Looking Inside

Noted psychologist Abraham Maslow is best known for his research on what he referred to as a hierarchy of needs among humans. Wikipedia explains this theory: "Maslow described human needs as ordered in a prepotent hierarchy—a pressing need would need to be mostly satisfied before someone would give their attention to the next highest need." 

The ultimate level of satisfied needs is reached and satisfied when an individual meets their potential and is considered "self-actualized." Maslow later suggested that a person who becomes self-actualized is not necessarily someone who has been the recipient of qualities added along their path in life, but rather someone who has been free of obstructions and has not had qualities taken away.

My lengthy career as a school leader leads me to suspect the staff of a school has a similar, collective arc. That is, for a staff to meet their potential as a team, they must not depend on someone or something contributing additional resources to their effort. Instead, their progress is aided by the absence of interventions that sap their energy, distract their vision of a preferred future, and misdirect their route to reaching their mission.

As the principal of Molly Stark Elementary School I adopt the manner depicted by the Wizard of Oz at the end of that famous film. No, not the part whereby the Wizard projects himself as a larger than life figure with mystical powers. I fashion myself the type of leader he reveals himself to be when confronted by the disappointed travelers who yearned to reach the Emerald City and obtain the ability for Dorothy to return to her native Kansas. It was when the Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Dorothy reacted with anger at discovering that the Wizard was in fact a simple, ordinary man who had enlarged his status and power, misleading them into undertaking an arduous journey beset by wicked witches and flying monkeys - all for nothing!

That's when the Wizard revealed his true power - a power we all have. The power of insight, empathy, optimism, and belief. At that critical point in the story, the Wizard explains how the Lion, who was searching for courage in his quest on the Yellow Brick Road, had possessed that attribute all along, and demonstrated it when he fought off the threats of the flying monkeys. The Tin Man, looking for a heart, had also displayed evidence that he already had a heart, and exhibited it when he committed to helping the lost Dorothy seek her way home. The Scarecrow joined the group, convinced he had no brain but the Wizard explained how the Scarecrow already had a brain and proved it when he helped outwit the Wicked Witch. And Dorothy? Well, she already had her ticket home in the form of the ruby red slippers she wore on her feet the entire trip. All she needed to do was click the shoes together.

The Wizard performed one of the most valuable of leadership skills when he helped others see what qualities they already possessed. He didn't have to add anything to the growth of individuals to help them reach their potential. They were not dependent on him to imbue them with additional skills or knowledge in order to meet their goals. They just needed someone to hold a mirror up to them and reveal the existence of their potential. With that, it was amazing how ordinary people working together could perform at extraordinary levels.

That's my task at Molly Stark Elementary School. It is a charge that I have accepted at each leadership position throughout a career that approaches forty years of experience as either a principal or superintendent. It's a responsibility I embrace because of the satisfaction gained while observing people discover their identity and optimize their capacity. It's a rewarding journey.     

The Role of a Teacher

Robert Fulghum remains one of my favorite authors. I recommend his work to everyone (check out his facebook page and his web journal). His books are a series of collected essays and observations that are amusing, profound, and thought provoking. I can't recall exactly which book contains this particular narrative that forms the basis of my Blog entry today, nor can I commit to the exactness of my memory, but I can remember the essence of the story. Here it is:

One such experience that Fulghum shared with readers involves a class taught by a wise professor who closed a lesson by asking if there were any questions. A member of the class attempted to upstage the teacher and steer the lesson off course with levity by asking about the secret of life. 

The sage instructor reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. From within his wallet he gently extracted a small shard salvaged from a broken mirror. He held it aloft and redirected the sun that peeked into the classroom and cast the reflected light into a darkened corner of the room. The professor explained that when he was a young boy in Greece during the second world war, he discovered a dead Nazi laying on the road next to a wrecked motorcycle that the soldier was riding when he was shot by a member of the resistance army. 

The boy picked up a piece of the shattered motorcycle mirror and saved it. As the boy confronted life in a war torn country littered with the vestiges of death and despair, he struggled to make sense of life. While contemplating the trauma of his life he found that by manipulating the mirror and capturing rays of light he could bring light to darkened areas. 

That was the secret of life - how humans have the capacity to enlighten, with hope and dreams and projections of what could be. That is my challenge as a school leader. Bringing light to those shrouded in the darkness of doubt and despair. And, that task begins tomorrow when 400 learners open the school year by filling a building short on space and long on promise. A school that has been under-performing and mired in misery associated with low expectations, burdened by assumptions and perceptions of demographics, stereotypes, and surrender.

In researching the school and Bennington prior to applying for the vacant position of principal at Molly Stark, I came across a quote attributed to General John Stark, commander of American forces in the area during the Revolutionary War. On the eve of a battle that would prove to be critical in preventing the British from reinforcing their troops in Saratoga, thirty miles away, Stark declared - "There are your enemies, the British and Tories. They are ours, or else this night Molly Stark (his wife) sleeps a widow." That was a clear commitment to the goal of victory. He would win, or he would die trying.

As I addressed the staff of Molly Stark Elementary School days before the start of another school year, I echoed Stark's words, though with far less sacrifice. I stated - "There are our enemies, doubt and despair. They are ours, or else Molly Stark will have another principal in two years." 

I concluded that if achievement levels did not rise (according to the website, School Digger, we are currently the 172nd ranked elementary school among 175 in the state of Vermont) then I would accept that I am not the right leader to guide our improvement and would step aside so that someone more skilled can replace me and breathe life into the hopes and dreams of the children at Molly Stark.

We'll see....

Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine

The last three days of professional development activities have provided me with several opportunities to engage with the staff at Molly Stark Elementary School. The staff is impressive, and the members reflected a desire to inspire. These experiences were productive and served to cultivate the direction, scope and meaning for our collective efforts this year. We will make magic, meaning, and memories on Monday when we open the school year.

A teacher asked me why I chose to accept the position of principal at Molly Stark, rather than search for a role at a more accomplished school. My response echoed a remark made many years ago by one of my heroes, Thomas Paine. Paine, the author of many profound essays that sparked the spirits of Americans during the revolutionary war era, such as "The Crisis," was confronted by Benjamin Franklin's statement - "You will find me where you find liberty." He responded by saying, "You will find me where there is not liberty." Paine was committed to liberating those who were oppressed and denied freedom. In fact, after spurring on the populace in America with his passionate and patriotic words Paine went to France and promoted the efforts of the French to overthrow the ruling monarchy.

My career is a documented path of work designed to elevate the performance of under-served school populations burdened by low expectations, depressed levels of confidence, and untapped potential. The prospect of experiencing success and observing the personal growth that emerges from improvement is motivational. It's an exhilarating experience that I look forward to celebrating with our staff in the not so distant future.

That Back to School Feeling

The "Back to School" sales advertising is fading as we near the approach of the opening day of school in Bennington this coming Monday, August 29th. That first day is always accompanied by surging optimism associated with the start of another year. Children boast new "school clothes" outfits, hair styles, and shoes as they amble into school armed with notebooks, pencils, and backpacks full of hopes and dreams for the future. There is a collective sense of renewal as staff and learners alike begin again with a clean slate and restored energy, anxious to meet each other and develop relationships. The "newness" is exhilarating.

This is my forty-first start of a school year. I love the feeling of the first day of school. It recalls the positive spirit that emerges just prior to Thanksgiving and seems to have an emotional shelf life that expires as soon after New Years Day as most resolutions. During the holidays, there appears to be more positive interactions among people. People are more patient and cheerful, more accommodating and generous. 

I've often heard others remark wistfully about how nice it would be if that attitude prevailed throughout the calendar year instead of just around the holidays. I maintain the same hope regarding the impact of the first day of school. Why can't we pledge ourselves to sustain the hope and optimism, and the renewal and excitement of that opening day - throughout the entire school year?

Selling Education

No matter how many years of experience I have enjoyed as an educational leader, I always strive to look around corners and over horizons to learn something new. Someone once suggested that if the leader of an organization doesn't grow, or learn, then the organization will not prosper either. As part of feeding an appetite for personal and professional growth, I have recently re-read best selling author Daniel H. Pink's book, To Sell is Human. 

The main premise of the text explains that rather than confine perceptions of sales to those people officially titled as salespeople, one must expand the notion of sales to include people who engage with others in conceptual transactions. For a better explanation, I have included an excerpt form the book:

"If you look outside the category of 'sales worker' you will discover the many people who 'persuade, influence, and convince others (selling ideas and concepts). For example, physicians sell patients on a remedy, lawyers sell juries on a verdict, teachers sell students on the value of paying attention in class... We now go online to sell ourselves - on Facebook pages, Twitter and Linkedin accounts, or Match.com profiles."

I might add, people even Blog in an effort to persuade, influence, and convince others!

When you examine his proposition from that perspective, many of us are salespeople at one time or another, as we try to influence others. Pink references a study that revealed that people spend approximately 40% of their time at work involved with non-sales selling in ways (influencing, persuading, convincing) that do not include purchases. Furthermore, those surveyed consider this skill ( he labels it "moving others," as in transforming their view, opinion or interests) to be critical to their responsibilities. This is interesting because there is a considerable amount of data that shows that people tend to have a less than positive view on the sales process and salespeople in general. 

Pink contends that the basis of this less than positive opinion is rooted in the typical sales process. He discusses "information asymmetry," in which the seller has more information than the buyer, thus putting the buyer in an imbalanced and weaker position. For example, think about buying a car. The dealer has much more information than the buyer regarding actual costs, capacity, performance, technical details,... 

Let's take a look at his reference to teachers, or educators for that matter, as salespeople. For many years, the dynamic in the teaching and learning equation was information asymmetry. that is, the teacher's authority was often predicated on their command of knowledge content that the learners had not yet acquired, and needed in order to achieve desired outcomes (good grade, course credit, graduation,...)

However, with the rise of technology and increased access to information (Google searches, Yelp, 4Square,...) the sales exchange has approached parity and a more level playing field for participants in the sales process. Returning to that car purchase scenario, the buyer has ready access through multiple data and opinion sources to nearly match the knowledge of the dealer.

This democratization of knowledge, borne of expanding storage, access, and retrieval of information, also impacts the sales process within schools. No longer is the teacher the sole gatekeeper of content. This is particularly true when one considers the exponential growth of information in the last decade. Learners are now capable of casually accessing information at a greater breadth and depth of reach than what they receive in the classroom - instantly via the ubiquitous hand held devices, like cell phones. This signals a shift from a passive receptacle of knowledge and skills delivered by the teacher, to an engaging interaction with countless resources that can be converted to into information, and subsequently skills and application.

Teachers are confronted with a daunting task of attracting the attention of learners in a stimuli-rich environment to curate knowledge and cultivate opportunities to apply what is learned. In other words, in order for the teacher to "move" (influence, persuade, convince) learners, the teacher must transform from a leader based on the authority of knowledge/content, to a facilitator and coordinator of empowered class members. 

Here's how Daniel H. Pink describes it:

"Today’s education and health care professionals can no longer depend on the quasi-reverence that information asymmetry often afforded them. When the balance tilts in the opposite direction, what they do, and how they do it must change. When simple transactional tasks can be automated, and when information parity displaces information asymmetry, moving people depends on more sophisticated skills and requires as much intellect and creativity as designing a house, reading a CT scan, or, say, writing a book."

The three vital attributes necessary to be an effective "mover" are:

Attunement = Empathy, the ability to understand the perspective and context of others. Use your head and your heart.

Bouyancy = The ability to keep your head up amid a world of rejection or disbelievers of those not willing or ready to accept or accommodate what you are selling.

Clarity = This skill relies less on problem solving and more on problem finding to assist others in recognizing different perspectives and solutions.

In summary, I have read over one hundred different business/leadership books like Pink's in an effort to discover new ideas and fresh vantage points. I have a compendium of excerpted highlights from each of the books that form a valuable reservoir of knowledge that informs my decision-making and direction as a school leader. I though I'd share this reference as a means of reflecting on our role as educators charged with selling/moving people in a vast and competitive marketplace. 

The Last Chapter

       (This represents the end of the series of posts that began on March 21st and chronicled the story of a school improvement process at an inner-city junior high school)

     One aspect of the conversion of junior high schools to middle schools was captured in the surveys that the district’s central office anonymously administered to parents, learners, and staff throughout the city. These instruments were designed to obtain feedback on what people thought about their junior high school in an effort to create baseline data in the form of a pre-test and post-test with respect to what they felt about middle schools after the following year. 

     The results, published throughout the school district, provided convincing evidence that Mann was held in much higher esteem by it’s parents, staff, and learners than any other school was by their similar constituencies.xiv 

     One of the most personally satisfying moments for me during this wonderful experience was the opportunity to model praise and reinforcement with the staff. There appears to be some general misunderstanding among secondary level educators that the warm and fuzzy notes of praise for learners is something that is confined to little kids at the elementary level. Mysteriously, the need for such a tool disappears during the summer between sixth and seventh grade. 

     A climate where everyone recognized the need to work together was necessary if we intended to stimulate significant change. An important aspect of such a goal includes a healthy exchange of recognition and praise. As in most cases, the leader must accept the responsibility for inviting change by willingly demonstrating the desired behavior as an example. 

     With that in mind, I sequestered myself in my office one Sunday afternoon with the names and addresses of the parents of each and every staff member at Horace Mann. I composed personalized letters of praise that acknowledged the tremendous success of our school. In addition, every letter contained a specific contribution made by the particular individual. These notes were then forwarded, unknown to the staff members, to their parents with a concluding, “thanks for instilling the values and beliefs in (insert name of staff member) that have resulted in significant contributions here at Horace Mann Junior High School.”  

     Very soon thereafter I was visited by a succession of individuals, several with eyes welled up with tears, who came by the office and described their surprise when contacted by their proud parents with news of receiving a glowing note about their “child”, many of whom were in their forties and fifties and long since confused as a kid anymore.  

     I still keep the gratifying letters I received from the parents of staff members who wanted to share the pride they felt about their offspring. One parent letter in particular stated that although their son was a hardworking and successful person he had never distinguished himself to the degree that he excelled at anything in high school,… but they always knew he was special and the letter I had sent to them confirmed this belief – even though they had to wait until their son was in his thirties. 

     Two heartfelt notes were received from a couple of custodians. One was an admission that disclosed how she had always been embarrassed to admit where she worked. But not anymore. She was so proud of the progress at Mann that she now brags about where she works. The other was by a custodian whose father was a bus driver with the school district. He claimed that on the day his father received the letter he went into each and every school he picked up children and broadcast the message to all who would listen.    

     Needles to say, there was a dramatic increase in notes of praise sent home by our staff members to their learners. It proved to be like a small pebble dropped into a pond, its ripples of concentric circles expanding far beyond the point it was dropped. 

     Another sign of our acceptance by the greater community was the reference that the mayor of Amarillo made at a breakfast meeting of civic leaders sharing an interest in revitalizing the economically beleaguered city. He cited the specific accomplishments of the school (academic pep rallies…) in transforming itself and claimed that Horace Mann Junior High was an example of what could be done across the city.xv  

     When everything was done at the end of that first year we had a school we would want to attend if we were teenagers, a school we would want to have our own children attend, and a school where we were proud to work. Most of all, we had, as one student proudly declared in the school survey, a “school of hope.” 

The End 

ACADEMIC Pep Rallies

There were a steady stream of events orchestrated and rituals developed in reshaping the culture of the school. A list of local dignitaries was compiled to serve as prospects for academic pep rallies. Yes, academic pep rallies. Those ceremonies conducted at the end of each marking period to renew our vows to Aim HIGH. Bands played, cheerleaders cheered, erstwhile rap artists performed raps related to the 4A’s, and speakers urged the kids onward.  

     These volunteers signed on and pledged support in various ways. We hosted Elisha Demerson, a graduate of Mann and the first African-American to be elected a county judge in the history of Texas. There was a former Olympic quality downhill skier who was paralyzed in a ski accident and fought her way back to the victory circle – this time in the international competitions held for the handicapped. One of our own teachers, a young woman who fled from Uganda and the treacherous regime of Idi Amin, shared how she had overcome misfortune and met with success. The editor of the local newspaper offered worthwhile advice. John Marmaduke, the progress, civic minded CEO of Western Merchandisers/Hastings Books not only shared his personal philosophy on success but also supplied hundreds of dollars of gift certificates as valuable incentives and rewards. Texas Panhandle oil tycoon, T. Boone Pickens, was another tremendous source of support. He took notice of our billboard mission advertisements and the stories of success in the media and provided thousands of dollars to improve the school’s appearance. Mr. Pickens sent his company’s horticulturist over with a proposal to landscape the grounds of the school. In addition, dozens of employees from Pickens’ Mesa Limited Partnership combined with hundreds of our learners one Saturday morning to actually perform the task of digging and planting all of the plants, shrubs… Each of the speakers, without prodding, focused their personal presentations on how they had Aimed HIGH in their life. 

     We were fortunate to be adopted by a number of businesses. The more success we encountered and the more publicity we attracted, the more partners we experienced. However, holding our hand out was not going to solve long term problems. In fact, dependency upon outside sources would only reinforce enabling behaviors that would not empower us for the future. Therefore, we took the unprecedented step and adopted another school! That’s right. We adopted the elementary school down the block. Our Student Council supplied met with the administration of the elementary school and submitted a proposal for a mutually beneficial relationship. They provided the school with $500.00 to fund a recognition and reward system fashioned after the 4A program. In this manner, they reached out to our “vendor” or “supplier” in an effort to indoctrinate the kids who would eventually come to Mann. 

     One of our Adopters was the fast-food seafood chain, Long John Silvers. They had a store near the school and offered certificates as incentives and extended their facility as a casual meeting place, complete with free refreshments, for the Student Council. Again, to avoid the perception of needy kids looking for a handout, we insisted that Long John Silvers, like all of our partners in the “adopt a school” program, receive services from us as well. It would be a two way street. 

     It turned out that the store had a need for placemats. Specifically, placemats of a utilitarian design that would serve a purpose beyond the obvious. They wanted something that could occupy their patrons so the wait for their food was not noticeable. Our Art department organized a contest for attractive and functional designs. Kids created representations depicting a seafood motif, together with crossword puzzles, word finds, and mazes that were directly related to the Aim HIGH and 4A programs at Mann. 

     I was surprised one day to receive a phone call from a regional marketing representative from Long John Silver’s who happened to be visiting the local store and expressed an interest in buying one of the designs. I referred him to the young man who was responsible for the work and they negotiated a settlement that included a job.