The Elevator Pitch

One pervasive urban legend tells of a young and hungry entrepreneur who couldn’t get an interview at a large corporation.  Completely frustrated, he came up with a plan born of desperation.  He spent several weeks observing the daily routine of the CEO and preparing for just the right moment.  When he was ready, he timed his entry onto the first floor elevator to match that of the CEO and began his pitch with the closing of the elevator door.  By the time they reached the top floor thirty seconds later, the young man had convinced the CEO and was offered a job.

What can you say in 30 seconds that makes all the difference?

I couldn’t find any evidence to support the veracity of this urban legend, but true or not, the concept of the elevator pitch has become part of our lexicon.   A quick search of “elevator pitch” gets millions of hits and a whole list of resources for writing a clear, brief message about you and how you can become an asset to a company or organization.  

I suggest to you that the concept of an elevator pitch has implications for all of us in education--today more than ever.  The debate surrounding education is all around us, and if we are not prepared to make a sales pitch about who we are and the value of what we do, there are plenty of others outside of education who will be more than happy to provide words for us.

Want proof that I'm right? Check the headlines of the Indianapolis Star for the next few weeks.  I have no doubt you will find lots of people who haven't been inside a school recently with lots of opinions about Indiana schools.

We must give voice to the words of our hearts.

When You Can't Find the Right Words

How do you respond when someone from outside of education asks question like these?

• Why should I send my children to pubic schools and specifically to one of the Hamilton Southeastern Schools?
• What is HSE21, and why is it important to my child?
• Why should I give my financial support and vote to public education?

Do questions like these catch you by surprise?  Do you fumble for words?  Do you think of the great things you should have said later in the evening?

To be perfectly honest, I know I do—and I know I shouldn’t.  I should be prepared.  I should have an elevator pitch for HSE practiced and ready to go. 

Daniel Pink, the best-selling author of books about business and management, gives some good advice about an effective elevator pitch.  He is speaking about business, but it applies to us in education as well:

The pitch process, when it works well, is inherently collaborative.  In some ways, pitch is not the right word because pitch implies I’m going to throw this to you and you’re either going to catch it or not.  It’s much more interactive.  We have to think of pitching not as I’m going to sell you on this right now, but essentially, "Here is an invitation—an intriguing invitation—to have a conversation."

Pink's Drive has major implications for education.
See the link at the end of the blog to learn more.

The Challenge

The HSE Teaching and Learning Team gave ourselves the challenge of creating an elevator speech about Hamilton Southeastern Schools and HSE²¹.  How can we briefly and clearly state our beliefs?  How can we do more than simply “sell” Hamilton Southeastern Schools to someone from the outside?  How can we provide, as Pink says, an “intriguing invitation” for further conversation?

Those are tough tasks to complete well in 30 seconds.  After the holiday break I invite you to consider what we write; furthermore, I invite you to consider during the break what you might say if given the same challenge.

Even better, how about sharing your ideas in this blog?

What will you say when you get the unexpected question?

There is no time more important than now for educators to share the good things happening in HSE Schools.  Leading up to the election in May, you will undoubtedly be asked questions about our schools.  Each and every one of us must be ready to speak clearly about what we believe about public education, about the good things happening in our schools, and why continued support of our schools is so important to our children and our community.

So have a great holiday break, HSE.  Rest.  Relax.  Come back in January ready to educate our children—and ready to educate others who may have questions about the value of who we are and what we do.

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

Bonus Video:  You might want to watch Daniel Pink’s TED Talk on what motivates people (and remember students are people, too).

Click this Link: The Puzzle of Motivation

Respond to Phil at plederach@hse.k12.in.us

The Alarm Clock

In the face of the daily grind, it can be difficult to maintain the passion for your profession.  This week’s entry comes from Bev Smith-Redmond, our Director of School and Community Relations.  She shares her routine for focusing and maintaining her energies.

From Bev: Taking Care of Others Starts with Taking Care of Yourself

The alarm goes off between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. every day.  With a swipe to my cell phone screen, on a good day I can delay the inevitable until 5:45 a.m., but that is rarely the case.  Having worked in school administration and communications for the past 16 years, no two days are the same. I am one of the lucky ones.  My career brings me joy. Helping people connect is my passion. Public education is the arena in which I have been gifted the space to work.

However, in the busiest moments, my vision can become cloudy when solely looking at my days as a to-do list rather than sets of interconnected opportunities. A new phone call, a Tweet, an e-mail, an article, a photograph all vie, sometimes simultaneously, for attention at any moment. Work often comes in grandiose doses. In my experience, the days, weeks, semesters and school years can pass without consciously taking time to focus and refuel. As a result, I am learning to safeguard my professional passion.

Bev argues that you should prepare yourself for this journey.

I start my day quietly and purposefully.

Before checking in with the world, I connect with me. Who am I? Why do I do what I do? My goal—and I’m still a work in progress—is to recharge daily, even if for only a few moments.

Each morning, I attempt to listen first and list tasks second. Getting back in sync is not always easy, so simplicity works best. It could be the sound bites of a poem or devotion that connects me as I iron my clothes. Sometimes, I don my ear buds and stream my favorite podcast while I eat my Chocolate Chex, or swap professional encouragements and ideas with my mentors by text.  My car has become my rolling fortress where I rehearse affirmations or lessons gleaned from articles or conversations. In a pinch, I have even been known to turn up my playlist and just jam because I only have five minutes.

Recharge Your Batteries Wherever You Can

This week, I struck gold with some retro You Tube clips from famed television mogul, humanitarian, and master teacher Oprah Winfrey. In my profession, I cannot think of anyone who has shone more brightly as a source of inspiration. I chose two videos: the 2015 “Harry’s Last Lecture” on a Meaningful Life at Stanford University and Oprah’s farewell address in closing the famed Oprah Show after 25 years.

Oprah has many useful nuggets in these videos, but two of her challenges stood out for me:

1. Would you rather be right or be happy?
2. Find your passion and run after it!

Admittedly, number one requires much more introspection. But, item two is where I proudly stand, fulfilled and ready to run!

It snowed during Bev's wedding!

Respond to Bev Smith-Redmond at bevsmith@hse.k12.in.us  (and don't forget to congratulate her on her recent marriage).

Have a great week, HSE!

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

The Speed of Trust

This week, Tom tells us about a book that has influenced his thinking, The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey.  

"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior."  --S. M. R. Covey

From Tom: Outcomes Depend on Trust

I am a trustworthy guy, at least I think I am. 

My family trusts me.  My students trusted me when I was teaching in the classroom.  The athletes that I coached trusted me, so why didn’t parents trust me when I became a district administrator?   Did I change?  Did I do something that made me not trustworthy when I took this job?  Why did it have to change?

These are tough questions!

After nineteen years as a director of special education, I have come to realize that these questions don’t really matter.  What matters is how I address the trust factor when working with parents during emotionally charged situations.  That is what led me to the book The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey. 

The Speed of Trust focuses on why trust is important, as well as what the outcomes are when you have established true trust in a relationship.  Relationships can come down to one essential question: Do we trust each other or not?  The answer tells us why progress is being made or why progress has come to a complete halt. 

Simply stated, when you have trust, things move at a much faster rate than when you don’t.  For example, when you are in the middle of a difficult situation with a parent or student and you do not have trust established, often the conversation is bogged down by multiple questions that are not pertinent to the problem, or the same question is asked over and over. 

This slows the problem solving process down and sometimes grinds it to a halt. 

The converse is true when you have trust.  The conversation remains focused on the problem and finding solutions; therefore, the time it takes to reach agreement is much shorter.  This is a speed that results from having trust. 

Sounds simple, right?  Establishing trust, however, is not always that easy.  It is an ongoing process that must be the focus of what we do with our students and the parents we work with daily.  The Speed of Trust helped me realize how important trust is in both our professional and personal life.  When we follow the steps that Covey outlines in the book, we can establish trust that will have a lasting impact on our daily lives and the people we come in contact with personally and professionally.

Cores of Credibility

In order to accomplish this, we need to possess the foundational principle of credibility.  Am I credible?  Am I believable? Am I someone people (including myself) can trust?  Covey identifies four “Cores of Credibility” which focus on character and competence within us.   

• Integrity:  A deep honesty and truthfulness.  It is who we really are. It includes congruence, humility, and courage.
• Intent:  What is our agenda?  It is your fundamental motive or agenda and the behavior that follows.
• Capabilities:  Capable people and organizations inspire confidence.  Capability is our capacity to produce and accomplish tasks.  It is our talents, attitudes, skills, knowledge, and style. 
• Results:  What is our track record?  Results matter.  They matter enormously to your credibility.  People evaluate your results/performance on three key indicators:  past performance, current performance, and anticipated performance. 

The Four Cores of Credibility are only one example of many in The Speed of Trust.  Covey addresses many other topics as well.  I strongly encourage you to take the time to read this book and look deeper into the roll that trust plays in our daily life as educators.  

Respond to Tom a tbell@hse.k12.in.us

We hope your week is a good one, HSE.

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

Something Greater Than Teaching?

This week's post is from Matt Lane, a social studies teacher at Riverside Junior High.  He responded to the question, "Which author has influenced your life?"  We think you will be challenged by and enjoy Matt's response--which is the same impact Matt's favorite author had on him.

From Matt Lane: A Chance Meeting in Charleston

When I was in the seventh grade, my older brother read The Lords of Discipline, by Pat Conroy. He told me I should not read it because there was “a lot of cussing in it.”  Having been raised in a conservative family, I said I never would.

Plus it was really thick.

South of Broad

Over the years, as my tolerance for colorful language increased and my aversion to thicker books subsided, I discovered the voice of Pat Conroy. My introduction came through a novel called South of Broad, which tells the story of social life and class struggles in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. It was the first book I read on my new e-reader, quite honestly because it was one of the few titles available to download from the public library. 

Little did I know that the selection of that ebook would forever change my views on life.  Conroy inspired me as a writer, motivated me to take my family on a week-long vacation to visit Charleston, and more importantly, confirmed my belief that teaching is as much a calling as it is a profession.

The Water is Wide

After reading South of Broad and recommending it to everyone I knew, my next Conroy book was The Water is Wide. This memoir tells of Conroy’s year of teaching on Daufuskie Island off the coast of Charleston.  Conroy recounts how his students, all descendants of former slaves, were so embedded in poverty that education was of little importance. He tells how he resorted to unconventional teaching methods to get his students engaged, and how he often butted heads with the school’s administrator.

His teaching had a positive impact on his students’ lives.  From simple things like personal grooming to taking a field trip off the island—the first time on the mainland for many of his students—he taught that life was much greater than what they had previously experienced. For me, this memoir was a confirmation of what one teacher can do when he is committed to kids.

My Reading Life

Another of Conroy’s memoirs, My Reading Life, furthered my admiration and established Conroy as my favorite author. In this book, he recounts people who inspired his own writing.  Specifically, he tells of Gene Norris, a teacher Conroy describes as “a great man.” Mr. Norris was great not for what he knew, but rather for how he treated his students.

Conroy’s personal life growing up was tumultuous, and he had no respect for his own father, who was the inspiration for his book The Great Santini. Gene Norris was an English teacher but became a father figure and friend to Conroy at time when he needed more than just an English teacher.  He needed someone to listen to him. He needed to know he had value and worth. He needed someone to see good in him. Mr. Norris saw something special in Conroy’s writing and inspired Conroy to climb out of his personal tragedy and turn it into his own victory, his own triumph.

I still get emotional as I read near the end of the memoir when Conroy writes: “If there is more important work than teaching, I hope to learn about it before I die.”

These are strong words from someone fired from his first teaching job and who struggles to this day with issues of self-esteem. Conroy knows the importance of good teachers and his words remind me to be the very best I can be every day.

Lords of Discipline

How can an author change your life?  Just ask Matt, shown
here at The Citadel.  He swears by Pat Conroy.

If we fast-forward a few years, I finally broke my promise and did read that book my brother told me about in seventh grade—the cussing book. The Lords of Discipline is a fictional account of Conroy’s experience at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston. When I read Pat Conroy books, I cannot read them fast. It is not because they are difficult. It is because I simply do not want them to end. Each page has something to ponder and process. Each character is a new friend. If I read too fast, I might miss something.

When I finally finished The Lords of Discipline, there was no doubt that it would top my list of favorite books.  When it came time to plan our family trip over Spring Break, I convinced the family to go to Charleston. Because of Conroy’s writing, I had fallen in love with a place I had never visited.

After spending almost a week there, I discovered Conroy had written the truth: the houses, the food, and the people were just as described. I visited The Citadel twice, bought a coffee mug and t-shirt, and took a few thousand photos. I had little interest in military universities but I suppose this is what good writing does. It makes us love places we have never seen and become passionate about subjects in which we previously had no interest.

As a teacher, Pat Conroy has helped me to understand that my job is to inspire the uninspired and to reach the ones who want to be left alone. To paraphrase Conroy, if there is something greater than teaching, I, too, hope to discover it before I die.

Respond to Matt at malane@hse.k12.in.us

Have a great week, HSE!

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

The Human Piñata

This week, we continue on the topic of influential authors.  In the entry below, Jeff tells a story about his son's experience last week, and how the experience brought back memories of a book that changed the way he taught and continues to inform his parenting.

Enjoy!

From Jeff: My Son, the Human Piñata

I was reminded this weekend of the power of natural consequences. My son was attending a birthday party where, at one point, there was a piñata involved. Imagine 8 seven-year-olds being blindfolded and being told to use a 3 foot dowel rod (1-inch in diameter) to knock at an object hanging in the air; you probably know where this is going.

It looks so innocent just hanging there, but put the club in
the hand of a 7 year-old....

The piñata was hung in the middle of the garage, and all the kids were told to remain outside of garage until it was their turn or until we allowed them to swarm the candy. At one point, the piñata was knocked from the string and went to the ground, where my son quickly dove in after it.

Needless to say the blindfolded kid, not realizing the piñata was on the ground and my son on top of it, took a swing and knocked him upside the neck. After a few tears, we were able to have a conversation about why it is best to wait until the blindfold was off the person swinging. (He is doing well and enjoyed showing the battle wound off to his peers.)

He used a band-aid in the evening, but wore his
battle scar proudly at school the next day! 

Early on in my college years, Maria Ging (Fall Creek Elementary), gave me a book entitled Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk. This was a great book to start me thinking about classroom discipline and management and, in a way, how I deal with my own kids at home.

The book focuses around several key concepts:

• Building relationships with our students
• Teaching students to think about their actions and decisions
• Giving choice, when possible, for consequences
• Consequences do not need to be immediate but have empathy
• Consequences should be a natural fit

Jim Fay and David Funk say this: "Do I want to control kids, or do I want to obtain their cooperation?"

As we enter the last few weeks of the semester, our students may start to push the boundaries just a bit more. Hang in there, and think about using love and logic as part of your classroom management plans.

The break will be here soon!

Have a great (short) week, HSE!

 Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning

Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education

Tom Bell, Director of Special Education

Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology

Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

Hairballs and the Growing Edge

This week's blog continues on the topic of anchor texts and touchstone experiences.  As you read, consider your own experience.  Which authors or mentors influenced you the most?  What ideals and ideas do you hold dear because of these people?

It is a beautiful thing to read and hear great ideas, especially when they help us become better educators.  And, as Jan points out, sometimes it is also a great deal of fun!

From Jan: Orbiting the Giant Hairball

When Phil first came with the idea that we write about authors who influenced us, I truly did not know where to begin.  So many authors have inspired (the art) or informed (the science) my views on life in general and on education specifically. 

One of my favorite books, however, is Orbiting the Giant Hairball, by Gordon MacKenzie.  I find myself referring to it a lot lately.   It is a book filled with short stories that contain powerful lessons. 

Illustration from MacKenzie's book Orbiting the Giant Hairball

One of the stories is called “Pool-Hall Dog” and it is about the power of letting go.  MacKenzie closes this chapter by saying: “If we do not let go, we make prisoners of ourselves.”

Excerpt from “Pool-Hall Dog” in Orbiting the Giant Hairball:

To be fully free to create, we must first find the courage and willingness to let go:

           

Let go of the strategies that have worked for us in the past….

            Let go of our biases, the foundation of our illusions…

            Let go of our grievances, the root source of our victimhood….

            Let go of our so-often-denied fear of being found unlovable.

You will find it is not a one-shot deal, this letting go.  You must do it again and again and again.  It’s kind of like breathing.  You can’t breathe just once.  Try it:  Breathe just once.  You’ll pass out.

If you stop letting go, your creative spirit will pass out.

Now when I say let go, I do not mean reject.  Because when you let go of something, it will still be there for you when you need it.  But because you have stopped clinging, you will have freed yourself up to tap into other possibilities – possibilities that can help you deal with this world of accelerating change.”

Creativity requires letting go....

In HSE, we say we value creativity.  We want it for ourselves and for our students.  The first step, and perhaps hardest step, toward creativity is giving ourselves the freedom to let go and try new possibilities.

Respond to Jan: jcombs@hse.k12.in.us

From Stephanie: Lilian Katz and the Growing Edge

Lilian Katz makes me bristle!

She pushes me to the limit of my growing edge, and I can always count on her to offend folks.

Dr. Katz pushes Stephanie to the limit.
Learning and growing isn't always easy, but it is
what we do in education.

When I first read Engaging Children’s Minds I was struck by the insane amount of reflection her words required of me. My breathing became a pattern of deep inhaling and exhaling as I realized that I may have been unintentionally valuing teaching over learning.

Her publications, keynote speeches, and biting coaching sessions offered a case study on the value of the intellect. She challenged me to value the conscious disposition that should be brought to instruction each day and to consider the impact we have on the intellect.

Take seven minutes to watch this video of Dr. Katz speaking about the "Project Approach," and consider how we can teach academic skills in pursuit of the intellect.  

Click here to watch the video: Dr. Lilian Katz

Stephanie with her students....

Respond to Stephanie: sloane@hse.k12.in.us

Have a great week, HSE!

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

Anchor Texts and Touchstone Experiences

Mixed in with my other favorite books, I have a stack of three written by Jonathan Kozol.  On top of the pile is Savage Inequalities, which I read for the first time quite a while ago, when we were living and teaching in Hesston, Kansas, a small rural community and my childhood home. 

The books I keep close to my desk: Each one changed me in
some way and continues to influence me.

In the first chapter of Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol describes the conditions of public schools in East St. Louis.  His words have stayed with me over all these years, partly because they are as profound as they are disturbing, and partly because I have an indelible visual memory of East St. Louis, even though I have never visited it personally. 

Having a memory of a place I haven’t visited, may seem contradictory, but stay with me on this for a bit because it involves a story—and I promise I’ll get to my point before it’s done.

I have seen the St. Louis Arch at midnight
more often than during the day!

Rear View Mirrors and Interstates

When our oldest children were just toddlers, and we were living and working in Kansas, as soon as school let out for the holiday break in December, Lisa and I would load up the kids and start the journey from Central Kansas to see our family in Northern Indiana.

Since we were young and energetic, on those sometimes snowy or icy treks north, we would drive straight through night.  The first major city on the trip was Kansas City, and soon after midnight, we would come to St. Louis, which marked our halfway point.  Late at night the traffic would be light, so I would take I-70 straight through town, past the Arch and over the waters of the Mississippi.  Just after crossing the river, we would pass exit-ramps to East St. Louis.  From the raised interstate, I would look down into the darkened streets and recall what Kozol had written about the schools of the city below. 

Rear view mirrors allow us to look back while moving forward.

Even now, many years later, I can remember looking through the rear view mirror at our children sleeping in the back seat and recalling bits and pieces of what Kozol described in Savage Inequalities: the lack of funding, the lack of qualified teachers, the woefully inadequate facilities, and the stories of teachers and students who lived in the city below the interstate. 

The juxtaposition of what I knew my children would experience in school and the experience Kozol described was startling and has stayed with me over time.

A small sampling of Kozol’s words from Savage Inequalities:

The crowding of children into insufficient, often squalid spaces seems an inexplicable anomaly in the United States. Images of spaciousness and majesty, of endless plains and soaring mountains, fill our folklore and our music and the anthems that our children sing. “This land is your land,” they are told; and, in one of the patriotic songs that children truly love because it summons up so well the goodness and the optimism of the nation at its best, they sing of “good” and “brotherhood” “from sea to shining sea.” It is a betrayal of the best things that we value when poor children are obliged to sing these songs in storerooms and coat closets.

I credit Kozol with awakening in me an awareness that schools are very different across our nation, that things I take for granted and assumptions I have for my children are not universally true for all children and for all families. 

Anchors and Touchstones

Since those early years of teaching, many other authors and experiences have impacted my thinking and beliefs, but Kozol’s words still resonate and make up a part of who I am and what I believe as an educator. 

The reality is that certain authors and experiences are more important, more formative, more foundational than others.  Those of you reading this certainly have anchor texts and touchstone experiences that you could identify as pivotal to your growth as an educator.  These authors and experiences have informed, challenged, enlightened, and developed you as teachers and/or as administrators.  

They never go away.  Rather, they build on each other in sometimes contradictory ways, but eventually weave together to form rich understandings and deeply held beliefs.   Furthermore, anchor texts and touchstone experiences are used to filter, evaluate, and adapt new readings and experiences.

The Legend of the Touchstone calls for us to be reflective and
thoughtful about our past and present experiences.

I find it helpful to think of learning this way.  Each new learning is not something disconnected from previous knowledge.  It is not one new thing after another.  Rather, each new author or experience is layered over previous learning, blended into the larger picture, and contributes to building a richer and deeper understanding. 

Essential Questions

Take a few moments to reflect on those authors and experiences that have shaped who you are as an educator.  How would you answer these questions:

• Who are the authors that changed the way you think about education?
• What are the experiences that shaped you as an educator? 
• What have you learned from these anchor texts and touchstone experiences that forms the foundation of your beliefs about teaching and learning?

These are essential questions we hope to explore in the coming weeks or months.  Feel free to join the conversation and add to our tapestry of understanding.

Have a great week, HSE.

 Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

Image of the Teacher: A Champion

Last week, Fatima Rich asked us to think about our beliefs about good teaching.  She made the argument that we are all learners together, and that professional growth is absolutely essential.  This week I offer another “image of the teacher.”

This supports Fatima's argument!

This entry was organized by Jagga Rent, one of the deans at Hamilton Southeastern High School.  He shares a few stories about their Reaching Out to Another Royal (ROAR) program, which creates intentional relationships between students and teachers. 

Yale Professor and educator, James Comer, made the statement illustrated below in the red box.

The educators at Hamilton Southeastern took this concept seriously and decided to do more than simply leave relationships to chance.  Below are four vignettes about ROAR champions and students.

Enjoy!

ROAR is giving teachers a greater opportunity to do what they got into this profession for...to change lives. This program has the support of our principal, Matt Kegley, and his support is much of the reason the success rate is so high and fast. The conversation in our building is changing from being about “those kids” to being about “our kids.”

ROAR is making an impact one student at a time.

                        --Jagga Rent

From Kristen Carwile: Engagement Brings Success

Brianna is my ROAR student and was last year, but she was also a student of mine in English 11.  She had struggled all year, as she had in her other classes, and much of it was due to her sporadic attendance.  When we started our Genius Hour projects, Brianna began a transformation.  She started coming to school every day and really got into making that project her own (which, coincidentally, is exactly what the project is all about).  I think she finally felt that she was good at something and had a voice to share some of her struggles, and then she learned that she was not alone in her struggles.  She finished the year passing English 11 and most of her other classes.

Kristen and her ROAR Student 

From Aaron Vest: Do Your Research

My mentee and I were able to make great progress. He was in my Spanish class last year, so I had one natural connection.  I also had one of his siblings before and was hoping that I could use those connections as well.  After calling and talking at length with his mom, I found out about many of the personal challenges he was facing at home and found out about some of his interests outside of school.

I meet with him several times and asked him what it was that he needed from me in order to get his grades up.  After talking, we decided on an assignment notebook that he would come by and show me every day, in addition to coming to my class a little early each day.  We also talked about our common interests, and this helped.  

He has showed great improvement in all of his classes.  He was missing assignments regularly at the beginning of the year but gave more effort in all classes to get things turned in.  

I continue to talk to him regularly and am excited about the coming school year.

To see a short movie about last spring's End-of-Year Celebration for ROAR Mentors and Students, Click the link.

ROAR VIDEO

About Cliff Bailey: Encourage Connections

Cliff Bailey, one of our original Royals Intervention Team Advisors, recently shared a story with us.  If you don’t know it, Cliff is the HSE Rugby Team Sponsor.  After having selected his ROAR student, Cliff began talking about the Rugby team in conversation.  One thing led to another, and his student eventually decided to go out for the team and get involved in something—for the first time in his life.  As a result, the young man was recognized at Rugby Senior Night, something that would never have happened without Cliff having built that relationship with his student. 

About Angela Fritz: A Small Act of Kindness

Angela Fritz took a young man under her wing who was quite reluctant to meet or talk at first.  Over the course of time, she discovered he liked drawing, even though he was not an art student.  This student eventually became comfortable enough to share his drawings with Angela, but they were on lined school paper.  Realizing he didn’t have a sketchbook at school, Angela gave him one.  Needless to say, he was shocked and delighted.  Relationships are built just like this—one small interaction at a time.

 Respond to Jagga Rent at jrent@hse.k12.in.us

Bonus Video: Rita Pierson says every child deserves a champion.  This concept and Pierson's TedTalk were important in the development of Hamilton Southeastern High School's ROAR initiative.  

To see the video, click this link:

Every Child Deserves a Champion

Have a great week, HSE!

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education

Image of the Teacher: When You Love Deeply

When you love something deeply, you study it closely.  You know what it does and how it works.  The things you care about most, you pay attention to.  You study the details of it.

                                                                                                --Chris Lehman

For the past few weeks, this blog has focused on “The Image of Child.”  We will likely return to this topic in the coming weeks and months, because as Jan says, “Our beliefs about children determine what we do.”

This week’s blog, however, asks a slightly different question: What is your image of the teacher?  

Fatima Rich is one of our Teacher Development Specialists.  Below, she gives one answer to that intriguing question and writes about what energizes her when she is watching teachers at work in the classroom.

Fatima makes the argument that teachers who love their work, study the details of their profession, and reflect on what helps students learn.  As you read Fatima's words, please consider what it is that you love about teaching and learning--and consider sharing your thoughts.

Phil

From Fatima: When You Love Deeply....

I want to start with a story about my child, partly because I’m a proud mother and partly because I want to make a point about great teaching in Hamilton Southeastern Schools.  First the story about Layla, our three-year-old.

Silly Me

Last weekend I attempted a visit to the library and it was closed. I told Layla that we would come back after I picked her up Monday. When I arrived to get the girls the next evening, Layla said, "Mommy, we get to go to the library now!"

Surprised that she remembered, I looked at the clock and sighed.  It was dinner time, and I was exhausted. Then, I looked at her face, and knew I needed to head to the library. Otherwise I was going to have one disappointed little reader. She loves books. I love that she loves books, so off to the library we went. She pulled her M&M bag behind her, anxious to pick out new books to take home and read to her little sister.

Later that night, when I came upstairs to read books and say goodnight, I found her reading a library book upside down. Immediately, I questioned why she was reading the book that way. She smiled at me and replied, "So Clifford can see the words and the pictures, silly!"

Clifford gets a bedtime story from Layla.  Who is to say
which way is "right" when reading to someone you love? 

That's right, my little reader, read on and keep doing what you love. Silly me.

The Love of Learning

A Teacher Development Specialist is an unusual job, so I’m often asked questions such as, “What do you do?” and “Do you like your job?” 

I respond by saying, "I have the best job in the world.  I enter as many classrooms as I can, looking for intentional teachers and captivated students."

The next question is often, “What are you looking for when you come into a classroom?”

I’ve thought a lot about this answer, and after careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I am most excited by entering classrooms which I do not want to leave.  I try to find every reason to stay. 

In these classrooms…

• Teachers and students are passionate and experiencing learning together.
• Teachers and students are listening, discussing, and asking questions.
• Teachers and students are taking information and linking it to new learning

I want to stay in those rooms because teachers and students are smiling, engaged, having fun, and most of all exploring and being curious about this awesome world we are fortunate enough to live in. These classrooms are not about textbooks.  They are not about programs, and they are not about whole group instruction versus small groups or stations. They are all about the love of learning.

I was recently inspired by listening to Chris Lehman, a literacy expert.  He said something like this:

When you love something deeply, you study it closely.  You know what it does and how it works.  The things you care about most, you pay attention to.  You study the details of it.

When I go into classrooms, I look for teachers who love what they do, care deeply, and pay attention to the details of teaching and learning.  These teachers enjoy walking into their classrooms each day because it's another day to learn something new themselves and something new about their students.

I look for teachers who love enhancing their practice with new knowledge gained from collaborating with their peers, who allow students opportunities to take different roads to one destination, who use technology as a tool, who incorporate arts and movement and rhythm, who have students investigate with touch, or who plan without knowing exactly where the students will take them.

I look for teachers who want to grow and stretch their minds and deepen their understanding. I look for teachers who study their own craft and make subtle shifts to enhance what is already being done well.

There is no question that our work is hard, but it is also important work.  So I look for teachers who have fallen in love with their work, who can’t get enough, and want to continue to get better and better.  In short, I look for teachers who, like Chris Lehman says, are deeply in love with learning as much as Layla is in love with reading.

Happily, it’s being done in Hamilton Southeastern.  In my job, I see it every single day. Some might call it PBL, Reggio, or Inquiry.  Sometimes it goes by the name of Workshop or Best-Practice or HSE²¹.

As for me, I call it Love.

Respond to Fatima at frich@hse.k12.in.us

Enjoy your Fall Break, and have a great week, HSE!

HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education