Through my twenty-five years in education, I have seen many homecomings that have included everything from amazing pep rallies, to parades and bonfires. And one thing that I know for sure is that Homecoming is more than a celebration of our athletic teams, but a way to bring the whole school community together in a shared purpose to give everyone a sense of enthusiasm for school. @SirKenRobinson mentioned in one of his latest talks, “How to escape education’s death valley”the purpose of leaders is not “command and control,” but “climate control” and exactly the reason why I believe a substantial and successful homecoming is essential. Homecoming gets everyone excited and feeling optimistic about their environment. Furthermore, a BIG homecoming plants the seeds for a thriving culture where kids feel more connected to their school and teachers and therefore, more likely to learn.

In this day and age leaders/principals can be swept up in the testing culture and many feel the need to cut many of these non-academic events. However, this past week I observed one of the greatest Homecoming weeks ever at Millbrook High School and it truly confirms the idea that a lively, positive culture will produce more long lasting results than a culture that is dull and dormant and focused solely on preparing for exams.

As leaders how do we harness the power of Homecoming?

1. Homecoming is the perfect opportunity to build a more tolerant culture where all groups coexist and all students feel like they belong. At MHS, I was impressed with how the Art and Music departments came together to make Homecoming special. The Art Department designed the Homecoming shirts and along with the high school art students created an amazing outside painting of our mascot, the Blazer, on the hill leading up to the athletic field. It was impressive and the perfect way to include our artists in the festivities. The MHS Chorus and Band were an important part of our pre-game celebrations and made us feel like we were at a large college-sporting event with the sound of “On Wisconsin” playing for each touchdown. In our sound booth, we had our technicians and future radio deejays, who through Homecoming had a glance into a future career and a new way to connect to school. These events were a special way to create value and purpose for all students.

2. Spirit week activities gives principals the opportunity to empower teachers and students in leadership roles. For the first time ever class advisors and students were given total control over the week’s events and they were thrilled. With that, they literally took the ball and ran with it. The class advisors did a fantastic job building spirit throughout the ranks with homemade t-shirts, banners and activities to bring everyone together. All teachers did something to make spirit week contagious, whether it was face painting or grilling the burgers at the MHS Athletic Barbecue, everyone put in extra effort for our students. Additionally, the seniors took a leading role in getting the entire student body on board by demonstrating that it’s “cool” to be a part of these activities. In fact, I have never seen so many students at a high school pep rally participate in all of the fun events not to mention the large amount of participation in each day’s spirit activities. Student Council provided tons of decorations and props for the week, which increased everyone’s enthusiasm. Our PBIS Team made a mission this year to create a culture where everyone is excited to come to school and there is no doubt that their efforts paid off. They planned a two-hour pep rally that included fun, team-building activities where all students participated at every grade level. They also united the faculty with an amazing flash mob dance at the end of the pep rally that ended with the whole student body out on the dance floor. It was an incredible and wonderful site to see everyone join together in the fun. It also demonstrates the level of caring on the part of our faculty who made the extra effort to learn the dances so that we could do something special for our student body. This was also a great way to build unity and cohesiveness among the faculty that increased their joy as well. These positive feelings lifted everyone’s spirits and created a culture of good energy that will sustain us during stressful times.

3. Homecoming events are about the whole community and can be used as an opportunity to “give back”.” Along with our many spirit activities, MHS had a canned food competition where each grade contributed canned food to see which grade could contribute the most cans. This canned food drive will help supply our local food pantry at a critical time of the year right before the holidays and teaches students the importance of giving back to our community. It also was another good team building activity where students, who aren’t athletes, artists or musicians, can play an important role during the week.

Our MHS Homecoming was impressive! The events gave us all a sense of the wonderful possibilities that lie ahead for our school with a shared mission of teamwork, collaboration and good cheer!

 

“How was the first week of school?” has been a frequent question lately. And although, I am sure that every principal thinks that each year is the best opening ever, I am very impressed with the positive and respectful attitudes that our students have returned with this year. Upon reflection, I believe our warm and positive climate at Millbrook High School can be attributed to improving student space, a strong sense of community and a character education program that focuses on making our school a place where all students feel like they belong.

The first step in getting everyone off on their best footing was to ensure the year started with a sparkling clean building. Our staff put a tremendous amount of care and effort into our building so that everything was ready for the student’s arrival. From the scent of markers and newly cleaned hallways to the smell of freshly cut grass, these are the smells that reminded everyone that it was a new year and a fresh start. And making sure that repairs are made and graffiti erased gives everyone a greater sense of responsibility to ensure that the building stays in good condition.

MHS is a small high school and an important priority has been to improve upon the space within our building; most notably in the lunchroom and in our Guidance area. A year ago, we added an additional lunch period to create room for all students to eat comfortably which dramatically helped to improve the climate. Students now have a greater opportunity to build relationships and the added room helps prevent students from feeling cramped, stressed or disenfranchised. Our new Guidance offices are now perfectly designed for increased student confidentiality and this year, we redesigned our Learning Center to allow for teachers to more flexibly group our students. Each of these projects was done with student needs at the forefront and each has been very effective in making students feel more positively about their school.

Besides enhancing the physical environment, MHS has developed a very upbeat and constructive social environment that promotes communication between faculty, staff and students. Social media has been a great way to build our community. Many faculty members have accounts on Twitter where we share ideas and tweet out good news about our students and programs. The students enjoy the increased opportunity for positive interactions with faculty and administration and it has helped to bring all of us closer together. The high school Facebook page has also done a great deal to promote all of the good things happening in our building. Parents enjoy seeing pictures of their children while at school and they also enjoy the feeling of inclusion that comes from sharing in the general school spirit. And this year, in another great step towards increased communication with parents, many teachers and coaches have begun to use a new app, RemindHQ to strengthen our school community. The app can be used to remind students of upcoming tests or general information. It’s also a useful way to get information to parents of high schoolers who generally don’t relay messages home. One of the parents commented at Back to School Night, that she noticed a sense of enthusiasm among our staff and a renewed interest in communicating with parents. One of the most important steps in building our community has been our PBIS team, which is beginning its third year of existence. The team has focused on important celebrations that will make our students excited to come to school and feel a sense of belonging. Last year, the team planned a fantastic “Big Blue Day” where students were on multi-grade level teams with a teacher captain who led students in a scavenger hunt and team building activities. The day was a huge success with students exclaiming, “how happy they were” which is a direct result of bonding with each other and their teachers. This good feelings and goodwill have carried over to this school year and given students a very optimistic outlook. https://www.pbis.org And I would be remiss if I did not mention our amazing senior class who has demonstrated remarkable leadership this year. These students have done a fantastic job as Connection Crew leaders working with our new 9th graders in the building. This group has helped tremendously in setting a positive tone for the building and modeling appropriate and respectful behavior. All the teachers and coaches have commented about “what a nice group” this class is. Furthermore, they are very enthusiastic and willing to take step up and lead. For instance, they are spearheading many new ideas for our Homecoming Week in October. I have no doubt that it will be the most exciting Homecoming our school has seen! And if September is a predictor of success, then as many have noted through their tweets this past month, this will be #TheBestYearEver at MHS!

 

The panic and hysteria that swept over the teaching profession last year was nothing short of epic. Teachers across the country were extremely stressed over the new teacher accountability system. Reflection, quality feedback, guidance and accountability are extremely important. For many teachers this has been seriously lacking from administrators. In fact, if one good thing has come from this new accountability initiative, it is the fact that administrators are now required to observe their teachers. This has not always been the case. Speak to any retired teacher, or one who has been in the business for at least ten years, and I have no doubt that he or she will mention that there were many years when they were no formal observations. This means no quality feedback or guidance. And now in some cases around the country, this new evaluation tool, which could be used to help teachers improve, is being implemented in such a way that has struck fear into the daily lives of educators. Let’s face the truth… there are some phenomenal administrators running our schools and then there are ones that are out of touch. Worse yet, there are those administrators who are  “my way or the highway” type people who use the new rubrics as a “hammer” to show their authority instead of a “chisel” to help the teacher improve.  This new accountability initiative should be viewed as an opportunity for growth and as an opportunity for administrators to empower their faculty.

Most teachers chose the field of education because they wanted to succeed at their profession and make a difference in the lives of children. Now, some veteran teachers are faced with the possibility of being scored unfairly on the new rating scales after they have had years of positively impacting children. Granted, there will be instances of teachers everywhere who deserve to be rated ineffectively and these are probably teachers who should not have been given tenure. However, for the most part, a majority of teachers are giving their best effort and the best of themselves on a daily basis to help students learn. These teachers deserve to be treated fairly and with respect. There are stories from across the country of teachers who have been rated with an “outstanding” during the course of their career and are now considered “developing.” This is confusing and demoralizing for a teacher who has been at the “top of their game.” Granted, an honest and accurate assessment of the teacher should be given. But, that means sharing the good with the bad and the strengths of the lesson along with the weaknesses. The evaluation should not be a wrath of criticism based on the new evaluation rubrics. This is extremely damaging to the teacher’s psyche and confidence. Teachers want to feel like they are making a difference and when a student invites them to a celebration or sends a note of gratitude; there is nothing more gratifying in the whole world. For a teacher, this is better than winning any World Series and scoring a “developing” or even an “effective” on an evaluation can be devastating to a hard-working teacher’s morale.

How does this really help the field of education, the school climate or the teacher improve? How do you tell a major league baseball player to radically change his batting stance after ten or fifteen years in the profession? Isn’t it better to give some minor suggestions and then focus on on the strengths and the interests of the teacher to encourage them? Why does this new accountability system mean that administrators have to go into classrooms with the objective to intimidate or completely change the teacher? Why not go in with the objective to empower?

Where is the research that states these new evaluation tools are completely accurate and reflect a student’s critical thinking or growth? How do you effectively measure the impact a teacher has on a child? Have you ever been in a classroom where the students are clearly so happy to be there? They look enthusiastic and eager to answer questions and participate! There are teachers who create these classroom environments, yet could potentially score poorly with the new evaluation rubrics. These teachers might not have the ideal lesson according to the new rubrics, but, more importantly, they have passion for the topic, passion for the students and clarity of purpose, which is engaging and exhilarating to students. Administrators need to reassure these teachers regularly so that they don’t live in a constant state of worry. Creating a positive environment for teachers where they feel safe to take risks will do more for teacher improvement then any evaluation filled with criticism. With careful, compassionate and considerate feedback, an administrator can use a chisel to help a teacher enhance their skill as opposed to dropping the hammer on them.

In simplistic terms, the best way to move teachers forward is for the administrator to think and act like a coach. There may be coaches out there who yell and scream and throw chairs, but are those really the best coaches? Or are the best coaches those who inspire greatness and help their players reach their potential through helping the athlete believe in him or herself. That does not mean telling someone that they are doing great when they are not, but praising the effort and the hard work and emphasizing the individual’s potential. In this new age of accountability, administrators need to find each teacher’s strength to help them achieve in the same way that a teacher helps their students. Good coaches, teachers or administrators don’t use embarrassment or humiliation as a tool to get their point across. They are flexible, keep a good perspective and understand that each teacher is an individual and needs individualized feedback and professional development to improve.

In the end, all educators share the same goals. Teachers want to inspire a love of learning in children and make a positive impact.  If administrators really want to help teachers accomplish this objective then they need to use the same philosophy that teachers use with students. Administrators need to focus on a teacher’s strengths, and coach them towards their own highest potential. As administrators, we can’t let people who have given their lives to this profession live in a state of panic. All administrators need to make a commitment to create a safe environment for their staff where there is mutual collaboration, respect and empowerment. This is the change that we really need in our schools to make a difference in the field of education!