The Assistant Principal Podcast

2022-11-22_77_The Flywheel Part 2_FINAL audio
Last episode we looked at the flywheel through the lens of formative or group professional
development. Remember, the flywheel refers to a set of practices that when executed over and over
again, bill positive momentum that improves the organization and leads to fulfillment of the purpose.
In a school, this translates to supporting teacher growth by providing professional development,
following up with targeted observations. Collecting data and then using that data to work with
teachers to plan subsequent rounds of professional development. Today, we'll look at how the
flywheel changes when we focus on a specific teacher's growth as opposed to developing a group
of teachers.
Hello colleagues and welcome to the Assistant Principal Podcast I'm your host, Frederick Busky.
The goal of this podcast is to improve life and leadership for assistant principals. This is a content
focused episode and this content stands on its own, but will also take a deeper dive into the topic
and an upcoming issue of Quadrant 2. Members of our apex community can also expect to get
support in implementing these ideas and adapting them to their own unique contexts.
You can learn more about Apex and Quadrant 2 at frederickbuskey.com backslash the assistant
principal. I always begin with celebrations and the celebration is a little bit different than the one I
had planned. I'm thankful for resiliency because I just wrapped up recording this 30 minute episode
and noticed at the end that I actually didn't record it because I didn't hit the record button. So 10
minutes of reframing my mind and eating lots of chocolate, I'm back here doing it again. So let's all
celebrate resiliency because we all have those moments. Remember in last week's flywheel
example, we were supporting a group of early career teachers in implementing a beginning of class
procedure.
We taught the teachers the components of good procedure and how to teach and reinforce them to
their students. And then we followed up that professional development by collecting normative data.
Remember, normative data is focused on a group of teachers, and that data will remain aggregated.
We won't break it out per individual teacher and we'll share that data with the group and have them
then make sense of that. And in our particular example of the beginning class procedure, there were
three steps to that procedure, storing, sitting and writing.
We also wanted to collect data on the number of reinforcement statements that each teacher was
making and the quality of those reinforcement statements. So were they just general or were they
specific? We also looked at the types of prompts that were being used to redirect students who were
struggling with the procedure, and then we took some generalized notes about just overall what was
happening. After delivering that, perfect the initial professional development and in that normative
phase, we did three classroom observations for each teacher, which gave us a total of nine
classroom observations.
We aggregated that data and noticed that the writing prompts were a weak spot. And in talking with
the teachers, we learned that there was a lack of clarity on what a good prompt looked like and then
how to write that. So that would be the next round of professional development that we did with the
group. But what about the flywheel used for an individual teacher? If you remember when we looked
at our normative data as an ILT, when we broke that down into the disaggregated piece, we noticed
that mister Gale's numbers were a lot different than what was happening with his peers. And this
was especially true when we looked at the store step of the procedure and the number of
reinforcement statements.
So while Miss Perrin and Miss Bishop had a 99 % success rate in students executing the store part
of the procedure effectively, mister Galey's numbers were at 40 %. And when we looked at
reinforcement. Out of the 9 observations, there were a total of 118 reinforcement statements, but of
those 118 only six were from were from the three observations of mister Gale. So now we can pull
this data out, just mister Galey's data, and we can sit down and have that conversation with him.
Hey, still looks like the store step.
That first step is really a struggle. Let's talk about what do you think might be able to happen? Let's
look at the data and see what's happening here. And in fact, at this point, we might compare mister
Gale not with the individual teachers, but with the aggregated data from this parent and Miss
Bishop. So in that mister Gale would see they were having a 99 % success rate where he was
having 40 %, but then we'd really see that that reinforcement number of six out of 118 And so that
could be the focus, right? Thinking what if we reinforce this? Let's talk through what do
reinforcement statements look like specifically for that step on storing your stuff? What are the
specific words that you might say to help students along to recognize when they're doing it
correctly? And so we work through that and essentially then that is the coaching session.
As we resume review that data and have the conversation, that becomes the coaching session. And
so Mr Gale agrees, yes, I'm going to focus on reinforcement and I'm going to focus specifically on
doing more reinforcement during the store part of my procedure. So then we follow up with a
formative observation. Now, this formative observation is actually using the same tool that we used
in our normative observations, because it's the same focus. It's still that entering class procedure.
So we go and we do our first observation a day or two days after having this coaching session with
mister Gale. And we noticed that at this point, 16 out of the 23 kids effectively execute that first
stage of the procedure storing.
Now previously. Mister Galey's total had been around 40 % and now he's hitting 66 %. So this is
actually a really good improvement in terms of reinforcement statements, he gave 9. Well, he was
averaging 2 previously. So 9 is a big improvement. But we also note the kind of the quality or tenor
of these reinforcement statements are very general. So thank you, Aaron. Good, Rebecca. And so
the next cycle of coaching is looking at this data and absolutely celebrating the successes and.
Then thinking about, OK, what's our next step? How can we get what's happening that we can get
this number 16.
How do we get that up to 23 Because that makes life better for your kids, but it also takes some
stress off of you and gives you more instructional time. So what do we need to do? Maybe mister
Gale can come up with some of that himself. Maybe not. He's probably going to say, well, I'm really
struggling with Jason. This one kid is taking a lot of my attention and he's really slow. And in fact, we
look and it took three minutes and 15 seconds for for everybody to get engaged and doing what they
were supposed to be doing.
And Jason was the one that probably took an extra minute all by himself. So yes, we need to think
about what we're going to do with Jason, but also what about these other six kids that are
struggling? Still struggling with the store part. Would if you really amped U your reinforcement right?
Let's exaggerate it. Let's just go over the top. So instead of nine, let's double that. Let's do 18
reinforcement statements.
Let's focus them on this store step. But let's also change the quality. So focus on from being general
and just saying thank you, we're good. Let's focus on the specifics of the performance. And exactly
what you want them to do. So good job storing your books under the desk. Or wherever they're
supposed to store their stuff. Be very specific about it. Thank you for hanging up your coat or.
Whatever it is. And so. Out of that, then we wait a day or two for mister Gale to practice that and we
go back and now we do a second formative observation.
And here's what we find. 22 out of 23 kids did the store step appropriately and in good time. And
mister Gale gave 35 reinforcement statements, and those reinforcement statements were indeed
specific. The total time went from three fifteen drop to two thirty five, so he's saving and the class is
saving 40 seconds per period. We also noticed that there was lots of reinforcement with mister Gale
actually smiling at students and that he had pulled away from the front of the classroom, so he was
increasing his proximity.
So again, as we debrief the data, we really want to emphasize that, like, look what happened. You
got away from your board, you're interacting with kids, you're smiling more, they're smiling more.
That's a huge win. Let's celebrate that. And mister Gale is going to say, yeah, I really felt good. I feel
happy where this is going, but what am I going to do with Jason? As we still have that one outlier
now, we probably know at this point Jason is probably going to struggle with this the entire year.
He's a kid that's just not that dialed in. He's got all kinds of other things on his mind and getting into
class and moving through the procedure quickly is not his priority. So we want to have the
conversation with mister Gale about what are the specific supports that we can give to Jason and
how do we prompt Jason and keep him moving through in a way that's not antagonistic because
Jason's probably also the kind of kid that's. Getting pressured in every other class for not following
procedures. And so we want to make sure that this is not negative or antagonistic. So we talk about
the strategies for asking questions and asking prompts and using nonverbal communication just to
help Jason move through the process, as well as being proximal.
And then absolutely, positively providing positive reinforcement and praise every time Jason gets
anything right. So we we brainstorm these strategies and we list out maybe. Three different
strategies that we want to focus on. We come back and we do a third round of formative
observation. 23 out of 23 students are doing the store step effectively. Reinforcement is down from
35 statements to 21 statements. But that's OK, because kids don't need as much reinforcement
because they now are getting in the habit of executing properly.
And we notice the kinds of prompts and support that mister Gale is giving Jason. And those are
indeed being effective. It's still taking effort from mister Gale, but these things are being effective
and it's keeping a positive climate and positive atmosphere. And we move from. Two minutes and
35 seconds down to one minute and 12 seconds. Everybody's in the classroom has their stuff
stored, sitting down and writing to the prompt. So that effectively ends that coaching cycle and that
takes us out of them that formative part of the flywheel with this individual teacher with mister Gale. I
hope that's helpful.
There are some other things to think about. I think some of the bigger picture things that I want to
emphasize as we begin to closeout this episode. First of all, implementing the flywheel, whether it's
normative or formative. Implementing the flywheel is dependent on an infrastructure. And there are
at least four things that you must have in place to be able to execute with any kind of consistency.
The first is that you have to have a scheduled ILT meeting. It has to happen the same time every
week and everybody needs to be there. Secondly, you need to have a structured agenda that's
focused on teacher development. 3rd it really helps to have a teacher tracking document so that we
can document what the focus areas are for each teacher when we're having that instructional
leadership team meeting.
I actually did a whole episode on the teacher tracking document back in episode 14. You can go to
my website and find the link to that and also a sample teacher tracking document there. That
teacher tracking document is critical because it allows us to be consistent with feedback and with
planning professional development. So let's just imagine for a minute that I'm the assistant principal
and I'm doing this coaching cycle with mister Gale. During that time, hopefully other members of
leadership of the instructional leadership team are out in classrooms doing observations.
And so at some point, the principal and instructional coach may come through mister Galey's
classroom and observe. During the time that I'm doing this coaching cycle and what happens if the
principal comes in and leaves a follow up for mister Gale and says I want you to think about your
questioning strategies and then the instructional coach comes through and says hmm. How was
your lesson related to the teaching standard? Now both of those might be areas where mister Gale
could improve.
But we're in the middle of a coaching cycle with mister Gale, just trying to get him to focus on that
opening class procedure and we're close to a win. In fact, we know we can wrap that up in a week
or two and then move on to the next thing. But when two other instructional leadership team
members come in and offer differing feedback, now what's happening with mister Gale? Is he
supposed to focus on the coaching session or now? Is he supposed to dig in and figure out how to
use different questioning techniques? Or is he supposed to be going back and double checking?
Standards my ideal.
He's doing all those three things. But to improve in three things at one time. That's dissipating our
efforts and we're going to have much lower success. So by having that teacher tracking document,
we all know, we all know that we're focusing on that beginning class routine for mister Gale. And so
if I'm not coaching him through that and I find myself in that classroom either, I'm going to try to get
in there at the beginning of class and just use the same observation form and collect that data so
that I can be part of the support as well. Or if I'm in there during a different part of class, I do not
want to leave any kind of critical corrective feedback.
I don't want to leave statements of. You know, I wonder statements because we want clarity that
mister Gale is focusing on that beginning class procedure. Once that's done, hey, then we can have
conversations about what comes next. But that teacher dragging document helps us all stay on the
same page, which makes it much easier for our teachers. And then the fourth piece of infrastructure
is that we have a system and a calendar for scheduling our observations so that we make
commitments at the end of every ILT about which classrooms we're going to get in and when we're
going to do those observations.
Another thing that's required in the flywheels is skills. We need to be able to either adapt or create
our own instruments to do those targeted observations. We need to be able to record data
accurately in multiple forms. Then we need to be able to lead conversations around that data with
teachers. Another important element of the flywheel is that we need to trust our teachers. We need
to trust them to take that data that we're collecting for them.
And for them to be able to lead that process. Remember that we can use the flywheel for supporting
groups of teachers, but we also can use it for supporting teachers individually. And those individual
elements will look dramatically different. If I'm working with an early career teacher that's struggling
as mister Gale was, that's going to look very different than if I have a high performing veteran
teacher who has identified a very specific questioning strategy that she wants to try out and learn.
So the individualized, formative parts of a flywheel are going to have to be adapted to the specific
needs of teachers. So the vision is that everyone in the school is growing all the time. It would be
almost impossible, I think, for a team to go out and just implement this in this school and do it for
every single teacher. That's a recipe for disaster. Remember, we want to keep things simple. We
want to decrease effort and therefore increase motivation. And we want to step, we want to move A
to B. So if you don't have your flywheel in place.
The first step is to schedule your IO ILT meeting and begin meeting. The second step is to develop
a structured agenda. The third step is to start tracking teacher progress and in that I would start with
one teacher. Just pick one teacher that you'll want to focus on and support and start tracking that
individual teachers progress and. Once you get that system in place around one teacher. Then add
a couple more. And again, I would suggest starting with your early career teachers. Because those
are the people that investing the time and support in now is going to pay the longest term dividends.
So a lot of content.
This was a very nuts and bolts focused episode. I hope it's helpful. If you're already into elements of
those flywheel, I hope there was some clarity for you. Even if you're not doing a flywheel, I hope
there's some support for you in just how we breakdown the observation tool and how we can have
those conversations with teachers. But I really hope that. You either have it or you're considering
implementing the flywheel. So a couple questions to close this out, reflective questions for you.
Where are you in this journey of flywheel implementation? What's holding you back? Or if you
haven't started, what's holding you back if you're into it? What are the what's the next hurdle?
What's the next step for you? And then I guess this 40.000 thousand foot question.
How can your school get better? If you don't have a system. For consistently growing your teachers.
Ok, that wraps up today's content focused episode. We'll be back next week with Doctor David
Franklin, who has founded and overseas a wonderful Facebook community for school leaders. I'm
not a huge fan of Facebook, but David's provided a really nice safe space for school leaders to
interact. That group is called the principal's desk, and if you want to join, you'll need to request
access. If you do decide to ask to join the principal's desk on Facebook, please mention that you
heard about the group on the podcast.
That would encourage both he and myself. And if you enjoyed today's show, please subscribe and
rate this podcast. You can ask questions, make requests, and give us feedback at
frederickfrederickhusky.com In fact, I'd really love to hear some comments about the flywheel. The
challenge of doing a podcast is the lack of feedback so. I can look and see that our downloads are
increasing, but I don't know exactly what aspects of the show are resonating with you.
So I would love it if you would drop me a line at frederick@frederickhusky.com and just tell me was
this it? Was this good for you? How could I have changed this to serve you better? And what would
be the next steps that you'd like to take listening to the podcast or maybe with me in some other
way? We will be releasing an upcoming issue of our micro journal Quadrant 2 that's focused on the
flywheel O. If you aren't already subscribed, you can go to Frederick Buskey com backslash
quadrant two.
That wraps up today's show. I'm Frederick Buskey, and I hope you'll join me next time for the
Assistant Principal podcast cheers.