about ways we can help students better and how it is important for teachers to ask their classes that question.
·         Brought up the question to my class: “1.  what are ways that I teach you that you like or that is really working for you, and 2. what are ways I could help you better?”
·         Grouped students in Think-Pair-Share…(made sure to place students that are more verbal and had high levels of understanding with students who might have a difficult time with the concept). Gave students 5 minutes to discuss with their partner. (For some reason they whispered to each other! I thought that was pretty funny.)
·         Regrouped and told students that all answers were safe and that it was ok to say what they really felt. I wanted them to be sure they understood that since they had initially been whispering.
·         Discussed meaning of plus and delta.
·         Took responses
·         Reread plus/delta to class once it was finished. Whole class discussed.
·         Students wrote in their journals the most important points to them and used the symbols for plus and delta as well.

Tomorrow we will discuss one of the points and address the concern as well as celebrate the +. Each day we will select a delta and discuss and address. My class was amazing during this activity.  Ms. Assad was there and we both were pretty floored! It was truly enjoyable to do and really was an eye-opener for me.  It also brought on a whole new level of trust with my class…truly changing the mood in the room and there was an energy that was just so positive afterwards. The students realized they had ‘voice’- for them, having that at age 5 is a pretty big deal.

 

Annie Emerson
Kindergarten
Pinewoods Elementary

National Quality in Education Conference Feedback

Success Through a Systems Model:  A Tool for Every Category   (4 Hour Pre-Conference Session)

Presenters:

• Cindy McClung (Coordinator of Quality – The School District of Lee County, FL)
• Don Bryant (Principal – Fort Myers Middle Academy – Fort Myers, FL)
• Bob Hoglund  (President – Bob Hoglund, Inc.)

Workshop Ratings

Presentation Skills:                 9.1

Knolwedge of Subject:            9.6

Session Management:            9.4

Overall Rating:                 9.2

We have been very fortunate to be accepted to present at this great educational conference for the past four years!  This was the second consecutive Pre-Conference.

National Quality in Education Conference: Asking vs. Telling …

Workshop:   Asking vs. Telling Increases Student Achievement and Responsibility

Where:  National Quality in Education Conference
When:   November 7th, 2011
Where:  Indianapolis, IN

Presenters:

• Bob Hoglund (President – Bob Hoglund, Inc.)
• Cindy McClung (Coordinator of Quality – The School District of Lee County, FL)

42 participants rated the 75 minute session:

Presentation Skills                9.5
Knowledge of Subject:          9.7
Session Management:          9.6
Overall Rating:                 9.6

The session included the Questioning Process and Class Meetings to teach and promote students taking more responsibility for their learning.

This was our 4th consecutive year presenting at the NQEC Conference.  Next year it is in Louisville.   We hope to be accepted again as presenters.

NEA GRANT UPDATE

The NEA Foundation “Closing the Achievement Gap” is in the Implementation Phase!   Last week we met with the 10 grant schools for 3 to 4 hours, tailoring the time to the needs of each school.

The five-year Grant is a partnership of The National Education Association Foundation, The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, The Teachers Association of Lee County, The School District of Lee County.  Choosing Excellence, (training component) is a blending of the Glasser Quality School, Sterling (Baldrige) Quality Models, and our experience working with schools and classrooms.  The models were blended into Choosing Excellence by Bob Hoglund and Cindy McClung.

I was able to talk to individual students, conduct class meetings, do walk-troughs, and meet with administrative teams to discuss their gap and strategies to address it.

The School District of Lee County has approximately 115 schools (40th largest in the nation) and is divided into three zones.   One elementary, middle and high school from each zone were selected, based on schools that had already started some Choosing Excellence training and had large achievement gaps  between white students and other AYP subgroups.

 

Nothing Makes You Feel Anything? The Language of Responsibility #1

The main message these days from both political parties is “responsibility”.  However, few know what they are really saying.  Even our language betrays our responsibility for our choices.

For example, It is common to hear reporters, friends and family say, “How did that make you feel?”

The correct answer is, “It didn’t make me feel anything.”

How can that be?

We feel how we feel based on how we perceive or filter what has just happened.

For example:

One student earns a 90% on an assignment and is devastated.  Another student gets a 90% and is almost ecstatic.   The score is the same; how the 90% is perceived is different.  The perception is determined by importance, expectation, experience, etc.

How do heights “make you feel?”   Some will say “exhilarating”, others will say “fearful”.

The same holds true for divorce.  It is not “divorce” that creates feelings; it is what people do with it in their heads that determines how they feel.  The range of feelings and emotions goes from great to crippling, depending on the person and the circumstance.  I have known people that smiled and said it was the best decision they ever made, and others that were devastated.

So, whether you are listening to a politician or enjoying a concert, remember that your perceptions of the words, music, etc., are responsible for how you feel, not the words or music themselves.

Educators complaining about students

Inevitably during workshops I hear complaints about changes in education, such as, removal of tenure, performance pay, increasing standards, common course exams, etc.

Additionally, some of the teachers complain about:

• the students unwillingness to change
• the lack of student learning
• grades don’t mean anything
• lack of effort
• lack of motivation

Some of these teachers don’t recognize the same behaviors in themselves.  Nor do they apply the same expectations and standards to themselves.

The teachers in workshops complain that:

• they don’t have time to do this
• they don’t need to learn anything more, it’s the students that need to change
• it is the students that aren’t motivated to change
• they don’t like the accountability that has increased in the past few years

It is also obvious from their answers, tone of voice and expressions that they are not happy with their classroom situation.  Yet they continue to do what is not satisfying, or producing the results that they want.  Therefore, if they continue to do what they are doing, there is little chance of improving and or increasing happiness.

The logical conclusion is that some teachers, like some students, are choosing to be unhappy in the classroom because their expectations are not being reached, and they do not do anything different.

How is this different from what their complaints are about students?