Friday, February 19, 2016

And That's Not All... The Fundamental 5 Note Taking Developer


(SOUND OF MORE TRUMPETS)

As if THE FUNDAMENTAL 5 LESSON PLAN DEVELOPER wasn’t enough...

You asked for it...

And we built it... We’re LYS, it’s what we do.


This easy to use tool, allows the teacher to build a customized note take tool for any (may we suggest, every) lesson. Appropriate for almost every student, grade level and class, building a habit of good note taking is a key step in creating a campus culture for critical writing.

Once built, the teacher and save, edit, print and share the form.

And again, all this instructional goodness for the low, low price of... F-R-E-E!!!

To use the tool, just go to LeadYourSchool.com

Here’s an example.



















Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...

Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5

Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool)

Upcoming Presentations: National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)


Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Thursday, February 18, 2016

The Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Developer

A LYS Principal asks the following:

SC,

As you know my staff has been busting their tails to better implement The Fundamental 5 this year. And as was pointed out many times during our training sessions with our LYS Coach, the better you plan for The Fundamental 5 before the lesson, the easier it is to deliver The Fundamental 5 during the lesson. In this pursuit, do you know of a good lesson plan template than incorporates The Fundamental 5 instructional components?

SC Response
Funny that you should ask...

(Sound of trumpets)
ANNOUNCING

The Fundamental 5 Lesson Developer guides the teacher in designing a lesson that incorporates all elements of The Fundamental 5.

AND, it creates an Instructional Rigor and Relevance map for the lesson.

AND, the teacher can save, edit and print the lesson.

AND, the teacher can email the lesson to other educators.

AND, all of this for the low, low price of... F-R-E-E!!!

I don’t want to say this is the greatest FUNDAMENTAL 5 LESSON PLAN DEVELOPER ever built.  So I’ll let you do it.

To use the tool, just go to LeadYourSchool.com

Here’s a sample lesson plan and rigor/relevance map.






















Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

A Reader Asks... Unit Lesson Plan Options

A LYS Principal asks the following:

SC,

My district’s new “improved” policy states that teachers may only be required to provide a unit or weekly lesson plan. Do you know of a good lesson plan template that meets these restrictions?

SC Opinion (NOT A RECOMMENDATION)
The unit lesson plan is darn near leadership sanctioned instructional malpractice.  So I’m not even going to entertain that discussion, other than to state that if I’m a VETERAN principal in your district, I’m ignoring that policy until I get an eyeball to eyeball cease and desist order from my boss.

The weekly lesson plan is leadership sanctioned lazy practice. Here’s why. If as a teacher, I give you (my principal) a weekly plan, then you (my principal) have to know that by Day 3, I have either adjusted my plans (best case) or I’m just “winging it” (worst case). And Ms. Principal, good luck trying to prove what you can see with your own two eyes, because you won’t be able to.

If that sounds like I am siding with Principals... I am.  But teachers, I have your back also.

Though I believe that daily lesson plans are a critical component of effective teaching, I’m NOT a fan of long lesson plans.  A one-page (maximum) lesson plan is more than adequate for the vast majority of teachers.  No need to belabor the point. Just a quick, “What I’m going to teach. How I’m going to teach it. What my students will do to learn it. How we (me and my kids) will know the students learned it.”

To require more than that means that leadership is ignoring the truism that, “No plan survives contact with reality.”

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Happy Birthday to the LYS Blog

That’s right LYS Nation, our daily conversation is seven years old today. It alternately feels like we just started this yesterday and that we have been doing this forever. I have to admit when I started writing seven years ago I had no expectations and no idea where this would take us. My biggest fear was that I would have writer's block after the first two weeks. Fortunately, the blog struck a cord with you (the reader and practitioner) and the LYS Nation was born. Writer’s block has yet to be an issue because the LYS Nation quickly stepped up and took over the topics of discussion. And as I regularly remind you, it is much easier and rewarding to participate in a dialogue than support a never-ending monologue.

I thought it would be fun to re-visit the first post I wrote for the blog, and yes, exactly seven years later, I’m dashing this off right before I hit the road to visit another school.

Thank you for another great year and who knows where we’ll go in the upcoming year.

Here I am sitting in another airport terminal at 6:00 in the morning. I wish I could say that this is unusual, but it’s not. I’m now a school road warrior. For the past five (now 12) years I have lived on the road, three, four and too often five nights a week. Going where schools and principals have needs and problems that they need help with.

There are some perks. Because of the travel points I’m a Hilton Diamond member and a Continental (now United) Elite member. This means on a big jet and in a big city, I get upgraded. That happens a couple a times a month, but most of the time I’m on a small plane going to a small town. I also get a lot of free Southwest Airline tickets.

“Congratulations, you fly a lot. Do you want to fly some more?”

I’m not complaining. I’m just making the case that I have seen a lot, worked with a lot of principals and schools, and have fixed a lot of problems. All of that to say, that what I’ve seen, what I’ve learned, and what I do may be useful out there.

I have observed that school leaders for the most part live on islands. Islands that have been built by isolation, misinformation, wishful thinking and/or petty jealousies. Hopefully, I can help get some of you off the island, or at least make the island more hospitable.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to write about school leadership and school operations. The focus will mostly be on improvement and what works. But I’ll also write about the tools that I find useful, books that I have read, conversations that I have had and respond to your comments. Who knows where this will go? I just hope that every once in a while, you’ll find something that is useful to you, your school and/or your staff.

Time to board now, off to another city and another school.

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Monday, February 15, 2016

Top Tweets From the Week of February 7, 2016

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of February 7, 2016 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. Every generation must reinvent and reinvest in democracy...or it goes away – Sir Ken Robinson (By @Jaibyrd123)

2. In the U.S., public schools are not just a chance for kids, for many it's their only chance – Sir Ken Robinson (By @celiadrews)

3. Human life is not linear but rather organic...dependent on our choices, experiences, and risks we don't take. – Sir Ken Robinson (By @CeverettEdD)

4. Great public education is in the best interest of all people! (By @EkCoulson)

5. The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work. (By @MMotivate)

6. Make the positives so loud that you drown out all the negatives! (By @herbertoneiljr)

7. It’s critical that we exercise selective abandonment before adding something new... When was the last time we actually did just that? (By @BethBrockman)

8. If we waited until we could walk perfectly before taking our first step, we'd never walk... (By @justintarte)

9. Companies that received corporate welfare from taxpayers shouldn't be allowed to renounce their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying U.S. taxes. (By @BernieSanders)

10. Is it me... Or the farther people actually are from the classroom the more of an education expert they consider themselves?? (By @BluntEducator)

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
  • Upcoming Presentations: National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook