Why I Lead: Seizing Control

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be selected to participate in the #SAVMP (School Administrator Virtual Mentor Program) and I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am to be working with John, Kristen and Andrew as part of this experience. When our fearless organizer and leader, George Couros, posed the question, Why Do I Lead? many thoughts came rushing into my mind but the one that resonated the most was the fact that I never felt like I fit in as a student in elementary school. 

In retrospect, I clearly suffered from undiagnosed and untreated ADHD and sitting at a desk all day was not conducive to my learning style. Unfortunately, at the time the conversations never revolved around adapting the instructional approaches to better meet my needs. No, instead, the conversations revolved around the idea that I was a mischievous, unfocused, disobedient and naughty little boy. My teachers wanted me to fit the mold of the "good student" and when it became crystal clear that this wasn't going to happen, they resorted to endless punishments, consequences, threats and meetings with my parents, which led to even more trouble at home but that's a whole other story. Can you visualize the proverbial square peg being jammed into the round hole? Well, let me introduce myself, Mr. Tony "Square Peg" Sinanis. Needless to say, my years as an elementary student shaped my attitude towards teaching and learning and it was not a positive one.

Fortunately, at some point in college I realized that I wanted to be an educator and after several years in the classroom I knew I wanted to affect change in an entire building - not just one classroom. I wanted to be an advocate for all students, especially my fellow square pegs. I wanted to be part of creating a culture and community that was rooted in happiness, trust, respect and excitement towards learning. I wanted to help nurture a school environment where having fun and learning went hand and hand. I wanted to give our students what I never had as a learner. That is why I chose to lead. 

But, choosing to be a leader is just the first step in the process. Being a leader brings with it many responsibilities, expectations and challenges. Being a leader means fighting for what is best for kids even when it is not easy. As I am about to enter my eighth year as a building leader at the elementary level there are many things that concern me, frustrate me, consume me but above all those are the many things about leading a school that bring me tremendous joy and fulfillment. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about some of the posts I have written over the last year related to the many mandates and policies that have been imposed on educators from the federal government and here specifically in New York State (Squashed LearningOpportunities, Dear Dr. John King, Dear Arne Duncan, etc.). The changes to our Annual Professional Performance Review in NYS, the whole Race To The Top incentive program supported by the Obama administration, the adoption and implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the direct connection between student performance on standardized tests and educator evaluation here in New York State.

All these mandates and expectations are beyond my control and I must do my best to ensure that they are being properly implemented in our school. Do I agree with most of them? No. Do I think they will help close the achievement gap? No. Do I think they will help enhance our classroom practice? Not sure. Do I think they are in the best interest of our children? No - I don't think the focus is on our children. I think the focus is on accountability. I think the focus is on solving the "crisis" plaguing public education in our country so we can compete in the global landscape (is there really a crisis?). I think the focus is on making money for the likes of testing giant Pearson. The list could go on and on but in the end, it doesn't matter much what the intent of these policies and mandates are because there are people in our country lobbying to bring them to our schools and we have to deal with them. Dealing with policies and mandates is where their (politicians, commissioners, etc.) control over us should end!

From my vantage point this is where the power shifts… the power and control shifts back to us as educators who are working with children each day in the thousands of schools across this great country! Ultimately, we have control over how these policies and mandates manifest themselves in our schools. This is why I lead.

We still control what happens each minute of every school day in our classrooms, lunchrooms, recess fields and gymnasiums. We can affect how these policies and mandates look in our schools - not politicians, state education commissioners or lobbyists - we control the minute by minute decisions in our schools. This is why I lead.

We can decide if we want to go out and buy a basal series or an anthology or if we want to adopt the reading workshop model. We can decide if we want to buy workbooks to teach our children about the mechanics of writing and grammar or if we want to implement the writing workshop model and embed the instruction in the daily mini-lessons. We can decide if we want to use positive reinforcement when dealing with behavior issues or if we want to employ a zero tolerance policy. We can decide if we want to buy iPads or Chromebooks for every student in our school or if we feel that technology of this nature is unnecessary and that children should be using books to learn new information. We can decide if we want to use a traditional math series that emphasizes drilling of basic facts or if want to employ a philosophy of mathematics instruction that focuses on the development of deep conceptual understandings. We can decide if we want to use Twitter as a way to communicate with parents or if we want to ban all social media from our schools (please don’t do that). We can decide if we want to spend thousands of dollars and countless hours on test prep work or we can decide to have faith in the high quality instruction in our classrooms that will indirectly prepare our children for the high stakes testing game. We can decide if we spend money in the budget on hiring additional support staff to work with children or to create a position to deal with all the mandates and expectations. This is why I lead.

So, from my perspective it seems that we decide a LOT each and every day in school and these decisions are the ones that matter most to our children and their development. We have control over so many things that matter to our children and communities and that is something we cannot forget during the day-to-day stresses that can easily consume us. I guess in the end I also needed to write this post because I needed to recalibrate my focus and remember that I can make a difference in the lives of our students, not the many mandates we must implement. I needed to write this because it will serve as one of my most important goals of the school year – I am going to try and not complain about the current landscape of public education (believe me, it frustrates me beyond belief and change is needed) and instead, I am going to focus on all the amazing and important things that are in my control and work from there to best serve our community and to achieve my personal goal of meeting the needs of every child in our school! This is why I lead. 

Why do you lead?         

Social Media: Perception Builder

“People’s perception becomes their reality and so we must shape the perception to create the reality we want people to have when they think of us.” My superintendent, who hired me for my first administrative position (and taught me a LOT about the politics related to this job), used to say this to me on a daily basis. Initially it was rooted in the fact that I didn’t necessarily wear a suit or shirt and tie each day to school and he felt strongly that the way I looked shaped the way people viewed me and interacted with me. They had a perception of me that spread through word of mouth and thus became the reality. I was still relatively young at the time and would always fight back because I argued it shouldn’t matter what I looked like but instead my words and actions should matter. Eventually I started to think about the perceptions I created solely based on the way someone looked and I realized the only way I was going to get people to hear my words and attend to my actions was by creating a certain perception (that may or may not have been related to my appearance) and in turn my reality.

This idea came back up again about a year ago when I heard Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) speak about using the power of Social Media to our story and “brand” our schools. Brilliant - absolutely brilliant! Think of the Golden Arches - everyone knows about McDonalds and what a deal it is to eat there. Think about Apple - everyone knows they are always looking for the next iPhone or iPad - they are innovators and risk takers! Right now, I am in Aruba and they have branded themselves as One Happy Island and you know what? EVERYONE perceives this place as One Happy Island (because of the amazing people and their daily efforts). Branding is key. Telling our stories is key! Eric was 100% right and I knew that I had to get behind the idea and tell our story - I wanted to influence the perception of our school by sharing the daily realities. I wanted to help brand Cantiague Elementary School as the best elementary school on the planet! Why should we allow people to create their own perceptions, which could be rooted in misinformation, based on word of mouth or what is published in the local paper?

Branding, which typically is a “business world” thing, is exactly what our schools need today! There is so much bashing of public education in the media today and the landscape of public education is not a pretty one but as educators - whether a superintendent, classroom teacher, support specialist, or the Lead Learner of the building - we still control everything that happens in our schools. And since we control what happens in our schools (even with state/federal mandates and policies, the final execution is our call) we know there are awesome techniques/approaches/etc. unfolding in our schools so let’s spread the word; let’s brand our schools; let’s fuel the perceptions; and let’s create our realities!

For me, that journey began with my iPad. I am fortunate in that my whole school is WiFi so this year I made a conscious decision that I was going to spend as little time as possible in my office and as much time as possible walking around the building visiting classrooms, talking to children, taking pictures, tweeting about our daily adventures, emailing parents with the highlights of our work and blogging about our successes in a weekly staff newsletter. Well, I am thrilled to say that one year in, and our school’s brand is really taking shape! Our community knows we aim to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of individual students. Our community knows we believe in as much small group instruction as possible and that whole class/direct instruction is at a minimum. Our community knows that we believe in the reading and writing workshop models and our goals are to nurture life long readers and to support passionate authors who cannot wait to publish their work. Our community knows that we are Bucket Fillers and that we support the Super Six - Be a SUPERStar by being responsible, respectful, positive, safe and kind (these are the pillars of our success). Our community knows that we work diligently to make technology integration a seamless and powerful component. Our community knows that we value two way communication. Our community knows that we invest in building school and community spirit. And most importantly, in my eyes, our community knows that we love our kids and are dedicated, not only to their academic development, but also their social, emotional and psychological growth.

I don’t share this information as a way to “toot our own horn” but instead to share that when a conscious decision is made to brand your school and tell your story, the possibilities are endless. I have seen conversations at our PTA Meetings go from talking about the logistics of fundraisers to discussing the concerns over high stakes testing or the power of book clubs as a way to differentiate instruction. Our community is informed and that is what we want at Cantiague. It means that we have to be transparent. It means that we have to be confident in our choices. It means that we have to be open to feedback - good and bad. It means that we have to show that with every success there are at least three failures. It means that we are comfortable flattening the walls of our school and proudly telling our story so we can shape perceptions and build realities.

If you are ready to brand your school and create your reality, here are 5 starting points...

1) Twitter - create a school twitter account (encourage teachers to do so also) and tweet about all the exciting things happening in your school and classrooms. Share your story - shout it from the rooftops before someone else does it for you! Don’t just use it to share when the next baseball game is happening or what time the bake sale starts - use it to share practice from inside the classrooms!

2) Storify - we used this resource to amass all our tweets from the week that were heavy on pictures and really helped shape the reality. Click here to check out the Cantiague storify page that features our use of Twitter - this is a great way to share tweets with families not on Twitter.

3) Email parents (if you can) and tell them about all the awesome things happening in your school across all grade levels! Click here for a sample of an email that I share with our community about 2 times a week.

4) Create a staff newsletter/blog and give everyone a glimpse into each other’s spaces so they can all see the awesome things they are doing! We often spend so much time in our own little spaces that we don’t get to share ideas and learn from each other - here is a great way to start that process! Click here for an excerpt from our staff newsletter!

5) Jump in the deep end of the pool and take a risk! Be the storyteller for your school and contribute to the perceptions that will create the realities - don’t let someone else do it for you!

Also, check out these other amazing educators who are telling their own stories in their own way...

Matt Gomez (@mattBgomez)

Erin Klein (@KleinErin)

Ben Gilpin (@benjamingilpin)

Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy)

Knapp Elementary (@KnappElementary) led by...

Joe Mazza (@Joe_Mazza)

Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher)

Jessica Johnson (@PrincipalJ)

Matt Renwick (@ReadByExample)

Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann)

These are just some of the awesome storytellers out there! Please leave a comment below and share examples of other amazing perception builders... share your story too!

Connections Change The Game

One of our goals as educators in New York State is to ensure that as a result of a faithful implementation of the Common Core State Standards our students are on the path to being college and career ready. What constitutes being college and career ready is debatable but one thing many educators agree upon is that our children need practice employing and mastering 21st Century skills, which have been identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills as being able to create, innovate, think critically, communicate and collaborate. When considering how we might best scaffold our children in their efforts towards mastering these skills, the idea of connectedness must be at the core. The power of connectedness is clearly communicated in the story of Clarissa’s journey within an online community that helped her develop her fictional writing skills as a result of the connections she established with peers who shared the same passions and interests. Connections, and developed networks, can facilitate learning for our children and as such must be part of the educational experience in our schools today. Our schools must also embrace the 21st century, as it relates to technological resources, and help our children refine the skills necessary for networking and establishing connections beyond the school walls. 

One resource that has yet to be incorporated in many of our schools, as a powerful tool with the ability to foster connections and networks, is Twitter. Twitter is a tool that could help “flatten the walls” of our schools and allow children the opportunity to make local, national and international connections and take the idea of pluralism and diverse perspectives to a whole other level. These connections will allow students to develop their own Personal Learning Networks as a resource that can shape one’s skills and make the act of creating, collaborating and problem solving a global experience.

As an educator, I have experienced the power of Twitter firsthand over the last year (@Cantiague_Lead). In my time using Twitter I can say that my professional life has been transformed in ways that I could have never imagined. From the personal connections I have developed through those I follow and those who follow me, I have learned more in the past eighteen months on Twitter about instruction, student engagement and leadership than I have learned in the last eight years as an administrator from any professional development opportunity or workshop I have attended. If I am struggling with an issue or have a question about a resource, I send out a tweet and within minutes, thanks to the thousands of connections I have established, I am flooded with different perspectives, opinions and viable resources that come from trusted colleagues. The experiences on Twitter have pushed me out of my comfort zone and have exposed me to ideas and approaches that have revolutionized the way I lead our building. My connectedness is at the core of my evolution as the Lead Learner of our school.

With the power of connections being able to transform the way we teach and learn, as evidenced by Clarissa’s story and my personal journey, it is clear to me that we must start an educational revolution and join the 21st Century before it is too late! 

Dear Arne Duncan

Dear Arne Duncan,

I hope this letter finds you doing well and that you are enjoying the start of summer! I am writing to you because I am extremely concerned about the current landscape of public education in our country. Late last year I wrote a similar letter to Dr. John King, Commissioner of Education here in New York State, about my concerns but he never responded. I hope my efforts in writing to you won’t meet with the same fate.

As the Lead Learner (principal) of Cantiague Elementary School in Jericho, NY, which is a public school on Long Island, I have the honor of serving a community of about 400 amazing students, 80 passionate and dedicated staff members and 300 invested families. My primary responsibility as the Lead Learner of this community, which I think is the same with every other Lead Learner, principal and assistant principal in our country, is to do what is in the best interest of children - children are our focus and meeting their needs (academic, social, emotional, psychological, etc.) is our collective goal.

Unfortunately, with the tremendous emphasis on high stakes testing, the push to connect a significant portion (40% here in NYS) of teacher ratings/evaluations to student scores on standardized tests and the budget cuts we are all facing (many schools are losing classroom teachers, mental health staff and specialists due to cuts) I am worried that the focus is no longer on children but instead, is all about numbers. These numbers come in many shapes and sizes... student scores on tests (poorly constructed tests that do not assess what students know but instead test their stamina and ability to pick out the right answer without getting distracted by the other tricky choices); points out of 100 for all educators’ end of year evaluations (teachers and principals); dollars in the form of incentives based on Race to the Top (where it is debatable if the schools that really need the money in each state are actually getting the money and then being held accountable for how they use that money); number of students in a classroom as districts cut positions and these numbers continue to grow. The list can go on and on but from my perspective, the message is quite clear - children are not the focus; numbers are the focus.

Yes, numbers matter. Accountability is important. Results are critical. Data is imperative in helping guide instruction and charting student growth. Yes, numbers are extremely important but they should never matter more than our children and the educators dedicating their lives to our children. During this school year, from about the last week of February to the last day of school, the focus for us was on numbers. Whether it was trying to figure out how much time to dedicate to test prep or how much homework to give so we felt our children were “prepared” to sitting with teachers during the last couple of weeks of school and reducing them to a number/category during their end of the year evaluation meeting. This is what is happening in our schools today Mr. Duncan and in my opinion, that is not right. Our kids should have time to create, think critically and collaborate to solve important problems (as a former basketball player, you know how important collaboration is to the success of the team and the individual). Our kids should not be spending their time trying to find the “right” answer. Our kids need more. Our kids deserve better. Our kids should be the focus. This has been crystallized for me in my role as a father. Not only am I seeing the terrible impact of all these numbers at work but I am also seeing how they are affecting my son. His joy for reading, writing and school in general is starting to fade and that concerns me on so many levels.  

Fortunately, after hearing you speak last week at the National Association of Elementary School Principals Conference in Baltimore, it seems that you feel similarly on many points. You agree that our children should be the focus. You expressed your concern with things like AYP and high stakes testing (there are those darn numbers again). You spoke about the importance of educating the whole child. Hearing you say these wonderful things gave me hope. Not much hope, but just enough. I started to wonder if you could take those words and turn them into action.

Near the end of your talk, you suggested that as principals we should make the time to get our local politicians and legislators into our schools so they can see the direct effects of “reform efforts” including NCLB, RTTT, high stakes testing and the never ending budget cuts. This is where I started to lose that small glimmer of hope. Mr. Duncan from what I can see in your bio on the US Department of Education site, you have never been a classroom teacher or building leader and so maybe you just don’t understand how things work inside a school. Most of us don’t have the time to try and get in contact with our local politicians so we can lobby for the things that our kids deserve (I agree we should make the time). Instead, we spend our days teaching, learning, handling various crisis, making hundreds of decisions in the span of an hour, being surrogate parents, serving as psychologists, making sure our children eat lunch and have all the tools they need to learn, grow and become college and career ready. On a typical day, most educators don’t have time to use the bathroom. On some days, we don’t even have a bite to eat because we are trying to maintain our focus on what matters most. Our time must continue to be dedicated to what matters most - our children. Our time cannot be wasted on a bunch of disconnected numbers.  

This is where you can help Mr. Duncan! As the United States Secretary of Education here is an opportunity for you to support your words with actions that are critical to the success of our children. You could start by reaching out to our local politicians. You could arrange visits to our schools and you could spend the entire day in the different classrooms to understand what our children do well and where they still need to grow. You can see what resources are lacking. You can begin to understand how much the high stakes testing has affected the self-confidence of our children and educators. You can begin to see that the joy of teaching and learning is being tested. You can see the “reform” efforts (NCLB, RTTT, etc.) are not closing the achievement gap - instead, the gap is becoming wider and seemingly unmanageable. You can see that the focus seems to be on the “stuff” we are using to teach - the resources, textbooks, instructional modules, etc. - and not on the educators who are doing the teaching. You can see that the focus is shifting away from our children and heading toward the numbers. Hopefully, in your position as Secretary of Education in this great country, you can help affect change in our schools so that the current landscape of public education begins to shift back towards the positive; back towards our children.

Please know that I welcome the opportunity to work with you to bring about the changes our children deserve and need - and I am sure that many other educators feel the same way and would join our efforts. I am not trying to dump this problem in your lap but I am hoping to raise your awareness so that we could work together to advocate for our children and ensure that they have the education they deserve and need to be ready for whatever they encounter in the future.

Respectfully,

Tony Sinanis

School Leader, Public School Educator & Father       

Twitter: Getting Started

Over the last week I have had several opportunities to engage with other educators who are relative tech novices about the power of Social Media - specifically how Twitter has changed my world! Twitter has allowed me to personalize my professional development; Twitter has helped me establish connections (create a PLN - Personal/Professional Learning Community) with some incredibly dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable educators who are willing to share, collaborate and help stretch my thinking (see the list below for some of the people I have learned a lot from); and Twitter has allowed me to make the walls of our school transparent for the community - we are proud of what we do and we want to tell our own story!

After the many introductory questions and conversations I thought I would put together a quick resource for getting started. Here we go...

1) Download the Twitter app on your iPhone, Droid, iPad, tablet, etc.

2) Create an account - you have to come up with a username/handle (write down your password somewhere - this important). This is an important step so think about how you want to be identified on Twitter as you develop your PLN. You can use your personal name, school name or something that identifies your professional world. For example, my Twitter handle is @Cantiague_Lead because I am the Lead Learner at Cantiague Elementary School.

3) Create a short bio and include a profile picture (no one wants to follow the "egg") so others can decide if they want to establish a connection with you. The picture is IMPORTANT because it allows for a more personalized virtual connection!

4) As a starting point, pick about 10 different people to follow - check out the list below for some awesome people you can learn from!

5) Start slow... Lurk... scroll through your feed and click on links that interest you, follow new people who are actively sharing resources that enhance your world. Search for hashtags (i.e. - #kinderchat, #edchat, #educoach, #NYedchat, #ptchat, etc.) that are related to topics of interest.

6) Jump into the deep end of the pool and start sending some tweets... share resources, thoughts and perspectives and begin to build your PLN... and your world will change!

So, go for it... enter the Twitterverse and have some fun learning and growing!

People to Follow on Twitter

Jerry Blumengarten - Jerry's AWESOME Site

Todd Whitaker

Matt Gomez

Eric Sheninger

Nicholas Provenzano

Steven Anderson

Erin Klein

Jessica Johnson

Carrie Jackson

Chris Lehman

Edudemic

Tom Whitby

Joe Mazza

Lyn Hilt

Tom Murray - Tom's List of Weekly Twitter Chats

Peter DeWitt

Josh Stumpenhorst

John Schu

Elissa Malespina

Kyle Pace

EdTechSandy

Sue Gorman

George Couros

Tom Whitford

Bill Powers

Vicki Day

Tony Sinanis

Safe Haven

Safe havens - this is what every school needs to be for children! When children feel safe, they feel confident; and when children feel confident, they feel good; and when children feel good, their brains release endorphins; and when the brain releases endorphins our children are primed for learning! 

Regardless of what curriculum, standards, resources or materials we use in our schools if our children don't feel safe, valued, respected and appreciated, they will have a very difficult time availing themselves to learning. Our children need to know that the educators in school will support them; push them to learn and grow; be fair; advocate for their needs; motivate them when they cannot motivate themselves; be just; help them develop all aspects of themselves; be consistent; and, in the end, love (or at least like) and respect them. This is what our children need; this is what our children want; this is what our children deserve!

While doing reading for my graduate courses (a LOT of reading) the same issues impacting public education keep presenting themselves - inequities due to class, the long lasting and cyclical negative impacts of poverty on the education of our children, the fact that our neediest students generally have some of our least effective educators "teaching" them, etc. - and although it seems we have been struggling with these issues for decades (look at the many failed attempts our federal government has made to "fix" the education problem) there is no silver bullet to correct the many problems. There is no curriculum that can be implemented in every school that will definitely make things better. There is no teacher education program that all aspiring educators could attend to mitigate these issues. There is no book we can all read to suddenly rectify all the problems plaguing some of our schools in this country. 

So, what can we do? Where should we focus our energy? What resources can we rely on to start addressing these problems? Are the Common Core State Standards the silver bullet (I don't think so but it seems that there are people out there who believe the standards will close the achievement gap and make things better in our schools)? Will Race To The Top foster a healthy competition and help make things better in our schools? 

I am not sure about any of these "things" but based on my experiences as an educator, the one thing I am sure about is that when our schools become Safe Havens for our children, there is progress, learning, growth and positive results. My goal, each and every day, while at school, is to make sure that my students know that I value them, respect them, appreciate them and will do whatever necessary to facilitate their learning. I love my students and they know it. 

How do they know? I am able to identify each child by name. I greet each student on most mornings and if I miss them, I try and see them at some point during the day. I visit their classrooms each day. I hang out with them at lunch. I play handball, basketball, tag and soccer at recess with them (even though I am not really athletic, they think I am pretty good - sometimes it pays off to be the big guy in an elementary school). I have lunch with them in small groups. I facilitate book clubs. I teach lessons - especially ones featuring some sort of cool tech resource. I support our teachers so they can accomplish their goals for each child. I am present. I am invested. I am visible and my kids know it and feel it. Fortunately, it doesn't end with me - that is only the beginning. Each adult in our building makes the same efforts I do because each of us is invested in the education of every child - we believe it takes a village! The best part about this approach to creating a Safe Haven is that it doesn't cost a thing; it doesn't rely on any one resource or curriculum; and it doesn't take extensive training. It takes investment, passion, compassion and devotion to a singular and shared goal - doing what is in the best interest of children.

In the end, I am not sure if turning each school into a Safe Haven is that elusive silver bullet but I do believe that it could address some of the issues plaguing our schools - especially those labeled as "failing schools" by whatever standards. I believe that schools, when functioning as Safe Havens, regardless of where they are located and how much they are affected by obstacles such as poverty, are inherently successful on some levels and there will be growth, even if it is minimal. I do believe that when we invest the time (in my opinion, that is all it takes) into transforming our schools so they become Safe Havens, we have set the stage for our children to learn and to feel good about themselves while learning. 

I have no scientific evidence or research to back up my theory at this point (aside from personal experiences) but I do believe transforming our classrooms and schools into Safe Havens should be a priority because our children need it and deserve it!