Good Problems

Most of my job involves solving problems. Some are small problems like finding the right class for a student and some are big problems that occasionally involve lawyers or others far above my pay grade. Every now and then I run across a good problem. This week I have been hit with several of those. Good problems involve changing a program or finding funding for something that we would have otherwise not needed without something good happening. 

Our WorkKeys test results presented one of those good problems. Usually when students miss out on getting a silver or better it is because of just one of the three sections. In the past, students have shrugged that off and showed very little care about it. This year, both Mrs. Batchelor and I have been overrun with students wanting to retake the test to prove that they can do better. They don't even seem to mind when we tell them that they have to pay for it and that it doesn't count for the school. They just want to prove that they can do better. I ran into this same problem with several students regarding their Reading Inventory test this week as well. I even had a student come and apologize to me personally with tear-filled eyes for a score in the 1500s because she knew that she could do better. 

Another good problem arose this week as Coach Willis and Ms. Barnett were planning a college trip for juniors. Usually we market these trips to students with a 2.5 GPA or better. When they told me 125 juniors have a GPA of 2.5 or higher I suggested raising it to a 3.0. That didn't help much. 86 Juniors have this GPA. Still far too many for a bus. Even when we went to a GPA of 3.5 we had 52 students in the 11th grade. That's about 25% of that class.

These are good problems to have and more importantly, they show students that do care about their grades and their achievement in school. Students wanting to retest when they do not make it are showing grit. They are not afraid of trying again or trying harder. Students as a whole have a bad reputation for not caring, but it is hard to make that argument for the majority of our students. These "good problems" now present us with an opportunity to capitalize on our students' desire to do better in school and on tests that matter. Now we have to rise to the occasion to solve these good problems for our school.

Thanks for Talking

Mrs. Willis asked me yesterday if I was going to write about communication in my blog for this week. She was right. That topic has consumed much of our jobs in the front office lately. Getting parents, students and teachers to communicate often solves the majority of problems in a school. 99% of the time, both parties can come to realize that we are all here for the same reason and that no one is out "to get" the other party. Without communication, we often assume the worst and become defensive. We build up situations in our heads and make mountains out of mole hills.

Greene Central's administrators, counselors, front office staff and so many of you have been helping facilitate conversations lately about student performance in school. We are at that point in the semester when we get the ever-annoying question, "What can I do to pass?" Every educator has that sarcastic answer in the back of their minds ready to go, but what we really end up doing is communicating about the problem. We speak with parents, coaches, family and community members to find what motivates students to finish what we started. The process can be frustrating, but without the communication, no progress takes place.

Thank you to all of you that help facilitate the daily communication for our students and our school. Whether you are the one that found the correct number to call a student's mother, translated for a Spanish-speaking family or counseled a student that only listens to your voice, you made communication work and gave a student a shot at success.

Comfort Zones

The term "comfort zone" came about when the first heating and air conditioning systems began being installed in homes. Rather than have a thermostat that was fixed on one specific temperature, requiring the system to cut on and off regularly, a temperature range of about three degrees was programmed in. This range was called the "comfort zone." Today we use this term more often to describe what we are comfortable with in our lives. Daily transactions with our friends and family, good health and a little money in our bank accounts often leaves us right where we want to be. When something disrupts that we can be as uncomfortable as living in a home with no heat and air.

Our school and our classes all have comfort zones as well. We find patterns for what works and what doesn't and we get used to routine. We like teaching one way that works for us and for most students. Then comes that student or parent that disrupts that. (Ok, maybe that principal disrupts it too.) Sometimes this is good because it makes us think about what we do and why we do it. We learn to refine practice and adjust that comfort zone. Reflection is one of the most important things we can do as educators. We need to think about what we do and do not do and make decisions, often tough ones, about adapting our practice. This is what Standard 5 of the Teacher Evaluation Rubric is all about. Please take some time to reflect on your practice and your comfort zone and determine where you might need some adjusting to maximize your effectiveness. Your adjustment just might make everyone's comfort zone a little bit better.