EXCELLENCE & ETHICS BLOG

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  SON: Stop Overplanning Now!

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 3:38 pm on July 13, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: educator, overplanning, plan, Signals vs. Noise, stop, teacher

  via Signals vs. Noise

  “We all know the saying it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And everyone knows that, but I think there is a corollary: If everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up. It’s better to fix problems than to prevent them. And the natural tendency for managers is to try and prevent error and overplan things.”

  — Ed Catmull, President of Pixar

  Several of us at IEE are frequent readers of Signals vs. Noise, the weblog by 37signals.   While they may dwell in a different category (web-based apps for organizations), we share membership in the field of design…In fact I think  the reason we see  so many paralells between their work and ours is that we are both in the business of designing solutions.

  This quote from the Pixar president points out a mistake that is really easy to make on this end, and one we definitely have made a few times over the past year.  A major focus for us as we roll out the 2010-2011 Power2Achieve material is to not overplan but rather to give teachers and administrators what they need to put their expertise into practice as they teach students to use top-flight character development tools.

  Sidenote:  I have a great friend who loves to shout “SON!”  whenever he’s excited about something (he’s also a fine educator at Archbishop Carroll High School in D.C., shout-out to JJ Gregg).  I’m not sure he’s talking about the acronym I may or may not have just coined, but maybe I’ll start shouting it to people around our office when we get dangerously close to overplanning (in fairness, I may be the most guilty of us all).

  As I think back to my time as a classroom teacher, this quote definitely would have applied during those days as well.

  How does it resonate with you?

  (p.s. if you also enjoy Signals vs. Noise or are just looking for a really great read, check out Rework, the second book by the founders of 37Signals, Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson…we LOVE it).

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  Post SI (Day 3)

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 11:17 am on July 1, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Compact-4-Excellence, meeting, Tool

  What’s the theme for the day at IEE?

  “I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds.

  Simplify, simplify.”

  

  Today:  IEE team meeting involving some of our key partners distribution and training partners from Maryland/DC, Iowa, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Kansas, and Texas.  There are seemingly thousands upon thousands of important topics for discussion…so how to we make it an efficient and productive day that can help set course for a dynamic 2010-2011?

  We began by brainstorming and agreeing upon a list of norms for the day using a real Power2Achieve Tool, the Portable Compact-4-Excellence.  Here’s what we agreed to do:

  • Say on task
  • Courage to bring us back
  • Respect different needs & personalities
  • Don’t be “innocent bystanders”
  • Use time & talent well

  The entire process for the formation of our Portable Compact took over an hour…a waste of time with so many priorities and such finite time?  That’s not exactly how we see it, because the process simultaneously allowed us to simplify…to focus on what everyone needs to be able to do when they leave this room today:

  1)  Communicate clearly {efficiently & accurately}

  2)  Build to meet the need

  3)  Exercise expertise

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  Moving to day 2

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 10:11 am on June 30, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  

  The highlight of Day 1 of the 2010 Summer Institute was the rolling out of Power2Achieve Foundations, IEE’s 20102011 student programming.

  The response was extremely positive from people that worked with Power2Learn in 2009-2010 as well as people who had a limited frame of reference to the previous materials.  Definitely confirmation that we’re moving towards making true 21st century character education programs that are needed by schools and accessible to administrators, teachers, and students!

  Day 1 was all about familiarization with programming.  We’ve got an incredible group of teachers, administrators, trainers, professors, non-prof based educators, and other educational stake holders assembled, so what do we have on tap for Day 2…

  How do we make this a reality in schools now?

  Guaranteed to be another exciting day at the IEE World Headquarters!

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  Summer Institute Day 1

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 12:49 pm on June 29, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: character education, Curriculum, Educators (2), institute, Power2Achieve (4), Professional Development (2), Programs, workshop

  What does Power2 do?

  

  Matt Davidson, President & Co-Founder of the Institute for Excellence & Ethics, opening the 2010 Summer Institute:

  “Power2 programming translates the Smart & Good vision into concrete steps for bringing the vision into reality.”

  Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week on the 2010 Summer Institute!

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  Resources for Teachers

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 12:40 pm on June 29, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: books, classrooms, culture, expert, reccomendation, resources, Teachers (2)

  Recently I posed a question on this blog:

  If you could give  just 1 book to a new teacher (or a teacher who really wanted to further develop their skills and expertise), what would it be?

  Here are the answers I received:

  Cathy Fisher (Teaching & Learning Coordinator, Maercker School District 60, Dupage County, IL)

  Enhancing Professional Practice:  A Framework for Teaching (2nd Edition)

  -Charlotte Danielson

  Margaret Seidel (6th Grade Teacher, Avon Public School District, Avon, CT)

  Readicide

  -Kelly Gallagher

  Eric Martin (Director of Outreach, Institute for Character Development, Drake University)

  A Teachable Moment:  A Facilitator’s Guide to Activities for Professing, Debriefing, Reviewing, and Reflection

  -Jim Cain, Michelle Cummings, and Jennifer Stanchfield

  Tom Lickona (Professor of Education, Director of the Center for the 4th & 5th R’s, SUNY Cortland)

  Lessons from the Classrooms:  20 Things Good Teachers Do

  -Hal Urban

  (When you literally wrote the book on a field like Tom did, in this case Character Education…see Matt D’s recommendations…you’re allowed to suggest 2 books)

  An Ethic of Excellence:  Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students

  -Ron Berger

  Matt Davidson (President, Director of Education, and Co-Founder of IEE)

  Educating for Character:  How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility

  -Tom Lickona

  “I have 3 copies of this, all of which are highlighted and marked up with tons of notes.  It’s practical, has lots of suggestions for many of the most common classroom management, discipline, and character development challenges.”

  (If you’re my boss, you get the quote from your email posted on the blog)

  As for me…I used and continue to use the strategies presented in The Smart & Good School Report (by Tom Lickona & Matt Davidson) in every interaction I have with teachers, students, athletes, and most other people I meet.  It is absolutely one of the most valuable resources I’ve ever come across (and you can download it in its entirety for free!)

  The other book I used every single day after I got it and passed on to many of my colleagues was

  Character Quotations:  Activities that Build Character and Community, also by Tom Lickona and Matt Davidson
  

  This book has a quote and a discussion question for every single day of the school year to use with your students oriented around weekly topics.  There is also an idea for an activity for each week to help pull the theme through from Monday to Friday for increased student learning.  I used this in my elementary classroom every morning to start our day during morning meeting, I used it to develop  a “Pride Code” for a high school football team throughout a season, and I know teachers who have put it into every situation from suburban elementary schools to urban high schools with incredible results.   At IEE, our Power2Achieve Foundations and Toolkits provide intense and intentional ways for schools and teachers to shape the culture and help students  their performance and moral character…but if I could give one teacher one book for them to use immediately, this would be it…In other words…get it and use it!!

  Please continue to send me your recommendations or post them as a reply to this post!  Let’s continue to develop our list of essential resources every teacher should have!

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  Summer Institute Meetings

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 1:06 pm on June 23, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Educators (2), Foundations, summer institute (2), Teachers (2), Toolkits

  Meetings here today to discuss and finalize plans for next week’s Summer Institute, which will happen right here at IEE World Headquarters in New York.

  A lot of excitement to roll out demonstrations of Power2Achieve Foundations, Toolkits, and the most recent information regarding the Culture of Excellence and Ethics Assessment for an international group of outstanding educators!

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  1 book for a new teacher's library...

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 4:22 pm on June 11, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  In the past few weeks I’ve had two experiences that made me think back and consider what the most valuable books in my library as a teacher were.
  Last week I was in San Antonio, Texas meeting with educators about bringing Power2Achieve and the CEEA to their schools.  I love meeting with educators on their own turf, and my eyes always dart to their bookshelf and their desk to see what resources they have on hand.  During one of the meetings, a principal stated that at every year he gave his staff a book that he thought could help them grow as a professional learning community and assist each teacher in their individual development as educators too. (If you’re counting at home, that was experience #1)

  Then this week I received a package from St. Joseph School in Missoula, Montana. I taught at St. Joseph, a great school in a beautiful setting, during the 2006-2007 school year, and the principal Rick Hyland is a great friend and mentor.  Over the summer I gave him a folder of resources for a new teacher I knew was starting there.  This week I got those resources, along with a very nice letter, back in the mail.    (Experience #2)

  Through my teaching contacts, my time in Notre Dame’s ACE program, and our work here at IEE, I often come into contact with new teachers as well as experienced teachers who are hungry to grow and improve as educators.

  So my question is this:

  If you were to put one book* on the shelf of a new teacher, a book they could really use right away, what would it be?  *with the Smart & Good Schools Report already acknowledged as essential for every shelf

  I’d be fascinated to know your answers, so I encourage you to reply to this post and/or email me @ kbaker@excellenceandethics.com

  Next week I’ll post all the books that recommended and who it was recommended by (unless you’d choose to do so anonymously!). Insert plug to recruit subscribers here—> And of course if you forward this on to other educators (and in doing so encourage them to subscribe to the blog), we’ll get a bigger list of excellent resources!

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  When the lights go dark.

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 2:34 pm on June 5, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: athletics, Character Blog, coach, coaches, coaching, education, lessons, scoreboard, sports, Wooden

  Yesterday one of history’s finest character educators, John R. Wooden, passed away at age 99.

  From the time I could hold on to a football shaped pillow in the crib to the moment I took off my headset for the last time, came down out of the coaches’ box, and put away my call sheets after coaching in a Texas high school playoff game, I spent much of my life directly involved with competitive athletics.

  In my travels I’ve encountered many coaches who hung The Pyramid of Success on their office wall and sprinkled quotes and anecdotes from Coach Wooden into their speeches to players who had taken a knee around them.  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have played for two head coaches, Mike VanDiest of Carroll College (Helena, MT) and Van Troxel of Lake City High School (Coeur d’Alene, ID) who along with their excellent assistant coaches didn’t just reference something like Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, but who lived the character it described day in and day out (they also happen to win more games than most, something I doubt is much of a coincidence).

  Youth, high school, and college coaches like VanDiest and Troxel teach young student-athletes just like I once was valuable lessons every day.

  The true measure of a coach, however, has less to do with what happens when the scoreboard and lights are on than it does with the days and years that come long after they’ve gone dark.   I’ve been a part of many losses and even a few championships too, and I’ve seen coaches be there for their players during births and deaths, marriages and divorces, great successes and even greater times of adversity.  Coaches have been there for me in the best and the worst moments of my life, and I was blessed with the opportunity to be there for players as a coach myself for several years.

  I remember one moment more than most in my years as an athlete, the moment I removed my shoulder pads and jersey for the last time in Savannah, Tennessee in 2005.  There were feelings of relief and fear, sadness and celebration, joy and great uncertainty…and there was also trust…trust that the lessons coaches had taught me for years about hard work, commitment, teamwork, desire, and perseverance were going to matter more than ever now that the lights had gone dark for the last time and my cleats were being put in the back of the closet for good…trust that the same coaches who were there for 6 AM workouts, film sessions, and game days would always be there as mentors, advisors, and friends.

  That was just one of many moments in my life where I was consciously thankful for the role coaches have played in my life…this is a moment where we can all be thankful for the influence of one of the greatest of all time.  Thank you Coach Wooden.

  

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  "A Metacurriculum of 21st Century Learning"

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 5:29 pm on May 18, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 21st century skills (3), crossroads, diverse, educational leadership, educational needs, families, high schools, intense, intentional, metacurriculum, parents, Power2Achieve (4)

  In a recent issue of Educational Leadership (April, 2010), Ed Coughlin at times sounds as if he’s describing IEE’s Power2 programming in his article, “High Schools at a Crossroads.” In the article Mr. Coughlin addresses a variety of issues regarding the educational needs of diverse high school students in the 21^st century.

  In a section titled, “A Better Future: A Metacurriculum of 21st Century Learning,” Mr. Coughlin suggests that schools must see traditional academic programs as only one part of a student’s educational experience, describing another essential piece as being a 21st century metacurriculum:

  “Whereas the academic curriculum focuses on the knowledge that students must master within the content areas, the metacurriculum focuses on the learning skills, habits of mind, and life and workplace skills students need to be successful in a competitive, shrinking world.”

  The author then identifies four beliefs that support this approach:

  1)       “Important 21^st century skills, such as critical thinking, innovative thinking, and self-directed behavior, can be explicitly taught, applied, and assessed.”

  2)      “21^st century skills are not “soft skills” but important qualities that may contribute more directly to student success in future education, life, and careers than many academic skills do.”

  3)      “Students can most effectively develop 21^st century skills in the context of rich, authentic academic learning opportunities that closely mirror the type of work done by professionals.

  4)      “Schools and parents share joint responsibility for helping all students attain these skills.”

  Mr. Coughlin’s description of a metacurriculum becomes more powerful when it is united with the concept of intentional and intense character development programming.

  As we work to continue developing Power2Achieve programs, we continue to align with the student outcomes identified by the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills (1), lay the groundwork for experiences that apply to students’ lives both in and out of the classroom (2), develop student competencies through authentic experiential activities (3), and find new and innovative ways to strengthen the educational partnership between schools and families (4).

  Mr. Coughlin closes his article with the following challenge:

  “The schools that will be successful will transform themselves from transmitters of knowledge and information to orchestrators of a complex program of learning facilitation and cognitive development.  Will yours be one of them?”

  More than any other program available today, Power2Achieve allows schools to answer “YES.”

  _________

  Reference: Coughlin, E. (2010, April). High schools at crossroads. Educational Leadership, 67(7), 48-53.

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  Focus Your Effort

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 10:56 am on May 10, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Attitude, Effective, Efficient, Effort, Focus, P2A (2), Power2Achieve (4), Productivity

  Today we at IEE have been discussing the opportunity to implement elements of Power2Achieve Foundations in an arena we haven’t been in before.  It’s exciting but we know as with any new venture, there is always some risk involved.

  During our conversations today, Matt pointed out that it’s critical to help teachers and other administrators “focus their effort” on the right things as they implement P2A-Foundations.

  In trying to help us think through our strategy for this particular opportunity, I think Matt hit right on one of the reasons we’re all in education in the first place, and also something that we strive for as life-long learners…we must always be learning how to better focus our effort.

  Our P2A Effort & Attitude Rubric and the instructional content around it is designed to help students develop a positive mindset and increase their amount and concentration of effort in healthy ways as they work to achieve their goals.

  I think this week I’ll use a personal adaptation of the phrase Matt put forth in his email to ensure that I’m fully present in all that I do.  On a 3×5 index card I wrote “Focus my effort.”  I’m going to keep that card in my pocket throughout the week and put it on my desk as I work, on the counter as I cook my meals, and look at it whenever else I might need a reminder.  I’ve got a feeling it just might lead to a more effective, efficient, and enjoyable week.

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