What Do We Value?

As a community we commit to preparing our students for the 21^st Century, without fully knowing what they may face as challenges or what job opportunities will await them. As important as curriculum standards are to preparing all students with a common knowledge, equally important are the values we instill in those students.

What important values do we want all students to leave Newton-Conover City Schools with? Integrity? Respect for themselves? Respect for others? Respect for diversity? Trustworthiness? Honesty? Compassion? The list is not short, nor is it trivial. These values that we seek to instill in students are as valuable to them as any content we will teach them. These values will be the thread that strengthens and binds our community years from now when these young men and women have grown into leaders.

In Newton-Conover City Schools, as well as in our community at large, we must all make concerted efforts to reflect what we want to see in our students. We should purposefully and without reservation work to instill these necessary values into the lives of students so that when they have the opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in our schools along the way, they will do so in a manner that will make us all proud.

Are You a Grinding Stone or a Polishing Stone?

Are You a Grinding Stone or a Polishing Stone?

Now more than EVER all eyes are on EDUCATION – Higher Standards, More Assessments, Increased Scrutiny

 Leadership is imperative- Teacher Leaders like YOU have stepped in the gap, lifted people up and been the example for others

 Colleagues look to you as the EXAMPLE. Your ATTITUDE and OUTLOOK impact the entire school.

 I want to CHALLENGE EACH of you to do 3 things as TEACHER LEADERS:

A.    Lead by Example

B.     Keep Moving Forward

C.     Don’t be a Grinding Stone, be a Polishing Stone

1.      LEAD BY EXAMPLE

a.       Stand in the gap-When things need done, don’t wait to be asked. The small things make a big difference. Your example implores others to do the same.

b.      Hold yourself and others to a higher standard.

c.       Have a Positive Attitude- They are very contagious.

d.      Be a Team Player- Know your strengths and your weaknesses, and utilize those around you.

e.       Take risks, be willing to fail, have fun, don’t get too full of yourself, Admit when you don’t know something.

f.       Leading doesn't mean doing things for others (Students or colleagues) that they could or should do for themselves. Leading means empowering others and helping them see their own ability to be great.  I heard a recent story at a Rotary Future Visions meeting that frames this point very well:
When you do for others what they could and should do for themselves you enable helplessness. Instead, help others grow their own capacity to improve. In such cases if you:

Feed a person once and it elicits appreciation. (Oh, thank you so much!)

Feed a person twice and it creates anticipation (Wonder if he’s going to do it again.)

Feed a person three times and it creates expectation. (When is he going to do it again.)

Feed a person four times and it becomes entitlement. (I want it now!)

Feed a person five times and it becomes dependency. (You can’t stop, I’m counting on it!)

Instead, support and assist others as they develop their own skills, attitudes and abilities. Be a leader who lifts others up, but doesn't prop them up.

g.      “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” ~Lao Tzu

2.      KEEP MOVING FORWARD

a.       Embrace the journey you are on. Keep growing throughout and don’t fret the obstacles. We all depend on each other. Be prepared and embrace the path you’ve chosen.

b.      You may be familiar with the story of Napolean Bonaparte in a battle in the Swiss Alps- vastly outnumbered and losing. He directed the Bugle Boy to sound Retreat. Unfortunately, the young man didn’t know it. Scared to not follow directions he instead blew “charge”. Troops thought reinforcements were coming so they pressed forward. The enemy heard charge and also thought the enemy had reinforcements so they retreated. So… keep moving forward, even when you think you are close to defeat.

3.      Are you a GRINDING STONE or Polishing Stone

a.       A grinding stone can grind you down or polish you up

b.      To be a polishing stone, you need to

                                                              i.      Enjoy your work

                                                            ii.      Have a game plan to polish others and make them shine

                                                          iii.      Go the extra mile. If Good enough were Good enough, we’d all be great.

                                                          iv.      See the big picture. There’s always more to us than our immediate surroundings. Team players understand the big picture.

                                                            v.      Grinding stones tear others down, Polishing stones help remove the junk that is covering the shine. Both can be abrasive, but to polish, you have to know how much pressure is needed and when. Polishing stones help reveal what is already there, but is otherwise hidden. They bring out the best in others.

 Your REPUTATION is what you are known for

Your LEGACY is what you leave behind

The Power of a Handwritten Note

 Each year, we seem to be introduced to new technology that helps save us time and assists us as we seek to become more productive.  Email has replaced “snail mail” for most of us. We pay our bills online, send out party invitations through “e-vites”, carry on meetings through web conferences, and correspond with one another through short texts and email exchanges.

            In schools, less attention has been given to handwriting in exchange for speed and accuracy on technology driven correspondence. There are many advantages to these advancements and I have certainly benefited from their use myself. But are these advancements improving all aspects of our lives? I’ve long believed in the power of a face to face discussion, a handshake, a hug, and of the handwritten note. I know what you are thinking- “This is the 21^st Century. Nobody writes notes anymore!”

            Periodically I take the time to transcribe a handwritten note to a colleague, my wife or a friend. Sometimes it’s just to say “thank you” for work well done. Other times it’s just a note of encouragement or a message to let them know I have them on my mind. I can’t count the number of times, sometimes months later, that I’ve seen those same handwritten notes taped to that person’s computer screen or thumbtacked to a corkboard in their office. You know what I don’t see memorialized in the same manner- an email or a text. I’m not contesting that handwritten notes are more meaningful necessarily or that other forms of communication are not as beneficial. I do think however that a handwritten note speaks volumes more than the letters captured on the paper. It says, “I value you and I wanted to take time out of my busy life to let you personally know.”

            As we enter into the Spring season and our lives become even more hectic, remember to stop periodically and say “thank you” in person to someone. Maybe even take a few moments to rummage through your desk drawers to find a pen and paper to write them a handwritten note.  

What's YOUR story?

“Tell me your story, young man”. The comment caught me off guard. I had just finished helping an elderly stranger open up a condiment packet as he sat alone in a booth at a fast food restaurant late one dreary evening a while back. I couldn’t bear to see his weathered arthritic hands labor to open the condiment pack. I was having dinner in the restaurant with my family, stopping to eat on our way home after another busy day of shuttling children from school to practice and back home to finish the masses of homework that would consume the waning hours of day before bed. The question posed to me seemed strange, and I pondered how I might politely share a few moments with the friendly stranger before hurrying back to my busy life. 

             Admittedly, I’m a natural performer and storyteller so I had no problem opening up to the inviting gentleman with the calming presence. I shared a short bit about where I was from and how I ended up where I am today. I shared my love for children and how it led me to be an educator.  By now, my wife, sensing my engagement with the stranger, brought my food to me as Mr. Johnson and I sat in the booth. We were a contradiction in every way. He was an African American gentleman likely in his early 80s, humbly dressed, with years of hard work weathered on his face and hands. I was a young Caucasian adult, wearing business attire and it appeared obvious that I had never seen the struggles and hardships that my counterpart had likely frequently encountered.  As the time passed, he shared his amazing life story with me. 

            Having grown up in an era where his race limited his educational and work opportunities, Mr. Johnson shared with me how he would wash local storefront windows in town for nickels, until one day a bank manager, whose window he had just finished cleaning, asked him if he would like a job in the bank cleaning and watching after the boiler. The elderly gentleman’s eyes sparkled as he told me how that offer ended up changing his life. Working in his new job at the bank, Mr. Johnson said that he took great pride in his work and used the earnings to buy his own home-which his parents had never owned.  Being a locally owned bank, many of the town’s residents frequented the business which was located in the heart of downtown.  Mr. Johnson established a rapport with many of the city’s residents. Over time, the bank manager took Mr. Johnson under his wing, and he shared with me that the manager helped him purchase stock in the bank. Like many banks have done, this bank was bought several times, and restructured, but somehow he kept his job through the transitions. Through the years, the job at the bank and the money invested in stock helped Mr. Johnson put all three of his children, as well as two grandchildren, through college. In his words he had lived the “American Dream.”

            The power of his words pierced my heart as he shared how life’s twists and turns had led him to where he is today- a proud father and grandfather who had worked hard, sacrificed much and planned well for his family and their well-being. I was amazed and engulfed in the story the man shared and wanted so much to know more of the trials and triumphs he had encountered along the way. After a great deal of time together, we parted ways, but the stories he shared never left me.

            Each school year brings about the excitement of possibilities. For some it brings the possibility of continued success. For others, it opens the door for a prospect of change and improvement. These opportunities and authentic experiences that we as educators give students help carve the path that leads to their story. Today more than ever, as a community we must desire better opportunities, greater advancements and increased success for the students we are collectively responsible for.  Students have opportunities today that many of us never encountered in our youth. We must hold them to a high standard while at the same time building up a strong support system under them. Little certainty is known about the future today’s students will encounter as adults; however one near certainty is that, without a strong educational foundation, their “American Dream” will be much less attainable.

            Part of our own story is not only how we live our lives, but how we help improve the lives of others- especially children. As we progress through another school year in Newton-Conover, I urge parents, community members and Newton-Conover employees alike to make it a priority to positively impact the life stories of our students. When school assignments, homework, projects, etc. seem overwhelming, please draw on the assurance that these activities are all in place to help students gain the knowledge and experiences necessary to cultivate their own story in this world.

            Thank you to each of you who are making a difference in the lives of children. 

Your Digital Footprint

With the seemingly unlimited ways that an individual now has to interact on the web through email, picture sharing, blogs,podcasts, wikis, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and You Tube, it can become overwhelming.  Many people try their hand at multiple sites- creating profiles and posting before settling on one they favor.  I’ve found myself using countless sites for various reasons such as work, graduate school assignments, and organizations I’m a member of.  Over time, it can become easy to forget some of the profiles and posts that you’ve put out on the web- many times even years ago.  If you don’t believe me, search for your name on google, pipl.com or socialmention.com and look at some of the links that pop up.  What does your digital footprint look like now?  See a wall post you made in a chat room while you were in college?  What about that picture that a friend took of you over Spring Break that you had never seen before?  Find a profile for a site that you had completely forgotten you had created so long ago?

For students, the use of social media has created lots of wonderful opportunities to connect with the world with 73% of wired American teens ages 12-17 using one form or another of social networking sites.  According to ASCD, 43% of high school students use social networking as their primary means of communicating with their friends. 

Unfortunately, EVERYTHING that a person posts online, regardless of how humorous or playful it may seem, is likely stored permanently somewhere online indefinitely.  According to Kaplan, 4 out of 5 US college and university recruiting officers review social networks and digital footprints of applicants with 38% of them saying that prospective students’ online postings had hurt their chances of being admitted. 

Some things that every student should keep in mind with their online presence:

•  The Internet is not going away
•  Manage your privacy settings effectively
•  Don’t post if something if you think you’ll be embarrassed now or in the future.  Imagine your future grandkids or your boss searching your name many years from now.
•  Be selective with what you show the world
• If you worry about your physical appearance, you should be equally concerned with your online appearance.

A great resource that gives an overview of the power of your digital footprint and would be great for any student, parent or teacher to review can be found here. 

Other Digital Footprint resources:

http://bit.ly/wHInKK

http://bit.ly/yjwUbR

http://bit.ly/yleAXN

http://bit.ly/zQlMk8

http://bit.ly/A5k8fm    

Why Does Education Matter?

Have you ever had someone tell you, "we never learned any of that while I was in school and I turned out fine?" Or maybe you've heard, "A high school diploma will get you a good job." There was a time, when a high school diploma was enough to open up doors of opportunity in many businesses and trades. Unfortunately, those opportunities are far fewer and dwindling by the year. I grew up in a mill town where almost all of my family ended up working after leaving school. In fact, my father dropped out of school to go to work in the mill. Years later, when the mill closed down, much of my family was greatly affected. Having no higher education to fall back on to open new doors, they were limited as to the opportunities they had to earn a living. Don't just take my word for it. According to the 2010 US Census, the level of impact an individual attains can have a tremendous impact on their lifelong earnings and well being.

Education Impacts Work-Life Earnings Five Times More Than Other Demographic Factors, Census Bureau Reports.

According to a new U.S. Census Bureau study, education levels had more effect on earnings over a 40-year span in the workforce than any other demographic factor, such as gender, race and Hispanic origin. For example, a worker with a professional degree is expected to make more than a worker with a eighth grade education or lower.

Some groups, such as non-Hispanic white males, Asian males and Asian females, benefit more from higher levels of education than other groups over a 40-year career for those with a professional degree. White males with a professional degree make more than double (about $2.4 million more) than that of Hispanic females with the same level of education.

(Note: Hispanics may be any race. All references in this news release to race groups such as black or white exclude Hispanic members of the race group in question; that is, all are “non-Hispanic.”)

Many factors, such as race and Hispanic origin, gender, citizenship, English-speaking ability and geographic location do influence work-life earnings but none had as much impact as education. The estimated impact on annual earnings between a professional degree and an eighth grade education was about $72,000 a year, roughly five times the impact of gender, which was $13,000.

These findings come from the report Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earnings, [PDF] which looks at the economic value of educational attainment by estimating the amount of money that people might earn over the course of a 40-year work-life given their level of education. The report also looks at the effect of other factors, such as race and gender groups and other characteristics with regard to this relationship.

“This analysis shows that there is a clear and well-defined relationship between education and earnings,” said Tiffany Julian, an analyst in the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. “The overall economic value of educational attainment in this report supports the belief that higher levels of education are well-established paths to better jobs and higher earnings.”

Other highlights:

Overall, white males had higher earnings than any other group at every education level, with the exception of those with a master's degree, which was topped by Asian males, and those with a professional degree, where Asian males were not significantly different from white males.

In general, women in the most economically advantaged race groups usually earn less than men in the most disadvantaged race groups. For example, a white female with master's degree is expected to earn $2.4 million over a 40-year work-life. In comparison, a Hispanic male with a master's degree is expected to earn $2.8 million.

For Asian, black and Hispanic groups whose highest education completed is high school, the difference between each group's work-life earnings was not large compared with the differences between these groups when they had higher levels of education.

Asian men and women with a bachelor's degree or higher had greater returns on higher education than blacks or Hispanics of either gender. For example, an Asian female with a professional degree made $3.7 million in work-life earnings compared with $2.3 million for a Hispanic female with a professional degree.

Naturalized citizens saw a small yearly increase in earnings over the native-born population ($1,210), but those who were not citizens made $2,446 less a year than the native-born.

Language spoken at home had an effect on earnings: those who spoke a language at home other than English saw a decrease in annual earnings after considering all other factors. Even those who speak English “very well” saw a decrease of $989 in annual earnings compared with English-only speakers.

Geography impacted earnings, showing higher earnings in the Pacific states and in New England and lowest earnings in East South Central states.

Data for this research comes from the 2006-2008 3-year American Community Survey. All estimates are presented in 2008 dollars and represent the amount of estimated money that one can expect to earn from ages 25 to 64.US Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/education/cb11-153.html

So, yes a continued education does matter. Our goal in Newton-Conover is to prepare each student for college and career. Graduation is an important step, but hopefully not the final step.

Poznan, Poland Oct 21st

Thursday, October 21, 2010We left our hostel at 7:00 am local (1:00 am at home) on a bus bound for outer edge of Vilskapolska Province. As you may remember, Poland is divided into 16 provinces. Poznan, as well as many other towns and cities, are in the Vilskapolska Province (sp?). In this province is 4000 schools and 500,000 students-very large and very spread out. So, we road on a bus to the first of 3 stops. The first school was Zespol Szkol Ponadgimnazjalnych in a town called Krotoszyn. I have their school letterhead that I'm copying from or I would have just said, "School" :) The ride to this school took over 2 hours by bus. The school is extremely old, you'll see that theme in my blog today, and the school was very unique. This high school has a program for high school students interested in becoming teachers. They spend 3 years taking general studies, but also having opportunities to work with university professors, observe teaching in other classrooms, do work with students, etc. At this school, 90% of students go on to a University after high school. They study a pedagogy curriculum and this program is called a vocational profile. They study multi-culturalism, pedagogy, etc. In this country, handicaps (EC students) are treated as a multi-cultural group. Students study how to connect with handicap students, make them feel acclimated, study how to incorporate these students in the school culture much like we do with multi-cultural students. They see handicaps as a culture. On the walls are projects they've done about the US. One of them shows "Sports in the United States." On this display it has pictures of the World Wrestling Federation and says that in the US, pro wrestling is the most popular and most dangerous sport. They had pictures of various pro wrestlers (fake wrestling for those of you who aren't familiar with WWF). We had to break it to them that WWF was not in fact the most popular sport. What else must they think about us???
The weird thing about today is that when we arrived, the local press were there for our meeting with the students. We met in a room with about 35 or so students in the audience. We introduced ourselves and they had a Q and A for us. (You can see some if this in my videos on YouTube. It's not great video because it's weird videoing an audience when you're on a panel at the front.) So, anyway, they had invited the press and the press was taking lots of pictures, etc. Apparently they don't get a lot of visitors. So as I was saying, the students in this audience are all high school students who hope to one day become teachers. They asked questions about USA, about our culture, etc. We found out that here education majors in college don't do student teaching. They do unsupervised volunteering in classrooms throughout their college experience and are asked to get 150 total hours. It is ungraded.
After an hour of sharing and Q and A, we were treated to our first meal, but not our last of the day. We met the staff and explained the project. The school is excited about partnering with American schools. They idolize America. They listen to American music, dress like American students, watch American films, etc. They love the NBA and NFL in the US, and they watch US movies online. If you met them, you could not tell by their interests, music or dress they were not Americans. Their English has an accent, but otherwise they have all of the same interests that our students do. We left this school and went to Hugokorrataj. It is the oldest High school in Poland and the site of the first national capital of Poland before one of their many wars. The school building is like a museum (again, lots of videos coming). The school has the most amazing architecture. Your mouth would drop. They have interior doors that are covered in a burgundy, beaded leather. It looks like castle doors. The building is 160 years old. These students talked continually about the history of their school. They take great pride in the heritage of the community and building. A very neat feature at this school is that any high school graduate that has ever graduated from this school and eventually earned a doctoral degree to teach at the University has their photo and bio on a "wall of fame." There were 40-50 total, some over 100 years old. Our guide and partner for this trip to Poland from UAM, Stanislaw (not sure of last name, we just call him "Stan"), actually graduated from this school and has a large memorial there. Even though we were 3 hours from Poznan, these students all knew him. They take great pride in their graduates who are successful. It was so inspiring. In Poland, all High Schools are either comprehensive high schools or profile schools that specialize and students apply to. The first school we visited that I explained earlier was a profile school for teaching. This was also a profile school, but I never did hear what the area of specialization was. Sorry. They again had a Q and A with us, but with no media thank goodness. They asked about ever being able to do a student exchange. Here is a real kicker. They have a "headmaster" who told us that he would pay for any student from Hugokorrataj that wanted to do a summer exchange (couple of weeks) in NC. He would pay their travel and spending money for US. In return, he would gladly partner NC students for a summer exchange here. One wasn't necessarily dependent on the other. Possibilities???? Again we explained the program and again they were gungho about become a partner. I get the impression that they would give any price to partner with US schools, learn from US culture, etc. It's humbling for our country and a little embarrassing. I hope we are a model worth wanting to learn from. They served us a meal, again, and we left for school number 3 for today. This was a long bus ride from the first two schools. The third school was still in the same province, but very far away. This town will blow your mind. The town and school are called Kalisz (pronounced like college). When it was founded it was called Calisia. Ok, Roman text from 150 BC mentions that Romans marched from Rome to the Baltic Sea to get Amber (not the person :) ) and they stopped along the way in the town of Calisia. So, this town has a history of over 2000+ years. The school again was like a museum. Large arched doorways, huge hallways, large ornate stairs and moldings, etc. This school too is a profile school specializing in math and science. We met with 8 students and 5 staff. All of these students spoke English and were some of the top students in the region. This school has very tough entrance standards and only the top students get in. They all take great pride in being in this school and you can see the big difference in how students value education here. They glow when they talk about their school. They can tell you prominent former graduates. They brag on having the best teachers in all of Poland. What makes this school even more unique is that their teachers do a process similar to PLCs!!! They are very interested in talking to American teachers about common issues, strategies, etc. They fed us heavy snacks and coffee. Another amazing thing about this school is that it was closed for students today because in this particular town, today is Teacher Day of Celebration and the schools are closed. We didn't arrive at the school until 4:00 local time. When Dr. Howard, a professor from ASU, asked why they were here today to meet with us on their day off, one male student said, "we love this building. We love to be here even when we don't have school." Now, granted, if you can tell from my videos, you'll understand why. It is like a historical landmark. These students actually tried out the online software we are using, Teleplace, and worked with some students in NC to try out the process. As expected, students take to technology like I do to chocolate éclairs. This school is very excited about the project. So, after an 90 minutes or so at this school the staff took us with them to join the rest of their staff (80+ people) for dinner at a restaurant. I thought it would be casual. NOPE. First of all, this restaurant was a banquet hall. It is obviously where major functions, weddings, huge parties, are held-chandeliers, banquet tables, 40 foot ceiling like in a civic center, disco ball from the ceiling, etc. (see on video). We ate with their staff in a 100 seat banquet room. There was DJ and everyone was dressed formally as if for a wedding. Well... in this area, the Teacher Day of Celebration is more than a day off of school. It is a holiday. We joined them for the celebration, 4 course meal, and THEY (not us) dined on vodka and sang celebratory chants, danced, and had a huge celebration. I resisted the temptation to dance. It was the weirdest thing I've seen in a long time. (Again, some video, but not sure if it is clear. It looks weird to video strangers celebrating so I try to be discrete which makes the footage look like a lapel cam). After our 4th meal of the day we rode back on a 2+ hour bus ride back to the hostel. Tomorrow we visit a high school, Maria Madalena in Poznan and have lunch with the Vilskapolska Province school board. These are appointed positions I've been told. We also have our first day of the conference we are presenting at. The conference program is at www.k2b.yoyo.pl/program.html The Poznan television station is recording some of the conference. The University is trying to use this conference as a first step to "PR" for their teacher prep program. This is getting much bigger than I originally thought it was set out to be. I’m excited that we can make connections for our state with other countries. If you have time, view some of the videos from today's schools if they are clear, to get the images I uneffectively tried to describe.