A few years ago I was invited to speak at a meeting in Toronto for some financial auditors who were working in school systems across Canada.  Each of the provinces and territories were represented and when I asked what they would like to see presented they responded with Mental Health in the school.

They did not want to see policy, or documentation, instead they wanted to learn about a single school’s story and how we constructed a community to support our students. Since I could not bring them to the school I video taped and photographed aspects that contributed to our success as a caring, thoughtful, community focused and safe home for students.

We started our conversation by discussing the stigma that hangs over any conversation of mental health, and how when we use the phrase physical health we paint an entirely different picture in our minds. 

I shared some statistics that spoke of one in every five students struggling with mental health, but wanted to focus my discussion with them about five students of every five.  What are we doing for all students?

I had them picture a pyramid divided into three sections to illustrate the percentage of students at each of three levels. Section one at the base of the pyramid is the majority of the students, referred to as tier 1 with no mental health issues but having occasional upset.  The second tier of students, a lower percentage, had some mental health distress and the top of the pyramid, our students with mental health disorders requiring medical intervention.  With this in mind, I then wanted them to focus with me on the base of the pyramid.

To assist me with this presentation I used a marvellous resource; School Mental Health Assist and have included the link to a the pdf INFO SHEET.  It is their Overview of Mental Health and Well-Being at School.  I gave the participants of my presentation a ‘walk through’ of my school by utilizing the descriptors within the model.

The Aligned and Integration Model (AIM) for School Mental Health and Well Being is what I used to tell our school story and you should use it as well.

From the INFO PAGE: ‘The Aligned and Integrated Model (AIM) for School Mental Health and Well-Being brings together fundamental elements of Foundations for a Healthy School, within the framework of a multi-tiered system of support.  Educators can welcome, include, understand, promote, and partner to enhance the well-being of ALL students.  We can prevent risk, offer support, and bolster protective factors to build the well-being of students who are experiencing difficulty with their mental health. School and community mental health professionals can collaborate to intervene with the FEW students exhibiting significant mental health disorders’

Notice that between all the tiers the model uses the phrasing.

Foundation-School and classroom leadership

Notice-Early identification

Bridge-Mobilize board and community services.

Foundation is a key word, and it is truly here, where we as educators have the greatest amount of impact.  As a school leader I can work with our staff to focus our attention on the key aspects of tier one, moving to our need for ‘early identification’.  My talk was about mobilizing staff to focus their attention on these tier one key words. Readers of this blog will recognize the importance of these words in the previous content.

Using all of these key words within the AIM I then shared examples of what we were doing at a school level to ‘welcome’, ‘include’, ‘understand’ etc

If you are given an opportunity to share what you are doing at your school in order to support all the students during tough times, and particularly now as we return to a new normal, I highly recommend you use this resource.

Not only are you able to align the initiatives you are currently doing, you would be able to see if a gap exists and what areas you should place more of your time and attention.  On page two of the INFO SHEET there is a wonderful check list for some ideas on how you can achieve representation across all the key words at Tier 1.

Want to tell a great story about your school and don’t know where to begin?  Connect your good work with the Aligned and Integration Model (AIM) for School Mental Health and Well-Being.  

Of course it is not about presenting yourself and your school in the best way possible, it is about supporting students. 

The resources available from School Mental Health ASSIST which, ‘works alongside the Ontario Ministry of Education to support student mental health and well-Being in Ontario schools’ are must reads.  If you are not familiar with the resources please do yourself a favour and check them out.  If it has been awhile since you have reviewed them, re-introduce yourself to the marvellous materials that are available.  

Our students will not achieve, have a sense of well-being and positive mental health without the adults in their lives making this work a priority. Have a look.

I wanted to do something slightly different this week in my blog.  I want to promote a book and illustrate how this books aligns with the important work we did at our school in regards to building and maintaining our positive school culture for staff, students and families.

The book is Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck.  It was published in 2015 by Solution Tree Press and I highly recommend it to the readers of this blog.

The book delivers on its promise, printed on the back cover,

“Educators will:

• Learn to express, clarify, and align their beliefs so that they are meaningful to teachers, staff, and other stakeholders
• Create maximum buy-in among all members of the school community
• Use the authors’ authentic alignment model to help keep their actions aligned to their schools’ mission and vision
• Reinforce the researched, results proven PLC within their school culture”

It is time for you to take a close look at your school’s mission statement.  If it is working for you and you feel that it is well established, then at least look at the benefits of working with staff, students and the community to develop a school mantra.  This book with help with this process.  Your leadership will receive a major positive boost by doing this important work with your school.  The outcome of this work will impact many aspects of your school culture.

Our school started in September of 2015 and the book was published the same year.  I did not have a copy of the book prior to the school opening so it is after the fact that I noticed the connections. 

Prior to the school opening I had already used the saying “Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference’ at other schools where I had been the principal.  Those other schools had a mission statement, created before my arrival.  So like many of you, I inherited a mission statement. There is an interesting discussion in the book about existing school mission statements and if they are known, utilized, understood or believed.  This particular section of the book will allow you to have a really critical look at your school’s mission statement.  

I didn’t realize it at the time, but by adding that saying into those schools on top of the mission statement, I was doing something that the authors share as a really positive action.  And it is not just the saying itself, it is the process and the actions taken in order to develop the saying.  Most importantly it is what  you do with the saying once established.  Don’t allow it to simply be writing on the letterhead.

Now is the time to reexamine your mission statement and the authors provide a process for doing just that. 

Although I did not have a copy of the book, I feel I had something better in place prior to the school opening and that was the guidance and mentorship and friendship of one of the authors, Tom Hierck.  With Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference established in my mind to share with staff I had long conversations with Tom about bringing something ready made or developing it with the staff in the first year of the school.  I was put in a tough spot in a sense because the school needed to exist on line, on paper and in communication with the community prior to the bricks and mortar being in place.  The school officially started without staff in a sense. The school also opened under teacher sanctions and I was not able to have access to the staff to do this planning work.  

The saying was discussed with staff, and the rationale provided.  I started to use the phrase when visiting the students that would become Boyne students.  From the first time I met students, they heard, ‘Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference’.  At parent evenings prior to school construction, families were meeting me, learning about my vision and plans, and hearing, ‘Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference’. In a presentation for prospective staff interested in beginning this new school journey with me, they heard, ‘Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference’. 

In all honesty it would have been difficult if staff were not in agreement or if they wanted to develop something right from the start.  It would have been a hard conversation for someone to speak up and say we should have something new that I had not used before.  I believe I was open and transparent in that work, and have come to understand through their acceptance, adoption and love for our saying that they are happy with the results.  Students and families continue to comment positively as well.

So for this blog I will be sharing key quotes from an important chapter in the book and reflecting on the quote with practical, real life examples of the work in action.

I have been using the term ‘saying’ and ‘mission statement’ in the first part of this blog. In fact what we have according to the authors is a school mantra. ‘Work Hard, Be Nice and Make a Difference’ is not a mission statement but in fact a mantra based on our mission, vision, values and goals.  It is longer in length than Williams and Hierck would suggest for a mantra but I’ll get to that later.

I want to introduce you to Chapter 3 in the book, entitled Exploring: The Why. 

‘the Why, is the process of examining your fundamental purpose and core beliefs.  Your goal is to capture the essence of your school’s mission in a guiding mantra to help strengthen that mission’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.55)

All the things we do at the school connect to our mantra.  Our commitments to each other come from these three statements.  Our classrooms begin the year by using Significant 72 (a previous blog) and developing with students how we are going to be a community by illustrating working hard, being nice and making a difference for ourselves and others.

Consider your existing school mission statement…

‘We propose taking one small and powerful additional step in this process: extract a non-negotiable ideal and distill it into a three to five work expression known as your guiding school mantra. Develop a mantra that captures the essence of your school’s mission in a concise and repeatable way.’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.62)

So all this time I may have felt we had our school mission statement when in fact we had our school mantra. It is longer than the 3-5 word suggestion, however its simplicity makes it stick.  The three aspects of the mantra allow us to use each part separately and all together.  I still see it as concise and definitely repeatable.

‘Schools should identify the fundamental purpose, then use that purpose as the lens through which to guide decisions. We know it works for some schools, but often the outcome is a product; the mission statement.  We rarely see a unifying force that empowers educators to examine, clarify, and align every aspect of the school.’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.56)

‘Because the typical mission statement rarely serves as a guide to inform your choices, behaviours, and decisions, it is, in essence, ‘fluff’. When you consider the time spent creating a mission statement versus the fact that its ideals seldom trickle down to the daily work of teachers and leaders, it’s easy to understand the cynicism that arises.’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.58)

There are times when we need to support students and some of the choices they make.  We would use our mantra continually. Some students need a reminder conversation from staff about how we were going to work together and how the adults can support them with their lagging skills.  Their troubles began with a situation where they were not working hard or not being nice.  A conversation out of class or in the office area would start there.  They are removed from their peers in order to get support because they are not working hard or not being nice.  Now that we have that as a starting point, what are we going to do to go back to the situation and make a difference for yourself and others and how can we help you?

‘Yet in almost every instance when we ask staff members to identify agreed-on ideals around which the entire school rallies, to identify a non-negotiable idea that guides the daily work of their school, to state the agreed-on purpose that serves to both compass and guide for every important decision made on campus, we almost never see agreement on what that guide is’.

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.56-57)

‘the conversation turns to the school mission statement-the statement that everyone knows exists but no one can connect to the daily work of teaching, learning, and leading’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.57)

‘The stated mission should permeate every aspect fo school life.  It should serve as your school’s rallying cry and ultimate litmus test to determine what is best for improved student learning; you should not view it as an opportunity for positive public relations that eventually fades into obscurity’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.57)

Every classroom, and every student is involved in the process at the start of the year and then monthly check ins (Significant 72) about our commitments to each other.  Kindergarten students are able to share with staff what it looks like and sounds like to work hard and be nice.  During nutrition breaks when we are eating in our classrooms prior to going outside, grade eight students are able to share what this non instructional time looks like using ‘Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference’.  Our School Council of parents are able to create their meeting norms using ‘Work Hard’ ‘Be Nice’, ‘Make a Difference’. In the gymnasium, students are able to articulate the mantra. 

An interesting aspect of the chapter comes later when Williams and Hierck offer a caution. They guide you and want you to avoid something they call ’t-shirting’. 

‘It means you place more emphasis on slogans for t-shirts, lanyards, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, and banners than on how your statements actually guide instructional and assessment practices and interventions.  In our experience, few can articulate how their statement explicitly manifests itself in daily work’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.59)

To be honest we have t-shirts for staff, and the mantra is on the walls, but it is so much more than wallpaper.  Our interventions program named WIN (Whatever I Need) is driven by making a difference, it is in Significant 72 (previous blog), establishing our agreements (previous blog), in report cards learning skills(previous blog), in our graduation ceremony(previous blog), in Kindergarten celebrations, and in our fundraising initiatives.  An event does not occur, a report is not written without using the lens of our mantra. 

We got this!

‘Ideally, your mission statement would permeate everything you do at school – embedded in your school’s culture, committed to memory, modelled, and intrinsic to daily life’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.62)

‘It can be a short, energy-infused statement around which your school organizes; it defines what you are and guides all internal decisions.  Further, it’s a powerful chant that everyone inside your school can instantly understand, recognize, and repeat-a constant reminder of what you can expect from each other.’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.62)

At assemblies I would often begin the mantra and only have to say ‘Work Hard’ before the students would complete the phrase in unison.  We have yearly student and parent surveys and we are able to insert our own questions at the end in order to get specific data or feedback.  We have inserted the statement and asked participants in the survey to complete the phrase, ‘Work Hard, Be Nice, ….”  98% of our students completing the survey were able to answer correctly, our parent responses were not quite as high but still a large majority or our parent community were aware of our mantra.

Hopefully, I have been able to share with you the power of having a school mantra.  Not only the development process is important to the school culture, but the continuation of a positive school culture is predicated on having common expectations that everyone, like Williams and Hierck write, ‘instantly understand, recognize, and repeat-a constant reminder of what you can expect from each other’ (p. 62)

So I leave you with two thoughts.  The first, do your staff, students and community know your mission statement?  The authors make a terrific point,

“We often ask our workshop participants to share their schools’ mission statements from memory.  What follows is often a complete loss of eye contact, uncomfortable shifting in chairs, the sudden emergency cell phone call, the impromptu bathroom break, the nervous laughter-all clear signs that people don’t know’

Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (p.57)

And finally, check out Starting a Movement: Building Culture From The Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities by Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck. On page 65 look at ‘Creating Your Guiding School Mantra: The Tip of the Iceberg’ 

Do this exercise!

Re-culture if it is needed, rebrand with a mantra. It is so beneficial for students, staff, families and for your leadership.

One School’s Story

We had a problem with cell phones at our school!  

I want to share one school’s story on how we worked with students, staff and families to address the issue.  

I will start by saying we are an elementary school so our solutions are based on one thousand plus students in Kindergarten to grade 8. 

While walking in the hallway it was not uncommon to see someone walking with their head down and staring into a screen.  Or walking past a classroom and glancing inside to see someone in a group of students with their heads in their phones. Or off to the side of the room while everyone was working, on their own, on their phone.  And in all of these examples I am speaking about the adults in the building. Adults on their phones when working with/for students.  Not okay.

How we discussed this and solved this as a staff professionally and respectfully is going to be the topic of a future blog.  I’m sharing this as a bit of a tease because in this blog I want to share how we encouraged proper technology use by students in our school.

We were a BYOD school (Bring Your Own Device).  This was especially important in our first few years when our student population was high and our number of school owned devices was still low.  Senior students were invited to bring their own device to the school to use in their classrooms.  It was not a requirement.  We made sure families understood we always had technology available for student use.  We did not want students going home and saying they had to have technology for school!

Letting students use their own device did really help everyone at the beginning.  Everyone likes using their own devices for comfort and ease.  We know how to navigate our own tools and where we keep files and work.  We were confident that done properly, and with student voice and family input we could create a process that would work.  We wanted it to work, technology is an important tool and part of the learning process includes how students use technology effectively, properly and respectfully.

We followed all the board issued mandates with families about loss, theft and damage.  We gathered all the required paperwork and then started on our journey with students to formulate how this was all going to be operationalized.

Staff created schedules in order to share the technology we had on hand.  Most importantly the staff developed an understanding that the technology is a tool to be used by students when needed and really limited the amount of time where every child needed a device at the same time. We have moved way past a time when all students are using the same program at the same time, in the same way and instead allow students’ choice in how they demonstrate their learning. With a heavy emphasis on differentiated instruction and student choice, gone are the days when you would see the entire class in a computer lab or each child at a workstation.  Computers, and tablets are in the classroom available to students to use as needed.  Also available to students is their own device if required.  So how do we monitor the proper use of these powerful tools?

I can remember very early in my administration career, when cell phones were just becoming a thing you would see at school.  They were considered a distraction, a nuisance and we banned them.  We could not understand why any elementary student would need a phone at school if there were pay phones and office phones.

We now have a better understanding of the power of the devices in student hands.  It is not the cell phone itself that is the issue, it is what the cell phone is being used to do.  Parents provide or allow cell phones for their children for many reasons. It is important for our families to know that when at school the cell phone is being used in a responsible and respectful way. Cell phones are a wonderful tool that when used well, and used properly can and should be a learning tool that students learn to use appropriately. They are not going away.

Listening to student voice was always a key strategy in our school and how we were going to use technology in our school was another opportunity to hear from students.  Using our school motto of ‘Work Hard, Be Nice, Make a Difference’ we developed our agreements.  These were developed with our classes, shared with everyone and are reinforced with students multiple times in the year (Significant 72 opportunity).  You will see that students did come up with agreements around non-instructional time as well as instructional time. A copy of the poster that hangs in each room is shared with you here.

We noticed on line that schools could purchase locking mini cabinets that could be installed in classrooms so schools could secure cell phones when students entered a classroom. As an elementary school we went ‘low tech’ and purchased for each classroom a numbered pocket chart.  Students were assigned a number based on their class list and when students entered the room for their class period they were asked to place their cell phones in their corresponding pocket.  The pocket chart was hung in a safe area of the classroom, i.e., a corner behind the teacher’s desk.  There, the cell phone would remain until the end of class or until the teacher had a section of the lesson where students could use their own device.  One big issue this solved was that washroom visits, quick trips to the hallway or back to their lockers did not include checking in with their cell phone.  At the end of class the teachers would monitor the retrieval of the cell phones based on numbers, seat locations etc.

If they did not place a cell phone in the pocket chart it was because of one of three reasons

1. They do not have a cell phone, or they did not bring it to school that day
2. Their cell phone was not brought to class and instead is locked safely in their locker
3. It is in their bag, or backpack in class and will not be seen or brought out during the class, they are planning on using the technology provided within the class

When teachers provided class time for student work that could involve the use of technology a ‘Tech Time’ poster was placed on the board at the front of the class and announced to the class.  At this point students could retrieve their cell phones and use them if they wished. A simple visual, you see the sign, it is okay to use the technology in the room including your own device.

We did not have any difficulties with this process.  Students were respectful of others’ property and I believe this was all because of the preliminary work and relationship building done by our staff before starting, during lessons and discussed fairly regularly.  As well, students were part of the process to develop the plan.

What did we do if the agreements were not followed?

If teachers saw a student breaking an agreement they would ask for the cell phone and keep it with them until the end of class.  At the end of class they would ask a colleague to assist them with any responsibilities they may have so they could have time with the student.  A conversation would take place putting the onus on the student to talk about the commitment and why the phone was taken.  After a conversation the student had their phone returned.

The expectations were reinforced during the conversation and it was shared that the next time would involve a learning exercise done on their free time.  Students were ask to write or assisted in writing, using the common expectations in order to explain what they had done, what they should have done and what they would do next time (simple three paragraphs).  Depending on the situation, the teacher would date this and keep it on file or decide to have the assignment taken home by the child and have it signed by a parent.  

The parent would be reading something written by their child about the expectations in the classroom.  It was not a formal letter or email from the teacher or school. Written from the child’s perspective, it showed understanding of the expectations and always received great support from the family.  

And finally, if necessary, if difficulties still remained the teacher would give the cell phone to me and I would place it in the school safe.  We asked the child to explain to their parent why this had to occur and I would return the cell phone once I was able to have a phone call or face to face meeting with the parent.  At the end of the day I would contact the families so they were aware we had their personal property in our school safe.  Often parents would drive to the school in order to pick up their child at the end of the day and this provided an opportunity for parent, child and myself to meet.  These conversations were easy to facilitate because the child knew the expectations.  They knew the order of the consequences, and had already done a parent letter. In six years at the school we did not have a child repeat the cell phone in the safe process.

Parents were appreciative because it was all carried out with respect and transparency.  We never shamed the child because we all wanted the same outcome.  We want our students to use the technology.  The parents and the school just want the technology used in the proper way. Students are not sneaking glances at their phone to do school research. 

Once parents found out how the child was using the phone in the school we were able to have a great conversation about the use of technology in schools.  The conversation often turned to why this elementary aged child had the phone to begin with and that the school did have the  ability to supply technology.

Over time we purchased enough technology for student use that the need to bring in their own device was not as necessary, and we remained a BYOD school.  Students still like to bring in their cell phones.  We are okay with that, because of the learning that is involved in creating our agreements as a community and we value the importance of understanding the proper use of technology while at school.  A key lesson even for the adults!

This week I wanted to share with you some resource ideas and a simple point for you to consider that will assist you with your work building climate and culture in your school.  It is a leadership move that will aid your teachers, benefit your students and give you a huge pat on the back for a job well done.

Never stop being a teacher.  It sounds simple enough, however we can often get swallowed up by the management aspects of the administrator role and lose touch with our past.  And in the past you were a great teacher.  Not all great teachers become administrators, but all administrators are/were great teachers.

It is really satisfying as a leader to see your influence find its way into the classroom.  No longer being a teacher in the classroom is one of the most difficult aspects to give up when moving into an administrator role, but it doesn’t have to be.  It is still a wonderful feeling to know you never stop being a teacher and you can continue to grow and develop your staff long after you have left the classroom.

I am not speaking about interacting with students.  It is obvious that we continue to get into classrooms, support students, read with them, participate in their group work and get down on the carpet with our youngest learners.  I am writing this week about being a teacher to staff.

Every opportunity I had to work with staff during staff meetings, learning meetings, divisional meetings, professional activity days etc I made sure I was modelling activities that can be used in the classroom by the teachers with their students.  Each piece of content that needed to be shared, presented or read I would attach the ‘product’ or outcome of the content with a ‘process’ or teaching strategy to interact with the content.

Any time you have your staff in front of you it is an opportunity for you to model an activity while you present the content.  I would name the activity or process, I would write it on a poster or in a digital presentation and have the staff acquire the needed information by activating and applying a process.  My agenda for the meetings would always include two columns, one column for the content and one column for the activity or process I was going to share.  

There are many famous facilitation techniques such as ‘think, pair share’, ‘3A’s plus 1’ ‘Just Like Me’, ‘3,2,1’ but many more out there that can be used with your staff so they are getting the content of the meeting and also a collaborative activity that they can use with their students.  I also find time at the end of the activity to have staff turn and talk with others about how they would use the strategy, how they would adapt it for the age and stage of their children and in which content areas.  Could they give an example of how they will use the strategy in the coming days?

As a leader, it is incredibly gratifying to find evidence of the activity done at a meeting in a classroom with students later in the week.  Or having staff share with you, ‘hey, I used that strategy you showed us on Monday with my students today’

While teaching the principal qualification course I make sure I deliver the content in a variety of ways and each time we have a grouping activity I share with the candidates a process or protocol while interacting with the content.  When the activity is done we speak about where you would use the process in the future and they begin to understand that this modelling is important with staff, during parent council meetings, learning days etc.  

Never, ever miss the opportunity to share great instructional practices when you are learning with your staff.  It pays huge dividends when you inject some life into your meetings with effective, interactive learning strategies that can be taken away and used with students.

You can find lots of great resources on group activities in categories such as:  Activities for Getting Started, Activities for Information Processing, Activities for Generating Ideas, Strategies for Dialogue and Discussion  I have found the work of Bruce Wellman, Laura Lipton, to be very helpful with lots of ideas, activities and protocols to use.  A book that has caught my attention and has many ideas for facilitating is Crafting Your Message: Tips and Tricks for Educators to Deliver Perfect Presentations by Tammy Heflebower with Jan K. Hoegh.  It is available through Solution Tree.  Send me a message if you need any assistance locating the resource.

As always I love hearing from you when you have taken one of my “Interesting Ideas” and made it your own.  I’m honoured that you continue to read, use some of the ideas and then let me know.  Keep the messages coming.