A Barry Manilow Classic:
“Looks Like We Made It!”
June 5, 2024
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Another school year has come and gone (or almost gone, for my dear friends in those districts going well into June). As I reflect back on serving a thousand or more educators in dozens of schools across quite a few states in 2023 – 24, a few lessons come to mind that might be helpful:
1. Educators work hard.
While the official school year may be “only” nine or ten months, the number of hours educators work during that timeframe is well beyond other 12 month jobs. And, during those hours, they pour everything they have into the students they serve. Being an educator is incredibly fulfilling, and at the same time can be astonishingly draining. And they keep at it. God bless them (and you, if you’re an educator reading this)!
2. Sometimes that hard work is on “stuff” that doesn’t get the biggest bang for the buck.
Unfortunately, hard work doesn’t guarantee results. While I personally cringe at the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder,” there is a good deal of truth in it. Focusing on daily lesson plans drawn almost directly from a textbook, or failing to have systems that efficiently coordinate schedules and events, or trying to get students to mastery on all state standards instead of a small subset of that which the collaborative teacher team determines to be essential–these are all examples of work that is hard, yet has a minimal impact on improved practice and results for students.
3. Collaborative teams are the engine for improved practice.
My colleagues Brig Leane and John Yost (2022) state, quite accurately, that isolation is the enemy of improvement. So identifying (or finding) and developing a collaborative team that helps each member get better needs to be one of the first orders of business for any educator working in isolation.
4. A lot of improvements happen, and these are lost if not written done.
A colleague once told me that, “If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist.” Such great improvements happened in 2023 – 24! Write them down in a place where you can return to them next year. And, better yet, write those improvements down throughout the year so that you don’t have to spend all that mental energy at the end of the year trying to remember what worked and what you want to change.
5. Small changes can lead to big results.
I was privy to seeing this in action. One elementary school that I got to work with a few times, took off with just a few tweaks to the great work they were doing. Behavior referrals plummeted by more than 60%. Student growth on external measures skyrocketed. See the first three items (above) for an abbreviated list of some of those small changes that they made, leading to pretty remarkable results in just one year.
The 2023 – 24 school year is (almost) in the books. I hope you have a restful summer that will lead to an even better 2024 – 25.
Questions for Reflection
- What role does formal reflection have in your team(s) and school?
- What steps might you and your team take to improve your practice in 2024 – 25?
- What evidence might you look at next June to celebrate your accomplishments?
Rib Review
On a previous visit to Dallas, some friends on facebook recommended that I give Sonny Brian’s Smokehouse a whirl. It was good. The ribs looked like they had been re-grilled after having been cut apart, which led them to being drier than I typically like. But the flavor was good, and the portions with sides were decent for the $15 bucks I paid. What was most fun to me was reading about the history of the restaurant–dating back to 1910. There are now multiple locations in the Dallas area.
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