Did You See the Sunrise Today?!

This summer, my family purchased kayaks instead of going on a vacation.  We enjoy taking them to local lakes, reservoirs, and rivers.

On a recent kayak fishing trip, I had a frustrating day.  First, I didn't even get one bite.  Second, I lost one of my fishing poles. I put it in the holder behind me on my kayak but it must not have been completely down in the hole so when I started paddling it fell out.  It is now on the bottom of Hoover Reservoir.  And third, my favorite lure got caught in a tree and I spent 30 minutes trying to get it out.

But, I saw a pretty awesome sunrise.



To all my educator friends, I hope to provide you with some encouragement for this school year.
You will have days (maybe you already have and the school year hasn't even started yet!) when you don't get any bites, lose your fishing pole, and get your favorite lure stuck.  However, we are blessed with an awesome opportunity each day.  Let's try to remind ourselves and each other of the many good and honorable things that we are a part of, get to do, and experience.  Let's lift each other up and support each other like never before without blaming and complaining.




I included a photo of a catfish just so you know that I do actually catch some stuff (sometimes)

A COHESIVE TEAM

A few days ago, I attended a valuable leadership retreat that focused on building cohesive teams.  Last week, the Reds and Pirates were involved in a major league brawl.  In no way at all do I condone the actions of violence they displayed although I do want to make a few quick connections to a cohesive team. 

In our leadership retreat we learned that in a cohesive team, the foundation is TRUST and the pinnacle is RESULTS.  I pulled out two quotes from Joey Votto's (Cincinnati Reds) post-game press conference that related to this.

First, he stated, "Today is a good example of our team standing up for each other."  This is what leads to building trust in any relationship - but especially a team.  Usually we look at change, challenges, and storms as bad things.  However, they provide the opportunity for teammates to stand up for each other and prove their commitment to the team.  They are a necessary component to building the foundation of cohesive teams.  In our leadership retreat, one person stated how important it is to know that your teammates have your back.  Joey Votto's statement demonstrated that he and his teammates proved this.

Second, he stated, "The best teams focus on winning on a day in and day out basis."  You know your team is a cohesive team when it is focused on results.  In order to get to this - the team has been through conflict, used it to help them grow, and have proven their trust and commitment to each other.  They understand that in order for the team to get better they have to push and hold each other to be accountable for growth.  When that has happened - the team is ready to focus on results and not get sidetracked with minor issues.  Joey Votto acknowledged that this is the next step for his team - to move on past the drama and get focused on results.

The Gazebo

I have a tendency to go full force into projects - to just dig in right away and keep bulldozing my way to the finish.  One of my strengths is my strong work ethic so I think maybe I often rely on that rather than being a bit more methodical and thoughtful about my work.  It is how I played sports growing up and it is what I am used to.  However, it is not always an effective strategy.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a metal gazebo from Lowe's.  I know the directions say to get all of the pieces out and make sure you have every piece before you get started - but really who does that or has time for that?!  So I just started working.  Soon into the project I discovered that one of the pieces was defective so I needed to call and have a new piece delivered.  In the meantime, I figured I could skip some steps and get some parts of it together, you know, to grind through and be more efficient with my time :)

When the corrected piece finally came in about a week later, I built the gazebo with the four posts, crossbeams, and vertical pieces that connected the crossbeams to the top part of the roof (all of which I had piecemealed together earlier).  After several hours, I needed to put up the horizontal frames on the roof.  However, they could not connect to the vertical bars.  On one side I came an inch or so too short and on the other side I came an inch or so too long.  I tried smashing one side in with a hammer.  I tried pulling and tugging the other side as hard as I could.  Nothing worked.  I could not get it to match up enough to get the screws in!  After having worked on it most of the day, I called it a day (it was nearly 10pm and was getting destroyed by mosquitoes anyway).

The next day, my 16 year-old son is with me helping and trying to figure it out.  We tried tugging, pulling, hammering, and smashing but to no avail.  I checked to see if it was all level.  It wasn't.  We fixed that.  Still didn't work.  I then swallowed my pride and started from the beginning to do everything in order as it was supposed to.  We took down the entire top part of the roof that I put together early and then put it up piece by piece.  Still didn't work.

I am hours into this project and I now had visions of me smashing the pieces and throwing them out into the yard and making a big enough scene that possibly would cause my neighbors to call the cops on the crazy guy next door.  It is 90 degrees with Ohio humidity.  I was soaking in sweat and ready to be done.

At this point, my son stopped being my "assistant" me and started analyzing the work.  He said to me, "I think these vertical bars are not centered on the horizontal crossbeams".  I told him it didn't matter and that had nothing to do with it and went on huffing and puffing.  He said he wanted to measure - fine, whatever I said.  He measured and told me they were not centered.  I repeated myself - "that is not the problem!".  He repeated himself.  I ignored.  Finally, he commanded, "DAD!  Stop and look!"  As soon as I paused and looked - it became so obvious.  I realized right away that he was right and it was the vertical piece that was causing all the problems. 

Way back when I put together the crossbeams early, there were three holes for bolts.  I needed to screw in the vertical piece which had two bolts and I selected the wrong two out of three bolts (yeah those directions would have been important at that point).  Thus, it was causing everything thereafter to be thrown off.  We fixed that and the rest went on smooth as butter.

Leadership Lessons 
1.  Be Grateful
I am so grateful to my son (wife and daughter helped at times too) for his patience and help. 

2. Go at the Right Pace
I am a doer.  I love making to-do lists and checking them off as I go (admittedly, I have actually put stuff I already completed on the to-do list only to be able to see it checked off).  There are times in which I need to stop the grind, slow down, and see the big picture. 

3.  Engage in Teamwork (not collaboration)
Truly, I could not have done it without him.  I really would have been that guy who smashed the pieces and threw them out into the yard out of frustration.  I see a difference between teamwork and collaboration.  To me, collaboration is a generic, overused term to describe two or more people working on something.  Teamwork is two or more people working dependently on each other to create something better than if they were solo.

4. Build Relationships 
The strongest teams are built on solid relationships grounded in trust.  This allows teammates to be able to hold each other accountable and push each other to new possibilities.  My son needed to call me out in one of my worst, most frustrated moments.  He did.  If we did not have the relationship, he would have kept quiet or felt scared to be able to call me out.

ReThinking Summative Assessments

As a coach and educator for over 15 years, I have noticed that there are many parallels between coaching and teaching.  I have always heard (and preached myself) that formative assessments are like the practices - players put in work and coach provides feedback preparing them for the big game.  The same within the classroom - the students put in work (formatives) and the teacher provides feedback preparing them for the big test (the summative). 

There has been much research and attention around formatives recently - and rightly so - the feedback it provides to both the teacher and student is so powerful in the learning process.

However, I wonder how much we have thought differently about the summative; or "the big game".

As I watched March Madness games, I noticed a ton of coaching going on.  The coach provided instructions and feedback to players constantly during the game.  And in many sports, the coach is actually able to call a timeout to stop the game to provide feedback, an opportunity for players to self-assess, and review expectations, instructions, and the game plan.  The coach does not just sit there in the chair and let the players perform and then give them a grade at the end of the performance.  If we preach that the summative assessment is like the game - then why does our teaching and coaching stop during the summative?

What if we thought differently about summative assessments?  What would this look like?

Life As a Student (Again)

Last night I experienced life as a student again - in a very meaningful way.  I coach a youth club team and attended a coaching clinic.  There were about 35 soccer coaches in the room - so as you can imagine - it was packed with egos.  

My hour as a student (again):

1.  I had a legit anxiety to answer questions.  The pressure of looking dumb in front of my peers was real.  

2.  Once I did engage and answer a question correctly (got positive reinforcement from presenter!), my confidence 

skyrocketed and I contributed some more.

3.  It was hard sitting in a chair for an hour.  I was squirming all over the place - probably looked like I needed to pee or had ants in my pants or something.

4.  I was unprepared.  I brought my phone to take notes if needed, but the presenter wanted people to have a pen/pencil and paper.  

5.  Literally the ONE time I zoned out for two minutes, I get cold called.  Yeah it was a bit embarrassing but I tell you what, it brought me back into the mix real quick.  I remained focus for the remainder of the "lesson".  The presenter allowed me to pass but said he was coming back to me.  I was good with that - he gave me an out at the moment but held me accountable for the remainder of the time.

Class participation has always been an interesting thing to me.  When I was in middle and high school - I never participated - mainly due to the feeling of inadequacy and fear of looking dumb in front of my peers.  Last night I reflected on all of the times I have been in your classrooms this year.  Our teachers (YOU!) do an amazing job at engaging our students in a safe way.  I think sometimes we (me) forget how challenging and scary it is for our students to respond to questions or even ask questions in a classroom filled with peers.  The power of peers is strongest in middle school - that does not change, in fact maybe it is amplified, while in the classroom.

I have seen our teachers do such an amazing job at creating a classroom atmosphere that is safe to ask and answer questions.  I am so grateful for that.  I have seen our teachers work one on one with a student and whisper to that student "you know this one, get ready, I am going to have you share with the class".  That teacher is setting up that student for a successful moment in front of his/her peers.  What an awesome, powerful moment for that student!

I have seen our teachers cold call on students but not to embarrass them but to get them back into the mix.  It is a skill that so many of our teachers do so eloquently.  

I have seen our teachers implement very brief but needed movement breaks built within the lesson for our students.  If adults need it, 12 year-olds certainly need it!

I have seen our teachers recognize and reinforce the students' effort - not always the end result.  Thus, our students see the value in the process.

Sometimes we all need reminded what life is like as a student.  It helps us to keep perspective.