Education Write Now, Volume II

Top Strategies for Improving Relationships and Culture

Jeffrey Zoul, Sanée Bell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367026462
• eBook ISBN: 9780429676338
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In this innovative series Education Write Now, ten of education's most inspiring thought-leaders meet for a three-day retreat to think and write collaboratively, and then bring you the top takeaways you need right now to improve your school or classroom.

This second volume, edited by Jeff Zoul and Sanée Bell, focuses on relationships—the heart of everything we do in education. Building strong relationships and a positive school culture takes intentional, consistent effort, and the authors provide strategies and examples to help you along the way.

Throughout the book, you'll find insights and inspiration on these topics:

• Connecting the dots among students and staff (Jeffrey Zoul)
• Strengthening relationships in the learner-centered class (Randy Ziegenfuss)
• Building a culture of equity and access (Rosa Isiah)
• Cultivating student strengths and interests (Elisabeth Bostwick)
• Bridging the gap between schools and families (Laura Gilchrist)
• Deepening connections through productive conflict (Sanée Bell)
• Finding relationships beyond the four walls (Onica Mayers)
• Connecting through the power of generosity (Winston Sakurai)
• Bringing passion into the schoolhouse (Sean Gaillard)
• Tapping into dreams for a world-class culture (Danny Bauer)

The royalties generated from this book will support the Will to Live Foundation, a nonprofit foundation working to prevent teen suicide.

1
Connecting the Dots

Jeffrey Zoul

In 2012, Seth Godin wrote a “manifesto” about education titled Stop Stealing Dreams ( Godin, 2012 ) in which he posed the question, “What Is School For?” He also delivered a TED talk on the topic that has since been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Near the end of his presentation, he makes a claim that has resonated with me ever since: We are really good at measuring how many dots students collect, but we teach nothing about how to connect those dots ( Godin, 2012 ). Although he was making a specific point with his statement, focusing primarily on student learning while in school, I believe the analogy can be extended to represent much about the limitations of “collecting dots” in our schools versus the power of “connecting dots” in our schools. The key to success in school is connecting. In schools where students connect with their peers and their teachers, and teachers connect with parents, and the superintendent connects with principals, and school board members connect with the community, and everyone in the school is connecting what is learned there to the world outside the schoolhouse walls, everyone wins—most importantly the students we serve. A short answer to Godin’s query, “What is school for?” is simply: students. The more we can do to get our students to connect to school and investing in their own learning, the more likely it is that we will fulfill our purpose of creating schools that are for students.

The Silo Mentality

In the business world, the “Silo Mentality” can be defined as the “mindset present when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce efficiency in the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture” ( Gleeson, 2013 ). A similar version of this mentality applies to school communities, including not only the adults working in the schools, but also the students learning in the schools. Too often in schools, we exist and perform in silos. It may be mere coincidence, but the word “silo” is but one letter removed from the word, “solo,” and the meanings of the two words—at least connotatively—have much in common. When we work in silos, we are likely working solo, even, ironically, when we are in a classroom with thirty students or a faculty meeting with one hundred colleagues. There may be other people involved, but oftentimes, each is focusing on their own work or their own group without connecting it to the greater good. We work in isolation, we learn in isolation, we focus on checking items off our list, and we move quickly from one thing to the next. Students move from classroom to classroom or subject to subject, with little time devoted to connecting what they are learning in one area to another. Teachers spend the vast majority of their time in their own classrooms focusing on their own lessons, data, and students. Building administrators spend a majority of their time leading within their own school silo as well, while district administrators focus on their primary silo of responsibility, whether that means finances, operations, human resources, school-community relations, or curriculum. School communities in which members collect dots within silos may be good, but school communities in which members connect the dots between silos can become great and eventually break down the “silo mentality” completely. Schools that connect, rather than merely collect, dots work intentionally to create a culture in which each individual is invested not only in their own work and learning, but also how this work and learning relates to others, how it relates to the mission and vision of the classroom, school, and district, how it relates to their personal goals and dreams, and how it relates to the world beyond the schoolhouse walls.

The Things We Collect

In schools, it does seem like we focus on “collecting” quite a few “dots.” Perhaps we have systems in place that compel us to do so. I cannot say with certainty all that Godin meant when he exhorted people to stop focusing on dot-collecting in schools, but for me, it made sense on a number of levels. Although the analogy may well apply to every school community subgroup, it certainly applies to students, teachers, and administrators.

Student Dot Collecting: I worry that many students today— including our students who are most adept at “playing school”—have their own worry when it comes to school. They worry about how fast they can collect their next dot and what they need do to collect it. Unfortunately, they focus on the how and what at the expense of the why. There are seemingly endless dots we place in front of students for them to collect. They move from grade to grade and then subject to subject, collecting the 1st grade dot, the middle school dot, the algebra dot, and the anti bullying dot. In specific classes, they collect the spelling test dot, the research paper dot, the project dot, and the oral presentation dot. As students move from elementary school and middle school into high school, dot collecting picks up steam. Now we have them collecting dots like crazy people, making sure they collect the ACT/SAT dot, the AP dot, the athletics dot, the service learning hours dot, the college applications dot, the clubs and activities dot, and the grade point average dot. In a never-ending, dizzying quest to collect these and so many other school dots, they cannot possibly focus on the bigger meaning of what school is for: pursuing and fulfilling personal goals and dreams and acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to make these goals and dreams a reality.

Teacher Dot Collecting: My fear about educational dot collecting is not limited to students. I suspect we set teachers up for dot collecting as well. I taught for nineteen years at the K–5, 6–8, and the 9–12 levels and it seemed like many of my colleagues and I were forever chasing the next professional dot. Much like the students we taught, our quest, unfortunately, was not always about quality, but about quantity, running the gamut from the ridiculous to the sublime and everything in between. For teachers, dot collecting often starts with the teacher certification process and ends at retirement, with hundreds of dots collected along the way. We collect the bulletin board dot and the committee assignment dot. We collect the professional learning dot and the graduate degree(s) dot. We collect the teacher of the week, teacher of the month, and teacher of the year dots. We collect the PTA dot, the PLC dot, and the SMART goal dot. Some teachers collect the National Board Certified Teacher dot and others collect the Gifted/Talented dot or the Advanced Placement training dot. Just as is the case with students, none of these teacher dots are necessarily bad things. They are not necessarily good things, either. Just like with students, it is not about collecting the dots, but what we do with these dots to connect to a larger purpose that matters.

Administrator Dot Collecting: Unfortunately, building and central office administrators are also not immune from dot collecting. In fact, it almost seems like an ongoing game of administrator Monopoly, with participants collecting another required dot each time they pass “Go” in order to arrive at administrative Boardwalk. It may begin by collecting the mentor dot, the department chair dot, the coach (athletic and/or instructional) dot, the leadership team dot, or the School Improvement Team dot. It most certainly requires collecting the Master’s degree dot and, preferably, the Specialist’s degree dot and the doctoral degree dot. We collect the student discipline dot, the teacher evaluation dot, the school safety and crisis team dot, and even the bus duty and cafeteria duty dots. We collect dots to show we work well with parents, school boards, and teacher unions. We collect the membership-in-a-civic-organization dot, the publishing dot, the present-at-a-national-conference dot, and the teach-grad-classes-at-a-university dot. Again, there is nothing wrong with any of this administrative version of dot collecting. There may not be anything right about it either, though. It depends on our why, not our what or how.

If and when students, teachers, and administrators find themselves engaged in the game of dot collecting—at the expense of authentic teaching, learning, and leading—it is typically not the fault of the individual chasing the dots, but the systems in place which encourages such pursuits. We need systems in place that promote learning and growth at all levels, including the learning and growth of teachers and administrators as well as students. However, such systems must not be so structured, prescribed, and incentive laden. We must focus on connecting what and how we learn with why we want to learn and grow.

The Need to Connect

Schools should exist to teach, inspire, and motivate not only its students, but also its teachers and administrators, connecting the skills and knowledge (dots) they acquire with an individualized and personal plan of growth. I suspect that nearly every school and school district in existence has a mission statement in place that answers the question, “Why do we exist?” Having such statements in place can be a powerful force for collective and continuous improvement. I also think that every student, teacher, and administrator in the district should have a personal mission statement describing their personal “Why?” As important as mission statements are, in truly successful schools people do not merely have a mission; rather, they are on a mission, a mission that moves beyond simple dot collecting.

Students, teachers, and administrators who not only have, but are on, a mission are invested, committed, and future focused. They are also connected: to the school, to each other, to networks of people on social media, and to the world around them. School connection increases when those in the school believe that others in the school care about them as individuals. Students are more likely to succeed when they feel connected to school. As educators, perhaps our top priority today should be to ensure that our students feel connected to our schools. Our students follow the lead of their teachers in so many things, even when we suspect they have tuned us out. And, teachers often follow the lead of their administrators. If administrators feel they are truly connected to the school community and, especially, the teachers they lead, teachers, in turn, will feel more connected to the school. In schools where teachers feel authentically connected to the school, including their administrators and their students, students will also feel more connected to the school.

Schools in which students and staff feel connected are schools that succeed. They succeed by connecting what they are doing today to something they will do tomorrow. They aspire to something grand and connect with others who can help them achieve their goals and dreams. They connect what they are learning to what they are doing. They connect academic learning to a purpose. They connect attendance and behavior expectations to group norms and citizenship. They connect social emotional learning to lifelong learning. They connect students and staff members to other students and staff members, both within the school and schools around the world. They connect science, literature, fine arts, physical education, mathematics, and history to current world events. Educators connect with the parents whose children attend the schools—not because they see it as their duty, but because they know connecting with parents increases the likelihood that students will feel connected.

There are scores of other connections to be made in schools and an equal number of methods, strategies, and tools for making these connections. It is imperative that we focus on connections in our schools. We have all seen the data ( Gallup Inc, 2013 ). Too many students become increasingly disengaged with school the further they trek along their Pre-K–12 journey. In truth, too many teachers and administrators also become disengaged—or, perhaps, less engaged—as they continue their career in education. We need to do a better job of connecting kids to their schools and this will only happen if we first make sure that every educator in the schoolhouse is fully connected to the school in which they serve.

The Key to Connecting

How, then, do we increase school connectedness, not only among our students, but all staff members? On the one hand, the answer to this important question is, in itself, a full-length book. On the other hand, it all begins with one simple word: relationships. As Onica Mayers often reminds us, “Relationships matter, people!” In schools where student-teacher relationships are intentionally prioritized resulting in positive, supportive, friendly, and authentic multi-way conversations between and among students and teachers, students are much more likely to feel connected to their school. Such connections grow stronger still when these same students notice (and they do notice) that the adults in the building have also established relationships among each other that are positive, supportive, friendly, and authentic; in other words, they see that staff members do not merely work together, but are connected to each other. They talk, laugh, share stories, eat together, visit each other’s classrooms, and console one another. Conversely, when kids see the adults in the building working in isolation, rarely connecting with anyone or anything outside their own classroom or office walls, they assume that this is how school should be and follow suit. The result is, at best, compliance and, at worst, defiance. What will not happen is the increase in student connectedness we seek and need if our students are to reach their potential as active learners invested in their own learning.

Connecting is a contagious phenomenon. It begins when we focus on positive relationships in every area of the school, including classrooms, of course, but also in cafeterias, on playgrounds, in hallways, in car rider lines, and on school buses. There is no magic bullet to building these positive relationships, but when it happens, magic is indeed the result. Students and staff work harder, have more fun, and treat each other with more kindness. John Dickson suggests that nothing is more valuable to us and value-adding than strong and positive relationships and that knowing we are valued and cared about by those we value and care about is the true predictor of a healthy sense of self-worth ( Dickson, 2011 ). Although building positive relationships is something that cannot be forced, it also cannot be left to chance. Successful relationships in schools are not wholly unlike any other successful relationship outside of school. I know one particular couple who have been married for over twenty-five years. They have an obvious love, respect, and passion for each other that is remarkable. They seem so connected to each other that it would be easy to assume they were just meant to be together, perfect partners for each other and people who never encounter problems in their loving relationship. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Although it is true that they are a very compatible husband and wife team, their marriage is not without its conflicts, complications, and challenges. But, because they love each other deeply and are committed to each other for the long haul, they long ago also committed to working on their relationship, spending time each and every day engaging in intentional acts to strengthen their relationship so that, in times of inevitable turmoil, their relationship will not only survive, but thrive. They do not take the relationship for granted; instead of simply saying many years ago, “Well, we are married now so let’s agree to love each other forever,” they actually focus on ways to not only maintain their love for one another but also build upon their love for one another. The love they continue to show for each other is magical, but it did not happen by magic. It happened as a result of a fierce, mutual, ongoing intention to continuously find new and better ways to connect with each other.

Obviously, there are many differences between a husband-wife relationship and teacher-to-teacher relationships or student-teacher relationships. But there are also similarities and lessons to be learned. First, it cannot be assumed. Just because you are a student in my class (or a teacher in our school) does not mean that I can expect you to like and respect me. I definitely want you to respect me. Honestly, I also want you to like me. But I must earn both. Moreover, once I have earned it, I cannot presume I am finished. I must continue to exhibit the behaviors that helped to make the connection, as well as finding new ways to strengthen our bond as we move forward together. A third similarity between lasting and loving romantic relationships and positive school-based relationships are two words critical to any successful relationship: Trust and Empathy. Just as in the case of successful marriages, successful schoolhouse relationships are built on the foundational pillars of trust and empathy. Students and staff members will feel more connected to the school when they trust each other. Students and staff members will also feel more connected to the school when people in the school make it a habit of seeking to understand the unique perspectives of others. Our kids (and staff members) will perform better in school when they feel connected to the school. The key to connecting students (and staff members) to school are positive relationships. The keys to building more positive relationships with our students (and colleagues) are trust and empathy.

A connected Culture

When I was a first year assistant principal at an elementary school, a parent of a 2nd grade student came to meet with me. She was concerned about her daughter, who suddenly seemed to dread coming to school. In two previous years at the same school, this child had loved school and could not wait to race off each morning to her classroom. She was worried about her daughter and wondered why her daughter had changed. In truth, her daughter had not really changed at all. Instead, what had changed was her teacher. The teacher she had in 2nd grade was, in many ways, the polar opposite of the teachers she had previously adored, learned with, and felt connected to in both Kindergarten and 1st grade. The parent thought the change was some...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Meet the Contributors
• 1 Connecting the Dots
• 2 Relationships: The Foundation in Learner-Centered Environments
• 3 Connecting with Every Student: Creating a Culture of Equity and Access
• 4 Connecting with Learners: The Power Behind Cultivating Strengths and Interests
• 5 ParentCamp: Filling the Relationship Gap Between Schools and Families
• 6 Connecting with Others Through Productive Conflict
• 7 Connecting Beyond the Four Walls
• 8 Connecting Through the Power of Generosity
• 9 Connecting with the Center: Bringing Passion into the Schoolhouse
• 10 Connecting with Dreams to Create a World Class Culture