The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell "How little things can make a big difference"

A few of my good friends read this book about 6 or 7 years ago. It is one of "those" books that many people make reference to and I am tired of saying "I have not read that book but I would like to." The book premise is quite simple but is incredibly engaging and thought provoking. Gladwell starts his book with a brief description of how Hush Puppy shoes made an astounding resurgence in the mid 1990s. He believes that it was just a few kids started wearing them to clubs "because no one else would wear them.". Some major fashion designers caught wind of the HP New York trend and word spread. The company went from selling 430,000 to four times that the next year. Amazing.

As I read the first few pages of book and the pages after that I constantly think about how can we have a trend (positive of course) spread through the school. Trends that impact both the students and the teachers. What can we do to have positive behavior spread throughout the hallways and classrooms? How can best practices that teachers use spread throughout the classrooms as well? What can we do the stop the "negative" trends? How do we get the message out and sustain it? Face to Face? Facebook? I do believe that if we can do little things in a school and they we can make a profound change. i think that the little things will be different for every school. I will be pondering those thoughts and I continue to read the book.

What are the "little" things that you do in your school that make a big difference?

8th Grade Honors Convocation May 24th @ 1pm.

My Opening remarks for tomorrow's convocation. Great ceremony.

Welcome to the 2010 8th Grade Honors Convocation. Today we will be honoring the entire 8th grade for their achievements during this school year. This is not a graduation ceremony; it is merely a “pit stop” in the educational lives of these 480 students. The world that these students will enter will be dramatically different than the one the adults in this gym entered. Students you will need to continue your education past high school in order to be competitive in the world of 2014 and beyond.
During today’s ceremony, I encourage the students to silently reflect on their past two school years at Tecumseh. Think about the good times; think about the not so good times. Think about your choices of the past two years. Your education in life lessons is equally important to your classroom lessons. Think about what you can personally do, as you take the next step in your life to try to ensure that the good times outweigh the bad.
I encourage the students and guests to treat this ceremony with the dignity and respect that it deserves. The students have worked extremely hard and deserve their due recognition.

IMAP!

Back in November of 2009, the IN DOE launched a new program for beginning teachers called IMAP. http://www.doe.in.gov/educatorlicensing/IMAP.html I believe that the DOE hit a home run with this new program. The three second year teachers (as did i) that went through the process had an excellent experience. We did a book study group. We read Ted Sizer's "Horace's Compromise". We met 6 times after school for to discuss the chapters. It was great change of pace.

In August of 2009 I began working on a "lesson planning" document. I have been asked several times by teachers "what do you expect?". I spent some time putting my thoughts down and bounced ideas off of several colleagues as well. The IMAP teachers and I went through the planning process. I worked on a unit plan and modeled the process as I see it to the teachers. They created a plan as well. We had many great conversations and I gained as much as they did through the process.

Finishing Strong!

As I walk the building I am impressed with the professionalism of the teachers. All are teaching like it is October 20th. The behavior of the students is outstanding (few exceptions of course). The students are engaged. It is great to see.

Sunnyside Visits

The past two days I spent at Sunnyside Middle School speaking with the 6th graders about Tecumseh. It was a great two days. I had two special guests with me as well. Kinnsey and Allysha, two 8th grade students, gave the 6th graders the presentation of all about Tecumseh. They both did a wonderful job. I am very proud of them. I was very impressed with everything at Sunnyside. The students, the staff and the new building were outstanding. I look forward to working the "new" 7th graders in August.