Leading Off
​
​Greetings ESHA friends!
I hope this finds each of you well, safe and sane. By now you have begun your new normal and have returned to your schools in some fashion. It is not easy and certainly not like it used to be. Please know ESHA is here for you.
We have good news! While we won’t be going to Seattle in a few weeks the Seattle planning committee has been hard at work with a strategy to come together virtually   (a word you should be more than familiar with by now). If we can’t go to Seattle this year we can at least come together and enjoy fellowship and comradery from afar.
​
Welcome to Seattle 2020…A Virtual Retreat
When:                  Friday, October 23, 2020
                                6:30-7:30 P.M. EST
What:                   Welcoming cocktail party
Dress:                     Anything goes!
If you are tired of sweats, leggings, and pajamas then put on your party clothes!
Spouses and significant others are invited and encouraged to join us.
 Zoom:
Meeting ID: 813 5903 8704
Passcode: 825668
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kuJqU7gbf
Fun:                
Since we can’t have our usual opening happy hour, we thought it would be fun if everyone would like to share their favorite cocktail and/or appetizer recipes.  Just click on the Kudo link and it will take you directly to the ESHA Virtual Cocktail and Appetizer Recipe Share. Photos, videos and words of encouragement are all welcome!
                              https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/HpMcGwLV
                              Our Kudo board will always be up, feel free to add at any time.
 
When:                  Monday, October 26, 2020
                               12:00-2:00 P.M. EST
What:                   A Conversation with Mary Menacho
Many of you know Mary as a past head and a long-standing member of ESHA who also served on the ESHA executive committee.
She is the new president of ISACS, following ESHA’s own, Claudia Daggett.
Mary has graciously agreed to serve as the facilitator for this meeting. Her topic will speak towards the challenges of being a head of an independent school during COVID. This will be an informal format. The first half will be a presentation by Mary with Q&A. You will then go into small breakout rooms to chat freely and confidentially amongst yourselves.
​Zoom :     
Meeting ID: 842 6987 7749
Passcode: 064784
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kWxIBzEKM  

Please RSVP as soon as possible to info@elementaryschoolheads.org regarding which session(s) you plan on attending. Thank you. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!
 
No worries, we have moved the actual in-person Seattle retreat to October 23-26, 2021 at The Fairmont! More information to follow soon.

Warm regards,
Mary Beth
(859) 361-0089

 
 

 

Heads-Up!

GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY THAT OUR SCHOOLS FACE, ESHA IS INTERESTED IN HOUSING ARTICLES AND RESOURCES THAT YOU, OUR MEMBERS, FIND EXTREMELY HELPFUL, THOUGHTFUL, AND CREATIVE, SO PLEASE FORWARD ANYTHING YOU FIND PARTICULARLY STELLAR TO INFO@ELEMENTARYSCHOOLHEADS.ORG







 

 

Leading Off

Dear ESHA Friends,
 
            Instead of sending out our normal March newsletter, it seems appropriate instead to offer you support, empathy, prayers, and hope in this extraordinarily difficult time.
 
            When many of us met at our reception in Philadelphia less than three weeks ago, our mood was upbeat even though NAIS had just convened a session on the coronavirus. We simply had no idea of what was coming.
 
            All of you as school leaders have taken appropriate steps to ensure the safety of your students, families, staff, and communities. As you well know, managing this particular situation was not even or ever contemplated when you took on your jobs as Heads. But you are in your positions, among other reasons, because of your intelligence, common sense, perception, kindness, and fortitude. These traits will bolster and sustain you as you continue to navigate the uncharted waters ahead. I admire all of you for your steady hands and know that you will both endure with patience and wisdom and direct with great care.
 
            As a practical matter, most of you have begun or are in the process of structuring the necessary off-campus educational programs for your students. While your local peers are often the best resources, should you need to reach out to me, or if I can connect you with any ESHA colleagues, please do let me know.
 
I realize that because of bad timing on my part, our membership dues billings were sent out yesterday. While this was planned some time ago, my head, like yours, has been spinning, and I neglected to delay the date. I apologize for this, and it should remain low on everyone’s priority list.
 
The many roles of a Head can include those of pastor, psychologist, and prophet. I keep you in my thoughts and prayers as you go about fulfilling these and so many other offices in the coming weeks.
 
Best,
 
Chris


From ESHA President
Veronica Codrington-Cazeau

Dear ESHA Members,
 
I apologise for the lateness of this communication but I have been working to move my school to online learning. As many of you know this is harder for elementary schools than for secondary schools.
 
The first recorded case of COVID-19 was in the state of Washington, not too far from my own school. Washington also had the first death. Independent Schools in this area were called upon to make unprecedented decisions long before their public school counterparts. Parents were concerned for their children's safety and school leaders were concerned not only for their students but also for their faculty and staff, many of whom fell into high risk categories.
 
My school was one of the first independent elementary schools to close in Washington and this decision did not come lightly. My faculty, staff and administrative team took on the work of moving us from an in-person, community school to an online learning school.
 
Our fourth through eighth grade students were already on a one-to-one program, so teachers began recording lessons, setting up zoom and google meet lessons and communicating the changes to parents. 
 
Our PS through 3rd grade teachers began creating weekly packets of learning for their students. Every day would begin with a video recorded greeting and then students were assigned daily tasks and weekly projects to complete at home.
 
None of this was easy and the need for collaboration, encouragement and for everyone to lean in was apparent. I am proud of what my school accomplished in a short window and I am happy to support and share our process with all of you. Please email me at rcazeau@evergreenschool.org  with questions or just to say hi.
 
Ronnie

 
​

Heads-Up!

There are a number of nice reflections to pass on to you. BUT FIRST, register for the...

          2020 ESHA Cocktail Reception at
https://www.elementaryschoolheads.org/events.html

WHERE: ​Molly Malloy's Kitchen and Bar at Reading Market Terminal, 1136 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

WHEN: Wednesday, February 26, 2020, 7-9 pm

PRICE: Thanks to our sponsors, The Education Group and The Hill School, this event is a free open bar! However, a $50 contribution is encouraged, though certainly not required.

Now on to some thoughtful thinking...

From the Marshall memo:

U.S. immigration 1919-2019 – This animated graphic shows the countries from which U.S. immigrants came year by year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlJg2h2NrTM
 
“100 Years of Immigration to the U.S. 1919-2019” Animated Stats, December 20, 2019
© Copyright 2020 Marshall Memo LLC

 From our Australian Colleagues...

20 December 2019 
Mr Chris Abell
Executive Director
Elementary School Heads Association 
​
Dear Chris 
I write to thank you, Elinor and Mary Beth for the warm hospitality extended to me and my family during our visit to Nashville in October. 
It was a wonderful experience to have shared in the collegiality with the ESHA members and their partners at the retreat. Attendance at your retreat was a valuable opportunity for me to learn more about your association and I certainly came away with a better understanding of the similarities and differences between ESHA and IPSHA. ESHA’s ‘Flights’ concept was of particular interest to me and one which we may look to replicate in the IPSHA context sometime in the future. 
For your interest, I have attached a copy of the November 2019 edition of the Federal eLink. The Federal eLink is our association’s twice-yearly publication. 
Thank you once again, and I look forward to our associations’ continued collaboration. Kind regards, 
Grant Bock 
IPSHA Federal President 

Suggested by Dane’s Educational Blog   Dane Peters of ESHA

 The Atlantic
 Stop Trying to Raise Successful Kids
And Start Raising Kind Ones
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/stop-trying-to-raise-successful-kids/600751/
 

 Setting tuitions for the next school year? Take a look at Knuckleball Consulting's take...
Mike Vachow  Knuckleball Consulting  November 2019

As a follow up to our October Retreat session at Vanderbilt, consider watching  the
November Front Line on Artificial Intelligence.
And remember the caution that going forward into the more prevalent world of Artificial Intelligence, these qualities will serve our students best:

1. Judgment and decision-making
2. Fluency of ideas
3. Active learning
4. Learning strategies
5. Originality

                                                           Heads-Up!

Always a Tough One…
 
Helping Students Use Online Resources without Plagiarizing
            “For as long as there have been students, there have been lazy methods for getting work done,” says Illinois high-school teacher Amy Cavanaugh in this English Journal article. But according to recent surveys of students, plagiarism has escalated in recent years, largely because of what’s available on the Internet and how easy it is to cut and paste other people’s work. Cavanaugh polled her own ninth graders and almost all of them fessed up to taking answers from classmates or the Internet in the previous month. “I’m just so stressed out,” said one, “and if someone has the answers to a stupid worksheet, I’ll take them.” “It’s just sort of normal,” said another; “I’m not a cheater but I share.” 
     That student’s lack of shame stems from a youth culture that engages in wholesale sharing of music, photos, videos, memes, tweets, posts, and more. The line between harmless interpersonal communication and violation of the traditional norms of intellectual property is fuzzy because authorship of lots of online material is unclear and kids get used to the idea that sharing a tweet credits the source. A 17-year-old German author who was accused of copying large chunks of her best-selling book defended her use of “mix and match” by saying, “There’s no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity.” Students who are immersed in this culture know that sharing schoolwork and online material is against the rules, but they don’t see it as a serious transgression. 
     Educators do, but Cavanaugh believes their response is ineffective. “If students do not feel ashamed of what they’re doing,” she says, “our current, mostly punitive, strategies for deterring plagiarism are useless, and so are our assessments.” Here’s her example of an approach that doesn’t work – and how to tweak it so it does:
Early in her career, Cavanaugh assigned the following essay prompt as her class read To Kill a Mockingbird: “What does the mockingbird symbolize in the novel?” Students who Googled “mockingbird symbolism” found a wealth of information: other kids’ essays on that exact topic, a comprehensive SparkNotes analysis with cited evidence, and impressive critical articles by scholars who had thought through the question and come up with top-notch answers. Teachers can’t expect students to ignore such a treasure trove of material, says Cavanaugh: “When the questions that are proposed ask them to regurgitate the ideas of those that came before them, we can guess what the outcome will be…”
     One student said to her, “It’s just a matter of working smarter, not harder. If the answer is out there, it’s kinda dumb not to look.” But there’s a big downside: “Students often work harder to avoid getting caught ‘stealing’ ideas than they do thinking meaningfully about the question, or even about the answers they find, and they don’t have opportunities to improve.” Clearly, mockingbird symbolism-type essay questions are a problem and don’t advance the deeper mission of the English curriculum. 
Cavanaugh decided to take a different approach, making “the devil into my ally”: she asked students to do an Internet search for credible material on that question, analyze and evaluate the reasoning, and defend, qualify, or refute what they found. “This assignment,” she says, “requires the same kind of literary analysis, but minimizes the incentive to plagiarize and better acquaints students with using outside sources effectively.” She tries to orchestrate assignments and discussions that aren’t “busywork.”
     Over the years, Cavanaugh has also focused on classroom culture, developing relationships with students, and creating a community that is trustful and in which students feel they can take risks and make mistakes. She also minimizes high-stakes homework assignments and has expanded her use of in-class discussions, weekly in-class essays; group inquiry; and questions that require original thinking, for example: Is Atticus justified putting his kids at risk? Should we pity Mayella?
Cavanaugh also believes it’s important to go beyond what current ELA standards call for – citing sources to support arguments – and explicitly teach students how to find and examine good evidence and determine when citation is necessary. “Students might read numerous blogs or tweets or documents before coming to a conclusion about an idea,” she says. If students come up with what they believe is an original thought, should the sources be cited? Is that synthesis or plagiarism? And how can teachers get away from being “thought police constantly skeptical of students’ ideas” and move toward being “facilitators of critical thought”?
            One avenue is to teach students what a good academic discussion looks like. In the first week of school, Cavanaugh has students read “A Rose for Emily” and practice using notecards with conversation stems:
-  While I agree with [student’s name], I also think…
-  What I think [student’s name] is suggesting is that…
-  So, [student’s name], are you saying…?
-  I disagree with [student’s name] that…
-  [Student’s name], what do you think about…?
This gets students practicing “citing” and “retweeting” each other’s ideas, giving credit where it’s due, and establishing habits that carry over to their written work. “By encouraging them to credit each other in discussion,” says Cavanaugh, “I am helping them to see how ideas evolve, change, and are challenged by a community of learners.” 
            Another cause of plagiarism, she says, is students’ insecurity about their own thinking. Frequent in-class essays with low stakes and quick feedback help build confidence – “the development of a critical vocabulary that feels personal, relevant, and helps eliminate the will to cheat. It introduces students to other communities of thought and invites them to add to, rather than take from, the conversation. If we can keep the secrecy out of what students are doing with homework, if we can get students to communicate their insecurities with the content, experiment with using the Internet as a tool in the light of day, and get them to trust us to guide them in doing so ethically and without punishment, then we can show them that we are more concerned about what they’re learning than whether they get the ‘right’ answer.” 
 
“Cultivating Critical Thought in the Gen-Z Culture of Sharing” by Amy Cavanaugh in English Journal, July 2019 (Vol. 108, #6, pp. 32-38), https://bit.ly/2Zch7p0for members; Cavanaugh can be reached at acavanaugh@lw210.org.

​Humor in Our Work as Educators and Leaders
 From ESHA member Dane Peters
 Dane’s Blog
 
https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/spring-2019/leadership-lessons-why-laughing-matters-in-leadership/


And also from Dane...
​
​How to Raise a Reader
Posted: 20 Sep 2019 08:16 AM PDT
This a must-read book for all parents and teachers. The authors are so sensitive about timing, especially for young readers—and their parents—that begin the process a bit later in life.

One quote in their book jumped out at me because I remember reading the same reference in the book Freakonomics: 

"According to studies that measure the likelihood of a child growing up to be a reader, the most important factor is . . . the statistic most highly correlated to literacy is the number of books present in the home." (p. 26) And, here is a link to an editorial opinion about this point that was made in USA TODAY.

Give some thought to using How to Raise a Reader as a school-wide read where faculty, parents, and boards read the book together, and then discuss. What better way to build a school community.

Here is a short, neat video by the authors on their book and three myths about reading to children.

 
                                                           FYI
           Boardable is software to manage and engage your school's board of directors. It centralizes all board activities including meetings, documents, discussions, and committees in one easy to use portal- available via the web and mobile apps.  One of our members recently purchased Boardable and is excited to start the new school year using the tool with their board. Boardable offers free trials and demos of the product if you would be interested in considering it for your school's board. Here's some more information. 

Boardable Demo: https://boardable.com/schedule-a-demo/
Boardable Free Trial: https://boardable.com/free-trial/

​and finally, from Mike Vachow of Knuckleball Consulting...
Pater/Mater Familias
July 18, 2019
|Mike Vachow
 
Al Adams' piece in the 2010 fall issue of Independent School magazine, Thirty-One Windows: the Evolving Metaphors for Headship, is one that I re-read at least twice a year and have forwarded to dozens of head friends and clients.  It's a study on the roles that heads play in leading their schools and how the relative importance of those roles changes over their tenure.  Adams discerns 31 "windows" into headship that he groups into 9 overarching roles.  

• Educational Guru
• Visionary
• Architect/Builder
• CEO
• Mayor
• Fiscal Shepherd
• Culture Creator/Arbiter
• Pater/Mater Familias
• Narrator/Storyteller

Adams singles out the role of Pater/Mater Familias as being especially important because it "constantly asks the Head to be the glue that binds together an often fragile, sometimes flawed, occasionally fractious, and always insatiably needy community."  It is the role "that usually trumps all other duties when it calls," and heads regard it as one of the most important of the nine regardless of where they stand in their tenure. 
 
I've been thinking a lot about these passages and wondering how these roles might shift in relative importance when one inserts a third vector:  the cultural moment(s) of the head's tenure. I would posit here that whereas the Pater/Mater Familias role has always been one of the most important in headship, it has become even more valuable now as families come to our schools looking for an antidote to the impatient discord and loneliness that characterizes our national times.  They are looking for a school community where their child and the entire family feel connected and cared for.  
 
The good news is that independent schools are already good at creating community and possess enormous practical advantages over of our educational counterparts:  we are place-based and selective; we are small and heavily staffed by comparison to even the best-resourced public schools; our faculty are the central value proposition.  So, how can heads take this core strength and make it even stronger?  
 
Most important, attention to community needs to exist first in classrooms, all of them. Woe to the school that mounts efforts to connect adults when there is inconsistent attention to the children's social and emotional worlds.  Floating before the eyes of any head reading this piece are the faces of the current parents or faculty members who would hoist the irony/bullshit flag on that matter.  If necessary, and functioning as Mayor and Architect/Builder, the head must lead the effort to shore up attention to community in the classroom then the faculty room before widening the circle.  Responsive Classroom practice provides a powerful framework for elementary and middle school classrooms and an important model for the entire school as it elevates to central importance how we form our circles of community at the beginning of the year and daily prioritizes how we greet each other and conclude each day with reflection.  I've seen schools push Responsive Classroom practice into faculty meetings to great effect, and at schools that have entered the work earnestly, teachers discover that the time they dedicate to these constructed community building activities is more than re-captured through the student empowerment they build.  
 
Heads are also fortunate to have many formal and informal opportunities to communicate and demonstrate the value of community.  What the head has to say at Curriculum Night, in the letter that accompanies progress reports, in the email sent to families on the heels of a national tragedy, in the head's presence in classrooms, the admission office with prospective parents, at the Saturday away game, at the front gate every morning, in the phone call to a grieving teacher.  In all of these moments and scores of others like them, heads have the opportunity to model in word and deed how the school cares for its members.
 
It's also a good idea to ask the community.  At Forsyth School, we asked the community how they felt (or did not) feel connected and cared for--not with a survey (which by their very nature carry a whiff of corporate cynicism and tedium) but in face to face, individual conversations with one person from a small group of volunteers who asked just two questions:  How does the school help you feel connected and cared for?  How does it not?  We thanked our interlocutors profusely, pulled out the common threads, fed that information back to the entire community, built plans to address a fair bushel of low-hanging fruit--easy fixes in scheduling, communication--and longer plans to dig through the dilemmas.  We conducted this series of activities two years in a row and communicated milestones, but I'm convinced that the greatest positive outcome of this effort came in the most common thread:  interviewees told us again and again that more than anything else, they were glad to be asked and to have evidence that they were heard.
 
As we think about how we distinguish ourselves as independent schools, it's understandable that the conversation quickly turns to exemplary and innovative programs, bold new facilities, ingenious marketing strategies, but we must also consider one of our longest held assets and our primary marketing tool--a caring, connected, mission-focused community--and how deeply contemporary Americans desire it.
 
 https://www.knuckleballconsulting.com/

                                 Heads Up!

We probably knew all of this, but a quick reminder never hurts...

From the Marshall Memo 778
 
 Why Don’t More Educators Know the Research on Teaching Reading?
            “Research has documented what works to get kids to read, yet those evidence-based reading practices appear to be missing from most classrooms,” say Jared Myracle (Jackson-Madison County Schools, TN), Brian Kingsley (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, NC), and Robin McClellan (Sullivan County Public Schools, TN) in this article in Education Week. “It’s perfectly possible to become a principal or even a district curriculum leader without first learning the key research.” The authors confess that they harbored significant misconceptions on literacy curriculum well into their careers.
They suggest a “No Shame Zone” in which teachers and leaders get up to speed on the latest research without embarrassment. Some key findings to include:
-  In the early grades, systematic daily phonics instruction is essential, coupled with plenty of time with authentic texts.
-  History and science background knowledge is essential to reading comprehension.
-  Grouping students by reading level is not supported by the research.
-  Many teachers spend too much time on unproductive “skills and strategies” instruction.
-  All students need to work with grade-level texts for at least part of the school day for more-equitable outcomes.
Fortunately, say Myracle, Kingsley, and McClellan, there are high-quality literacy programs on the market today. However, they caution, the “gap between good and mediocre curricula is vast.” Schools and districts must choose carefully, based on a solid understanding of what really works in classrooms.
 
“We Have a National Reading Crisis” by Jared Myracle, Brian Kingsley, and Robin McClellan in Education Week, March 13, 2019 (Vol. 38, #25, p. 24), https://bit.ly/2ETY7iP

And here are some other suggestions from an article in the Marshall Memo 778...

Books That Build Empathy in Children
            “A well-written story can not only transport the reader into new worlds but also affect how elementary-level readers see and participate in the social world around them,” say Stephanie Kozak and Holly Recchia (Concordia University/Montreal) in this article in The Reading Teacher. “Part of what makes human interactions rich is the ability to feel the joy that others feel, to share in sorrow when someone is in need, and to experience a sense of righteous anger when someone is treated unjustly. Equally crucial is the capacity to understand and empathize with others who have very different experiences.” They suggest these storybooks as powerful ways to build empathy in elementary-school children:
-  Miss Nelson Is Missing!by Harry Allard
-  A Year of Borrowed Menby Michelle Barker
-  Those Shoesby Maribeth Boelts
-  The Day the Crayons Quitby Drew Daywalt
-  Last Stop on Market Streetby Matt de la Peña
-  Du Iz Tak?by Carson Ellis
-  Red: A Crayon’s Storyby Michael Hall
-  Owenby Keven Henkes
-  Flora and the Flamingoby Molly Idle
-  Lost and Foundby Oliver Jeffers
-  The Bad Seedby Jory John
-  I Want My Hat Backby Jon Klassen
-  The Stamp Collectorby Jennifer Lanthier
-  Henry’s Freedom Boxby Ellen Levine
-  Virginia Wolfby Kya Maclear
-  The Junkyard Wondersby Patricia Polacco
-  After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat
-  The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!by Jon Scieszka
-  Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Taleby Mo Willems
(Middle-grade novels and young-adult fiction next week)
 
“Reading and the Development of Social Understanding: Implications for the Literacy Classroom” by Stephanie Kozak and Holly Recchia in The Reading Teacher, March/April 2019 (Vol. 72, #5, p. 569-577), https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/trtr.1760
 

 

​
​
ESHA's Annual Retreat will be in Nashville, Tennessee, from
October 19-22, 2019.
Things to know:

Venue: The Hermitage Hotel

Program:
We're in Nashville, so come early, put yourself to work, and learn how to write a song with Grammy nominated singer Jamie Floyd. Then go to the Country Music Hall of Fame for dinner on Saturday.

On Sunday, hear from Ketch Secor, lead singer of the Old Crow Medicine Show. Among other things, he knows  how to put a band together and how to put a school together (he's co-founder of The Episcopal School of Nashville).

Monday we'll go to Vanderbilt University's Peabody School to hone our skills under the guidance of Patrick Schuermann, director of their Independent School Leadership Program.

Tuesday's finale will include visits to a couple of Nashville's varied ESHA schools.

Registration will open in late April.

Yeehaw!!

​From ESHA President Elinor Scully

                                                   Heads Up!

       This article came out in November and provides an interesting perspective on cell phones and accompanying suggestions.
https://www.waituntil8th.org/blog/2018/11/12/middle-school-misfortunes-then-and-now-one-teachers-take

     The following three links are just parts of an extensive "Special Report on Childhood "in the January 5th edition of The Economist.

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/01/05/why-childrens-lives-have-changed-radically-in-just-a-few-decades

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/01/05/the-early-years-are-getting-increasing-attention

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/01/05/how-children-interact-with-digital-media

​          And finally, Carla Silver of Leadership and Design once again pushes us where we might want to go!

The Miracle of Tidying Up School

Carla Silver, Head L+Doer
Leadership+Design

 I haven't read The Life-Changing Habit of Tidying Up - although I do own it. From what I have read about it, I'm pretty sure I would be a big fan. I'm also certain that it offers many more humane, kind and empathetic methods for what I do everyday - heartlessly and haphazardly get rid of crap.  Or should I say, "stuff?" Whatever. It's in the eye of the beholder. At the rate I fill extra large hefty lawn bags full of art projects, broken toys, plastic souvenirs from family vacations as well as school and professional sporting events, unfinished friendship bracelets, cardboard cities, and school work, I feel like I should hold an honorary trash collector's license, much less feel capable at "tidying up." The day winter vacation ends and the kids go back to school: that is when I am at my most relentless.
 
One final hypothesis about this book (that I have not read)  is that it isn't really about keeping a clean desk or a tidy house, it's about being able to make clear choices about what to keep and what to throw away -  in life. Whether we are talking about personal and work habits, relationships, possessions, or ideas and perspectives, we all carry around a lot more than what really serves us, brings us joy, feels relevant, and really matters in the here and now.
 
Schools are no exception. In fact, I would actually consider schools - as an industry -  to be hoarders - of curriculum, pedagogy, calendar, and mindsets about student learning. Faulkner, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald  - can't get rid of those guys. That Latin text book from 1989 - it has a few good translations. Keep. AP courses - how will our students ever get into *name brand college* without them? Three months of summer - our teachers and students need time to rest and recover and our families need time to take overseas vacations.  Lectures and exams - our students will need to know how to do these when they go to college because that is what colleges do - especially *name brand college*. I could go on, but I think I've made my point. At what point do we keep hoarding all of these elements of education or make the choice to tidy up and make clear and intentional decisions about what is really important, relevant, joyful, and meaningful?
 
School leaders can get cluttered too - with the stories they tell themselves and their own personal narratives about how they need to serve their school communities, make decisions, and their strengths and weaknesses. "Nobody takes me seriously." - Better hold onto that idea.  "I need to be decisive." - A little old school, but that's what leaders do. "I solve the problems - for my school and all of my direct reports." - I can be the hero. What are the stories that leaders can tell themselves that actually serve them and help them to be more capable in mobilizing change and empower others to do work that matters? What stories inhibit success and are no longer useful? Hoarders.
 
This month, in our year of Mad-Lib style newsletter articles, we asked our writers to complete the following prompt that we like to call the Miracle Question: A miracle has occurred and ________ problem has been magically solved overnight.  We're observing ___________ as a result, and it's blowing our minds. For me, the miracle would be that we have applied the KonMari method described in The Life-Changing Habit of Tidying Up (or at least the version I have in my head)  to school and to school leadership. We have systematically explored what we possess and what we store in our syllabi, our personal narratives, our curriculum and our pedagogy, and we ask ourselves,"Is this serving me and my students now?" "When was the last time I really used this?" "Where am I not making space for solutions, practices, and learning experiences that could be more elegant and relevant?" "Is this bringing me and my community joy?" The real miracle would be that we have tidied up school.  There would be space for growth. My mind would be blown.
 
In the natural word, there are eco-cycles that organic systems go through - starting with gestation and moving through birth, maturity and finally creative destruction.   Liberating Structures - a set of practices that are helpful when teams are trying to make progress through challenges  uses a tool called "Ecocycle Planning" to help organizations and teams apply this natural phenomenon in their own work, helping them to identify where certain practices, products, activities and services are in their various ecological stages. Creative destruction is part of any healthy eco-cycle.  To make space for new growth and allow new seeds to germinate, other plants must die or be repurposed and turned to mulch. Ecosystems depend on these cycles. It's nature's way of Tidying Up. When nature hoards, we end up with forest fires. When schools hoard, we end up with fires of a different kind.
 
Take a look below at the miracles our amazing writers - all L+D Fellows - have identified.  Thanks Michael Ecker, Rhonda Hewer and Hannah Nelson. You are all miracle workers! Speaking of the L+D Fellowship, it's almost time to open up the applications for this year.  We start taking applications February 1 and the deadline is March 15. Also coming up, Equity and Inclusion Action Lab in Seattle with NWAIS (you don't have to be a NWAIS member to attend).  Wonder Women! is filling, so register soon if you want to join us - this year we are back in Oakland, CA at Head-Royce School. Lastly, we opened up registration for a new adventure last week - L+D TruthSeeking Pods.  If you are interested, email me  or Ryan  and we can send you a registration link. We only have a couple of spaces left! Apparently there are a lot of school leaders seeking truth because those spots were snatched up lickity split.
 
May 2019 bring you many wonderful adventures, hopefully some with L+D!

Warmly,
 
Carla Silver

    ESHA Flights: Ongoing Conversations with other ESHA Heads

ESHA member Abigail Wiebenson, former Head of Lowell School in Washington, DC, and currently a leadership coach, runs one of our connecting flights and summarizes what the calls entail:

The monthly Flights are an intentional way of giving ESHA members an opportunity to air ideas and consider situations in a safe, knowledgeable and collegial environment.  These calls affirm and strengthen leadership as participants gain insight, awareness and validation from exchanging experiences with their colleagues about successes and dilemmas. Meeting monthly, if possible, has the added benefit of developing enduring professional and personal relationships over the course of a school year. 
During the hour phone discussions, flight leaders listen carefully and guide the conversation, enabling ideas to be exchanged in ways that produce insights, affirmations and “takeaways” for the participants.