Canyon Springs: From Promising Practices to Model PLC

Episode 10 - Paula Maeker (Part 1), Canyon Springs' PLC Coach, talks School Turnaround

• Matt Gilpin • Season 1 • Episode 10

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On the 10th episode of Canyon Springs: From Promising Practices to Model PLC, listen in on the PLC journey with Canyon Springs as we work to be further recognized as a Solution Tree National Model PLC school. This week we finally meet Paula Maeker, author, expect on school turnaround and Canyon Springs' PLC Coach, as she discusses the start of her own PLC journey, why PLC Question 1 (What do we want all students to know?) is her "baby," and why teaching students to master the essential standards of their current grade level is actually the best preparation for success in future grade levels. This is Part 1 of a 2-part episode.

References:

PLC 4 Questions Flowchart - W. Richard Smith

Learning by Doing

Literacy in a PLC by Paula Maeker


For more information on or about this podcast, contact Matt Gilpin:

mgilpin@sssd.k12.ca.us

SPEAKER_00

Good morning. We hope you are having a very, very good start to your learning day. Welcome to the Canyon Springs from Promising Practices to Model PLC podcast. I am your host and the principal of Canyon Springs Community School, Matt Gilpin. Today is the day that are 10 episodes in the making. She started this by saying she didn't get to be the first, but that's because I only know how to record in person. We are finally, finally with our PLC guru and coach, Paula Maker. For those of you who don't know, Paula Maker is an instructional coach, author, and an expert on school improvement. We met her um just days under two years ago when we were starting our school improvement process and were named uh as a school in need of comprehensive support and improvement. And you were the support improvement. So thank you for being here, PaulaMaker.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh, it's an honor. And that is no longer a need. So improvement done.

SPEAKER_00

I appreciate it. We're at the plateau. We've pinnacled. We're done. I guess it's over. No more work. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Um, but it really was, I'm so uh excited slash nervous and anxious and all the things to get to talk to you because while we talk all of the time, we never actually record ourselves talking about all of the things you've done. Um, you I use a phrase on this podcast a lot uh that is well, we use a lot of phrases on this podcast a lot that we stole from you.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but I think it might have been your last visit or the last time you were on campus at Canyon Springs or a couple times ago, you kind of talked, you were the one who identified that moment as like a perfect storm. You were the door that the storm that that blew open the PLC wins or whatever you want to call it. Um and just starting by saying thank you for two years ago um and bringing that PLC coach. And and we do you still want to be our PLC coach?

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's uh it depends on how this podcast goes. That's true.

SPEAKER_00

Let's see.

SPEAKER_01

No, I love it. I do, absolutely. And I think um I was sharing with the faculty today. It isn't always when you come in to coach that people want to hear what you have to say or that they're receptive of change. And it's really wonderful to be in a place where a leadership wanted to spearhead this work, but that teams were, let's do this. Like, how do we do this? We want the why. Like we've got that. We've we want to invest in our purpose, but we just don't know how. So, what's been wonderful for me is to see that not only the commitment is there, but this just like joy in let's try it, let's see what happens. So I think that's why I can't ever see myself not wanting to be a part of this school particularly.

SPEAKER_00

We appreciate that. And and no, and and again, we're I we feel so intricately tied to you. I think when we knew you were coming back um this week, it was able then nice to text you and say, like, welcome home. Like it just it is that comforting feeling that the faculty and the staff and everybody has. And I I have a list of questions, we're just gonna kind of roll through the conversation, but you are and you probably heard it today, because today you met with the principals across our district and along with our staff, and um, you heard your name as all parts of speech, you know, today. And I do wonder that feeling because every school seems to have like, oh, Matt says we do this, or oh, Jessica Tobin says we do this. The name at the top of everything says, like, would Paula Maker do that? Like, what would Paula Maker do? Is that pressure? Oh, it's so much pressure.

SPEAKER_01

And also it makes me wonder like, what are you thinking I said that was Paula Maker would do this? But I totally did not say that. Um, but no, it is pressure. It absolutely is. And it's also such an honor, like, and the accountability and responsibility I have to make sure that there's clarity around what would this follow the purpose that we've set? Does this does this lift us up in that all students will learn at high levels? And it does it lift us up in the work to make sure that we do that. So yeah, no pressure. No pressure. I think I'm just gonna throw out random things now to see if just see if it sticks.

SPEAKER_00

We'll get some bracelets made. Like W W P M. No. Did I get the letter?

SPEAKER_01

I don't think if I got the letters or no, no, and you can't do that because Dolly Pardon already has that. And so we can't we can't encroach on the Dolly part of it, but we won't.

SPEAKER_00

We won't. But I guess I want to ask, like, you from the very beginning of of your time on Canyon with Canyon Springs and us, um, very quickly able to diagnose and ascertain like these are needs that your campus needs. And I guess what I want to figure out is is so much of what you've taught us is like what you lived in the classroom as well, both both being a teacher and an instructional coach and then site leader and all the jobs you've had. But at what point did that site leadership to district leadership turn into like, hey, I can spread this bigger?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I didn't think that that was something I ever wanted to do. I love being in an instructional environment. I loved having a team. Um, and I mean a true team, like interdependent. I cannot do this without the seven people at this table. Um, when we started to get results in our school, we started to get some interest from one of the lead authors of and architects of the PLC process, Dr. Rick DeFor, said, Tell me about what's happening here. Tell me what's what's effective, what have you learned? And then as I just being with my team asking questions of this guru who was kind enough and maybe crazy enough to give us his email, um, brave guy, and we asked questions and he would ask questions back and then start to notice what we were doing as a team and then reach out and say, I have a question for you. If there's a team in Nebraska that wants to understand your CFA process, can I have them reach out to you? And then we thought, of course, we were famous. Yeah. Um, because a team in Nebraska. But how flattering is that? I mean, seriously, like, oh my God, they're gonna call us an Ask us not CFA. Um, from there, I just wanted to do the work and I wanted to do it in a very meaningful way. And what ended up happening was we were doing it better than even we expected and getting results than we even could have predicted. And so then we had to sort of back up and reflect for a minute and say, why? What's working here? What's the ingredient that wasn't there before? Because it wasn't that we weren't all killing ourselves working as a fifth grade teacher team or a or a uh elementary literacy and math team. And it was the process. We finally had a structure, and then it was could you talk to another school about that? Hey, could you write an article? Hey, would you review this book? And then I was asked by Rick if I would ever consider doing this work in other schools. And I was still a teacher.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then I said, I I don't think that's my calling. I don't think that's what I'm supposed to do. And another mentor of mine, Ken Williams, at the time, um, said, I I think you should give it a shot. And they invited me to come and talk about the process at the solution tree sort of corporate office with a whole bunch of people. And we didn't really know it was an audition, but it was sort of an audition. Okay, yeah, there you go. Rick DeForce said, take this assessment and he gave us a 16 question, open-ended question about what why is CFA, why are CFAs the linchpin of the process? Answer. Um, what are the six pillars of the work or the six non-discretionary components of the work? Why are those critical? And we're just thinking it's fun. I'm nerding out. I'm like, this is awesome. It's like my own mini institute. And at the end, we did a quick presentation. And about a week later, I got a call from Rick and Becky, and they said, We'd love for you to join this team as part of the work. And I did it a few coaching sessions here and there, a couple of sessions, but I was still in the school system. And it wasn't until after I became director of curriculum instruction and Mike Maddows reached out and said, Would you ever consider doing this full-time? Because we we need more help on the RTI side. And I said, Yeah, and I can't tell you that I ever would have ever, ever in a million years seen myself doing this or being on a stage talking to people because adults are so scary. But leaving a collaborative team as hard as it was, going into schools and having any kind of impact. Like one kid on this campus may have a win today because I spoke some sort of inspiration or practicality or um or strategy into this teacher, and that kid benefited. And at the end of the day, that's that's that's why I continue to do it.

SPEAKER_00

It's a little bit in in where I go is like the kind of you're gonna have you, you are you have such better phrases and sayings than than I do. Maybe it's you're you're not in Southern California roots, but um No, it's the Alabama, that's but the proof is in the pudding a little bit of like the our Canyon Springs bears are so much better off and on a better trajectory of student learning because we met you two years ago, and that we professionally are on a better trajectory of professional learning, and then open doors to and again, um we'll kind of go around, but I remember one of the first times we met you, it was like, hey, you know, we've talked about this openly in the podcast that like being identified as a school in need of support and improvement, the three California, the three indicators on the California dashboard, one of them was um our suspension rate. And it was like we met with a team, our logistics learning leadership team at the time, and somebody said, like, I wish I just knew how to find more information to support suspension. Like, what do we do? And you're like, Well, I know the people, and so I think it was just you being the I don't the eye of the perfect storm. I'm not really sure the metaphor I'm looking for. Center of the storm. Center of the storm, I'm not really sure. But it's that that connection of like, hey, this go go down this road. Yeah, and you'll find that. And that along with it has been so amazing for a while.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think it goes back to like me learning when I said my team had to stop and reflect, we were going and we were just doing and figuring out that in this work it can't be about having the right answers, it's about asking the right questions and connecting to the right learning. And that's the process. The more we learn, the more kids learn. Like the better we get, the better kids get. And so it just makes a lot of sense. And it's funny because you say storm. Um, I would also say that some people, when I do come in and say, hey, I think this is a problem of practice. Here's an avenue to solve it, or what do you guys think? It isn't received well. And I think that yes, I got to come be a part of this process and I got to be your coach through just luck of the draw, and I'm forever thankful for that. But this school wouldn't be where it is if the team of people serving the kids on this campus weren't invested in the process and didn't say, Hey, yeah, coach, like how do we move forward? I'm at a lot of schools.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And Canyon Springs moves because of the educators in this building want to.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you've called this out. I mean, we do, there is a natural competitive line. You, you know, you've talked about we phrase it as when we win, kids win, right? So we gamify or whatever you want to say, just about every we're, and I talked to Cindy Pilar about this, about caps. Like, we try to win caps. That's not a real game.

SPEAKER_01

No, it is.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it is tough.

SPEAKER_01

All you have to do to sp to to to get you to do anything, Matt, is be like, well, there's a school to two two zip codes down that are doing it. Do you want their data? And you're like, hold, hold, hold my Stanley Cup.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I know. You well, even on a holiday card about you. You sent us one that a school gave you, and I think it was 20 minutes later, Jessica Tobin said, send her this. And and pa la. Pa la la la la. And so it goes, you know, right down to it. But I want to get back to some of your technical acumen because we've also seen you in caps. Yes. And we've seen Luis Cruz in caps. Yes. And um we like Luis better, I know. No, no, we don't, but he, I thought he gave you an incredible compliment because uh what we just talked about again. Our episode five was Heather Frisell, and and everywhere Canyon Springs goes, we talk about Polymaker, Polymaker, Polymaker. We never say Paula or Miss Maker, it's always Polymaker. And one word. One word, it's one word. And we were talking about you, and he said, You're just the double threat, like you're you keynote and you coach, and we've been the beneficiaries of both. And so, seeing all of that impact, I do want to go back to though, like when you first walked on to Canyon Springs or you walk onto any campus, that technical acumen that you have, though, to say this is what the school needs. Is there, like, I guess what question I'm asking is to be hyper specific, like, were Canyon Springs needs different than other schools, or is there usually like a collective starting point that's like, here's an entry. If we start here, it generally creates some momentum.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, good question. Every school is different, just like every scholar is different. And just as if you would walk into a classroom and you would be looking at, well, gosh, these seven students cannot read, but they all read for a very specific reason, or they're all not reading for a very specific reason. You know how to diagnose it because you know what you're looking for. I think because I lived it as a teacher, as a coach, as a campus leader, as a district leader, I sort of have the playbook of what not to do. Okay. I have a toolkit of things like, oh, gosh, that is that's a derailment. Um, and then you have such a a vision of what the structure needs to be. There's of course the tight and loose. I think Canyon Springs, um, when I got here, what I find is common in every school, they're trying to do too much, especially in the world of school improvement. We are trying to correct everything. We are trying to make everything essential. We are trying to hurry up and do more. Yeah. Cover more, go faster. Um, just if you'll just make sure that you can immerse kids in as much as possible, surely something will stick, something will land. And it's that confetti approach. We're throwing confetti up in the air and it's it's keeping us busy and it's distracted and it's and it's happy. But how many pieces of confetti can kids actually pick up as it's falling down? They don't. They're experiencing it, but they're not holding on to anything. And that is the common factor that I find in just about every school that isn't yet where they need to be.

SPEAKER_00

And what's funny is I happened to be at Chuck E. Cheese yesterday. This is twice that I recommend talked about being at Chuck E. Cheese for my daughter's birthday. And it feels, I mean, there was there's the booth where you walk in and the tickets fly around and you can catch them. And it says you there's the the number highly at the bottom is like 4,000 or three and people are in there grabbing and they walk out with six.

SPEAKER_01

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00

And 4,000 is a lot. 4,000 is a lot of tickets. And so it's No, I said it's a lie. Oh, there's a lot, so it is a lie. There is no way, and that gets if you compare Chuck E. Cheese to schools, that's what we're doing, throwing tickets at every kid and hoping they grab some of them.

SPEAKER_01

That's right. And we and we overcompensate for all the discrepancies in our system by just saying more. Here's another program to learn. Um, here's more resources, here's uh more training that you need to do, here's more tech. And we throw more at something, hoping something will catch on. And it's actually the opposite. Justin Reich from the MIT teacher lab calls it the additive model. That when we go to schools, we just pile on and pile on and pile on. He said, actually, when you are adding things to an already overwhelmed system, it just becomes burden. And he said, if you think about it, if you will take on a subtractive model, instead of saying, What more do we need? We say, What can we do less better? Yeah. Like what can we take away? And he talks about like clearing out what isn't essential into the the margins, like put it off to the side. And then what's the path forward? And so the subtractive model is actually where research shows if we want to move forward, we have to identify exactly what we will do in order to do that. And it has to be specific and targeted and less. And it's counterintuitive. It is absolutely counterintuitive to see, okay, these kids need so much. How can we why would we subtract? Give them more, give them all the things. But we know it's the confetti, it's the Chuck E. Cheese ticket machine.

SPEAKER_00

And you you you talked about that from day one. And and specifically, what's really interesting is is um teachers on Canyon Springs campus have at the time when when we were identified and you started talking about this, you know, do less but better, and and less is more, and what are the essentials that we really need for all students? There were pockets of teachers or grade level spans teams that were were do, you know, oh my gosh, that's so much. And feeling really overwhelmed by this new learning or process is gonna add on to my plate, tip me over, whatever, and I'm gonna break like Humpty Dumpty. And then now, two years later, that same team feels stress, or the same group of teachers feel stressed. But the answer is because I want to build these artifacts or do more, or my CFA, I just let me call out second grade, right? Right, they were fant doing fantastic. And we just walked out of their PLT meeting an hour ago or whatever, and I was said, Well, why didn't you? This is fantastic. Why didn't you share this with the second grade teachers from across the district? And they said, because it's not perfect yet. I'm like, okay, knock it off with that. So they're still feeling that, but it's such a focused feeling of motivation as opposed to, oh my gosh, I'm drowning in too much.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I think we don't want to share it yet because it's not perfect, is also just a testament to how meaningful your teachers want it to be and how dedicated they are to that process. Um, also, I think there's a little bit of we've been conditioned to be that way. You have to be perfect and you have to be accountable for everything, all the things, all the kids, all the administration uh parts of our job, and you have to be um also accountable to community members and parents, and don't forget we have a high-quality instructional material resource you have to be accountable to. And at what point can we just say, let's be accountable for learning? Yeah, and learning is the plate. Learning is the plate. And if we put it on the plate and it adds value to learning, it can stay. If it's going on the plate and it does not support us in that mission, then it goes in the margin. We clear the path. And you have to be I I think that takes a bit of bravery. Yeah, because it is so counterintuitive that giving yourself permission, and you've heard me say, we cannot go rogue, yeah, but we go responsibly rogue. And we know if this system is overburdening and overloading us, what's it doing to kids?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

How are kids managing all the expectations that we're putting on them? They can't handle it either, not even cognitively. They don't have the load, the space. So taking a moment to just say, okay, what can we do? And we will do it better than anybody else. And our kids will leave without a gap. They will leave with at least this. That's how you gain ground.

SPEAKER_00

And it is it's interesting because in as two years into our process and still having so much more to improve, when I do a coffee with a principal, or I do a school site council meeting, or I do something and I talk about what you just said, I haven't met a single parent that's come up to me upset that's saying, You're gonna teach my student less. Yeah. Because you hear the last word in the sentence of we're gonna teach them better. And we around here all go to In N Out, and it's the same concept. They're gonna make a better burger because there's less things on the menu, and they're gonna perfect that over and over and over again. And um, it's such an easy sell, but to parents, yet sometimes we have to struggle with that sell to the teachers doing the work.

SPEAKER_01

Well, this guy, Matt Gilpin, he makes me read all these books. Um, he makes me read books, and when it's actually funny because I had heard of essentialism, I had scanned it, like a couple of articles that came through Forbes or some sort of corporate piece. And then you said, That's our book study. Will you read it with us? And I've I did the book study with you. It's so funny because the do less better comes from the book you made me read that was a corporate book.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it just it's what we've been trying to say in education ease, essential standards, guaranteed and viable curriculum. And at our school, as you know, we call them promises. Yeah. We promise every single student if you come in, you will leave with at least this. And I think the reason why parents align with this as well is because you're making a guarantee, like they feel safe in that and trusted in that. We've got this. Now, the other piece of this is it's not all we're gonna teach. We're not just Teaching essentials. Your student is going to be engaged in so much. The confetti is still being thrown up in the air.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But we're going to take a minute and we're going to pick up those pieces and we're going to hold them. And we're going to make sure that you have them in your pocket, in your backpack, in your brain. When you walk out that door on June 4th or June 5th, you will not leave without these pieces. And so much more you're going to see and experience, and wee, it goes up in the air, and everybody's like, yay. But you will walk out with this in your hand, in your backpack, in your brain on June 4th and 5th. And there's no gaps.

SPEAKER_00

There's no gaps. And again, I want to give credit to um, I read that book several years ago while working as a curriculum specialist under a principal named Martha Walter, who we weren't talking about PLC at all. She just said, This book I think will fit with standards as and I read it and thought, I like this book. I don't really see it. And then it was coupled with the learning, it came back to me once you started talking about essential standards and and doing less, you know, hey, we're gonna teach these better. I thought, well, I have a book, I know a book. And it just created this connection. And so earlier today, um, I don't know if it's your favorite of the PLC questions, but you talk question one, you know, what do we want all students to know? Yeah, you just said out loud earlier today, well, that essential standards are your baby. The essential learning is your baby. I get, is it your favorite? I mean, it's such a dumb question. Is it your favorite of the four? Is it the one, is there a priority of the four? It obviously is one, one comes before the other numbers.

SPEAKER_01

But did you just answer your own question? I don't know, maybe. Um, yeah, you know why it's my baby? Because nothing else works without it. Yeah. Um, you know, people will say, Well, we I was sharing with you, uh, I am not going to be a fit working with a particular school district because when the superintendent met with me, they said, You can't talk about essential standards. We have a high quality instructional resource, they will follow it with fidelity, they will do page one, and we're just gonna give ourselves a year or two to get used to the resource. And I said, Well, then you're gonna have to make a decision, which is it, because you can either follow a resource or you can become a professional learning community. And then any aspect of school improvement, students need more access to grade level, not less. Uh, students need strong instruction, students need deep content engagement, student investment, tracking and monitoring their own goals. Teachers need time to become experts in their field and students of the standards and study what learning looks like, sounds like, and feels like. None of that is doable in every single thing we're asked to do. Every single aspect of what we do well goes back to doing less. Essentials are the key ingredient for every single aspect of the PLC process. Why do you the only reason we collaborate is to ensure essentials? Yeah. The only reason we build assessments is to see how we're doing on the essentials. The only reason we have an intervention and extension system is to intervene on the essentials, to extend on the essentials. There is no purpose for collaboration if there isn't a guaranteed outcome. And the guarantee is the essential. So, and I think the reason I call it my baby is because I've just spent so much time researching it, talking about it, writing about it, but living it. Yeah. Living it and then seeing the benefit of the focus. And that's that's the win. When people are like, yes, please, less. Less, but we will be the best on the planet on less.

SPEAKER_00

Do you find it to be because again, having met with you today with other site principals across our district, and then we did question four at our staff meeting to really figure out what we can send, which again you can't do unless you're extending um the essential standards. I mean, unless you're going back to it. And so it does kind of feel like the route. But again, in talking with other principals and not to call anybody out, and we're still going through it. Do you find it that it has to be the start of everything because it's the hardest to master or the hardest to settle on? Or it is it because it we everything comes back to it. When you're when we feel confused by someone, we go back to look at the standards. And is this essential? What does it really say? I don't have a question there. I just feel like I'm making a statement or one of the things.

SPEAKER_01

But I don't think everybody does that. I don't think that teachers have actually been given the professional space and support to be experts in standards. Um, I just happened to have I'm a nerd, and my fifth grade team, we had to crack the code. We we didn't have a coach on site. We just knew that our kids needed to do better. We didn't have any blueprint yet for a big, huge new assessment our state was rolling out. So we just broke open standards and we just figured out, okay, what are they asking? We compared it to different states. We looked at other assessments from across the US and we just started to piece it together because we didn't have the story of learning. We had every resource in the universe. I use the analogy today with um our principals because it is it is hard to convince people because we're conditioned to think use the program. Um, use taxpayer dollars have spent millions of dollars on this. We've got to honor that. Sure we do, of course we do. But a resource is never going to transform student outcomes. A resource is going to support teachers that transform student outcomes. And I use the analogy of Lowe's has everything you need to build a house. It has everything you need. You have choices, you have different kinds of lumber, you've got different fixtures. If you need to build a house, everything you need is in Lowe's. So you give me an unlimited budget and you say, Paula, I need you to build build a house. Here's Lowe's. That doesn't mean I know how to build the house. Every tool is at my fingertips. I don't know. I don't know the difference between or where to start. But if you say, hey, Paula, I need you to build a house, let's build a plan together. And you give me the blueprint, and I have the blueprint, I know exactly what goes first foundation. Then I'm gonna put up the framing, then I'm gonna add the trusses, then the roof has to go on before I put sheetrock on the walls. My dad was a construction worker. I love it. Like I grew up on a construction worker. I don't, I'm not handy at all. Wall thingies, wall thingies go up before you like the roof has to go on plate.

SPEAKER_00

My wife is handy, would know exactly what you're talking about. I know nothing.

SPEAKER_01

We'll we'll catch you up. She and I will catch you up. Um, but you I I can't just walk into I'll use food.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

I'll use food. Um because I know that you and I connect on that level.

SPEAKER_00

We're good.

SPEAKER_01

Um go into the grocery store. Hey, I need you to go into Whole Foods and get everything you need because you're gonna make a lasagna. Just here's the grocery store. It's got everything you need. And you go in and you're you've got everything you need. You know you need some sauces and you need some noodles, but you don't know the quantity, you don't know which kind, you don't know what order. But if I and so you're in Whole Foods trying to figure it out. But if I said, hey Matt, here's a recipe, here's the ingredients, here's the step-by-step, here's what you're gonna need to make the world's greatest lasagna, you can pick up that recipe and you can go in Whole Foods and get what you need.

SPEAKER_00

You can go in Vaughn's or Lucky's or um I don't know any other grocery stores here because I'm not here, but you gotta once I pass. You go to Costco. I know Costco. Yeah, you'll get a lot of the ingredients.

SPEAKER_01

Because it isn't the store that matters because you understand exactly what you need.

SPEAKER_00

And going back, if I can interrupt for a minute, because you have that moment. We again going back to earlier when we say Polymaker says, Polymaker says, I whether it was this year or last year, I forget what the visit was, but we reference it all the time when it is um when you say, you know, you're not teaching the product, you're teaching the standard. Yes. Because we would say, hey, I forget the conversation, but I think you had with one of our teachers was like, when are you teaching? Oh, that's when I teach Hegri. And you had that's when I teach, you know, that's when I teach um Eureka math or whatever our curriculum might be.

SPEAKER_01

That's when I teach OG.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And you really spent time. I mean, I'm not gonna let that wasn't an easy lesson for us to learn. That no, that's when you're teaching phonemic awareness. Right. And um it's still coming back up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the learning target is what the tool helps you meet the target instead of I'm my favorite is well, that's our reading block.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. What's happening in reading block? Let's get really specific and targeted. Or or also, yeah, that's our that's our scholastic news time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's our amplify.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. When when you it is. And so do you think, because you've also called us out for this. Um, you're one, but again, I'm gonna I'm gonna get to a quote you said earlier today, and then you're gonna be like, really? You're making that one up. But I'm I'm building up to something. See, I can build some things. But um, but again, you've called us out several times for having uh a knowing doing gap, right? We love again, I've talked about all the time. Like, I'm a firm believer in prof on the job, professional development. Like, I that all makes all the sense in the room, and I'm hungry for it. Like, you give me a book, I want to read it. Like you send me to see us see somebody, I'm gonna go learn and I'm gonna read the book. Like, I'm gonna do, I'm so hungry for it. Doesn't always turn into artifacts, doesn't it? It turns into some action, but if we don't write it down, it didn't happen. Like, what do we artifact? Or how do we build the artifact? And you called out kind of our district. I mean, it called out in the most positive, I call that kind of thing, but that's true. Point that out. Like, where is that? Why do you have a a thought as to why that is a common repetitive reoccurrence for a school like Canyon Springs?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, if I learn about it, it's safe. I don't have accountability. If I do it, now I'm responsible for results. Yeah. So it's very easy. As humans, we take the path of least resistance. That's nature. So it's really easy to learn about it and feel safe and talking about the methodology and presenting about it. And oh, we went to this conference, let me tell you what we learned. Um, but it's the actual if I commit to this, then I can't be afraid of being vulnerable when it does or does not work. So when I commit to something, then there's some accountability that follows. And if there's accountability, then maybe there is a call out, or where there's a moment where I don't feel like I've got the instructional acuity I need or the instructional knowledge that I need. And that's gonna feel weird and icky. And I don't want people to know that I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm a teacher. Yeah. And as soon as we graduate with that certification, we're supposed to know everything all the time. And that is one of the biggest mistakes we make as educators. I did it in the beginning. I would never admit I had a question because I was told by my first principal that if I didn't know it, I wasn't doing my job as a teacher. And that if I ever had a discipline problem and sent it to him, that I would lose respect from my colleagues and my students. I was terrified to admit anything. Yeah. So I just made stuff up. Sometimes it worked out for me, other times it was a disaster, and we shall not speak of it. That's okay. Things have a way of working out. But the minute I found out that it's about asking the questions. And if I were gonna ask questions, that wasn't gonna get me anywhere. I had to do something with the knowledge. So the artifacts aren't just did you do it? Compliance. That should not be what it is. It's not a gotcha or a checkup or if it like our you know, uh Cindy Pilar says, if it if it's not written down, it didn't happen. And that's not because it's a it's an evaluative process, it's information. If I'm gonna invest in doing something well, don't I need feedback on how it's going so I can get even better? And I can't just use my opinion of, well, I think it went great. The kids were smiling, they were nodding along. And then you give the assessment and they all bomb it. The real feedback comes from information. How's it going? And artifacts are information. It's our formative assessment, it's our it's our impact statement, it's our next step. And so the artifacts are really, really important because um it's not that it didn't happen. It's that there's no point in doing all of this if we're not doing it to get better.

SPEAKER_00

And I and I that ending phrase is is what the the doing it to get better. And and um I go through this every time I get to spend time with you, is that I I feel really good about things. And you said it today. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna admit this because we talk, we've talked about this before. I think I was up to 1 a.m. last night after the first day, like, oh my gosh, because you said it yesterday, I don't know if you said it today, or maybe you said today, I forget, but you'll you said like you get to just burn the bridge and walk out of here. And you do burn the Canyon Springs Bridge sometimes and walk out, but what that kicks into us, and and I hope everybody has this person for their school or or even maybe their life, it kicks into that action of like, oh, now we got to build the bridge again.

SPEAKER_01

I love that.

SPEAKER_00

Like that bridge, that bridge didn't hold everyone we needed it to. So burn it, like you point out and you burn it, and then now that kicks into our action. Like, for example, we I have not been doing a good job of holding our site accountable for the school-wide data on specific essential standards. And so we talked as a guiding coalition yesterday that that is our next step of responsibility. So that's our building block for our new bridge. And then we get to see you again, we'll light it on fire, and then the action will turn in. But I I realize that today in listening to you, that that is the process that we go through with you as a coach. Again, I don't have a question. I just wanted to say that out loud.

SPEAKER_01

No, I know, and I think it's true because I always feel guilty because you're like, um, you leave, and then and then I get a text later, Paula Maker, you're making me rethink my life. I don't understand why you make me feel so bad about this work, but it's good. It's good. It is good. Um, and I think that is so important. And um, the two two of the highest compliments I ever paid, believe it or not. The first one was, I love how you tear people down, but you're right there to build them back up. Yeah. And I hate that it that they made it about people, but it's really, it should be about practice because it's not the people, it's the practice. Um, and then the second compliment I got, I still have the t-shirt. Um, one of my team, Angela Lewis, um, the third grade team, shout out to Tom Ball Elementary School, one of the best faculties I've ever worked with. Um, talk about one of the brightest, most talented group of people who were constantly in a rut of school improvement because every year they had a new curriculum. Well, that didn't work. Well, you gave it nine months, or they had a new principal or they had a new mandate, and the state was coming in. And I was brought in by the superintendent as the assistant principal for the school, and the superintendent was amazing, but she said, you gotta fix this school. And I was like, I I don't think it's broken. Yeah, you can't fix something that doesn't exist. You're not fixing this system because if you fix this system, it's still not gonna work. We need a whole new system. So, Angela Lewis, our first year end, you know, we were bottom 25% of all schools in the state of Texas by the end of the year, because of these teachers and this process, top 10% of all of the schools. Which is a wild. It's a wild. It's amazing, it's amazing, and it's because of them. And they said they started calling me Mary Poppins behind my back. Well, I'm cool with that, you know, like a spoonful of sugar, baby. There's no, there were lots of other things, trust me. But this is what they could tell me they called me behind my back. This is a school where my car was keyed. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is that story. Um, and they gave me a Mary Poppins t-shirt, and I was like, this is so kind. What I don't understand. And she said, you know, Mary Poppins came in when nobody wanted her. Mary Poppins came in, she just flew on in with her bag and her medicine and her spoonful of sugar and all her and all her structures, and nobody wanted it. Nobody thought they needed it. And the number one thing Mary Poppins was waiting for was to leave. Not because she didn't want to be there, because she wasn't necessary anymore. And I feel like that's the job as a coach. It's our job as a teacher, but as a coach, how can I build everybody in this educational community up so that I can walk away with a smile and not burn the bridge. Yeah. Not burn the bridge, but literally like fly away on that little umbrella with a smile on my face because I'm not needed anymore. And of course, I always want to be needed. Um, but but my job is to coach myself out of a role. And so the highest compliment I think I was ever paid was thank you for helping us see something we didn't want, structuring it in a way that we are now empowered to do it, and thank you for backing away and handing it over. And I think that's the best compliment we can get. Like, how are we building that?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know, but I think it I think if every teacher, I I've I've heard you talk a little bit about that story, but not the whole thing. And it's wonderful to hear. And I think if every teacher, and I I reflect back on my time in the classroom, and and I'm gonna try to get to some of the topics you were talking about today, if every teacher looks at themselves as I don't want to say Mary Poppins, but it as this like with their fourth grade student, that at the last day of fourth grade, they can look at all their students and say, You don't need me anymore. You like now you're ready to go, and maybe they're the ones that fly away off into fifth grade, but that the job has been done that you know, fourth graders are excited to get to school. I don't mean like that, but that like you've given them the systems, you've given them the structures, you've made sure that it all went back to those essential standards, essential learning, and you've gotten them to their proficiency or mastery and said, you're ready to go. It's the same thing, instructional coach for a school as a teacher to their students within their classroom, is they're ready to go. And you talked a lot about that today, is and I've always been this believer, it's always frustrated me when the back half of a school year, you will now, if you're a second grade, now you're third graders. No, you're not. You know that the thing, like now I'm gonna teach you, you're not. And we talked a lot about that today is teach them to be the best second graders they can be, and they will be ready.

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

And it it plays into that and makes that connection very well. That teachers can feel complimented if they by preparing their student for the next level, by letting them master their current way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like why would we worry about tomorrow if we're not ready for now?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

What that doesn't make any sense. Why are you preparing me for something that hasn't happened yet? Um, when when I'm not even ready for what needs to happen right now. And then if we do focus on this is the need for now, then they're stepping into what's next ready. So we're actually doing better work when we don't worry about what's tomorrow problem. And we worry about, okay, well, this is our span. This is our work, like this is our like manifesto. It's the Jerry Maguire, like this is my letter of promise of like this is my manifesto. Nobody leaves not ready. When we work so hard to focus on all the things that don't have an impact right now, then where's the impact at all?

SPEAKER_00

You can find more information about this week's episode in the podcast description. The intro and outro music provided courtesy of the Signors of Marseille, and podcast cover art provided care of Jolby.