How is Your Master Schedule Looking?

Spring...a time in the realm of public school education that is better known as the roller coaster ride. It's a wild ride after spring break! In the midst of year-end assessments, award assemblies, and IEP meetings looms something that keeps many school administrators up at night...the master schedule!

For some, it is a spreadsheet. For others, it's a series of sticky notes on a white board. For me, it's a board filled with magnets of different colors. I'm kind of crazy that way. I sincerely enjoy working to solve the very intricate puzzle/house of cards that makes up the schedule in our building. Someday, I'm going to teach a class on master schedule construction. Regardless of what your method of master schedule instruction looks like, here are a few points to consider as you construct the schedule for your own building. 

Does your schedule line up with your school improvement plan? 

• What are your building's goals? Does the current structure of the schedule support those goals, or does it hinder them? For example: If you want to promote the effective use of the PLC framework, do your teachers have opportunities to plan together during the school day? Do your exceptional education teachers get to plan with teachers they collaborate with? 

Does your schedule accommodate your exceptional students? 

• When thinking about exceptional students, don't forget to take into consideration those students who are in gifted or honors-level classes. Is a student enrolled in Algebra 1 also able to take Earth Science if they want to? On the flip side, is a student able to take self-contained english and collaborative social studies while being able to get their first-choice elective? I'm not saying you should be able to honor every student's course request, but you should construct a schedule which would enable you to accommodate most of them. 

Does your schedule make your teachers' lives easier? 

• When I first started creating a master schedule for this school year, I was pretty proud of myself that things were coming together so easily. Then I started to take a closer look. While the schedule looked like it was going to work, things were going to be difficult for the teachers; especially for those teaching more than one subject/level. The way the schedule was originally set up would have required teachers to teach multiple sections on any given day. By moving around some sections, I was able to construct schedules which more or less had teachers teaching the same course back-to-back, or one section on one day, and another section on another day. 
• On another note, don't leave your teachers in the dark about the scheduling process. Talk with them about the process. Answer their questions. Get their opinion on possible scheduling scenarios. It's likely in this day and age the teachers in your building have been there longer than you have, and have seen things done several different ways. 

In the end, make sure your master schedule is what's best for kids. If it doesn't work for your students, it won't matter how pretty it looks. It's simply not going to work in the long run. That being said, don't be afraid to get creative as you construct your schedule. Just remember to be transparent about your process. 

PLC vs PLN?

This past weekend, I participated in a Twitter chat called #satchat. In my opinion, it is one of the best run edchats out there right now. Though it takes place at 7:30 in the morning, I try my hardest to participate each week, as I am always learning something new from the amazing people who also participate. It's a HUGE component of my PLN. The topic was centered around the concept of ensuring students are learning in an environment that will help them to succeed in a world that is growing smaller by the day thanks to advances in technology. During the chat, educational best practices were discussed, including the use of the PLC (Professional Learning Community) framework to drive instruction. One of the chat participants brought up a very interesting question - is there a difference between an PLC and a PLN (Personal Learning Network)?

I've spent the past couple of days seeing what other people say about this. 

Lorraine Boulos shares the following in her blog, Making Shift Happen. It seems to me the "PLC" has become synonymous with Professional Development and often, it is the principal, consultant, coach, or whomever the "Instructional Leader" is in the building, that decides what everyone needs to learn about.  How and why does this happen?  These instructional leaders are not just being arbitrary. They are looking at student results, looking at the gaps, and then they are using professional resources to determine what is the best strategy to meet the needs to close those gaps.

Furthermore, Russell Munkler put together a great slide presentation to help explain the difference between the two: http://www.slideshare.net/rmunkler/developing-your-pln

From what I can best gather, a PLC is goal and data driven - within the field of education, that goal is usually student academic success. A PLC is basically designed to function for the good of the group. A PLN, however, is designed by the individual, and its purpose doesn't necessarily have to be aligned to that of your school or organization. A PLN is broad, and it doesn't share the constraints of time or location usually placed upon a PLC. In addition, the "P" in the PLN appears to be interchangeable. While in most cases, the "P" stands for "personal", I've also seen it stand for "professional". 

If you read back to my other posts, you'll find I am a BIG fan of the PLC framework. I've witnessed AMAZING things happen as the result of educators buying into and working as a PLC. That being said, I am beginning to wonder if we shouldn't shift our thinking. Is the PLC too constraining? Can you still have a common goal working through a PLN? If we are asking our teachers to prepare students to be successful in a global society, I think it is something worth looking into! 

Thoughts??? 

Lencioni is Right

Image found on http://platinumbusinessstrategies.com

Lencioni is right. That whole pyramid is pure genius. If you want to achieve a goal, then you have to start from the bottom and work your way up, especially if you are new to an organization. Even if your position is that of a leader, no one who works under, above, or alongside you has to put their absolute trust and faith in you on day one. 

So I’ve been in a new building for a little over four months now, and I know exactly what it feels like to be on the bottom of that pyramid. However, I’ve also had some experience in climbing it. Since I can be sort of a klutz, I’ve learned slow and steady is the best way to do it. I’ve been working hard these past few months to establish relationships with my colleagues and build trust. Building that trust is a two-way street. While people are figuring me out, I’m figuring them out as well. It makes me wonder if I should consider a different model of pyramid to refer to.

Image I Created

Perhaps, I should take the route of the individualized pyramid approach. Not unlie an IEP, everyone, or at least every department gets its own pyramid. It’s a pretty fair assumption that I am further up the pyramids pertaining to those I work closest to. My other thought involves the use of a “skewed” pyramid of sorts like the one the left. 

With people entering and exiting an organization, and new initiatives coming and going, I'm not sure there are many who have the opportunity to climb such a pristine pyramid like the one above. At least, in my world, the one on the left is a little more realistic.

Regardless of what your pyramid looks like, one cannot deny that a pyramid exists within every organization. Make sure you are well equipped to scale the one that exists in yours! 

When to Favorite, and When to Reply

Everyone loves a good list. Though I had been on Twitter for a few years, I didn’t become a regular at “Tweeting” until this past year. It was a New Year’s resolution to do so, and I did a pretty good job of sticking with it. One of the things I had to get the hang of has to do with favoriting things. I have over 1200 favorites on my Twitter feed, and I don’t know why I favorite half of them. Upon reflection, I have actually been able to put my Tweets into three categories

• “Thank You” Favorites – For those times when I clicked on that star as an acknowledgement of a comment or a mention.
•  “Great Point” Favorites – Given when someone made a great comment or point.
• “Purposeful” Favorites – Given when I came across a Tweet that contained an awesome quote, picture, or link. Something I would want to save for later.

That being said, I would like to share five of my favorites for this year. To see all of my favorites, follow me @JaimeStacy.

#5 – Quote by Rick Dufour. While I feel it is absolutely essential for educators to believe that all students can learn, I believe it is important for teachers to build and sustain a toolbox they can draw from to work with students who aren’t learning. https://twitter.com/edunators/status/306820940120088576/photo/1

"Don't tell me you believe all students can learn. Tell me what you do when they don't." Rick DuFour

#4 – A Quote by Sir Ken Robinson "If you sit kids down doing low grade clerical work, don't be surprised if they fidget a bit."

                  If you haven’t seen his “Schools Kill Creativity” TED Talk, you need to. I still see too many worksheets being used where a different activity could be substituted.

#3 – A great representation of the theory of innovation for educators. I especially like the part about the “wood”.
http://theasideblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/resource-roundup-pencil-metaphor-point.html

#2 – From Edweek – Tips for giving feedback. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coaching_teachers/2014/03/tips_for_giving_feedback.html

These came out near the end of the school year, right at a time when I was giving year-end evals. There were some great suggestions here.

#1 – “Be More Dog” Video – This is a great video to show when you want to encourage people to get out of their comfort zone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMzgl0nFj3s&sns=tw

Now that I’ve gotten the hang of Tweeting, I am going to be a little more discriminating with that little gold star. I will only favorite something that I truly want to save. Basically, that means I will only save my "Purposeful" favorites. However, that does NOT mean I’m going to stop acknowledging the “Thank You” or “Great Point” favorites. Instead, I plan on replying to that individual to acknowledge their comment. After all, if someone took the time to think about something I said or posted, I owe it to them to respond in kind. Of course, I may have to rethink that if I get a zillion replies!