Cultures of Accountability

“To me, the best-run clubhouse in a lot of ways is a clubhouse where the players hold each other accountable. I think it always means so much more.”

Joe Girardi

As a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, I follow the team closely and have written several blog posts relating situations with the Cubs to issues in education (e.g., Why Joe Maddon Should Be a School Principal). So, I followed with great interest recently the decision to part ways with their manager Joe Maddon and the process of selecting a new leader for the 2020-21 season and beyond. The front office eventually settled on David Ross, a hero to many Cubbie fanatics, but my personal choice was former Yankee manager, Joe Girardi, who also interviewed for the position. During the interview process, an apparent perceived negative of Girardi’s candidacy was his reputation as a strict disciplinarian. When asked about this reputation and his thoughts on holding players accountable, he responded with the above quote. 

via: http://bit.ly/337yKnX

Having never played for Giradi, I cannot confirm his managerial style, but I certainly support his stated belief that the best clubhouse would be one in which everyone--not only the manager--holds each other accountable. Not surprisingly, the exact same sentiment holds true for schools:

“To me, the best-run school in a lot of ways is a school where the educators hold each other accountable. I think it always means so much more.”

I suspect it is not easy to create and maintain a baseball clubhouse culture in which the players hold each other accountable. I know from actual experience that it is definitely challenging to achieve this in a school. Too often, holding a staff member accountable becomes the sole responsibility of the school principal. Even when a teacher knows a colleague is not adhering to shared cultural norms and values, and even though it may upset that teacher, the response too often follows along the “I’m just a…” line, one of the most dreaded (and inaccurate) statements some educators seem to believe: “I’m just a teacher; it’s not my job…” In some schools, however, educators have worked together to establish a different type of school culture, one in which no staff member is “just a..” and one in which all staff members in the school hold each other accountable. Importantly, they hold each other accountable not as a “gotcha,” but simply as a “pick-me-up” reminder that we are all in this together. 

via: http://bit.ly/2QHyOrV

Obviously, some aspects of individual staff member performance are the domain of the principal, such as formal evaluations. But other aspects of individual performance are behaviors we should all expect from each other and for which we should each hold others accountable, regardless of our role. Stated simply: We should all hold each other accountable for doing what we said we were going to do. This requires us first, of course, to have explicit conversations about what we value and what actions we are willing to take collectively and individually to uphold these cultural values, expectations, norms, behaviors, and beliefs. Once we have such conversations and commit to specific action steps, it then becomes easier to remind each other of them throughout the year. Inevitably, staff members will at times fail to adhere to these commitments. Almost always, these instances are not due to any malicious intent or woeful incompetence but, instead, simply as a result of competing responsibilities or circumstances beyond our control. Perhaps an irate parent in the school office prevented a principal from being in the cafeteria interacting with students and staff like she said she would. Perhaps an upset student in a classroom prevented a teacher from being in the hallway during class transitions like we said all staff would do. These things happen. When they happen regularly, it is important for one colleague to remind another that we said we were going to do something and it is important for every staff member to follow through on the commitment. It may be a principal reminding a teacher, but in truly productive school cultures it also includes teachers holding each other accountable. In addition, it also includes teachers holding principals accountable--again, merely reminding each other that we said we were going to do something and that it makes a difference when everyone does what they said they were going to do.

I suspect the most successful baseball teams have extremely talented athletes. I also suspect their clubhouse culture is one in which these amazing athletes hold each other accountable for doing certain things consistently, whether that includes showing up on time to team events or running out a ground ball. Likewise, our most successful schools are staffed with highly effective educators, folks who also have intentionally built a school culture in which every individual has the authority--and even responsibility--to hold every one of their colleagues accountable...for doing what they said they were going to do as members of the organization. Creating a culture in which we hold each other accountable for doing what we say we will do is another way we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Promoting Positive Student Behavior

“Teacher growth is closely related to pupil growth. Probably nothing within a school has more impact on students in terms of skills development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth of their teachers.”

Roland Barth

This July, I took part in what has become an annual educational event and a highlight of my year. Along with nine respected friends and colleagues, I gathered in Boston prior to the National Principals’ Conference and wrote a collaborative book in just over 48 hours. This is the third year we have undertaken this project called #EdWriteNow (Officially, Education Write Now). This year, we wrote about educational challenges and solutions, resulting in the upcoming book: Education Write Now: Solutions to Common Challenges in Your School or Classroom.

As I approached Year 3 of #EdWriteNow, I assumed there was little chance of matching the work of the inaugural team (linked here) or the Volume II team (linked here) but I was wrong. This year’s crew was just as awesome and I believe our final product may well be the best book yet!

Once everyone arrived at the hotel, we met as a writing team. First on the agenda was sharing information about the Will to Live Foundation, a non-profit foundation to which we donate all proceeds from book sales of each #EdWriteNow edition. Will to Live is an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide by improving the lives and the “Will To Live” of teenagers everywhere through education about mental health and encouraging them to recognize the love and hope that exists in each other. You can learn more about their work by watching this compelling video that our team watched to kick off our own work.

Our next task was to decide what to write about and how to turn ten individual 5,000 word essays on education into a single cohesive book. We quickly decided on an overarching theme of “Educational Challenges and Solutions.” Each author wrote about a specific problem, or challenge, we face in our roles as educators. My own contribution was to write a chapter about challenges we face in classrooms with student behaviors and how we can best plan for and resolve such issues when--or even before--they arise.

Once we determined our writing topics, the rest of our time was spent writing alone, coming back together as a whole team to share our work, meeting with writing partners to provide critical feedback, and gathering after hours for great food, conversation, and much laughter. When we came together as a whole group, we actually read parts of our chapters aloud. It was a bit scary, reading our work aloud to nine friends we all respected not only as amazing educators, but also as excellent writers. However, when we did so, we were thrilled to learn that our individual efforts were coming together nicely as a unified book, with our voices sounding much more alike than different from chapter to chapter.

For my chapter on promoting positive student behavior, I wrote that teachers who work to explicitly create a positive classroom culture at the beginning of the school year and work intentionally throughout the year to maintain, reinforce, and even practice their classroom culture tend to have less instances of student misbehavior than those who do not. Here is a short excerpt from that part of the book:


“...The most effective teachers I have observed take time at the very start of each school year to establish a positive classroom culture. Each subsequent school day, they intentionally reinforce and even practice cultural norms and values. It is a culture co-created with the students they teach and lead, whether in a first grade classroom or a high school biology class. In classrooms with clearly established and consistently reinforced cultural norms, values, behaviors, and beliefs in place, students behave much better than those in classrooms in which teachers have, instead, left this vital piece of the “classroom management” puzzle to chance. In some instances, teachers create a shared culture in their classroom with fierce intention; in others, teachers insist they were not even aware they were doing this, yet it happened almost intuitively. Regardless of teachers’ self-awareness of their culture-building actions, I suspect that in classrooms with the most positive and productive cultures--resulting in much more positive and productive student behavior and much less student misbehavior--these teachers have much in common. They may teach Kindergarten or they may teach Advanced Placement Environmental Science. They may be veteran teachers with many years of experience or they may be a first year teacher. They may be gregarious, extroverted, charismatic individuals or they may be much more reserved. Yet despite the many ways in which they differ, these culture-building teachers all possess certain mindsets when it comes to promoting positive student behavior in their classrooms…”


Next week, please look for David Geurin’s thoughts on our writing process, as well as an excerpt from his chapter. I was honored beyond words to partner with David and eight other amazing writers and thinkers on the Education Write Now project. Of course, we could not have hosted this education writing retreat without the support of our sponsor, Routledge, who will publish this book, due out in December.

Next year will be the fourth year of the #EdWriteNow project; after serving as co-editor for the first three versions, I will be rolling off this noble project, but Sanee Bell will continue to lead the work as co-editor and she will invite nine different educational writers to join the team next summer. Please let her know if you would like to be considered as a participant.

Huge thanks to the third Education Write Now team for donating their time and energy to this project. They are all outstanding and passionate educators. More importantly, they are just about the nicest friends a person could ever hope to have and I am humbled to have had this opportunity to work with them. Discussing real challenges we face as educators and brainstorming possible solutions is another way we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Sometimes Things Happen

“When you base your life on principles, most of your decisions are made before you ever encounter them.”

Not long ago, I read that the most underlined sentence in all of Kindle is the following, from the wildly popular book, The Hunger Games:

“Because sometimes things happen to people and they are not ready for it.”

What might it look like to be ready? One way we can look forward proactively is by looking backward reflectively, learning from our past experiences, including both our successes and failures. Another way we can “be ready” even when we have no idea what is about to happen is by basing our lives on principles, as the above quote suggests. In our book, The Principled Principal, Anthony McConnell and I make the case that educators, including all school leaders, are more apt to respond well to the unexpected when the way they operate professionally is guided by core values, or principles.

When our day-to-day actions as professional educators are grounded in core principles, it results in a kind of comfortable predictability that those we lead (whether students or colleagues) come to recognize and appreciate. We are not acting one way today and a totally different way tomorrow. We do not say yes to one person or idea in one instance and no to a different person with a similar idea in another. We also are careful to not say yes to one idea and yes again to another idea that completely contradicts the first one. Indeed, principled educators are consistent in their decision-making processes and, ultimately, their decisions, ensuring a culture in which all staff and students become aware that “this is the way we do things around here.” Such a culture dictates that we base our decisions not on whimsy, nor the flavor-of-the-month, nor on the person asking; rather, we base these decisions on what is best for our students and our school as a community.

Spontaneity can be a good thing, especially in schools and classrooms. Over the course of a long school year, it is important for both teachers and administrators to find ways to break from routine and allow for spontaneous joy. Surprising our kids--or our staff members--with lessons, meetings, celebrations, and events that break with tradition or the daily grind is an excellent way to keep teaching and learning exciting and of reigniting passions. Yet, there is also something to be said for predictability. The word--at least in my mind--carries with it connotations of boring and dull. Yet, at least in certain ways, being a ‘predictable” teacher or administrator can be quite comforting to those we teach and lead.

Last year, I served as an interim school administrator for a few months. Something happened on my second day working at the school that was, honestly, the most elevated situation I have come across in over 35 years of public school service. I walked into the office from morning bus duty and was confronted with a potentially explosive and dangerous situation involving a disturbed and distraught adult. To be honest, I was taken by surprise and for just a moment could not even comprehend what was happening. In a way it was like the line from The Hunger Games: Something was happening and I was not ready for it. Yet, in another way, I was prepared even though the situation was completely unexpected and quite unsettling. I was prepared (as were the few colleagues who were also there) because I had already adopted principles which guided the way I behaved whenever coming across such situations and we immediately acted according to these principles (de-escalate, try to connect, enact all emergency procedures, stay calm, etc.) once we realized what was happening. Although it took awhile, everyone involved behaved based on core principles and eventually the situation was resolved as smoothly as humanly possible.

Schools, on the whole, are some of the most joyful places on Planet

Via: http://bit.ly/2mFeH0S

Earth. There are times, however, when our schools and classrooms are places of stressful, even tragic, situations, often when “things happen for which we are not ready.” We cannot prevent every such situation from occurring, but we can prepare for the unexpected, in part, by basing our lives on principles so that when the unexpected does happen, we can respond in the best possible way. Several years ago, clinical psychologist Meg Jay delivered one of my favorite TED Talks in which she discusses another event one can prepare for well before it happens: getting married. She makes the case that, “The best time to work on Alex’s marriage is before she has one.” Just because marriage, work, and kids are happening later in life doesn’t mean you can’t start planning now. Another example that comes to mind is the infamous incident in which pilot Chesley Sullenberger (Sully) miraculously landed an airplane on the Hudson River in New York. Although he could never have fully anticipated this situation, in actuality, he had spent a lifetime preparing for it. Sully had made the decision of what to do well in advance of the 208 seconds during which he had available to him to act. Likewise, just because we can never know when something unexpected is going to happen in our classroom or school, we must still prepare for the unexpected by basing our lives on principle. Making decisions well in advance of having to actually respond to the unexpected is another way we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Learning By Doing (and Planning to Do)

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend 

the first four sharpening the axe.” 

Abraham Lincoln

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that 

I may learn how to do it.” 

Pablo Picasso

The above quotes are both important when it comes to learning. As learners, we must spend time preparing to do and also engage in the actual doing. It is popular to proclaim that we learn best by doing and I tend to agree with the spirit of this sentiment. In fact, when speaking to educators about learning, I often start by defining learning as, “Doing what we can’t,” meaning that it is not until I can do something which I previously could not do that I have learned. At its essence, learning results in a change within us; when we learn, we are changed in some way: we now think differently or we possess new knowledge or we can now do what we previously could not. As important as doing is to the learning process, we must not discount, however, the importance of planning to do. I am reminded of the importance of both learning and planning to learn when I travel and have reflected often on the differences between my travel planning today and my lesson planning when I served as a classroom teacher for nineteen years.

I have traveled to all 50 states and 30 countries. Early on in my life as a traveler, I realized that the more I learned about a destination prior to actually traveling there, the more I would see and could do once I actually arrived. A good example is my trip to Pamplona, Spain several years ago to run with the bulls. I was a Hemingway fan as a young man and running with the bulls had been on my travel bucket list for many years. When I finally decided to make the trip, I also made the decision to learn as much as I possibly could about running with the bulls prior to actually arriving. I read several books on the topic, perused scores of online resources, watched a number of videos, and spoke with a few people who had already made the journey.

The background knowledge I gained from this research helped me immensely once I arrived. By acquiring this knowledge prior to my arrival, I knew where I wanted to stay, what I needed to wear, at what point along the path I wanted to start my daily run with the bulls, proper running etiquette, what would happen once we entered Plaza de Toros de Pamplona, and even what to do should I fall while running. Had I not arrived in Pamplona armed with all the knowledge I now possessed about running with the bulls, I would not have been as confident about what I would be doing and I may not have achieved my goals.

So, how does this relate to education? I think background knowledge still matters. Ultimately, the most enduring and impactful learning we experience comes from doing rather than knowing, yet knowing as much as possible before doing still makes sense. When speaking to educators, I often share the following on a slide:

Make no mistake: We need to intentionally push our students to act as the learners described on the right hand of the slide. At the same time, there remains a place in all classrooms for students to engage in the learning behaviors listed on the left side of the image. Our ultimate goal must be that students “make meaning,” “produce,” and “do” as learners. Yet, they are more likely to accomplish this when they “gain meaning,” “know more,” and “consume” what we have to offer them, so that once they begin “doing,” their chances for success in terms of enduring skills and knowledge are strengthened.

When traveling to any new destination, I believe that the more you know about the destination before you arrive, the more you will experience and learn about the destination once you are actually there. Ultimately, we learn by doing and, at times, it suits us--and our students--to simply jump right in and start doing. Yet, planning to do matters also and it is more often the case that we will do more and do better when we are thoroughly equipped to embark upon the doing. Empowering our students to actively "do" learning matters. Preparing them to "do" by building their background knowledge and equipping them with necessary skills also matters. Ensuring that our students are learning by doing and planning to do are two important ways we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

When Is It OK To Break the Rules?

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them.”

Robert Heinlein

The majority of educators I know tend to be rule followers by nature and there is certainly something to be said for establishing guidelines in our schools to ensure safety and optimize student and staff performance. There are other times, however, when we must serve as disruptors, recognizing that a rule we may have in place serves no legitimate purpose or is even counterproductive to what we are attempting to accomplish. Recently, I found myself reflecting on two such instances that are of a totally different nature but equally representative of rules gone awry.

One instance related to school safety. At a school I visited this past year, I was walking down a busy hallway during a class change. As I turned a corner by a stairwell, a door opened suddenly and struck me. A student had come down the stairs and flung open the door, inadvertently striking me as I passed by. The school counselor, who also happened to be walking by, stopped to make sure I was OK and said, “This happens all the time. We have a sign on the door warning people to open the door carefully, but it doesn’t do much good.” In examining the area, the solution was rather obvious: keep the stairwell doors open or perhaps remove them entirely. I suggested as much to the counselor. She agreed that this was the logical thing to do and informed me that they had already tried to make that change only to be told it was against the safety code. School and local fire officials had designated the stairwell as some sort of safe haven in the event of an emergency which, for some reason, dictated that the doors remain closed. I raised the issue myself with these people and was rebuffed. I pointed out that students and staff members were getting hurt on a regular basis by following this rule. I also inquired as to whether any emergency had ever occurred in the fifty-plus years of the school’s existence which resulted in the stairwell being used as a safe haven. Not surprisingly, the answer was no, but the doors were to remain closed all the same, just in case. If not so maddening, it would have been humorous: in the name of “safety,” we followed a rule which made the school much less safe for the students and staff walking the halls of the school on a daily basis.

A much different--and possibly even more important--example has to do with grade acceleration. Although it may not be a formal “rule,” I have found that allowing a child to skip a grade or subject is generally frowned upon and rarely allowed. Every student we serve, it seems, must pass through every stage of the PreK-12 journey without skipping a step in the process regardless of their social, emotional, academic, and physical status. In over thirty years of public school service, I can count on one hand how many students I came in contact with who were allowed to skip a grade. In each instance, the recommendation to do so was initially met with stern opposition; yet also in each instance, the student who was allowed to skip a grade thrived once they were moved ahead. The argument for keeping a student in, say, second grade, when all indications are that the child would be better served by moving her into third grade are no more compelling than the argument for keeping stairwell doors closed even when it means that students and staff are regularly clonked on the head by an opening door. In fact, the argument pretty much boils down to: “But, that’s the way we have always done it.”

I am generally not opposed to rules. In our schools, especially, it makes perfect sense to have clear rules in place to ensure student safety and to maximize student and staff performance. Yet, there must be a purpose behind the rules we establish. And the purpose must be something larger than, “That’s just the way we have always done it.” If the “way we have always done it” is getting the results we desire, we should probably keep doing it. If, instead, “the way we have always done it” is harming people or holding them back from performing at their optimal level, we must heed the words of Heinlein and break such “obnoxious’ rules. What are some other rules we should break in our schools? I am interested in your thoughts. Knowing when to follow the rules and when to be a disruptor and break the rules are important ways we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Teaching and Learning Contradictions

“We shouldn’t squander our valuable instruction time with routine management tasks. Immediately upon arrival, students should be engaged in some form of review of learning 

or preparation for learning.”

Rick Wormeli

In a post I wrote last year about leadership contradictions, I suggested the following:

 “...leadership is a venture filled with contradictions. At times, I find myself believing in what can seem like completely opposing ideas.” 

Upon reflection, I discovered that I also view the concept of learning as a venture rife with contradictions. In fact, there are scads of examples, including the quote above from one of my favorite educators of all time, Rick Wormeli. I agree with Rick 100% that valuable teaching and learning time should be reserved for, well, teaching and learning. At the same time, I also believe that--at least at the beginning of any course or school year--we can actually maximize learning time if we invest time spent on “routine management tasks” that we will encounter throughout the year, so that we need not waste time on these tasks subsequently as the year progresses. Here are three other contradictions I wrestle with when it comes to learning:

Contradiction #1:

• We must teach to mastery
• We need to keep pushing forward through the curriculum

When I was principal of a middle school, a teacher asked me, “Do you want me to make sure every student has learned the material or do you want me to keep up with the curriculum map?” My unhelpful answer was, “Yes.” Like virtually every educator I know, I believe that one of our primary responsibilities is to ensure that all students master grade level learning standards. Unfortunately, not every student will master each learning target, objective, or standard in the same way or on the same day. And the fact remains that there are many other standards awaiting to be taught and learned. We cannot wait until every child in every class proves mastery of a learning standard before moving to new learning. It does not mean, of course, that we do not find ways to circle back with students who need additional support on previous standards.

This is challenging to say the least, but we must do it. As an educator, I believe: We must do everything we can--individually and with our colleagues--to ensure all students master grade level standards. We must also keep up with pacing guides/curriculum maps to ensure that we teach all grade level standards during the course of a school year.

Contradiction #2:

• We need to focus on innovation
• All students must master basic skills

We can never settle for the status quo in education; our customers (students) are too important. We must give our very best each day, but when we learn new and better ways to “do school” we must do so. We cannot simply keep adding more of what is familiar or merely improving upon the familiar. Today’s best practices will not be tomorrow’s; we must innovate, continuously creating new and better practices. Innovation does not mean we overlook basic skills, however. Every student must be fully literate, in particular, mastering reading early in their educational journeys. New, bright shiny toys and bells and whistles must not (and need not) replace direct, explicit, intentional instruction in the areas of reading, writing, mathematical computation, and scientific inquiry, to name but a few “basic” areas we must always emphasize in our schools. As an educator, I believe: We must continue teaching basic skills, particularly at the primary grade levels, and we must constantly and actively pursue new and better ways to ensure we are motivating and inspiring all students to learn all that they can.

Contradiction #3:

• It’s all about the kids
• It’s all about the teachers

Something I say often--and look for in others when hiring staff--is that every important decision we make must be based on what is best for students. I believe that to my core. Yet, I also believe that the most important variable affecting student academic achievement is the quality of the teacher in every classroom at every school. Every educator I know would probably agree with the statement that “it is all about the kids,” but it will never be “all about the kids” unless we are also “all about their teachers.” We

must support them, coach them, celebrate them, inspire them. Kids may well be #1 in our schools, but teachers are--at a minimum-- #1A. Without honoring teachers and making sure that we are all about teachers, we will never be all about kids. As an educator, I believe: Schools should be places at which we are all about kids. Schools should also be places at which we are all about the teachers.

I could list many other learning contradictions, including the fact that I believe students are much different today than they were many years ago, while I also believe that students in our schools today are pretty much the same as they have always been. What learning contradictions have you noticed in your experiences? I would love to hear what you would add to the list. Education and learning are challenging undertakings, in part, because so little is black and white and so much is gray; learning is rarely an “either/or” proposition. At the same time, the contradictions that make teaching and learning so challenging are also what make our efforts so rewarding. What we do is more art than science. At times, that can be discomfiting. Yet, it is a productive struggle and one we must recognize, embrace, and learn from. How can we thrive in an atmosphere where there are so many contradictions and so few obvious answers? Recognizing these contradictions and understanding that there is seldom one right way to act are important ways we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

School Culture Essentials: Help. Thanks. Wow.

"The culture of a workplace--an organization's values, norms, and practices--has a huge impact on our 

happiness and success."

Adam Grant

I first became aware of Anne Lamott when I was teaching writing

Via: https://amzn.to/2J5U1rs

and came across her 1994 book, Bird By Bird, a thoroughly enjoyable book with helpful tips on writing and living. Recently, I read her 2012 book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Although I enjoyed the book immensely, my takeaway for the purposes of this blog post has little to do with the content of this book--other than the title itself, and how that remarkable title might apply to education, specifically school culture.

At a recent What Great Educators Do Differently conference, Jimmy Casas and I were leading a session on "Building Culture and Leading Learning." During the session, I asked school leaders to reflect on what they would like others to say about their school culture, filling in the following blank with five different words:

I would like our school to be noted for its Culture of _________________ .

We brainstormed a wealth of inspiring ideas, including the hope that our schools might be marked by cultures of: Learning, Compassion, Caring, Results, Commitment, Innovation, Risk-Taking, Safety, and Excellence, to name but a few. Rather spontaneously, I thought of Lamott’s book I had recently finished and shared with the audience that I would also like to work in a school known for a culture in which Help, Thanks, and Wow were interwoven in the daily teaching, learning, leading, and living at the school. What if our schools were filled with students and staff who continuously sought help and offered it to others? Who consistently expressed gratitude for all the blessings in existence within the school community? Who never failed to express awe and wonder at the amazing things happening each day at the school? So many things are in play when we talk about "school culture." It includes the norms, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, values, practices, celebrations, traditions, and myths that exist. Perhaps it also includes what Lamott identifies as her three simple prayers: Help. Thanks. Wow.

Essential Culture Characteristic #1: "Help": In the session we were leading recently, Jimmy made a statement I have heard him suggest on countless occasions. The four most powerful words in leadership are: “I need your help.” In a school marked by a culture of helping, we must not only embrace this sentiment, but expand upon it. Every staff member in the school and every student in the school must be comfortable seeking help from everyone else in the schoolhouse. Teachers must ask for and provide help to each other. Principals must ask for help from students and staff and provide help in return. Students must be assured that asking for help is normal and part of the school’s culture. I remember when I began my first year of teaching many years ago. I was very nervous and unsure of how to actually teach, including designing lesson plans for my first graders. During my first week of working at the school, I asked a veteran teacher if I could look at her lesson plan book so I could get some ideas for my own classroom. Although this person became a close friend who I grew to respect, I will never forget her answer. She flat out refused, telling me she had to figure it out for herself and I would have to as well. In 2019, I desperately hope this is no longer the case. No matter what your role is in a school--administrator, teacher, teacher assistant, or student--your job is tough--and made only more challenging if forced to do it alone. We must create school cultures in which asking for assistance on a regular basis without fear of repercussions is a way of life. Cultivate your “Help” culture today.

Essential Culture Characteristic #2: "Thanks": Schools with strong cultures are populated with people who genuinely appreciate all the good that is occurring therein. They take time to notice when a student helps another student, when a colleague comforts a student who is hurting, when a principal goes out of her way to celebrate staff members. They do not take these small kindnesses for granted, but, instead, take a moment to reflect on how thankful they are to be working in a school, where so much good happens so often. Moreover, they heed the advice of Gladys Bronwyn Stern’s “Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone" admonition and share their gratitude with others. We must create school cultures in which appreciating the good we witness throughout the daily grind becomes a way of life. Cultivate your “Thanks” culture today.

Essential Culture Characteristic #3: "Wow": In schools, we are fortunate to experience hundreds of of daily incidents for which we can be thankful. Perhaps even more remarkable, we work in places where awe-inspiring and legitimately wonderful things take place regularly. Things that not only make us thankful, but leave us awestruck. A student who has struggled for years to read suddenly cracks the code and becomes a voracious reader. A dedicated school nurse prevents a tragedy by acting quickly when a student experiences a medical emergency. An entire school donates their time, money, and resources to improving some aspect of the community in which they live. A student designs a product that is subsequently used in a local business. A student singing the national anthem before a basketball game brings tears to everyone in attendance. An entire school makes time to recognize the contributions of the school custodian. Things are happening in our schools every single day which make me stop what I am doing and simply say (silently or aloud), “Wow!” We must create school cultures in which feeling awe at the amazing things happening in our schools regularly becomes a way of life. Cultivate your “Wow” culture today.

I want to express my Thanks to Anne Lamott for inspiring this blog post. Her writing always Helps me and leaves me with a sense of Wow.  

School culture is comprised of many things and, as Adam Grant suggests, has a huge impact on our happiness and success. We can behave in certain (and oftentimes simple) ways to create a culture in which that impact is profoundly positive. Three simple (and essential) ways are to follow Lamott’s advice, ensuring that we ask for assistance, appreciate the good, and recognize the awe surrounding us each day. Creating school cultures in which we seek help, express gratitude and feel awe are important ways we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Creating Cultures of Empathy

“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.”

Oprah Winfrey

Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is almost here and I am already beginning to worry whether my beloved Cubbies will win this year’s World Series in 4, 5, 6, or 7 games. I suppose as long as they win it all, it matters not whether they pull off a sweep or need the entire seven games. One reason the Cubs will win the World Series again this year (after magnanimously allowing the Astros and Red Sox to enjoy a brief moment in the sun the past two seasons) is the talent they will have on the field during the games. Another reason, however, is the clubhouse culture they have established. In my 2015 post suggesting Joe Maddon could be an awesome school principal, I wrote that a team’s culture is nearly as important a variable to their winning as is their talent. 

And the Chicago Cubs have clearly established a strong clubhouse culture.

One reason the Cubs’ clubhouse culture is so strong is due to the organization’s strong leadership, specifically manager Joe Maddon and President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein. Their leadership sets the culture tone for the rest of the team. Serving together in Chicago since 2015, these two leaders have continuously worked to improve the talent on their roster as well as the atmosphere in the clubhouse. In reflecting on what it is that sets the Cubbies culture above most other teams, a few words come to mind, including:

• Empathy
• Work Ethic
• Joy
• Caring
• Results
• Continuous Improvement
• Priorities

These are all important attributes of any organizational culture, but I was reminded specifically of the impact empathy has upon Cubs' culture when reading a recent story in the Chicago Tribune highlighting how Epstein and Maddon endeavor to see the world through the lens of those whom they are leading.

Via: goo.gl/GPkcwG

According to Epstein:

“It’s incumbent on us not to just sit there and say, ‘Players have changed; they don’t get it, they don’t listen, they don’t care.’ or ‘We don’t understand them.’ We have to learn the lens from which they view the world and learn the best way of communicating with them because they’ve grown up with a totally different upbringing than we did and with devices that are omnipresent.”

All the above components of a strong baseball clubhouse culture are also foundational pillars of a strong school culture. In schools with positive cultures, all staff members are focused on results and continuous improvement. All staff members take their professional responsibilities seriously and work hard each day, yet they intentionally find the joy in the day-to-day routines of the school. All staff members sincerely care--about the students they serve, of course, but also about each other. All staff members recognize that everyone in the school is important and everything each person does at the school is important and they are masters at scheduling their priorities rather than prioritizing their schedules. As important as each of these culture builders is, however, the ability of all staff members to empathize with others in the school with whom they interact cannot be underestimated. Let’s revisit Epstein’s quote, making two small changes: replacing “players” with “students” and substituting “teaching” for “communicating with”:

“It’s incumbent on us not to just sit there and say, ‘Students have changed; they don’t get it, they don’t listen, they don’t care.’ or ‘We don’t understand them.’ We have to learn the lens from which they view the world and learn the best way of teaching them because they’ve grown up with a totally different upbringing than we did and with devices that are omnipresent.”

In some ways, students (and baseball players) today are not unlike

Via: goo.gl/BZJa3U

students (and baseball players) 10, 20, or even 50 years ago. In other ways, they are altogether different. It is incumbent upon us to not only embrace what remains the same about our learners, but also embrace how they have changed over time. Each of us will always have our own lens through which we view the world, but we must also stand in the shoes of our students and picture the classroom, school, community, and world from their lens. Devices

are omnipresent not only for baseball players but for students--including those as young as preschool. We can pine for “the good ol' days” from now until the cows come home--or until the White Sox win another World Series, perhaps--but those days: 

1) Were not always so good and 2) Are gone forever.

Many things have stayed the same in baseball and in schools over the years. In the upcoming baseball season, players will hit home runs, pitchers will strike batters out, and runners will steal bases--much like they did when the National League was formed in 1876. In our schools this year, students have been reading, writing, and studying history--much like they have done in our country's schools since the colonial era. At the same time, both baseball and schools are dramatically different than they were at their inception, with many of these changes due to advances in technology. As the Cubs embark upon another World Series season, I am reminded how much their success is based on their culture, including embracing change and practicing empathy. These are pillars of school success as well. How we approach change can significantly impact how successful we will be as educators. Creating cultures in which such changes are embraced as opportunities and in which staff members learn the lens through which their students see the world while learning the best approaches for teaching them are more ways we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Leadership Priorities

“The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” 

Stephen Covey

Since “retiring” from full time public education service in 2017, I have had the privilege to co-author several books, speak to thousands of educators around the country, and work in several schools as a coach. In addition, I have served as a short-term interim administrator. These experiences as an interim principal have been richly rewarding; being back in a school every day--albeit on a temporary basis--rejuvenated me and reminded me just how challenging (and rewarding) it is to serve as an educator in any role. My last full time principal assignment was a decade ago; taking on this leadership role again, I found myself doing many of the same things I did years ago. On the other hand, I found myself doing some of these things quite differently. How I behaved was directly related to my priorities in this new role. I was determined to be intentional about scheduling my priorities as opposed to prioritizing what was on my schedule.

On my first day as an interim principal, I decided to do what I had always done as a full time principal: I went outside to the car rider line and shook the hand of every student arriving to the school between 7:45 - 8:15. As a principal, I always prioritized this on my schedule for several reasons, including:

Via: https://bit.ly/2EdWgGE

• Students and parents seem to appreciate it;

• It helped me get to know students and their families better;

• I believed that students were more likely to behave better when I looked them in the eye each morning, shook their hand, and told them to have an awesome day;

• I believe it is a way to model for other adults in the building what I expect in terms of presence and visibility in the common areas of the school;

• Somewhat selfishly, I found it to be a fun, positive, and energizing way to start my day.

I am well aware of the many reasons why it is difficult to do this every single day as a school administrator, but I encourage all principals to simply prioritize greeting students each morning into their daily routine in spite of the many competing demands on their time. When I started doing this as an interim principal, several parents actually took the time to get out of their car to thank me for doing this. I had others take photos of me shaking their child’s hand in the morning. One morning, a parent walking into the school told me, “What you do out here every morning is the talk on the streets of our town.” I am convinced that this simple daily routine is a difference maker for school leaders and we must schedule it as a daily priority.

When I was a full time principal, I also met with students who misbehaved, were chronically tardy/absent, or were underperforming academically. On my first day as an interim principal, several teachers immediately asked me to do this, too, indicating a particular student about whom they were concerned. I decided to approach the situation much differently than I had when I was a full-time principal. When I was a principal, I was often so “busy,” that I failed to prioritize an adequate amount of time to these situations, instead merely checking them off my to-do list. Upon reflection, I am not proud of this, but often I would simply call the student in, quickly “address” the issue, and send the student on his/her way. As an interim principal, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of merely checking the task off my list, I decided to make it a priority to actually work with the child to resolve the problem. I spoke with the student for almost fifteen minutes, mostly serving as an active listener. I then called the student's mother and spoke with her for another fifteen minutes, again listening very carefully. Then, I turned back to the student and spoke with him for another ten minutes. Together, we came up with a goal, a plan, and a mutual commitment to follow through. I checked in with this student almost daily to reinforce expectations, see how he was doing, and celebrate success when appropriate. Although meeting with students who were struggling in different areas was something I did as a full-time principal as well as an interim principal, the way in which I did this changed dramatically--and for the better. The difference? As an interim principal, I prioritized doing whatever I could to actually solve the problem, instead of approaching it as a task to be completed.


Many of the things we must do as school leaders should change over time; we must constantly be on the lookout to innovate as leaders not by merely doing things better, but by doing better things. At the same time, there are certain things we must do as school leaders that we will likely be doing as long as we have schools. For these things, we should continue to strive for improvement, doing what we do tomorrow better than we do it today. Being visible during school arrival time is an example of doing a better thing (if, instead, we currently devote that time to attending meetings or catching up on work in our office). Meeting with students to actively listen and then design a plan for success when they are struggling (rather than simply meeting with them to assign a consequence) is an example of doing things better. In each instance, the key--as Covey reminds us--is not to prioritize our schedules, but to schedule our priorities. In our book, The Principled Principal, Anthony McConnell and I make the case that how we manage many competing responsibilities is not only a challenge, but an opportunity. How we approach this challenge can significantly impact how successful we will be as school leaders. Scheduling our priorities is a key to success and another way we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!

Gratitude for Expectations

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." 

Epictetus

Ever since I first became an educator many years ago, one of my

Via: goo.gl/z8fqkT

core principles has been related to expectations, specifically establishing high expectations first and foremost for myself and then for every student and staff member I served as a classroom teacher and administrator. Having high expectations for myself and others with whom I interact remains a core value. Having said that, it is inevitable that, at times, we (or others with whom we have a relationship) do not meet our expectations. What happens when we fail to realize such dreams? 

Recently, I attended a concert at City Winery in Chicago featuring someone I consider among the greatest living songwriters in the world, Michael McDermott. In addition to being an outstanding singer, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter, McDermott is also a gifted storyteller. Halfway through the concert, he began telling a story about his initial meteoric rise in the music industry. He was a very young man represented at the time by the top agent and top manager in the entire industry. His first album was a huge success and his manager told him he would be playing the United Center (where the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks play) within five years. Well, things did not exactly turn out as planned for Michael and these lofty career expectations were never met. But McDermott spoke that night about how grateful he was for the way things did turn out for him. He self deprecatingly said he did indeed make it to the United Center periodically--to catch big name music acts. As for himself, looking around the 300-seat venue we were in, he laughed and said, “This is my F***ing United Center!” We cheered him on and then he said something along the lines of, “You know, if we would only trade gratitude for expectations, we would all be better off” before launching into his next song. 

I will never stop having high expectations for myself, for my family and friends, and for any students or educators with whom I work. I will continue to set lofty goals and encourage others to do the same. In fact, I hope we all dream such big dreams that not realizing all our dreams becomes not only possible, but inevitable, at some point along our respective journeys. And when that happens, I hope we will reflect on the dreams we have realized and all the good in our current situations, choosing to be sincerely grateful for all that we do have without bemoaning that which we do not. If we focus on what we do not have, we will never have enough; on the other hand, gratitude turns what we do have into enough.

I respect McDermott and so many others for making the conscious decision to choose gratitude for what one has, as opposed to focusing on expectations not met. In the end, things most always turn out for the better in any case. I recently had a friend interview for an administrative position she desperately was hoping to get only to be told the job went to someone else. It reminded me of how disappointed I have been each time I failed to land a position I, too, desperately wanted--at least at the time. Upon reflection, in each such instance, I now look back with gratitude that I was not offered those jobs; for me, life has had a way of working out perhaps not exactly as planned, but precisely the way it should have for my ultimate happiness. Although it is painful right now and of little comfort, I suspect that my friend, too, will look back five years hence with gratitude that she did not get this position and thankful for the position she does have at that time.

Expectations can be tricky things. Of course we should have high expectations, yet we must realize that unmet expectations can cause conflict, if we allow them to gnaw at us. In fact, Blaine Lee suggested that almost all conflict is the result of violated expectations. But we can also make the choice to not allow unrealized dreams to get us down and, in fact, to express gratitude for what we do have, rejoicing in future possibilities whenever one door closes.

I will likely never see Michael McDermott performing at the United Center, but I am grateful to have seen him play at dozens of small venues in several states the past few years. Although most folks reading this blog post have likely never heard of him, I am not alone in my opinion that McDermott is one of our greatest living musicians. Bestselling author Stephen King has said of him: "Michael McDermott is one of the best songwriters in the world and possibly the greatest undiscovered rock n roll talent of the last 20 years.” (Speaking of Stephen King and unmet expectations, when I published my first book, one of my colleagues said, “Jeff, you are going to be on Oprah with this book!” Needless to say, I never did make a guest appearance on Oprah. However, I am extremely grateful that, together, books written by Stephen King and me have sold over 350 million copies!). Despite King’s (and mine, for what it is worth) high praise of Michael’s songwriting skills, he appears destined to continue playing small venues in his career, rather than large stadiums. Although some might resent this, I am glad that McDermott chooses gratitude, not bitterness. And I can guarantee him that the 300 people who heard him at City Winery in December appreciate him as much as--if not more than--the 20,000 people who heard Josh Groban recently at the United Center.

As we begin another new year, I hope everyone continues to dream big dreams and insist on high expectations for themselves as well as others with whom they serve. As important as this is, however, I hope even more that 2019 finds you choosing gratitude throughout the year for everything you have, everything you accomplish, everything that comes your way, and, even, for the inevitable disappointments you are sure to face while pursuing your dreams. Having high expectations--yet trading gratitude for disappointment when such expectations are violated--is another way we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!