The Four Rules of Meetings

I get a lot of inspiration from Audiobooks I listen to while doing other things. This post comes from Bossypants by Tina Fey. In the book, Tina Fey talks about the 4 Rules of Improvisation. They are:

http://bit.ly/1uz7cQI

1. Always Agree and Say Yes--Someone points their finger at you and says it's a gun. You say, No it's your hand. You have effectively killed the conversation.
2. Say Yes, And...--Instead of saying No,-- say 'Yes. And it's the gun I gave you for Christmas last year!' Now you can go somewhere with this. Not only has the person pulled a gun on you, but ironically it's the one you gave him.
3. Make Statements and back them with your voice and actions--If you ask questions, you put the pressure on someone else to come up with all of the answers. By making statements, you helping drive the direction of the conversation.
4. There are no mistakes, only opportunities--you may not have meant to say or do what you just did, but now that you did, where are you going to take it?

I got energized listening to this list (which I have heard before, but it never lit the lightbulb). Let's take those 4 rules and apply them to your next faculty/department meeting.

1. Imagine that your Principal announces that the school will be participating in a new initiative for the school year and no one groans or complains. Instead, they all nod their head and agree that this is something they could see incorporating into their classrooms.
2. The Principal decides to let everyone discuss what he has presented for 5 minutes in small groups. You turn to the teachers around you and start brainstorming ways that you could see this working with your students. Then, you start adding other elements to it, putting your own spin on the foundation that has been set for you. You decide to work with another teacher to develop joint lessons because you have a number of common students on your roster.
3. At the end of the meeting the Principal asks if anyone has any questions. You raise your hand and, instead of asking if it is ok to do something, you explain to the faculty what your small group had discussed and the methods you are planning to make this a success with your students.
4. During the course of the next several units, you realize that you have left out some key parts of the initiative and need to change what you are doing for the next unit. You work with your supervisor to make sure all the changes you are planning better align and your students are open to the changes because you have been invested in it from the beginning.

I know that my example is that pipe dream situation for all Principals, but why is it a dream? Could these 4 rules be used in schools? 

Sorry, I violated Rule #3.

These 4 rules could be used in schools to drive everything we do from classroom management, to curriculum, to discipline, to department meetings, to club meetings. Think of the possibilities if you were never allowed to say No, and had to be open-minded to what someone else had to say, no matter how crazy (read awesome) the idea is.

Waiting to be picked

Schools seem to be waiting for a leader. A creative person is who going to step up and say 'I's your turn, I want you to be on my team, I want you to be successful.' Teachers are waiting for that magic bullet, the magical leader who is going to say "Today, we are now going to do something amazing." The problem is these leaders only exist in our heads. These perfect leaders aren't around, aren't where we want them to be. 

We put people on pedestals. We create an image that no leader can possibly live up to and so therefore we are sitting and waiting to be picked.

Steve Jobs made Apple computers amazing. He built a huge computer company around a single person's ideas and he hired people who could carry out his ideas. But where is Apple now that Steve Jobs has passed? And what has Apple really created since Steve Jobs? They've created smaller versions of a great product that they already had, but they're not crushing the market like they used to. Now compare that to Google. Google has brilliant CEOs.  These guys created the company around the central focus that they wanted everyone to have instant access to information and search information was the central focus of everything that they do. But the key to the success of Google is not the people who started it but it's all the thousands of people who are underneath them who just simply run with ideas not waiting for their leaders to tell them 'yes, today is the day to do something amazing.' They  are going to do something amazing on their own every day. If you look at products like Gmail or Google Earth, Google Apps for Education or the Android system any of those products were all created by people who are simply picking themselves to do something great that day.

I think that's what teachers need to start doing. Teachers need to start picking themselves and stop waiting to be picked.

Create your own team:  there's only so many great leaders and there are way more schools then we have great leaders to fill them.  If you don't have a good leader, create a great team within your school.  Go and seek out people to inspire you. Inspire others. Inspire your students. Teach your students how to pick themselves. Teach your students how to create teams of other great students. 

It doesn't take one person doing something great; it takes a whole team of great people to do something well to create a great school.  A group of caring, dedicated teachers can change a entire school on their own. You have to start small and let the greatness spread.  

The real key is don't wait for a leader to pick you.  Go out today and make today count!

EduCon Philly Day 1

I just finished up my first day at EduCon and I needed to share some of the amazing things that I saw.  I could go on for a very long post, but I want to group everything into three categories.

Leadership
If you have ever heard Chris Lehmann speak, you know immediately that he is an amazing educator.  But I want to talk about how he runs leads the school.

• Food
• There was food and drink everywhere.  I went into one classroom and I would say at least 2/3 of the class had some sort of drink bottle on their desk.  And yet, for some reason, this didn't seem to disrupt the learning that was happening and there wasn't a bug to be seen. (sorry, couldn't help the sarcasm) But what really struck me was lunch.  As we are on our tour, we noticed 6 students sitting and eating in a Spanish classroom and there was no teacher in there supervising them.  The students eat EVERYWHERE--hallways, lunchroom, classrooms, window ledges--you name it, there were students eating there.  The best part about it was the kids had the utmost respect for their environment.  When the lunch was over there wasn't a single piece of trash to be found and I didn't see a custodian anywhere.  Whether they were in the classroom or the hallways, these kids loved their school and it showed.
• Computers
• Every student is issued a Mac laptop when entering the school and they must pay an insurance fee ($85) every year to keep it.  Most of the computers were decorated with stickers, drawings, quotes written in Sharpie.  Most schools would freak out if the kids were "damaging" school property, but not this school.  They trust that the students will respect the computers and the students respond.
• His Office
• It is not often that I am caught like a deer in the headlights, but this one really threw me.  I was walking passed an office and a student I met called out to me from a conference room in the back.  I noticed a number of students in both the front office and the back conference room (probably 15 or so).  As I walk into the office, Chris Lehmann is sitting at his desk laughing with the kids around him.  That's right, I walked right into the principal's office without realizing it.  I was stunned by the fact that he welcomed me right in as if it was no big deal.  Now, let me mention something else about the office.  Chris' desk is where the secretary should have been and the larger space was used as a place for the students to congregate and eat or get work completed.  Anyone else have a principal like that?

Teaching

• Teaching Philosophy
• Everything is done for the kids.  There was no talk of working within the contractual time.  Everyone put all of themselves into building dynamic classrooms that were student-focused and learning by doing was at the heart.  Students talked just as much as the teachers did and the lessons were engaging.
• Attitude
• Everyone smiles.  Everyone wanted to be there, staff and students alike.  Students were helpful because they wanted to be not because they had to be.  Teachers gave up lunch time to sit and converse with visitors because they are passionate about what they do and want to share it with everyone.

Students

• Passion
• I need to tell you about Maggie.  I was wearing my infamous neon green tie, and after watching Diana Laufenberg's class, Maggie comes up to me saying how much she loves my tie.  She is going on and on about it and how I have to wear it for the entire weekend.  Later in the day, I am walking through the halls with a friend.  Maggie is about halfway down the hall and starts waving at me the second she saw me.  Then, at the end of the day, Maggie is the student who called out to me from Lehmann's conference room.  She comes running through his office and gives me a big hug right in front of him saying that we are friends now so it is OK to give me a hug.  That's passion.
• Dedication
• Every kid we asked questions of stopped whatever they were doing and gave us their full attention.  Most of the kids used their lunch time to collaborate with peers on a variety of projects.  None of the kids seemed stressed about anything they were working on and were eager to share their ideas regardless of what the topic was.  Even in the history class I saw, the teacher encouraged the students to make comments on a New York Times education page about the State of the Union, and she showed that one student in the class had already done it before being asked.  

What makes this school so successful is the fact that the entire school takes on the same mindset.  There is a culture of learning in everything the students do and it permeates into everything and buy in from staff, students and parents.  Every school could be like this if they wanted to and change the culture to make it happen.

Everything I needed to know about Leadership I learned from Ami James

http://goo.gl/JIUI7

One of my guilty pleasures is watching tattoo shows.  It started with National Geographic's Taboo series about tattooing in other cultures and then spread to Miami Ink on TLC.  I think my obsession comes from the fact that it is absolutely amazing how detailed these artists can make their drawings considering they are making it under the skin.  Ami James was one of the owners of the Miami Ink studio and is now on his own show called NY Ink.

Ami, hands down, is the worst leader I have ever seen.  Let me list off some of his leadership traits:

1. He has a violent temper that can erupt at a moment's notice.
2. He swears to make a point and puts people down during every argument.
3. He does not try to foster young talent.
4. He dumps his problems on his employees.
5. He hires his friends, then treats them like his employees, but wants them to keep acting like his friends.
6. He expects people to just do whatever he says because he is the "boss."

I think that's a pretty good start.  When you read the post title you probably thought I was going to show you a great leader, someone to aspire to.  Sorry to disappoint.  But, what I have learned over the years is it is almost easier to learn from the worst than it is from the best because you can stop doing something wrong, but sometimes it is hard to mimic the positive traits in others.

I want to talk about #3 for a moment because I feel this is Ami's worst trait.  He hired a woman (Jessica) to serve as his shop manager.  Now, typically a title like that means she is in charge of all areas of the shop and has authority over other members in the shop, but not the artists.  Jessica has a MBA and used to work as an executive in a bank.  She has expressed a desire to learn to tattoo and is actually a talented artist.  However, every time she tries to learn more, she is sent back to her "box" to deal with appointments and clients.  Jessica also has a temper and every time this happens she argues, complains and has a terrible attitude with everyone she interacts with.  Ami regularly complains about having too much work and not enough time to get back to Miami to see his family; this would be the perfect opportunity for him to train someone to take some of the workload off of him as well as reduce some of the hostility that flies around the shop.

Ami's shops are successful because of the fact that he is on TV and manages to get some of the best artists in the business.  He succeeds in spite of his failures as a boss.  Most schools (actually no school) would not survive under this type of management style.  School leaders need to hold themselves to a higher standard and be the leader they want to see in others.  Teachers need to remember to do the same because you don't need a title to be a leader.  If you want those around you to work hard and dare to fail, then you must do the same.

Walk the Talk!