4 Essentials to Improving Your Educational Programs and Classes This Summer

Starbucks.  Southwest Airlines.  Facebook.  Kahn Academy.  All successful brands and companies that produce quality service, products and programs.  We assume these companies are good because of their names and what they have done.   More times than not, we go to get our coffee at Starbucks or reserve our flights with Southwest simply because we know what we are going to get.  We don’t question the how and why we get what we need with great businesses and programs; we just expect to get what we want and need.  The expectations that they have molded in each of us are built on the foundation and culture within their organizations.

 The same goes for successful educational programs.  Many times we take them for granted because each year we know what we are going to get.  From the inside of the building or classroom, sometimes our staff and students almost make it look too easy.  They make pride, tradition and success look routine.  In reality, all of those things are anything but easy to duplicate. 

Great educational programs are lot like the successful brands above.  They are built on basic principles that stand the test of time.  When I think of success, I think of the performing arts at Gahanna Lincoln High School.   While all of the programs (theatre, band, choir, orchestra) are successful in their own rights, they all have foundation built on the same principles:

Relationships Are Vital

Everyone in the department and program needs to work together, even if they have different individual styles and personalities.  To have a successful program at any level, you need to have a foundation built on relationships.  Your department needs to have the same goal in mind: all students, our students.  Don’t focus on grade levels, focus on students.  Relationships stand the test of time when everyone has the same overall goal to achieve.

Communication Must Include Everyone

To have successful programs you need efficient and effective communication techniques.  Everyone within the department needs to know what the rest of the staff is doing.  For effective communication you need strong relationships.  When you are thinking about your own program, remember to make building strong relationships a priority in order to help the flow of communication.  When you care about others in your program, you will communicate better because you want to make sure everyone is informed.  You won’t do it because you feel you have to communicate to everyone.  You will communicate to make sure the relationships inside your department and program remain strong so everyone can achieve the ultimate goal of helping others.

Structure Can't Take Days Off

Create a structure for the entire program for everyone to follow.  Surprisingly, more structure allows for others to be more creative and flexible in their instruction.  You would think it would be the opposite, but it isn’t.  The formulated structure of a program allows for staff to step outside of the normal routine and try different methods.  If they work, the rest of the staff in the program can also use the methods and make improvements on their end.  If it doesn’t work, other members of the program can add input and everyone knows the new attempt wasn’t successful and can help make improvements to either use it or not use it.  That is only possible when a solid structure exists and all members have a part in creating the structure.

Success Breeds Success

Successful programs have a healthy culture.  Many times, a healthy culture has the foundation of a solid structure.   Besides culture and structure, successful programs also have talent.  But talent alone doesn’t create success.  A mixture of culture, talent and structure creates success.  Winners win!  We know that’s the case.  But there is always a foundation to a winner’s success story and it focuses around culture.

When you are thinking about your classroom, your building, your district, or even your business, remember what great organizations or programs represent.  Visualize how you can make improvements in your organization or program by focusing on the characteristics discussed above.  Use the next couple of months to figure out how you and your team will help transform your programs or classroom to be the best it can be.   Build a culture to make success the norm and not the exception. 

6 Steps for Effective Blended Learning

Our educational system requires a different form of instruction than when I was in school.  One of the methods of instruction that had been a topic of conversations between staff, students, and parents is Blended learning instruction.  In order to have an effective blended learning environment, there are some areas that you need to address before you begin the process.  Always remember the goal behind instruction: student growth.  As a teacher, you try to use different methods of instruction to reach that main goal.  When it comes to blended instruction, follow the steps below to make the transitions and methods have the greatest impact for your students and parents:

1. Stop calling a "flipped" classroom, a "flipped" classroom
Sometimes the name of something can mean everything.  I'm sure every person working in marketing will tell you that.  Simply the way something is stated or what it is called can create the perception of it. I believe this is true with the flipped classroom.  

Why do we call it "flipped" anyway? I understand that in a flipped classroom the homework for the class period is done in class with the presence of the teacher while the instruction (whatever method is used, usually via videos) takes place after the normal class period.  Thus the term "flipped"; it flips the traditional classroom model of doing homework at home and instruction in the class during the school day.  Again, I get all that.

Classroom instruction needs to be more than though to be effective.  We need to offer differentiation and other forms of instruction to our students (which we will discuss below) to address all student learning styles.  What we need to do is blend our classes.  A flipped classroom is a form of blended learning.  Let's just stick with calling our classrooms "blended" classrooms because that is what we are doing, we are blending our instruction to meet all different learning styles.

2. Communication to the students and parents
Communicate to students and parents what type of instruction and methods will take place at the beginning of the school year.  Utilize your most effective means of communication with parents (emails, website, Remind, etc.) to get the message delivered.  Explain how the class instruction will work during the year.  Offer links and articles for your parents to read to become more knowledgeable on the methods.  Most importantly, explain why you will be using the instructional methods.  We are the experts, so we need to explain why this form of instructional will help our students grow.

3. Short videos
If you choose to create videos for a method of class instruction, make sure the videos are not longer than 8 minutes.  Short videos are important when it comes to holding the students' attention.  Create multiple videos and have them in a library of videos grouped accordingly for easy access.  Don't attempt to pack too much instruction into single videos.  Give students and parents clarity on what each video includes and what you want the students to take away from the video.  Utilize learning targets with the videos.

4. Workshops shared in class (direct instruction)
Break down your classes into mini-workshops.  Offer direct instruction in small segments to students who may not have comprehended material from the videos.  Offer students a different form of instruction that allows them to ask questions and maybe see the material in a different way.  Others in the class can continue to work at their own pace over the topic at hand.  Creating mini-workshops allows you to set up your classes in tiered environment where students can get the required assistance needed and also work at their own pace and personalize their learning.

5. Create peer-to-peer support system
A great method to use with a tiered classroom is a peer-to-peer support system.  Students who understand and comprehend the material can assist other students with the material.  Students are able to learn from each other; research illustrates that students comprehend more material when learned from classmates.  The peers instructors are able to stretch themselves by teaching and helping other students.  This allows the instructors to look at the material deeper and show them where others may be unclear.  It also provides a support system to the teacher who is offering mini-workshops and support to the other students in the class.

6. Use student created videos if possible
Create a project where students make videos over topics so the videos can be added to the video library.  Students could use the videos to demonstrate mastery to their teachers.  They could also use the videos to help students who miss class.  It feeds back to the peer-to-peer support system, students enjoy learning from each other and can relate to other students.  This will also help students with other classes as well.  They will learn how to use editing software or other movie making apps that will allow them to use videos they create to demonstrate mastery in other classes.

Blended learning methods are valuable in offering our students and parents another means of instruction.  Try to use some of the tips above to guide your classes towards the ultimate goal of student growth. 

The Personal Touch in Education

During a recent #satchat, the topic was helping young administrators prepare for the new school year.  While participating in the #satchat Voxer group this week (very cool professional development experience), I have been able to reflect on some of the days when I first began as an administrator.  One of the questions asked during #satchat was, “What was something that did not go well during your first year as an administrator and how did you change it?”  I pondered this question for a little bit and then quickly realized what I needed to change my first year.

Communication is vital in education.  Our daily and weekly interactions with students, staff, parents and community stakeholders are important for an effective and positive school culture.   My first year there were times when I forgot about the personal touch that is necessary in communicating in education.  While email, texting, and social media are great to push out information and communicate with a broad audience, it is imperative to discuss certain topics in person.  In an era when we are accustomed to communicating using devices, we need to remember our emotions, body language, and back and forth conversations help us express the correct tone necessary for the topic at hand.

 As the summer winds down and the new school year is approaching, take a look at how you plan to communicate with all of your stakeholders.  Focus on the importance of the topics and determine whether you will be able to successfully express your thoughts and opinions electronically or face-to-face.  If you ever have a doubt as to how someone may react to your response, communicate with him or her in person.  We need to remember that building relationships in the most important as aspect in education.  It’s easier to build relationships by speaking in person than by hitting “SEND.”

Sessions That Lead to Growth Spurts

In my recent blogs, I have discussed conferences and the benefits of attending conferences.  I have touched on the importance of your PLN and making connections during conferences that will help you grow as an educator.  I am a huge proponent of the human connections that are made during conferences.  In my opinion, educators and administrators can grow from the conversations alone at conferences.  Don’t sell the sessions and speakers short though.  There are many powerful messages and transformative ideas that can be taken away from each quality session.

A good conference session provides attendees the opportunity to learn, visualize and implement.  Let’s look at some important takeaways from sessions to get the most that you can from conference sessions:

Visualize the implementation at your school/class

Listen and learn at each session.  Obviously, if you attend a session and its not what you thought it would be, you should use your feet to help you.  Go attend another session that you were contemplating attending.  Don’t waste your time by attending a session and checking your email.

Go into a session and visualize the implementation.  Watch and listen how it happened and then go make it happen in your school.  Some may say, “Well, some things just aren’t realistic for me to implement in my school.”  I disagree.  See it happen and then make it happen.  Does it have to be the exact same thing another school implemented?  No it doesn’t.   Just use the fuel the session gave you to build your fire.

Mentally manipulate another idea

I was in a recent conference session and heard a school discuss their Freshman transition program and the different activities their students and mentors participated in.  I immediately began thinking of ways I could change our transition program at NLHS.  The ideas I had were not the same as the school I was listening to.  The session allowed me to think in a more broad sense about what would work for our students and staff.  It is important to remember that different things work for different schools.  The goal is to personalize the ideas gathered from the sessions and fit them to your building growth. 

Talk the talk

Communicate with your PLN during the session and after the session.  Tweet out ideas and important points from the session.  Your PLN will offer comments and other ideas that will help you grow.  Don’t transition to the next session mentally until you have maximized the potential growth from the session you were in.  Communication is vital in this regard.  Use personal relationships and social media to get everything you can from a session.

See your reflection

Take some time after the conference to reflect on your experiences.  Think about the sessions you attended and make a plan on how you will communicate this message to others.  Involve other people in your district.  My advice is to blog and tweet about what you have learned and what you are excited about.  Your passion will be contagious and others will help you grow by expanding your reflection.

Your professional development is exactly that, your own.  You are the person who determines how your PLN will grow. You also determine what you will take away from conferences.  For the sake of our great profession, I hope you take advantage of the great growth opportunities professional development can offer.  If you are not going to do it for yourself, at least do it for your students and your building.  They will help your visions become reality.