How’s Your Work-Home Balance?

Posted on February 16, 2011 by boadams1

How’s your work-home balance? Personally, I need to improve the scales of my own life. “Trouble” is – I love my work, and much of my work feels like family. But I love my actual family even more.

This 3six5 post really helped my perspective about the work-home balance: http://the3six5.posterous.com/december-31-2010-matt-lindner

Additionally, I viewed this TED talk last night, just before I fell asleep. It’s a great reminder about the balance we need in our lives.

And, finally, I am encouraged by a dear friend to read The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance. I have only just finished chapter one, and it is a comelling start!

Formative Assessment and Sharing

Posted on February 16, 2011 by boadams1

Recently, JB sent me this 90-second Dan Meyer video. I have watched it a dozen times, and I have shared it with my entire faculty. Near the end, Dan makes the critical point about sharing what we are learning.

Also recently, I posted about my annual 360º review feedback…particularly about sharing the results. This morning, as I clicked through e-mail, I received some formative assessment better than any grade on an assignment could ever communicate. Someone from Seoul, South Korea – a school person there – wanted to get more information about my 360º review questions and prompts. What a bright-spot form of assessment – someone actually read the post and followed up wanting more information. Thanks to my new colleague in Seoul – one I have never even met. And thanks to Dan for creating such a compelling message about the power of sharing what we are learning.

>>> [N] <[email]@gmail.com> 2/16/2011 1:02 am >>>
Dear Principal Bo Adams,

Hi, my name is [N] and I stumbled across your excellently written post about 360 reviews on https://itsaboutlearning.wordpress.com. Our school, Saint Paul Preparatory Academy in Seoul, South Korea, is thinking about using a 360 review for our staff members as well. We are at the development stage and I was wondering if you would share with us the review/survey questions you use. We, of course, would use this information as reference only. I completely understand, however, if you would like to keep the exact information private. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time and energy.

Best,
—
[N]
Saint Paul Preparatory Academy
.
.
.
Dear N,

I am happy to share – that’s what learning is really all about, isn’t it? The two links below should prove helpful for you, if I understand your request correctly. In the first, I have set up a Survey Monkey collector just for you. If you want to scrub the questions/prompts from here, you can. Also, you could enter data if you want to play with this particular interface. The second link will allow you full access to the results that you enter, so you can experiment with question filtering, etc.

If you have a Survey Monkey account, I am happy to simply transfer the survey to your account. I would need your user name from Survey Monkey to do so.

If I can be of any further help, I am here.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N [fake link so as not to mess up N’s use]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=BLvkpZeRpMsKX17cUt_2bjQCjvmAl [fake link so as not to mess up N’s use]

Feedback – the entire, transparent loop

Posted on February 10, 2011 by boadams1

Every year, I engage in a “360° review” as part of my annual evaluation as a principal. As part of the review, I invite hundreds of faculty, parents, students, and administrators to contribute to a survey which solicits feedback about various aspects of my job performance. In short, I want to learn and grow. I think I do good work with considerable effort, but I hope I am not yet the principal that I will learn to be. When we stop growing, we stop. And more mirrors on the bus provide a deeper, richer view of what’s around us.

Collecting feedback is not unique. However, I always share the results of this particular survey. Certainly, this survey data is not the only feedback I get. However, it is the most formalized way that I collect feedback from a large set of constituents and people who deserve to share a collective voice in my learning and growth. Interestingly, sharing out the results seems to be a rather unique practice. For me, it seems natural to complete the loop…to connect the dots…to round out the circle of community.

This week, I sent the following email to all those I invited to participate in my formal feedback collection (the survey):

On Feb 7, 2011, at 1:03 PM, Bo Adams wrote:

Dear All (BC field):

On Jan. 6, 2011, I invited you to take part in providing me with formal feedback about my job performance as principal of the Junior High at Westminster. Thank you to the many of you who chose to participate. Of course, I welcome feedback from all of you, at any time; the survey was just one method for feedback.

As has been my practice for all eight years of my principalship, I like to share the overall survey results with you. Here is a link to a PDF of all 37 pages – a summary from Dr. Clarkson and 36 pages of the survey monkey results.

[link was here.]

Overall, I found the feedback to be very positive and encouraging, and the various voices all give me good things to think about as I continue to learn and grow in my work to serve the Junior High School and Westminster at large.

Thanks,

Bo

Approx. 50% of JH faculty responded [37 of 80]

Approx. 10% of JH parents responded [42 of 400 sampled]

Approx. 25% of Admin responded [7 of 30 sampled]

Approx. 60% of Synergy 8 students sampled responded

Why do I feel so strongly about sharing out the results of my feedback and evaluation?

I believe it helps those who participate to “calibrate” their feedback with the whole…the collective voice.
I believe it shows that I have nothing to hide – I value all the voices who contribute for one reason or another. I am the principal and/or colleague for 100% of the people from whom I solicit feedback…not just the ones with whom I agree.
I think networked (three-way) feedback is stronger than mere two-way feedback.
Sharing solicits more feedback and conversation. Already I have received 12 follow-up emails, 4 phone calls, and 6 drop-by visits. We get to interact with the feedback so WE can continue to understand each other better, each person’s perspectives better, each person’s work better.
I ask my faculty to share their student-course feedback with me. Shouldn’t I model a reciprocal respect by doing the same? Shouldn’t I be cautious – nay, resistant – to doing something to/with others that I would not do to/with myself?
It’s about learning!

Embracing Differences

Posted on February 8, 2011 by boadams1

Today, a culminating event occurred in the Junior High School – an event that is an important part of a bigger effort and critical project. Today, we experienced the “Embracing Differences” culmination. Yet, it feels wrong to call it a culmination. It is more like a new beginning, a new start, a new chance to move beyond tolerance…to move beyond acceptance…to move to embracing our differences.

For months, students in Mrs. Woods’ and Mrs. Curtis’ art classes have been engaged in producing works of art that expose student feelings about drawing the line against prejudice. Other students participated in the “Power Over Prejudice” workshops. Together, they helped open a student exhibit at Oglethorpe University.

After an advisement session last Friday, today students participated in the “Dots” activity. The advisors used the following resource to facilitate the activity.

View this document on Scribd

Then, we moved into an assembly with a special visitor. I hope you can find 20 minutes to watch the video below, which captures two advisement groups during the Dots, as well as key pieces of the assembly. I am so proud of our students, our advisors, our diversity coordinators (Lalley, Reina, and Jones), our art teachers, our Glenn Institute and Ms. Schoen. What a fine example of project-based learning. More importantly, though, what a fine example of Embracing Differences!

Pull Together

Posted on January 29, 2011 by boadams1

For the past two weeks, I have experienced virtually countless reminders about the importance of “pulling together” when engaged in team work. A chorus of “heave ho” echoes in my ears. For when we don’t pull together, we often get stuck.

On January 19, we engaged the Georgia Tech Leadership Challenge Course for our 8th graders. Here is a short video clip of one segment in the team-oriented course:

When the students did not pull together, the cable pulleys got “tweaked” and the moving bridge would not move. To make forward progress, they had to pull together. To pull together, they had to communicate!

This week, a team of mine got stuck. Forward progress was halted. The left hand and the right hand did not know what each was doing. Both had good intentions. But now, we are temporarily stuck. We are struggling to regain momentum and progress. Strain on the muscles to overcome inertia is evident. The wheels are squeaking. If we had just communicated. We could have pulled together.

The 8th graders were wise to wear safety gear. A mistake could become a lesson from which to learn, but not a tragedy. I wonder if my team of educators had our safety gear securely and properly adorned. I guess we will discover the answer to that as we look for a mistake that becomes a lesson…or a tragedy.