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“Project EIC”

Why do you do what you do? Why are you a board member?

At the beginning of the school year, the Denton ISD Educational Improvement Committee set out to reinvent the EIC.

At the beginning of the school year, the Denton ISD Educational Improvement Committee set out to reinvent the EIC.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2zqTYgcpfg

The goal of the EIC…

The goal of the EIC was the development of the District’s education goals. The District’s planning process to improve student performance includes the development of the District’s educational goals, the legal requirements for the District and campus improvement plans, all pertinent federal planning requirements, and administrative procedures. The Board shall approve the process under which the educational goals are developed and shall ensure that input is gathered from the District-level committee. BQ(LOCAL)

The EIC began by examining the Denton ISD Board Goals.

The EIC began by examining the Denton ISD Board Goals.

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Then, each campus rep examined their campus Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) and matched their campus WIGs to the Denton ISD Board Goals.

Then, each campus rep examined their campus Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) and matched their campus WIGs to the Denton ISD Board Goals. Afterwards, the EIC reps identified trends, similar vocabulary, and common subject areas that were identified across the district. See http://www.dentonisd.org/51210829122928430/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=111741.

4 areas “popped” out:

4 areas “popped” out: vision, climate, teaching and learning, and parent and community involvement. However, there was 1 common thread: PLCs. See http://www.dentonisd.org/51210829122928430/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=111742.

Going back to the DuFours’ work on PLCs in the book, Learning By Doing, the EIC looked back at the basics of a PLC…

Going back to the DuFours’ work on PLCs in the book, Learning By Doing, the EIC looked back at the basics of a PLC…

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Mission asks the question, “Why?”

Vision asks “What?”

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Values attempt to clarify collective commitments.

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Goals are what the organization hopes to achieve as a result of improvement initiatives.

Then, the EIC reexamined the Denton ISD Board Goals and found…

Then, the EIC reexamined the Denton ISD Board Goals and found…

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I read an excerpt from Igniting a Passion for Reading that my wife, Tenille (YES, I.AM.THE.CAPTAIN!), a 4th grade Language Arts teacher at Pecan Creek ES, shared with me…

I read an excerpt from Igniting a Passion for Reading that my wife, Tenille (YES, I am the Captain!), a 4th grade Language Arts teacher at Pecan Creek ES, shared with me…

From the book…

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“I will never, ever, forget the difficulty I had in one of my schools at the annual faculty meeting, during which the principal always announced to the teaching staff the goals that had been set for us by the board of education for the upcoming year. Good friends would harness me to my chair and duct-tape my mouth shut at this yearly meeting for fear I would start a revolution and get myself and multiple other people fired for insubordination. I’m sorry, but is this not the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard? How motivated are you to reach goals someone else is setting for you—and especially an entity you do not even believe should exist? (But that’s for the book I’m still threatening to write.) I never cared two hoots about their goals. I might have, if I’d been a part of the process of crafting them, but I wasn’t. Apparently, my input regarding the goals that my daily work would either achieve or fail to achieve for our district was not viewed as a significant factor in their plan for goal creation. Is it any wonder that so many of our schools are in such a mess? One of my best friends and colleagues would regularly repeat this sentence in our weekly team meeting: “The system is flawed.” I believe she may have made a seriously important discovery. I believe that goal setting can be tremendously motivating—when the people setting the goals are the same people who will be working to make them successful. We can use goal setting to build rapport with kids that will energize and excite them—creating a kind of “catch the wave” mentality. I have found that goal setting works if we set goals for ourselves right along with our students, if we keep the goals visible and refer to them often, and if we show the kids we really do care about how they’re progressing by talking with them about their goals one-on-one.” From Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers by Steven L. Layne (Paperback - Nov 28, 2009)

What matters to you?As in…what’s really important to you?

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I began to think of my a school teacher’s perspective of goal setting, of a recent Facebook Fan Page I built for my professional organization, of our students, of the future, and of…YOU.

I began to think of my a school teacher’s perspective of goal setting, of a recent Facebook Fan Page I built for my professional organization, of our students, of the future, and of…YOU.

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Then, I had an idea that I took to Dr. Braswell…

Then, I had an idea that I took to Dr. Braswell…

What if we had a “campaign”…

What if we had a “campaign”…

…and asked our stakeholders, beginning with our students, our students’ parents, our Denton ISD educators, our businesses, and our community via social networking (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and took online polls; surveys; and specific, open-ended questions such as… What is school for? What matters to you? Why are you here in Denton ISD? Etc., etc., etc.

…and asked our stakeholders, beginning with our students, our students’ parents, our Denton ISD educators, our businesses, and our community via social networking (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and took online polls, surveys, and specific, but open-ended questions such as… What is school for? What matters to you? Why are you here in Denton ISD? Etc., etc., etc.

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What if we kicked off the campaign with a videowhere educators answered these same questions

and put it out there on social networking sites, our district webpage, TV, etc. to generate a buzz.

And what if we kicked off the campaign with a video…one where educators answered these questions…

What is school for?

And put it out there on social networking sites, our district webpage, TV, etc. to generate a buzz.

And told “our” story.

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Note: The purpose of the next 2 videos is to demonstrate how a video might “look and feel” to “market” this “campaign” to the masses.

Focus on the format, not the content (although this was a cool project)!

Something simple yet catchy, like the project Tenille and I did, called the 1 Word Project, which I shared with Savannah ES and Tenille created with her 4th graders… Note: The purpose of the videos is to demonstrate how a video might look and feel to “market” this “campaign” to the masses. Focus on the format, not the content (although this was a cool project)!

Note: The purpose of the next 2 videos is to demonstrate how a video might “look and feel” to “market” this “campaign” to the masses.

The idea is not to do a “1 Word Project”, but to tell a story set to music that focuses on the people of Denton ISD telling “why they do what they do” (educators) or “what is important to them” (students, parents, community, businesses, educators)…

http://www.dentonisd.org/52552081283326403/site/default.asp

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ao5OFs3tH0&context=C4eb3ed9ADvjVQa1PpcFPmhKckkIHb2GGxzlcAhkAbM1W-ZjIFrB0=

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Using traditional media for branding and communication does little to encourage give-and-take between schools and the communities they serve. While traditional media can deliver messages, receiving and responding to feedback is almost impossible. This lack of responsiveness can make school seem aloof and uncaring. Worse yet, traditional means for branding and communication are inherently slow. By the time messages are crafted and delivered, they are also outdated and unimportant. This lag in message delivery runs contrary to the immediacy that defines communication in today’s digital age. Parents and teachers who have grown to expect open channels, instant responses, and customized opportunities to participate—and who, increasingly, will have grown up in social media spaces—will lose faith in building that refuse to adapt. Instead of hiding from this new media ecology, tomorrow’s best [leaders] will embrace transparency and portability that tools like Twitter and Facebook enable, creating and managing multiple streams of communication at once. Sadly, parents and students often see schools as the same kinds of impersonal places. Once easily recognizable neighborhood icons, principals are often too busy to fully interact with their communities; high rates of transience in teacher and student populations make it unlikely that parents will have long-term relationships with faculty members; and standardized testing has created

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a culture that turns students into nothing more than numbers. The result of impersonality is a general sense of distrust between individuals and the organizations that serve them. Breaking through distrust requires frequent, open interactions between stakeholders—behaviors that social medial tools enable and amplify. Relationships between consumers and the businesses they support are changing. New tools have enabled progressive companies to interact directly and informally with customers in ways that were once impossible. They have also enabled businesses to craft interesting and exciting messages that entertain and capture attention. As a result, education’s stakeholders are beginning to expect the same kinds of innovative messages from their schools. The static communication patterns that we have come to rely on are seen as standoffish and distant. Not only do these one-way messaging patters fall short of the expectations of parents, students, younger staff members, and community leaders, they are likely to be lost in the digital noise that our communities are swimming in. Being heard, then, requires bravery. We have to be willing to open ourselves to criticism and to interact directly with important stakeholders in order to be taken seriously. While doing so is definitely risky in a field as staid as education, it carries tangible rewards in the form of stronger and more meaningful relationships with the communities we serve. The goodwill generated from two-way interactions in social media forums is exponential, spreading beyond just the individuals you are interacting with. That’s because in a social media world, each resolution is played out in front of an audience. Every message has the potential to answer questions that others haven’t asked. What’s more, every message is a tangible demonstration—a mini-commercial, so to speak—of your commitment to service. Branding, a term synonymous with marketing and business, is beginning to find its niche in education. Brands promise value—essential for maintaining support in difficult economic conditions—to specific audiences or stakeholder groups. Brands are designed to stand out, to influence consumers, and to build confidence in products. Sustaining a sense of trust is an integral component of a brand’s ability to promise value. Successful brands open themselves up to scrutiny, respond to criticism, and make every effort to own up to their mistakes, and work to improve based on consumer feedback. In education, schools are considered a brand, promising their communities the academic preparation necessary to succeed. Many families choose to live in townships with schools that have proven track records. Stakeholders become convinced that their schools prepare students well and provide a quality return on their investment of time, energy and resources. Schools can leverage this brand presence for additional community investment in teacher quality, curriculum, facilities, and professional development initiatives. The bottom line is that schools actively building their brand are supported by their communities, and that support translates into continued improvement and success. Developing positive relationships with important stakeholders in the new digital space requires authenticity, bravery, and consistency. We worry about parents and students using social media tools to complain about our decisions, our programs, or our performance. More importantly, we worry about those

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complaints being made in a public forum that anyone can view. Used to doing damage control anytime negative messages about our buildings surface, specifically creating forums that enable the easy sharing of negative message runs contrary to our instincts. Avoiding social media tools, however, is far riskier because they have been widely embraced beyond your buildings, fundamentally changing the nature of communication in today’s world. Your important stakeholders—teachers, parents, students, and community leaders—“might not know it yet, and perhaps neither do you, but in just a few years if you haven’t adopted social media in a signification way you risk shutting out the best and most powerful communications channel we’ve ever known, a channel that values authentic interactions…at its core.” From Communicating and Connecting With Social Media (Essentials for Principals) by William M. Ferriter (May 25, 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc1o9FrYD7Y&list=PL809200BE55F6AFEE

&feature=plcp

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http://www.ideo.com/

“In most organizations, big decisions are made by people with big titles. In making those decisions, senior leaders seldom seek the advice of the rank and file. That’s a problem on at least 3 counts. First, top-level decisions are often compromised by executive hubris, positional biases, and incomplete data. Second, it’s often those on the ground who are best placed to evaluate the practical issues that will make or break a strategic move. And third, as the business environment becomes more complex, the number of variables that needs to be factored into key decisions will grow apace. Given all that, companies need decision-making processes that are politically neutral, exploit the organization’s collective wisdom, and encompass a broad range of views and inputs.” From What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation by Gary Hamel (Feb 1, 2012)

http://www.heathbrothers.com/switch/chapterone.php

In order to change, you must... motivate the elephant, direct the rider, and

shape the path.

The Heath Brothers use an analogy coined by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his book, The Happiness Hypothesis. Haidt says that our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader. But the Rider's control is precarious because the Rider is so small relative to the Elephant. Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose. He's completely overmatched. If you want to change things, you've got to appeal to both. The Rider provides the planning and direction, and the Elephant provides the energy. Finally, you must shape the path or provide direction for the elephant and its rider. To change behavior, you've got to direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path. If you can do all three at once, dramatic change can happen even if you don't have lots of power or resources behind you.

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From Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Feb 16, 2010)

What is school for?

Another good question to ask (aka “the miracle question”): You wake up in the morning and your problems are solved. What is the first small sign that things have changed? From Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Feb 16, 2010)

The Heath Brothers’ Checklist: Do You Have the Right “Critical Move”?

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“While most of us aren’t entirely content with the way our organizations work, neither are we outraged. We’re not incensed by the poisonous politicking, the squandered creativity, the debilitating cynicism, the ignoble values, the ethical shortcuts, the executive egomania, and the strategic myopia that infect our organizations—or at least we’re not sufficiently incensed to cry, “Enough!” and commit ourselves to something better. We also seem disinclined to dream. Most of us have yet to be captivated by an alluring vision of organizations that are impassioned, meritocratic, open, boisterous, convivial, invigorating, and fun!” From What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation by Gary Hamel (Feb 1, 2012)

We are only limited by our own creativity to take our message to the entire community...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNic4wf8AYg

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The idea of risk is so tied to the idea of greatness –you cannot be great without risking yourself.

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key

to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew

up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment,

and I told them they didn’t understand life.” John Lennon

For more information, visit www.dentonisd.org/eic

or “Like” www.facebook.com/cshade

dentonisd

Or email me at cshade@dentonisd.org.