Reframing Conversations on College

    Recently, Indiana State University launched its Fall 2022 Parent Weekend. Attending, my family and I sat under the stars near the university President’s house, eating popcorn while watching a movie with hundreds of other family members. 

    We were honored to be with our son, Sean, in his first year of college.   

    I wish such pride, humility, and thankfulness for all families. 

     Thoughts went to another event I visited in recent travels. The purpose was to provide information for families and students for life after high school. The event facilitator stated, “We’re here for all families—those whose students are college material and those whose who have other plans. We’re excited to be working with you all.” 

    Intentions were inclusive. I have long had difficulty with the words, “college material,” however. 

    Writing about “college” over the years has inspired a strategy, “Change What the Adults Do First,” in All Other Duties As Assigned: The Assistant Principal’s Critical Role in Supporting Schools Inside and Out. In a nutshell, this strategy calls for educators to take adult responsibility to ensure students are empowered to position themselves dream-catching in their next stages of life. 

    Positioning is key. 

    Student empowerment is key. 

    Training in how the game of life and opportunity are played is key. 

    Adults in schools are key. 

    “Educators must teach with two goals, (1) learning and (2) test taking, in order to arm their students for success. Tests are a natural part of life, no matter where you go. So, get good at addressing testing” (p. 180). 

    My hope is we embrace the opportunity to help students elevate their own potency, to circumvent soft bigotries of low expectations. This begins with words we use and conversations we have. If we all wish to celebrate under the stars with our own children, it begins with our use of the word “college” and an eradication of any misapplied notions of “college material.” 

    Admittedly, this can be discomforting, as it bumps-up against practices we have done for years, and definitions we have embraced. 

    The reason some kids appear as “college material,” or “not,” is more about how well adults have done their jobs, than the abilities of students. Is it more about our own skills and expertise? If all kids do not believe they are college material, have we failed? Possibly so. It has to do with the way we’re using the term, and this can have residual effects. 

    We now have the ability as adults to conceive of college, or so-called “college material” differently. 

    There’s an urgency to it. 

     It is overdue. 

    Any type of post-secondary learning seems to meet the definition to me. Our definition is overly academic, oftentimes while the world invites other perspectives. 

    I once co-wrote the “. . . mop-headed, skydiving drop-zone dude with raggedy shorts, a day-old bologna sandwich in hand, and a parachute on his back . . .” experienced their own version of college “In open-air classrooms, with blue skies, and freefalling at 120 miles per hour” (Donlan & Gruenert, 2016, p. 20). 

    This kid qualified as college-material, for sure. I’ll bet he was provided appropriate encouragement from his skydiving teachers to train for his tests, and not to fail any! Further his teachers were pretty-darned-good at getting him ready to perform when the stakes were their highest. Skydiving licensure tests happen often at 120 miles per hour. 

    I hope from this week’s Quick Read we consider having different conversations with kids regarding college. Dreams about college can be curated more around students’ developing interests—and less from pre-conceived notions of aptitude or abilities.

    With a reframing of how we conceive of college, we can train students to overcome barriers, especially those pertaining to self-worth, self-definition, and anyone’s notion of “material.” Imagine more kids and families watching outdoor movies at family weekends everywhere—at a college, university, or career-technical education institute of their choice; on a humanitarian mission; at a military send-off; in an apprenticeship, or even under the star-lit sky of a skydiving drop zone. 

 Additional References

Donlan, R., & Gruenert, S. (2016). Minds unleashed: How principals can lead the right-brained way. Rowman & Littlefield.

Celebrate the Week Together, NOT the Short Week

With the end-of-summer upon us, many of us are back-to-school after an extended weekend—walking the hallways, talking with students, and making the most of the rush. In All Other Duties As Assigned, I mention leveraging proximity in Maximize Your Visibility, when noting “ . . . you cannot serve at the intersection of a student’s challenges and capacity without being in arm’s reach” (p. 11). 

In leveraging proximity, what we say in passing has an impact. This holds true for comments we make about four-day weeks and extended weekends around holidays. It is important we celebrate our time together, NOT that we have short weeks. 

In other words, “So glad we’re back!” is preferable; “Only four days this week!” is not. Even if the latter tacks-on, “. . . so make the most of it!”, it’s not the best approach. 

Four-day school weeks, while preferred by many adults and students, aren’t for everyone. Some don’t like going home, staying home, or being home. For whatever their reasons, they have a rough go-of-it on the outside. 

Let’s take for instance students who have their only trusted, caring adults in school, or those hungry or neglected. Probably, they aren’t celebrating short weeks or extended weekends. They’re not shouting “T.G.I.F.” 

I sometimes think of things outside of education, to make sense of the things inside—like here, I envision a scene from the book or movie production, The Outsiders, with Ponyboy and Johnny Cade hiding-out in a church, where Ponyboy recites a poem from Robert Frost (1874 – 1963). 

 

Nothing Gold Can Stay 

Nature’s first green is gold, 

Her hardest hue to hold. 

Her early leaf’s a flower; 

But only so an hour. 

Then leaf subsides to leaf. 

So Eden sank to grief, 

So dawn goes down to day. 

Nothing gold can stay. 

Source Credit, From The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem (1923, 1947, 1969) by Henry Holt and Company, in link: https://poets.org/poem/nothing-gold-can-stay , with copyrights noted therein for Robert Frost and Lesley Frost Ballantine, as well. 

 

Now with story characters like Ponyboy and Johnny, one might interpret “Gold” to depict the fleeting innocence of childhood or the value of good friendships. For kids in our own schools—some with heavy stuff going on—“Gold” might represent with careless adult reinforcement, that time spent in a safe environment is fleeting, or worse that the rare, trusting relationships in students’ lives will be short-lived, as they are not what is valued and prioritized by those in charge. 

Students of any age may instead wish to hear that educators would rather be no place else than in school with them! 

It’s not a stretch for me to imagine when Assistant Principals verbalize fondly of times NOT with students (i.e. short weeks, pining for the weekend, countdowns to summer vacation, T.G.I.F.’s, etc.) this could circumvent the togetherness and security we’re hoping to foster. I’m not advocating for a prohibition of levity, humor, or a brief respite from organizational minutia . . . just suggesting a more mindful approach to what we celebrate, with peripheral vision always a part. 

Might we note the good that comes with a short week instead—that we’re together again, even if for a shorter period of time, because that is what counts—Because students count. 

That’s worthy of celebration.

What NOT to Do in Pursuit of a Positive School Climate: Cloud Casting

    “Many thanks” to Solution Tree for working with Edutopia on a great read published last week on School Climate. See https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-assistant-principals-can-influence-school-climate. Tips are included from All Other Duties As Assigned regarding what an Assistant Principal “Can Do.” 

    Here I’d like to share something Assistant Principals, Vice-Principals, and Deans can consider NOT doing, in order to foster a positive school environment: Cloud Casting. 

    Cloud casting is when a school administrator has a concern and casts a cloud over the entire school by sending a blanket message for the behavior to stop, rather than to address directly with particular students or staff. Typically, this happens on the daily whole-school announcements or in a staff-wide written/electronic communication. 

    While seemingly efficient, Cloud Casting is counterintuitive. 

    First, Cloud Casting is an avoidance mechanism to a critical conversation best had with its source. If one is hesitant about having a conversation, there is a possibility that the policy, rule, or concern doesn’t make sense. 

    Second, Cloud Casting prevents a teachable moment for those committing or allowing the act, who would best be served with an opportunity to hear and learn privately. Aren’t we in that business, anyway? 

    Third, Cloud Casting provides cloak and cover for transgressors. It sends a message that more persons are doing the deed than really the case. A possible result is that rule followers and the hyper-conscious spend energy playing rewind needlessly in their own heads on the remote possibility they may have done X, Y, or Z inadvertently. Those guilty can then brush-it-off. 

    Finally, Cloud Casting saps energy. It dampens the mood. It’s a downer, and once delivered publicly, it pulls the air out of a positive vibe during an effortful day. 

    When  tempted to share a concern with the larger group rather than individuals, let’s pause and consider what NOT to do. If we truly value a positive climate, we may wish to keep our skies clear.

Take a Moment, for “Moment-making” as an Assistant Principal's Teachable Moment

        Sitting as a competitive dance-dad one weekend upon some bleachers, I had a chance to reflect on school administration. Anyone who has enjoyed school-aged dance competitions knows hours can pass between your child’s performances. Often I take these opportunities to generate ideas for teaching, training, and writing.  

        In this instance, I was thinking of Todd Whitaker’s and my book, The Hero Maker, written for superintendents on their relationships with boards of education. I envisioned a series of “-Maker’s” to be written someday—Difference Maker, for school boards, Future Maker for principals, Opportunity Maker for assistant principals, and Moment Maker for teachers. They just sorted-themselves-out that way; I realize the best of us do them all. 

        I reflected more fully during my writing of All Other Duties As Assigned on the powerful teaching influence of Assistant Principals. Assistant Principals use teachable moments and the entire school as their classroom—“Life,” is often the lesson. Thus, Assistant Principals like our best teachers, are moment-makers, with hundreds of decisions each day of great import, and hopefully imparting something of value.

        Key for you as an Assistant Principal is to be in-the-moment, consistently at your best for the people around you. You really are each and every day, a “. . . point person helping others make the best of circumstances when the going gets tough . . . [providing] comfort and guidance to students trying to make sense of it all while helping the adults who work with them” (p. 2). 

        Now that the school year is starting anew, do you ensure moment-making opportunities? Consider one example of Assistant Principal moment-making: It is when a student approaches you with, what I might affectionately call the yet-another thing—[‘Here we go,’ your inside voice might whisper, because you have much heavier things on your mind]. 

        This could be low-key like, “Where is my next class located?,” or “How long until the next bell?” or even of greater urgency, like “A car and bus just ran into each other in the school parking lot,” or “I’ve got to talk to you now; I’m really, really [expletive deleted] angry!” Either way, think of this yet-another-thing stepping into your present moment, while your principal is texting you about pending litigation against the school, or something similar. 

        These are your opportunities for moment-making. 

        Yet-another thing’s are often really big in the eyes of those bringing them to you, no matter their relative weight in comparison with other things you are handling. 

        You can either leverage the moment to make an indelible, positive impression upon a student, build trust, and give that moment what it deserves—your authentic time and effort—or you can handle the circumstance (even quickly dispensing of it, I might add) without moment-making in mind. 

        I hope not, the latter. 

        While moment-making, you have options of what to say next, how to say it, and what to do. Your choice as an Assistant Principal: what happens next—when yet-another thing comes knocking and how to navigate—is what moment-making is all about. 

        That moment will be remembered by the student long after the immediacy of your situation expires, and it is what will influence how they approach you [or not] the next time around, no matter the outcome. In other words, students will remember how they were treated, and how they felt in-the-moment, whether you are intentional about the moment, or not. 

        Tips for effective moment-making (what you say next, is important): 

        1. Demonstrate genuine interest in the student—in that moment—no matter the hundred other things on your mind; appear glad they approached you; 

        2. Be present and listen—ensure your non-verbal expressions indicate interest, while your brain is thinking quickly what next to say; 

        [For on-the-spot things, go directly to #3 below] 

        3. Say next, your response or decision (or start doing something, in the case of the car/bus accident above)—be compassionate while firm, if your decision is not what they want to hear. Offer to sit down with them when the two of you have more time. 

        [For things that need a bit more time to address, go directly from #2 above to #4 below] 

       4. Say next, you will give it your attention; do not promise to solve; 

       5. Share roughly how much time you’ll need; explore if they need anything in the meantime if they are emotional; 

       6. Attend to the situation as priority allows. You may learn at times, it was not just yet another thing (rather, a big thing to you, too); 

       7. Check-in with that person later-on; share what you can appropriately, and be open about any next steps (sometimes there are none). 

       8. Offer “thanks” for coming to you. 

       As moment-making is a teachable moment, what do students learn? 

       That you can be trusted; 

       That it is ok to ask for help; 

       That they matter.

Welcome Everyone

Welcome, friends and colleagues, to All Other Duties As Assigned . . . Quick Reads. 

With this summer’s release of my new book, ALL Other Duties As Assigned: The Assistant Principal’s Critical Role in Supporting Schools Inside and Out, I am creating a space where we can spend a few moments regularly—reading, reflecting, and thinking. 

At the outset, I’ll mention a heartfelt “thanks” to some great folks, including all involved in author support at Solution Tree, as well as my endorsers Todd Whitaker, Peter Marshall, and Daniel Peo. If you have a copy, please know those whom I acknowledged have been of great inspiration to me over the years. Also, an incredibly wise group of content reviewers are listed, who elevated my thinking and helped refine my content selection. 

In providing material for short reads regularly, I will strive to value and honor your role, respectful of your time and with admiration your service (or intended) in an Assistant Principalship or comparable role in schools. I’m inspired by your impact, moment-by-moment each day. 

My best to you, and please stay in touch. 

Ryan Donlan