What Makes Schools Great

Fast Llama's,

Are you finding yourself looking at the calendar and counting?  Yes, there are two weeks left in April and then... 

My friend Courtney sent this to me the other day!  So funny, yes, the hardest school year on record is winding down... I am always wary of "counting down" with students.  It can send a message that we don't like our jobs or them... I like to think of it as 7 weeks to make a difference... That's it!  Enough time to still make a difference in a kids life... I don't take that lightly.  

I also never think it is too late to get better... If you are struggling with your classroom, now is not the time to throw in the towel. Middle schoolers are very spongy and flexible.  They will do whatever you want them to do if you go about it the right way.  Let's sail through to June with a strong finish.

I share with you part 1 of Doug Curry's "What Makes Middle Schools Great". The link to the whole resource is here.

Here's Doug:

There is nothing better than walking inside a great middle school or high school. There is nothing worse than walking inside a not so great middle school or high school. Doing what I do, which is making the world safe for llamas, allows me to go inside a whole lot of schools in a whole lot of different parts of the country. 

Before I go any farther with this, let me say that the main thing that I see in my travels is just how dedicated and hard working the teachers of this country are! 

Oh my gosh! I get so angry when the media or anyone for that matter tries to portray teachers in a negative light. Ok, I am quite sure that occasionally a bad egg slips into this profession. But I am telling you, no matter what schools I see, I see teachers busting their tails to do what is right for the kids that they work with every day. I will scream that from the highest rooftop for the remainder of my days!  

Teaching is hard! Anyone who wants to criticize the teachers of today should be made to spend significant periods of time trying to do what teachers do. This goes for critics and lawmakers as well. Even when I enter a “questionable” school, inevitably it is made up of very caring teachers. So why are some middle schools and high schools great and others are shall we say, not so great? 

Here’s the good news: 

This is not rocket science! 

This is not brain surgery! 

Or, as I have heard a comedian say, “This is not rocket surgery!” 

In other words, the ones that are not so great can make a real change for the better in a relatively short time period just by emulating a few key characteristics of the good ones. 

So why haven’t the not so good ones already copied the great ones and done what I am about to tell you? Gee, while simple, that sometimes gets kind of complicated. We tend to make things harder than they already are. The truth is also that in the year 2020 the world is very difficult, and middle school and high school students are living in this very difficult world. It therefore makes our jobs, you got it, very difficult. But not impossible. I’ll say it again. Not impossible. You are not powerless. 

The Llama Guy’s #1 Tip for a Great Middle School or High School Are you ready? 

Is your mind open and ready to listen? Can you get rid of all of the clutter in your mind in order to accept this? For a moment, can you put away all of the incredible pedagogy that you have studied and accept a simple truth from a very simple man? 

Here goes: A successful middle school or high school is one in which the adults have the belief and carry out this said belief that 100% of the time they will lovingly, relationally, courageously, and consistently put themselves in positions of being in the business of their students at all times. Not for a moment will students under the watch of their school go unsupervised (except maybe when they relieve themselves). 

They will have systems in place that allow for constant supervision of everything and allow for the adults to monitor students at all times, and when necessary, “intervene” (also known as lovingly and relationally “hassling”) students who are in need of that type of intervention.

 In other words, these schools realize that even though the students appear to be much larger than 1st graders, they still need the same type of supervision, care, and loving direction that we provide to our 1st graders. So do we treat them like 1st graders? 

No! In fact they need much closer supervision and loving feedback than most 1st graders require. 

 Don’t agree with me on these points? That’s totally okay. I just may not want to walk down the halls of your school during passing period. 

 Just last week I was in a high school outside of Detroit, Michigan. I was in the hallway as students were scurrying to 1st period in order to be on time. A young lady, who I learned was a kind of administrative assistant, was standing at the intersection of two hallways during this time of transition. She appeared to be very happy, cheerful, and glad to be at school. She stood not against the wall, but in a rather prominent position in the hallway so that students would inevitably have to see her as they passed. I stood in awe as she called the name of every single student who passed by as she greeted them. 

She knew the name of every single student. Most of her interactions were cheerful greetings or questions as to how a student’s evening had gone, or something family related and so on. Even though she could not have been more than 5 feet tall, her posture and her confident presence gave the impression that she was much taller when she cheerfully but forcefully encouraged a few students to “step it up” in order to get to class. As I went further down the hallway, I noticed that without exception, at every open classroom door an adult was standing well into the hallway, doing exactly what the administrative assistant had been doing. There were lots of high fives and back slapping going on, again with the adults knowing the name of every student. There were no students in the hallway who were out of the reach of the eyes of a loving and caring adult who not only knew their names, but had no problem in instantly redirecting them if needed. 

Wow! 

There it is! 

It's interesting that I started noticing how two of my colleagues, Kay McDowell and Katie Woodworth can name kids so quickly in the cafeteria during lunch.  I am super envious... I remembered when I was in the classroom, how hard I worked at learning names quickly.  For me, it took effort!  I am applying this same effort starting Monday.  (See it is never too late to start).  My goal is to learn names of kids in the hallways and cafeteria as quickly as I can.  I am super excited with this new challenge.  Never again will I let myself go this long without learning the names of all the students.  It can be done and I am ready.

See you next time!