In a Great School Things are ‘Tight’

Aug 12, 2024

As a retired school principal in the Principals Academy, I get to visit eleven schools every fortnight. That’s my community of practice. The warm and sincere greeting experienced at each gate, reception window and principal’s office is both inspirational to a lifelong student of schools, and instructive, in that it is thrilling to witness the power that a school’s personalities have to shape any visitor’s initial impression of a school’s all-important culture.

Sometimes I have to wait for a few minutes. I’m not your usual visitor; I’m part of the furniture so I blend in and wander down passages, quadrangles and stairways to soak in the atmosphere, to hone in on facial expressions, to focus my trained eye on attention to detail and to experience the reality of teachers and learners interacting both within classrooms and in the explosion of energy that characterises break time. I’m not looking to criticise; I’m just trying to appreciate context, to understand current practice and to observe how different schools approach similar situations.

As a coach I’ve worked with thirty schools in the last five or six years. That’s about 600 school visits. As a serving principal I made a point of visiting schools regularly and of using meetings and sports occasions at other schools to look beyond the hall or field and to learn how other professionals approach common challenges. If we are prepared to learn from what others make possible, we see the little things that shape behaviour and attitude, that make classrooms work, that make staffrooms special, that make foyers functional, that turn unused corners into welcome places, that transform blank walls into exhibition spaces and that change toilets from institutional embarrassments into proud assets. And just imagine how many little things we can learn by visiting inside classrooms, especially when learning is happening.

On an exchange to the US in the early eighties I learned the power of a preposition. Americans like to visit, even at a first-time meeting. They visit with you which means they spend time talking informally. It’s like an invitation to open lines of communication, to join us,our community. Try visiting with colleagues and enjoying the hallmark of any successful workplace: relationships.

If there’s one concept that generally grabs me when visiting a school, it is how ‘tight’ things are in every respect. In a great school things are ‘tight’. Not for one moment does this tightness refer to anxiety, pressure and stress. It speaks to the hold that the school management team has on teaching and learning in every classroom; that level of engagement visible through every corridor door; that principal who comes out to greet me with energy, optimism and confidence; that clarity of purpose that a staff displays in dealing with a day’s routines, its discipline and its deadlines; that sense one gets that a school’s code of conduct is a living reality; that urgency that defines a busy teacher on the move; that punctuality which settles a school within minutes of every siren; that deputy who operates alongside and in tune with the principal; that learner whose natural smile and demeanour denote safety, belonging and pride. That tightness is a positive professional influence; an embedded daily proficiency practised by a school where distributed leadership is visible everywhere.

It is simply so that schools lose that tightness in a matter of days. Poor learner attendance in bad weather, a debilitating run of staff absences, a period with insufficient staff briefings or school assemblies all take their toll. School leadership stretches from office to staffroom to classroom to playground. It’s an active state like an alarm that’s on or a Wi-Fi network that’s active and in full use.

A school is a human organism with a central operating hub that’s connected to every corner: a sensitive nervous system that’s easily distracted and disturbed, a resilient immune response mechanism that quickly sparks into action when a challenge arises, a healthy daily diet routine and good doses of humour, fun and joy. The only medication needed is love. Lots of it.

An excellent school is a tight balancing act, and that tightness is something I recognise and respect. Try tightening-up.

Till next time.

Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust

PS. I was going to write about the Olympics this week and remind you of the school motto (Citius, Altius, Fortius) which became the Olympic motto. I would have changed it to Faster, Higher, Stronger, Tighter!

Read my letter Keeping in Touch in Tough Times 20/2021 (available here). The Olympics is always a great topic for a school.

No: 12/24
07 August 2024

Professional Presence

Jul 25, 2024

I have always been fascinated by an effective teacher’s presence; not just being present, but successfully holding learners’ attention and creating a classroom atmosphere which makes engagement, focus and inspiration possible.

Nothing pleases a principal more than walking the corridors of a school and witnessing, hearing and feeling teaching and learning in action in every classroom. We all recognise that atmosphere of positive engagement as the deliberately chosen and consistent daily tone of a great school. Any principal or deputy on walkabout can immediately gauge whether there’s that unsightly distance between the teacher who sits at the desk and the class left to its own resources. Yes, engagement, a teacher and a class in action, is music to the school leader’s ears.

Think of your own children and their teachers. A good teacher creates the calm and the ethos which makes continuous learning possible. The learners buy in to the teacher’s distinctive way of doing things.

Think of how fully a child embraces the unique relationship and individual attention of a foundation phase class teacher. Forged over the course of four terms, it’s a climate which makes a child feel a sense of belonging, recognition and calm which provide the consistency, the routine and the motivation to bring out the very best in terms of early learning milestones.

Sure, professional presence has lots to do with being fully prepared, organised and familiar with both the subject matter and the methodology, but how sad is it if a teacher fails to create this climate or to take personal responsibility for those all-important milestones? The opportunity, the benefit in terms of further school performance and eventual career and earning potential are severely limited or lost altogether.

Our schools have more novice teachers than ever. Can schools provide professional learning in building classroom presence, interpersonal skills and that critical connection with toddlers and teenagers?

The university has given them the training, but often the toolbox is only professionalised in the engine room, which a first full-time class most certainly is – as any experienced teacher knows. It’s coaching, collaboration, peer learning and personal commitment which turn teachers into professionals with the presence to perform in the modern classroom.

Education students do practical teaching weeks which are monitored and evaluated, but when that one teacher is chosen to join the staff of a first school, that school has the chance to support the novice to use both personality and body to command attention, to create a more harmonious, effective classroom and to strengthen relationships with learners.

It can be frightening to walk into a classroom of forty 15-year-olds as an inexperienced teacher, but it’s important to mask any anxiety with that necessary presence that comes with the right posture, good eye contact and a clear and audible voice.

I’m one of the shortest high school teachers in history, but I know how to stand tall in a classroom and to speak with authority. I work hard to remain calm and grounded; to move into the right spaces and to throw in those powerful pauses for emphasis.

I’ve learned to excel as a storyteller because much of the teaching of History and English is about enticing interest and excitement by slowly revealing a secret or creating anticipation or intrigue as I try to hold attention and to build an emotional response which promotes engagement and learning.

As a principal, deputy or departmental head, you have mastered very similar strengths. I hope that as I detail the skills you all know well it helps you to isolate and share them with those tasked with mentoring novice teachers. So many of them are articulate, lively and willing, but they need to build experience quickly. Nothing will help them more than a very supportive, collaborative climate and a school with a growth mindset which a management team makes clearly visible from day one.

But, remember, a school leader has a presence too – one that gives the school, its staffroom and its spirit a unique character. When a new principal takes over, that dynamic takes on a new dimension. The school may have systems and structures in place, but a new leader brings his or her own personality to leadership.

Yes, as principal, you have the capacity to bring vision, direction, motivation and style to the way teachers and learners feel, interact and perform. Do you bring out the best in those you serve? It’s a question which should make us all think about the way we face every day.

Till next time.

Paul

Coach/Mentor

The Principals Academy Trust

Kerra Maddern, ‘Use your body to create presence’, Times Education Supplement, 4^th January, 2013

No:  11/24

25 July 2024

It’s Time for Surgical Intervention

Jul 9, 2024

We naturally associate holidays with summer. A three-week winter break is a much-needed blessing for teachers and learners.

Now the challenge is to reboot a positive teaching and learning mindset.

It doesn’t happen automatically; like your surgeon you have to have a detailed and internal knowledge of your patient: your teachers must be just as ready; you carefully envision the procedure; you focus totally; zone in and PERFORM. You know my mantra – at your best.

The surgeon may have three very different operations today – a knee replacement, a shoulder arthroscopy and a crushed foot which requires careful reconstruction. That’s how different a teacher’s approach to methodology and necessary interventions may be from Gr 1 to Gr 4, Gr 7 and, obviously, to Gr 12.

Just as the surgeon’s reputation is earned, consolidated and recommended, so teachers should enjoy the total trust of their colleagues, learners and their parents. Just imagine being the patient of a surgeon whose standards are not world class.

The test results are in, the learners’ individual and collective scores over two terms or a few years are available in various forms – EGRA, systemics, progress over more than one quarter and the general marking profile of all subjects in the May/June assessments.

Gr 1 is the teacher’s equivalent of neonatal intensive care with live data, permanent individual attention and regular collaborative monitoring. After two terms, Gr 1s should be on track to be reading simple stories by November when they are due to be discharged. Who are the most seriously vulnerable learners; how many of them: what needs to be done to give them an early second chance to become healthy learners who will survive and thrive and; how will they be monitored? As a principal, team and teachers – we cannot lose these ‘patients’. They are too precious.

Gr 4 is often when learners’ ’health’ is under threat with the risk factors being a possible change in LoLT, concept-based subject teaching, increased homework, more structure, tests and written exams, individual study and research, etc.

The Gr 7s will, in most schools, score a 100% pass rate in December. How much of that is because the best teachers teach Gr 7? How much effort has gone into making the first year of the Senior Phase a springboard for success in high school? There is national concern about both the general unreadiness of primary school learners and the inflated and inconsistent (from school to school) percentages reflected on reports which accompany applications to high school.

Grade 12, with fewer than 40 teaching days left, are in and out of the casualty ward. They all need to be triaged by someone with expert technical knowledge of matric vital signs. Make sure the whole Gr 12 team knows those who are in the following categories: those who require on-going support to better their best; those close enough to a bachelor pass to be shown exactly what they need; those who need weekly observation and possible re-assessment in a few weeks.

Error analysis is an important part of systemic testing, but it should be every teacher’s duty to study the errors in learners’ quarterly assessment with a view to finding both explanations for the errors and trying to eliminate as many as possible. Ask teachers to document this succinctly and make a point to discuss when popping in to grade meetings.\

Interventions are a critical element in a teaching year as teachers discover disparities and as they learn from on-going assessment. Be sure, however, to implement interventions where the learners are, rather than just revising a topic. Surgeons are intervention experts and teachers should be, too. Consider insightful keyhole surgery that fixes the glaring error identified in the exam. Careful interventions in the Foundation Phase, especially at this time of the Gr 1 year, are in effect, highly effective preventative care. They save lives.

As educators, we are all salaried and, mostly, covered by GEMS for timely surgery. The majority of our learners are not so lucky. When those vital signs are dangerous, they rely wholeheartedly on expert, caring and committed teachers. Their future educational health is reliant on a principal who takes responsibility for teaching and learning, and for teachers who are accountable to the learners they serve.

As we start a new term (preferably on day one or before) the principal and team should bring a number of key priorities into focus. Approaching the issues on a grade basis necessitates meaningful discussion and decision-making in grade meetings, thus including every single teacher.

I hope that my health analogy helps you to feel a little better about starting school next week.

Till next time.

Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust

No: 10/24
05 July 2024

Getting Better

Jun 6, 2024

Every glossy magazine is full of self-help articles aimed at getting you healthier, thinner and fitter. We’ve all tried each of these degrees of comparison and what stands out is just how hard it is to get better at whatever. Getting better as a principal or teacher is just that – hard. It doesn’t just happen automatically with experience. It happens with a plan, a growth mindset and a willingness to do the work.

The first wise move is to take ownership of our own professional development as principal or teacher. Your school, your district, the WCED, the CTLI all provide opportunities for development, but the decision to get better today and tomorrow is ours. Think about it. Surely, we want our child’s teacher and principal to be smart, talented, creative, collegial and wise. Having an unfortunately unmotivated or tired teacher for even just one year will set our children back considerably.

The second move is to find a partner or two. Teachers get better together. Commit together and share your journey, your small wins, your next steps. Peer teachers are, without doubt, the strongest drivers of better teaching in a winning school.

It is generally accepted that to get better, South African teachers need to focus on three key areas. The first is building high quality knowledge of the content. Imagine having a high school Gr9 Mathematics teacher who knows less than the Gr12 Mathematics learners. The challenge is to become an expert in your subject, even if only at school level. There are so many resources to do this. The same applies to the methods and drills to drive successful literacy teaching in Gr1. A careful look at a marker’s report or systemic result will put you on the right track.

Secondly, we need to make better use of the 40 or 45 minutes allocated to you as the teacher. We get better by developing strategies and practices which maximise quality teaching and active and engaged learning time. Less functional schools lose valuable minutes every lesson which add up to hundreds of never to be regained teaching hours. This is the single biggest difference between schools on a functionality index.

Thirdly, most schools need to dramatically increase the number of daily opportunities learners get to express themselves meaningfully in writing and to interact daily with texts which build their capacity in reading and writing proficiency. Just working towards a daily increase in these practices will drive real improvement. Three simple words which schools can use to ensure that we are getting better where it counts: Teachers (strengthening content knowledge and skills), Time and Text.

It makes sense that to get better one has to see what better looks like. Ask to visit a principal you admire or observe in the classroom of a teacher with a reputation for excellent practice. Young sports personalities spend hours online watching the pros in action. They watch frame by frame and isolate a drill which they tackle hundreds of times in a day. In the same way we can watch teachers on YouTube, focus on the resources they use, the methods they apply, and, slowly and intentionally, make their skills our own.

What did I learn from other principals? I remember being motivated by the simple procedures the best principals used in preparing to see parents who had made an appointment with the principal – having all the right data in one place and having practical feedback in advance from teachers.

I learned from the best how important it was to understand that a governing body needed a steward – usually the principal – to have all the information ready, to know the processes necessary, to anticipate actions required to make the right decisions in terms of policies, budgets, appointments and developments. I went to find examples of how principals compiled quarterly reporting and analysis to governors in advance of a meeting and how principals put together an excellent annual report to parents. I copied no one. I learned from many and devised solutions which suited the school and the community I served.

We all searched for the very best initiatives to improve teaching in the STEM subjects, to take our teachers to world class levels of professional practice, to promote entrepreneurship and to lead the way in 21st century skills development. We looked at the best models, adapted them for our individual contexts and tried them out – first with one year group, and, learning from that experience, with the next.

PAT principals have a clear advantage. They lead by example. They commit to a coaching relationship and to modern management and leadership training at UCT’s GSB. They contribute to a positive school culture which stresses lifelong learning and peer to peer collaboration.

Till next time.

Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust

No: 09/24
06 June 2024