When to lead, when to follow

I am a fan of great leadership. Some of my favorites include John Wooden, Coach K, Vince Lombardi, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King. What inspires me most is how they motivated grown men and women to do extraordinary things.

John Wooden won 10 national championships all at the same school. He wasn't one to jump around. He established a solid program and stuck with it to see it grow and flourish and was rewarded for his dedication.

Coach K, (some bias here) will be considered one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time when he decides to call it quits. He too has shown amazing dedication to the program he built with his own sweat and tears.

Vince Lombardi had an amazing post season record of 9 wins and 1 loss in the NFL. Unheard of. He established this great playoff record in only 9 short seasons with the Green Bay Packers.

What do these three men have in common? None of them walked right in and started winning championships. Wooden didn't start winning national championships until the 1960's. He started coaching in the 1940's. By year three at Duke Coach K was being run out of Raleigh! He went on to win 3 national championships, a gold medal, 11 ACC championships, and several coach of the year awards. Lombardi lost his first NFL Championship Game(before it was known as the "Superbowl") after that he went on to win 5. Another common thread between these three men. None of them have been a head coach for more than two teams. Wooden - Indiana State and UCLA, Coach K - Army and Duke, Lombardi - Green Bay and Washington.

Let's look at the two historical leaders I chose. Both were despised. One when he was elected and during his tenure as the President the other while he orchestrated the Civil Rights movement across our nation. Both made monumental change in our country, one from abolishing slavery and the other to inspiring the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all the protections that it grants us. Unfortunately, both were executed before their time. However, their work is and forever will be carried on.

What does all this have to do with school, teaching, and learning. Well besides being inspired by playoff football and college basketball during this special time of year and the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, we all have so much to learn from the actions of all of these leaders.

Those that show loyalty to a program will be rewarded. The work of a good person will forever be continued. Why, because humans are first followers before they become leaders. When we choose the right person or program to follow and show loyalty to it you develop leaders at every level that carry on great acts of humanity. These new leaders inspire in new ways and hold fast to traditions that contribute to the success of our civilization. Knowing when to lead and when to follow is the most critical decision we make in our own success.

Since we have been back on break I have this overwhelming feeling that our shining moment is right around the corner. The ink on our stamp is wet. We are and will continue to do great things for the students of this school. Why.... because you, the teachers of this school, are leading our students to do great things.

No written word, no spoken plea,
Can teach our youth what they should be,
Nor all the books on all the shelves.
It's what the teachers are themselves.

Author Unknown

Yours in leading and in following,

Mike

The Year of the Dog.......

Isn't it interesting that in some cultures they name the new year after an animal? I never understood this, but I bet people from that culture don't understand why we do things the way we do.

I'm not even sure that this is the year of the dog, but after what I witnessed during intersession today I thought it was the perfect fit. Today was our final day of intersession, and yes we all looked forward to it, not because it was the last day, but because it was the opportunity for our students to show us what they learned all week. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come in the year of the dog.

Our theme this week was animals and their intelligence. We secretly disguised the wonderful world of Non-Fiction. Knowing that our EOG is 40% Non - Fiction our intersession team decided that this approach would be a great way to show our students that reading is fun beyond the titles of Captain Underpants and Junie B. Don't get me wrong these books have a place in our curriculum, but we have to find the balance to prepare our students for what is to come.

I watched our students make connections to what they have learned all week to the presentations that were shared from Discovery Place, The Riverbanks Zoo, The Dog Wizards, and the Monroe Police Department K - 9 unit.

Our students got to circulate the habitats of different animals, hold live snakes, see how K - 9 dogs are trained and learn of compassion pets, they got to touch the skull of a black bear, pet a Great Dane and guess what fur came from what animal. At one point today this place looked like a zoo, and no animals even wanted to escape.

One of our teachers told me that this was one of the greatest weeks she has had teaching. She wanted to know why we couldn't teach like this all the time. We get so caught up in assessment that sometimes we forget about how learning happens. The most profound thing she told me was that she had this anticipatory set of the students she was serving as the lowest students and that learning would be difficult for them, yet at the end of this week full of integration and hands on experiences she saw students demonstrate learning in profound ways. To say that assessment drives learning is backwards, our assessment is evidence of our learning. We forget that learning goes beyond the multiple choice, while very important, summative assessment has very little to do with success.

Every January we make resolutions, we say we are going to eat better, exercise more, go to church more often, quit this or start doing more of that etc. etc. Well in the year of the dog, let's remember that learning happens in a variety of ways. We have to erase our anticipatory sets and remember that every child can learn. Figuring out how they learn is what is most important. Remember, that your IQ only accounts for about 20% of your success in life. The same is true of school, your IQ can only account for about 20% of your success on an EOG.

In the year of the dog we have the opportunity to make the best resolution of all, "Each day I will do whatever it takes to make my students successful, I will find a way to maximize their learning through understanding their learning style"

Woof Woof,

Mike