WORKING SMARTER VERSUS WORKING HARDER
Our theme for planning for September and our CEP writing is to begin working smarter rather than harder. It is evident that we are working our tails off. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that we might not be doing it the most intelligent way. Here are typical symptoms of an environment where you are working very hard but maybe not the most strategic way: You feel overwhelmed about work and the progress of your children is still the same; you have not had a breakthrough with a child in some time; you are currently frustrated with a situation/scenario which started weeks, months, or even years before and is still the same to this day; you are stressed about a certain student in your class; you are complaining about your job as if there is nothing you can do; and you act like you don’t hear a task being divided up when you are participating in a group initiative. These are just some of the thinking that goes on when people are working hard but maybe not smart. I am going to take you on a tour of some of the daily scenarios I witness where you can reduce the efforts and increase the ambitions to seek change.
Commuting/Expenses
This is one that I have mentioned in the past. I once attended a workshop on reducing stress in life. One of the solutions I was taught was eliminating unnecessary situations to avoid predicaments which fed into daily frustrations and anxiety. I used to be the person who would run into work at the last second. I remember weaving through traffic like I was Dale Earnhardt Jr. at a Nascar race. It lead to moving violations, administrative discipline, lack of reliability in me, reputation of being late, unnecessary anger at traffic, short temper with my students, and frustration with my commute. I traded sleeping late for this pile of stress. I worked very hard to get to school on time. I became a professional driver/commuter on finding short cuts, I mastered the art of using sign language to let others know how I felt about them, I prepared my classroom the evening before, and, best of all, I became even more creative on the excuses I used to cover up my lateness.
This is one that I have mentioned in the past. I once attended a workshop on reducing stress in life. One of the solutions I was taught was eliminating unnecessary situations to avoid predicaments which fed into daily frustrations and anxiety. I used to be the person who would run into work at the last second. I remember weaving through traffic like I was Dale Earnhardt Jr. at a Nascar race. It lead to moving violations, administrative discipline, lack of reliability in me, reputation of being late, unnecessary anger at traffic, short temper with my students, and frustration with my commute. I traded sleeping late for this pile of stress. I worked very hard to get to school on time. I became a professional driver/commuter on finding short cuts, I mastered the art of using sign language to let others know how I felt about them, I prepared my classroom the evening before, and, best of all, I became even more creative on the excuses I used to cover up my lateness.
After attending the workshop on stress management, I came to realize if I woke up earlier, I could reduce or maybe even eliminate these daily frustrations. This was working smarter rather than harder. I cut down on the planning and thinking I put forth to survive with my arrival time which took up time I could use toward coming up with lessons. It was definitely a challenge with adjusting my life. I loved my sleep in the morning. I hated my alarm clock before that and I learned to hate it even more when I began training myself to wake up earlier. It was so easy to press the snooze button. To adjust to it, I moved the clock across the room so I had to get out of bed (my roommates hated me for it) to press it. I started preparing my things in the evenings before so I could get more time to sleep. Eventually, I came to realize I was going to bed too late for me to wake up early. The process was very difficult but I am hardly ever late these days to anything (only when I underestimate my commute – still learning to change that). I learned I loved not being stressed out in the morning even more than I loved my sleep.
We can learn the same thing with our expenses. If you are stressed out about how little of money you have then you need to take the time to see where you invest your paycheck. If you are buying breakfast and lunch every day and averaging about $10 a day, then your weekly expenses come to $50 and that’s not including the weekends. I found out if I make my lunch, I could cut down my costs for at least $30 a week by buying cold cuts and bread (that comes to $120 per month, which is $1440 per year). One of my biggest cost cutters was not going out for dinner as much during the week and budgeting how much I could spend on a weekend so I would save a certain amount per paycheck. I started having my money pulled from my account before I could even touch it to keep with my plan. Again, I changed from working hard to keep up with expensive habits to working smarter to reduce my financial frustrations. When you feel like your money paycheck disappears without anything to show for it, you begin to get annoyed with the efforts you put into your occupation. I remember trying to live on $50 for two weeks because I went on a spending spree the first couple of days after I received my pay check. The amount of stress I built up trying to survive on such little money to make ends meet was unnecessary. It makes coming to work even more difficult when you feel like you not working for anything.
Leader of the Classroom
Collin Boyd was a very challenging student. He was a holdover and was not happy about it. He mastered the art of mutiny. He could get my class to do anything. Not only was he repeating the grade, he was respected throughout the school as a person who could handle his disputes. It was debatable whether he was a drug dealer as well but it was clear as day that he partook in his fair share. If he did not feel like learning one day, he didn’t have to. He would create as many distractions as he possibly could. All the students were his pawns in making this happen. If you have not seen the movie, “Blackboard Jungle” with Sidney Poitier as Gregory W. Miller, please take the time to do so. It pretty much outlines this typical situation. I invested so much time and work in taking on every child that supported his cause and Collin himself. I took my expectation and tried to shove it down his throat. I loved the days when he was absent and dreaded the days he was there. I changed my classroom completely when he was present.
I made a decision to work smarter rather than harder. I planned to “cut the head off the snake” and win over Collin to get the rest of my class back. I studied this child every chance I had. I talked to his other teachers, his friends (if they were willing), and his mother (when she showed up). I visited him in other classes but acted like I was watching the teacher. Turns out his father left him when he was very young. The father started his own family and really didn’t pay much attention to Collin. My research let me know that he loved basketball. Eventually, I got him into a gym when the weather was cold so he could play pick up ball with his friends (he was ineligible for the team and was not allowed to go to the school gym because of his frequent discipline problems). I went out of my way to prepare things for him and get him feedback. It was a challenge because I had to do it in a way where the rest of the class did not think if they acted the same way they could get the same treatment. I became someone he could rely on. Eventually, I became someone he could trust.
Collin Boyd was a very challenging student. He was a holdover and was not happy about it. He mastered the art of mutiny. He could get my class to do anything. Not only was he repeating the grade, he was respected throughout the school as a person who could handle his disputes. It was debatable whether he was a drug dealer as well but it was clear as day that he partook in his fair share. If he did not feel like learning one day, he didn’t have to. He would create as many distractions as he possibly could. All the students were his pawns in making this happen. If you have not seen the movie, “Blackboard Jungle” with Sidney Poitier as Gregory W. Miller, please take the time to do so. It pretty much outlines this typical situation. I invested so much time and work in taking on every child that supported his cause and Collin himself. I took my expectation and tried to shove it down his throat. I loved the days when he was absent and dreaded the days he was there. I changed my classroom completely when he was present.
I made a decision to work smarter rather than harder. I planned to “cut the head off the snake” and win over Collin to get the rest of my class back. I studied this child every chance I had. I talked to his other teachers, his friends (if they were willing), and his mother (when she showed up). I visited him in other classes but acted like I was watching the teacher. Turns out his father left him when he was very young. The father started his own family and really didn’t pay much attention to Collin. My research let me know that he loved basketball. Eventually, I got him into a gym when the weather was cold so he could play pick up ball with his friends (he was ineligible for the team and was not allowed to go to the school gym because of his frequent discipline problems). I went out of my way to prepare things for him and get him feedback. It was a challenge because I had to do it in a way where the rest of the class did not think if they acted the same way they could get the same treatment. I became someone he could rely on. Eventually, I became someone he could trust.
Once I was able to get him on my side, class became much easier to facilitate. Our classroom agreements consisted of the following: he always had to work alone (he did not like working with others), he ran my errands because he liked to take a break from class, he gathered the class’ decisions if they had to vote on something (when a test was going to be or how much homework they should get), I would never call him out in front of the class (BIG NO, NO…he hated it!) but instead would write him a note or give him a signal when he was not acting appropriately, and, finally, he got to sit in the back near the door because he liked to check out the people walking by. In exchange, he kept the class in line. If I was trying to get everyone’s attention, he would help (his technique at first consisted of yelling “Shut up” but we managed to change the words to “Quiet down.” When I was being observed (my principal was allowed to walk in any time without a pre-observation), he made sure the students were doing what I asked them to do. It was like having a bouncer in my classroom. His grades went up and my instruction got even better. Although winning over Collin took more of my time, I was truly working smarter. I was working much harder before I took this approach but my lessons were not going as well. I invested the time to learn about Collin and started working much more intelligently by using leadership to my advantage.
Conclusion
As mentioned before, we are definitely working hard to move JHS 13 to a higher level. It is time to assess if we are working intelligently. The process requires us to look deeper into the immediate problems. We must look to fix situations systemically rather than superficially. For example, our placement of the 37.5 minutes is a perfect example. We put it at the beginning of the day when it was first put into the contract. The decision was to provide test preparation for our students in the morning before the school day started. Our attendance, for various reasons, became worse as the year progressed. Our superficial solution was to threaten discipline, speak to the student, and call home to let the parents know. The School Improvement Team brought up the idea to move the 37.5 minutes into the middle of the day and change the format of the time. Since then, our morning attendance has improved, the students appreciate how the time is used, and the teachers have grown to appreciate the additional instructional time.
As mentioned before, we are definitely working hard to move JHS 13 to a higher level. It is time to assess if we are working intelligently. The process requires us to look deeper into the immediate problems. We must look to fix situations systemically rather than superficially. For example, our placement of the 37.5 minutes is a perfect example. We put it at the beginning of the day when it was first put into the contract. The decision was to provide test preparation for our students in the morning before the school day started. Our attendance, for various reasons, became worse as the year progressed. Our superficial solution was to threaten discipline, speak to the student, and call home to let the parents know. The School Improvement Team brought up the idea to move the 37.5 minutes into the middle of the day and change the format of the time. Since then, our morning attendance has improved, the students appreciate how the time is used, and the teachers have grown to appreciate the additional instructional time.
In addition to digging deeper into the issues, you need for people to have a clear vision as to what must change and, most importantly, be open to change. Most people would probably tell you that they are open to change. The true measurement of their willingness is when they must adjust habits, routines, and thinking to fix or resolve a situation/scenario. The individuals who have trouble with change are usually the people who are prone to complain before they act or share their frustrations with the right people, they are the ones who hardly volunteer for a group initiative, they are more likely to turn down an initiative with no evidence as to why they think it will not work, they are not willing to put the extra time into an idea to produce the change, and they usually avoid measuring whether or not an initiative is working (inaccurate informal observations are made).
The truth of the matter is, when you are working hard, it’s difficult to believe that investing more time will help a situation/scenario. Along with a willingness to change, it also requires a faith in your colleagues and the leadership around you. If you believe that what you put forth will result in a better life, then change is inevitable. As you can gather from the three issues I shared about, commuting, expenses, and addressing student discipline, each scenario required more time to plan and adjust the outcome. After the investment was made, less time and work was needed. It’s like when you are riding a bike and a hill exists in the path. You have to pedal quickly to gain momentum to make it up a portion of the hill. Then you have to pedal hard to make it to the top. Once you make it there its easy riding down the other side. I guess the momentum building is creating buy-in among your colleagues. The hard pedaling would have to be the extra time and effort that is needed to move an initiative forward (developing a plan, communicating, trying it, measuring the progress, and building it to make it stronger). Finally, the smooth sailing is when the system is running and is supported. The surface issues are at a minimal and your feeling productive rather than stretched. I love the downhill portion of a bike ride. Are you willing to pedal to get there?
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE
The discipline committee meets every Thursday from 3:15 to 4:15 to address issues surrounding the structure, implementation, and effectiveness of the school-wide discipline code. Over the past two weeks, we have developed a list of strategies for handling students who persistently misbehave and have begun discussing methods to reduce the number of students who arrive late to school. Listed below are a few important announcements for the staff.
- Anti-bullying campaign: The committee is excited about the anti-bullying campaign and encourages all staff members to participate in the campaign by utilizing the materials distributed by the guidance team.
- Special education input: The committee is interested in hearing feedback from special education teachers. If you are a special education teacher with suggestions for the discipline code, please attend our next meeting this Thursday.
- Topics for next week: Next week, the committee will be discussing inconsistencies in the enforcement of specific codes (uniform, food/gum-chewing); the 8th grade behavior sheets; and procedures for pursuing superintendent’s suspensions.
The discipline committee meets every Thursday from 3:15 to 4:15 to address issues surrounding the structure, implementation, and effectiveness of the school-wide discipline code. Over the past two weeks, we have developed a list of strategies for handling students who persistently misbehave and have begun discussing methods to reduce the number of students who arrive late to school. Listed below are a few important announcements for the staff.
- Anti-bullying campaign: The committee is excited about the anti-bullying campaign and encourages all staff members to participate in the campaign by utilizing the materials distributed by the guidance team.
- Special education input: The committee is interested in hearing feedback from special education teachers. If you are a special education teacher with suggestions for the discipline code, please attend our next meeting this Thursday.
- Topics for next week: Next week, the committee will be discussing inconsistencies in the enforcement of specific codes (uniform, food/gum-chewing); the 8th grade behavior sheets; and procedures for pursuing superintendent’s suspensions.
INTRODUCING OUR NEW CHILD STUDY TEAM
In our efforts to improve our work with students and to make our interventions more comprehensive and more informed by students’ academic profiles, we shall be combining energies and expertise to form the Child Study Team.
What was formerly PPT and AIS and LRE shall now be one entity: Our Child Study Team.
Among the benefits of our collaboration:
**We shall now have the ability to gain a holistic picture of each student in a shorter period of time.
(Academic/Attendance/ Psycho-social/Emotional/Medical/Behavioral ---all in one sitting!)
**We shall be using this holistic picture to create a clear plan for each student who is referred to The Team. These plans shall include teacher input as well as input from our multidisciplinary team, and at times, parents, community based organizations, and students.
** There are protocols built into the work of our Child Study Team that allow for timely feedback for our referring teachers, and for the reviewing and updating of plans as the student’s needs, behaviors and academic performance change and evolve.
In our efforts to improve our work with students and to make our interventions more comprehensive and more informed by students’ academic profiles, we shall be combining energies and expertise to form the Child Study Team.
What was formerly PPT and AIS and LRE shall now be one entity: Our Child Study Team.
Among the benefits of our collaboration:
**We shall now have the ability to gain a holistic picture of each student in a shorter period of time.
(Academic/Attendance/ Psycho-social/Emotional/Medical/Behavioral ---all in one sitting!)
**We shall be using this holistic picture to create a clear plan for each student who is referred to The Team. These plans shall include teacher input as well as input from our multidisciplinary team, and at times, parents, community based organizations, and students.
** There are protocols built into the work of our Child Study Team that allow for timely feedback for our referring teachers, and for the reviewing and updating of plans as the student’s needs, behaviors and academic performance change and evolve.
COMMUNITY CORNER
This weeks Awards Assembly and Parent Appreciation Night were a success Thank you
to all the teachers and parents that participated. This week is the 8th grade Parents Town Hall on Thursday April 10th at 5:30pm. Information for graduation, senior trip and prom will be given to the parents, as well as information about students that have promotion in doubt. If you have any packets of information to present to the parents please have them ready by Wednesday. There is also a school dance on Thursday April 10th from 5:30 - 8pm. If an 8th grader brings a parent to the Town Hall they get into the dance for free.
This weeks Awards Assembly and Parent Appreciation Night were a success Thank you
to all the teachers and parents that participated. This week is the 8th grade Parents Town Hall on Thursday April 10th at 5:30pm. Information for graduation, senior trip and prom will be given to the parents, as well as information about students that have promotion in doubt. If you have any packets of information to present to the parents please have them ready by Wednesday. There is also a school dance on Thursday April 10th from 5:30 - 8pm. If an 8th grader brings a parent to the Town Hall they get into the dance for free.
ATTENDANCE
This Attendance Interval report lists the number and percent of students whose Year-to-Date (YTD) attendance falls within each attendance interval. That is, the report calculates the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance rate is 100% (Perfect attendance), the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance is 90% through 99%, and so on. The report includes students on register as of the effective date; the YTD attendance is calculated as of the effective date.
This Attendance Interval report lists the number and percent of students whose Year-to-Date (YTD) attendance falls within each attendance interval. That is, the report calculates the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance rate is 100% (Perfect attendance), the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance is 90% through 99%, and so on. The report includes students on register as of the effective date; the YTD attendance is calculated as of the effective date.
100% (Perfect) 19 = 5.6%
90% TO 99% 186 = 55.0%
80% TO 89% 74 = 21.8%
80% TO 89% 74 = 21.8%
70% TO 79% 35 = 10.3%
60% TO 69% 11 = 3.2%
50% TO 59% 10 = 2.9%
40% TO 49% 0 = 0.0%
30% TO 39% 1 = 0.2%
20% TO 29% 1 = 0.2%
10% TO 19% 0 = 0.0%
1% TO 9% 1 = 0.2%
0% (No Show) 0 = 0.0%
50% TO 59% 10 = 2.9%
40% TO 49% 0 = 0.0%
30% TO 39% 1 = 0.2%
20% TO 29% 1 = 0.2%
10% TO 19% 0 = 0.0%
1% TO 9% 1 = 0.2%
0% (No Show) 0 = 0.0%
Total Students 338
May your preparations meet your vision, your colleagues provide information, and no risk blind you from your mission. Have a great week….
Birthdays:
Emmanuel Okon April 1st
Jackie Brown April 27th
Rachel Levene May 1st
Danita Scott May 2nd
Birthdays:
Emmanuel Okon April 1st
Jackie Brown April 27th
Rachel Levene May 1st
Danita Scott May 2nd
Leslie Tatum May 12th
Rosa Calvet May 15th
John Ciano May 19th
Quote of the Week
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.“
--Abraham Lincoln
Rosa Calvet May 15th
John Ciano May 19th
Quote of the Week
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.“
--Abraham Lincoln
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