EXCELLENCE & ETHICS

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  Power2Achieve Schools Receive State's Top Honor

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog, IEE & Partners' News, Power2Achieve Community at 6:48 pm on January 30, 2012 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Academics, award, AYP, ethics, excellence, Graduation, Kansas, performance (2), Power2Achieve (7)

  Post by Kyle Baker, Program Coordinator for the Institute for Excellence & Ethics.

   

  Northern Heights High School (Allen, KS), Clifton-Clyde Senior High School (Clyde, KS), and Weskan High School (Weskan Township, KS) have received the highest honor the state of Kansas bestows on K-12 schools, the Governor’s Award, which recognizes the top performing schools in the state.

  In order to receive this award, high schools must:

  • Achieve the Kansas “Standard of Excellence” in both reading and mathematics.
  • Made AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) in reading, math, and graduation rate.
  • Be among the top 5 percent of schools in reading and mathematics on state assessments.

   

  These three schools all currently utilize the Power2Achieve Foundations classroom curriculum through the their participation in the Kansas PCEP grant project (coordinated by Sue Kidd).

  In addition to utilizing Power2Achieve Foundations, each of these schools has also received multiple Culture of Excellence & Ethics Toolkit professional development workshops for the school’s entire faculty/staff, has used the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Assessment (CEEA) to assess the culture and climate of their school, and have learned to use that data to guide improvement strategies through IEE’s Using CEEA Data for School Improvement professional development workshop.

  These services were also provided through the Kansas PCEP project and the Toolkit workshops were delivered by IEE’s outstanding team of trainers in Kansas:  Kansas PCEP coach DeAnne Heersche and Excellence & Ethics Certified Trainers Jara Wilson, Audrey Neuschafer, Noalee McDonald-Augustine, Susan Johnson, and Mary Ghetto.

  Silver Lake Junior/Senior High School (Silver Lake, KS), another Governor’s Award winner, utilizes the CEEA survey (also made possible by the Kansas PCEP project).

  The recognition of these four school’s as Governor’s Award winners continues to confirm the positive impact a comprehensive implementation of Power2Achieve Foundations, Culture of Excellence & Ethics Toolkits, and the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Assessment produces in schools.

  You can read more about the Kansas Governor’s Award on the Kansas State Department of Education’s website here.

   

  Congratulations to Northern Heights High School, Clifton-Clyde Senior High School, Weskan High School, and Silver Lake Junior/High School!

  

   

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  Russell Middle School's Tier 1 Attitude-Effort-Improvement Intervention

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 8:38 pm on January 10, 2012 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Attitude (2), Effort (2), improvement (2), PBIS, RTI, Toolkit (2)

  Post by Kyle Baker, Program Coordinator for the Institute for Excellence & Ethics.

  Last week, I facilitated an Excellence & Ethics Toolkit Workshop on “Utilizing Effective Goal Achievement Strategies” for the faculty, staff, and administration at Russell Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

  Russell Middle School has a passionate faculty & staff committed to giving their students the best educational experience possible (this is reflected in Russell’s distinction as a Colorado Trailblazer School to Watch and a Colorado State School of Character).  Given this fact, the school leadership team had little doubt that the faculty and staff would quickly and powerfully integrate tools such as the Goal Achievement Process, the Goal Map, and the Attitude-Effort-Improvement Rubric (AEI Rubric) following Wednesday’s Toolkit professional development workshop, however they decided that they wanted to implement a school-wide, Tier-1 intervention as well.

  The school leadership team identified the objectives of the intervention they wanted to plan by choosing to adopt the Excellence & Ethics competencies addressed in the Toolkit as the stated goals for their students:

  • Benchmark current state (baseline starting point) and establish desired state (end goal).
  • Balance tactical (short-term) and strategic (long-term) goals.
  • Apply strategies to overcome obstacles to goals achievement.
  • Develop the attitude and effort needed to revise and continuously improve.

  The leadership team then decided to incorporate another goal as well: To increase the frequency and quality of planner use by students.  This objective strengthened the intervention strategy by authentically aligning it with the school’s ongoing PBIS initiative while also encouraging students to make better use of a powerful tool that they already had access to.

  Prior to this intervention, planner use was encouraged and reinforced by many teachers, but the only coordinated school-wide use of the planner was as a hall pass, and as one teacher told us, “ Those planners are an awfully expensive bathroom pass.”

  After identifying the goals for the intervention, the school leadership team and I worked to envision what steps the students would need to take in order to achieve them.

  The leadership team determined that they would work to achieve the goals they identified by having the students:

  1.  Set 1 academic and 1 citizenship (using the Russell ROCKS citizenship rubric as the guide) every month.

  2.  Record their goals on the month overview page in their student planners.

  3.  Chart their current Attitude and Effort in relation to the academic and citizenship goal they identified using the Attitude-Effort-Improvement Rubric (better known as the AEI Rubric).

  4.  Revisit their goals and AEI chart at least once during the month in order to have a MMR (Measure, Monitor, Revise if necessary) point.

  Of course, identifying the things we want students to do doesn’t solve the seemingly endless logistical challenges that curb well-intentioned initiatives and interventions every day in schools across the country.

  What’s the #1 way to stop such a derailment from occurring?  By practicing the same long lost art we encourage our students to:  Thinking before acting.

  And so we set out to think about the systematic process that would be required to have 700 students set goals, monitor progress, and evaluate their attitude and effort over time.

  The leadership team made several decisions (that students would use the form pictured below and that those forms would go in each student’s portfolio, etc.), but they also decided to leave several decisions up the 6 PLCs that the faculty & staff are grouped together in.

  This move empowered the individual teams to take ownership of the intervention by making their own decisions about who would get the forms into the portfolios, when (and by whom) mid-month check-ins would take place, what dates at the beginning of each month students would set new goals, how the need for Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions would be identified, and what other kinds of intervention reinforcement would occur.

  Something important to note here:  The initial decisions made by the school leadership team happened BEFORE the Toolkit workshop ever began.  That’s right, before the teachers ever poured their first cup of coffee or checked their email on the morning of their second semester professional development day, the school leadership team had already put in work to identify goals, set up the intervention framework, and define the decisions that each PLC would need to make.

  During the afternoon of the Toolkit workshop, each PLC met for 45 minutes to make their own plan for implementing the intervention.  At the conclusion of these PLC meetings, the entire faculty and staff came together to share their ideas, ask their peers questions that came up in their discussions, and use their collective expertise to solve problems that may have otherwise prevented the intervention from being successful.

  So what was the result?  On Friday, January 6^th, I watched as 700 students–every single student in the building–learned about effective goal setting and the importance of attitude and effort in relation to improvement toward their desired goal (a process that will be conducted during the first week of every month for the rest of the school year).

  The intervention the Russell faculty, staff, and administration has put into action is a powerful example of how different initiatives and frameworks within a school (PLCs, RTI, PBIS, Character Education, 21^st Century Skills, etc.) can come together to empower students to not only set their own goals, but to achieve them.

  Watching the students identify their goals and think about their attitude and effort was exciting for me as one of the designers of the Tools they are using and as a person who believes that it’s possible to unleash nearly limitless potential in every individual student, but my guess is that my initial excitement will pale in comparison to the excitement we will all share when we begin to see the progress students make and the goals they are able to achieve in the course of the coming months.

  

  

  

   
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  Cultivating Mindfulness to Build Performance Capacity

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 6:10 pm on December 7, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: building capacity, leadership (2), mindfulness, performance (2)

  In recent years, a flurry of research in the areas of human development, leadership, and organizational behavior has shown us that practices of reflection and renewal have more significant impact on the performance capacity of individuals and organizations than we are often willing to acknowledge, even if we are aware of what the data tells us (that people who are healthier, happier, connected to community, and purpose-driven perform at dramatically higher levels than those to which these attributes do not apply).

  This lack of acknowledgement (and resulting action) doesn’t typically stem from a desire of organizational leaders to see their employees suffer and their profits reduced, but rather from increased pressure they themselves feel to do more with less.

  However given the facts, leaders that don’t dedicate time, space, and resources to developing opportunities for members of their organization to reflect and renew aren’t just acting in ignorance, they’re acting irresponsibly.  In a climate in which organizations have been driven to expect fewer people to do more with reduced resources, rates of burnout, depression, and talent-turnover will likely continue to skyrocket unless opportunities for reflection and renewal are intentionally woven into the life of the organization.

  We must realize that ‘mindfulness’ is an essential skill that doesn’t just exist, but rather must be thoughtfully cultivated at both the individual and organizational level in order to build performance capacity.

  This week I am in Lawrence, Kansas, working with trainers from educational resource centers around the state to certify them as Excellence & Ethics Trainers (enabling them to deliver trainings on Power2Achieve Foundations, Excellence & Ethics Toolkits, and the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Assessment to schools, organizations, and individuals across the state of Kansas).  I’ve worked with this awesome group of people before, so I know that because of their dedication to their professional craft and their families, their plates are exceptionally full, but their passion for building a culture of excellence & ethics had brought them together to deepen their understanding of our approach in order to enhance their future work.

  Given a finite amount of time to facilitate a significant amount of learning and planning, I felt (self-inflicted) pressure to jam a lot of work into a small amount of time, but rather than accepting that  the only option was to use every moment to force more information onto those I was training, I decided to bet that the renewal that would occur through a guided reflection activity would not only make our time together more enjoyable, but also more productive both in the short and long term.

  After beginning the second day of our certification workshop with some assorted housekeeping items, I announced that before continuing any further with the formal training, we’d be doing some morning reflection.

  We began our morning reflection with the 5 steps outlined below:

  

  On the top half of their chart paper, each person spent a few minutes with the Excellence & Ethics Blueprint for Life Tool, listing thoughts from each of the areas identified by the orange boxes.

  

  We then spent a few moments reflecting on the Excellence & Ethics Character SWOT Analysis Tool, and then on the bottom half of the chart paper each person identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that would impact their ability to reach the goals they had identified above.

  

  When each person had finished their Character SWOT Analysis, we taped the pieces of chart paper in a row on the wall.  We stood together for a few moments in front of our unique goals and desires, the strengths and opportunities we each wanted to build upon, and the weaknesses and threats we wanted to work on, and then we spent a minute in silence reflecting on how we could support & challenge ourselves and others so that we might do our best work and become our best selves.

   

  If the hard-yet-enjoyable work that occurred during the rest of our day together can be used as an indicator, it would appear that the science that illustrates the benefits of reflection and renewal are right on point.

   

  

   
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  What's Your Media Diet?

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 4:21 pm on October 28, 2011 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  

  Note: The title of this post is not a rhetorical one. I am genuinely interested in learning more about your own “media diet.” Please share your reflections on your media diet as a comment on this post using the reply function, or email me directly at kbaker@excellenceandethics.org. If you email me, I won’t publicly share anything you write without your permission to do so.

  Recently I’ve found myself being asked about my media diet with increasing frequency. There are all kinds of ways to define “media diet,” but what I’m most interested in are the “staples.”  In other words, “What online media and tools do you consume (read/use) on a regular basis?”

  The Atlantic has been exploring this question with people of interest in recent months (see their Media Diet interviews on the Atlantic Wire by clicking here). With access to information increasing at a seemingly impossible rate, the question “What are you reading right now?” has evolved into a different type of beast altogether. While I count myself among the many who still cherish the practice of regularly reading print media (although considering the rapid changes that have already occurred, it’s much of a stretch to envision a child in the not-so-distant future pointing at a book on a shelf and asking “What’s that?”), much of my media consumption occurs within the digital landscape. If we were to sit down and assess the platforms in which our media consumption occurs, how much of that consumption would include online sources like websites, Facebook, Twitter, email, blogs, wikis, etc…?

  Some online communities have even developed norms that regularly encourage the sharing of media diets, such as #FF (Follow Friday) on Twitter. In that spirit and in response to recent inquiries about my own media diet, and even more importantly in order to share some resources and start dialog (and hopefully sharing!) here are just a few “staples” that make up part of my daily media diet using the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Focus Areas as a guiding framework.

  

  Build Positive & Productive Relationships (Consider the Perspective of Others)

  The Staple: The New York Times

  The Nutritional Value: Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking platforms would be the easy-out here, but instead I’m going a slightly different route. Reading the Times each morning (at least the online front page) gives me at least some sense of what is going on in the world, around the country, and in the region. My hunger to “learn it all” can be dangerous in the age of access, so the Times (along with several other city/region specific papers) gives me a quick glance at “what’s going on”, enabling me to engage in conversations with people of diverse perspectives and interests.

  Communicating and Collaborating with Efficiency & Effectiveness (Assume Shared Responsibility for Collective Work and Value Contributions Made by Each Team Member)

  The Staple: Dropbox+Google Docs

  The Nutritional Value: Cloud storage and data syncing services like Dropbox have been game changers in almost every professional field. The ability to access documents from multiple locations and share a large volume of data with multiple users is a function that many of us can no longer imagine being able to operate without.

  Google Docs takes the concept of sharing and pushes it into real-time collaboration. I myself have only just scratched the surface of what Google Docs can do, but the experiences I’ve had in which multiple people in different locations are viewing and editing the same document simultaneously have me convinced of the incredible potential truly collaborative online media can provide moving forward.

  Managing Priorities and Reducing Stress (Utilize Time and Manage Workload Effectively – Use Productive Strategies for Reducing Stress and Anxiety)

  The Staple: Action Method by Behance

  The Nutritional Value: I’m busy, and if you’re reading this, my bet is that you are too. Without a system to put the Identify, Prioritize, Organize, Plan process described in the Time Commitment Tool, I would fall apart. My systems and structures for managing my time commitments are fluid; I’m always slightly modifying existing practices and trying new things in order to constantly strive for maximum effectiveness and keep my stress levels healthy and manageable. The element that has been the most significant addition to my productivity arsenal in the past year has been the Action Method. The Action Method suggests we look at everything as a project and break down information related to a project into three categories: References, Action Steps, and Backburner Items.

  With synching between the Action Method’s web interface and mobile app, I have access to information that helps me identify the most urgent work that must be done on each project at any given time.

  Of course, if you do find yourself stressed, resources like this can be infinitely helpful too.

  Committing to High Standards and Continuous Improvement (Develop the Habits for Excellence - Utilize Effective Goal Achievement Strategies)

  The Staple: Twitter

  The Nutritional Value: I resisted Twitter for years. More accurately I was openly critical of its functionality and purpose beyond the vain sharing of personal exploits that should probably not be shared in the first place. After all, who wants to know where so-and-so goes to lunch in such-a-place.

  Well, it turns out Twitter might just be the most powerful professional learning tool available today, particularly in the field of education. Being active on Twitter not only opens up immediate access to interesting information from media sources and individuals, but also allows me to connect with a “PLN”, or “Personal Learning Network” in a variety of ways from sharing resources to engaging in 140-character-or-less discussions to scheduling a coffee meet up, thus engaging me in a community that supports me by informing and inspiring me with the great work others are doing, and inspires me to do work that can help others as well.  Example:  I follow the Twitter account of at least one person from each of the websites listed in this post.

  Oh…and sometimes I choose places to eat while traveling based on recommendations people post on Twitter…so I guess I’m the person that wants to know where people go to lunch.

  Demonstrating Emotional Intelligence, Integrity, and Responsibility (Stand Up to Peer Pressure)

  The Staple: gimme presence

  The Nutritional Value: I’ve always tried to consistently develop reflective practices, but this summer while facilitating a number of workshops on “Standing Up to Peer Pressure” and “Creating a Safe & Bully Free Environment,” it became more apparent to me than ever how important reflection is to developing identity and learning to be in tune to our true authentic self. gimme presence offers a reflective prompt in instant-dose format, offering a quick thought that allows the reader to enter into a moment of mindfulness and develop the habit of becoming what in Jesuit spirituality is referred to as a “Contemplative in Action.”

  Exhibiting Creativity & Innovation, Critical Thinking, and Problem Solving (Solve Problems Efficiently & Effectively)

  The Staple: Brain Pickings

  The Nutritional Value: A resource unlike any other, Brain Pickings is an eclectic collection of…well, all kinds of things really. In fact, on the about section of the Brain Pickings website it’s described as a “LEGO treasure chest.” I can’t think of a single other online resource (I view Twitter, Tumblr, etc. as collections of individual resources) that has introduced me to as many interesting, creative, artistic, and fascinating things as Brain Pickings has, a curation led by Maria Popova in collaboration with other contributors. Exposure to such an eclectic collection of information enables me to constantly, as Apple once prompted us to do, “Think Different.”

  Leading and Serving Others (Demonstrate Personal and Collective Responsibility)

  The Staple: Harvard Business Review

  The Nutritional Value: I’m not aware of another resource as rich and valuable in the area of leadership and professional development as the Harvard Business Review. HBR’s website allows you to access current and archived articles from their printed monthly, but additionally includes an incredible number of blogs and resources on virtually any topic related to leadership, management, organizational culture, and development. Any time the writings of talented researchers and practitioners are gathered in place like they are on HBR’s website, thoughtful and provocative knowledge is bound to be dropped. The articles and blogs from HBR are so applicable to education, it comes as no surprise that the education and business departments at the university work in close collaboration.

  Living a Balanced, Purposeful, and Healthy Life (Identify and Pursue Broad Life Goals)

  The Staple: TED

  The Nutritional Value: It’s a big world out there, so big there’s no way to know it all or do it all…but these beautiful, inspiring, dynamic, though-provoking talks presented as watch-em-over-lunch videos will keep you heading in a positive direction.

   

   

  So….what are the staples of your media diet?

   

   

  
  

  

   
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  Summer reads

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 1:57 pm on June 9, 2011 | 3 Permalink | Reply
  

  I often tend to catch flack for my reading habits, both for the amount of time I spend with my nose buried between pages and for the lack of fiction in my literary diet. (For those of you out there that like to get after me about this, I’m participating in The Atlantic’s new 1book140 book club and currently reading Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin as a part of that, so hey, I’m trying!)

  Likely due to my bibliophilia, a number of people lately have asked me for book recommendations for summer reading, additions to professional development libraries at schools, etc.  A lot of those requests are for books on “character development.”  If you’re reading this, you likely already know that our approach to character and culture development at IEE covers a diverse range of topics, so it probably won’t surprise you that these book recommendations are all over the map as well.  Each of these five books match up with at least one Power2Achieve unit so they make great companion reads for those implementing Power2Achieve Foundations, and they offer helpful insights that are useful both in and outside of educational contexts.  Some have been mentioned on this blog before, but I think each one would work wonderfully for individual, small group, and large group study, so check them out if you haven’t already!

   

  Do you have other favorites you’d recommend to others?  Please reply to this post and let us know about them!

   

  Here’s my Power2 hit list:

  1.  Drive – Daniel Pink.   Daniel Pink absolutely crushes the topic of motivation in this book.  Not only is there a chapter dedicated how the concepts he presents apply to education, but every piece of the book has to do with why it can be so challenging to engage and motivate students, and what we can do about it as educators.  Pink also maintains a fantastic blog (http://www.danpink.com) , so there’s a continuing ed opportunity as well.  This book is drawn from in units 4.1 and 4.2 amongst other places in Power2Achieve.

  2.  Made to Stick – Chip Heath & Dan Heath:  Another one that someone could easily argue should become mandatory reading for educators.  When I came to work at IEE, this was the very first thing they put in my hand.  Everyone in our organization has read it, and we refer back to sections of it constantly.  When I read it, I immediately saw ways it would have enhanced my teaching, and in terms of concepts to present to students, there is a lot of information that goes right along with Units Power2Achieve 1.1, 2.1, and others.

  3.  Finding the Open Road – Mike Marriner, Brian McAllister, Nathan Gebhard:  I found this book on a shelf in shop in Seattle just after it was published, a date which happened to coincide with my college graduation.  I don’t know that I’ve ever come across  resource as full of such diverse takes on life, purpose, and careers and as accessible to young people as this one.  Basically it’s a book that contains transcripts of interviews done by a group of guys who snag an old RV and hit the road asking for people’s words of wisdom.  There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if I were to step into any classroom K-20 tomorrow, this would be a book I would draw from.  It aligns wonderfully with Power2Achieve 8.1, and would be a wonderful resource to build a project off of (also, for a book that offers a similar type of “the path less traveled” viewpoint from the position of organizational leadership, check out Let My People Go Surfing by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard)

  4.  Nobody Left to Hate – Elliot Aronson:  In our experience many books on issues of bullying/hazing/school-violence/etc. tend to be either very dense in terms of research on root causes and intervention methods or light to the point that there is very little action-oriented information presented.  While it doesn’t provide a checklist of strategies to implement, it does offer a well written look into the world of school violence in all its forms, often times presenting information so jolting that it can’t help but impact the way you interact with others when you attach stories and statistics to the real faces of students in a school (for example:  ”In 1999, one out of every five adolescents had seriously considered suicide, and one out of ten had attempted it.”)  This book most closely aligns with Power2Achieve Unit 5.1, but also underscores the urgent need to address topics of reducing stress and anxiety (3.2) and considering the perspective of others in order to build positive relationships amongst peers, between students and educators, and between students and their families.

  5.  Thinkertoys – Michael Michalko:  Another resource unlike any other I’ve ever come across.  In Thinkertoys, Michalko presents a huge array of activities that can help build creativity and critical thinking skills.  What makes this book unique is that he does each strategy its justice by delving into the theories it stems from, allowing the reader to pull out the specific activities themselves quickly or, even better, learn about the theories the activities are built on and then pull them out and put them into action.  This is cited in Unit 6.1 and makes a nice companion to the unit.

  Four other excellent books I’ve read so far this year that to be have a lot to do with “character ed” because they involve the culture and competencies needed for powerful teaching & learning are Bounce by Matthew Syed, Resilient Classrooms by Beth Doll, Steven Zucker, and Katherine Brehm, The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner, and Visual Meetings by David Sibbet.

  

   
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  What shall we teach? Excellence & Ethics Monday Minute, 5/2/11

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 9:51 am on May 2, 2011 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  

  “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

  

   
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  What Popular School Reform Initiatives Are Missing Shouldn't Be Surprising

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 3:01 pm on April 28, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Ed Reform, education (3), School Reform, Singapore

  Post by Kyle Baker, Program Coordinator at the Institute for Excellence & Ethics

  This morning Valerie Strauss posted an article for the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet pointing out some of what she labeled as the more “surprising” elements of Singapore’s “Desired Outcomes of Education”.

  (As a little background…Singapore, along with a number of other East Asian and Scandinavian countries, consistently outperform US schools on just about every achievement-oriented assessment, and are often cited as systems that we need to “catch”.  It should also be noted that I believe Strauss was making the same argument I’m about to, which is that if we were to take a moment to think rationally, then these desired outcomes wouldn’t actually seem too surprising at all).

  You can read her article here and see the full list of desired outcomes on the Singapore Ministry of Education’s website  here, and I’d encourage you to do both, but for quick reference, check out the table they use to show desired outcomes by stage:

  

  (graphic via http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/desired-outcomes/)

  Strauss compares a recent statement from US President Barack Obama (“The goal for America’s educational system is clear: Every student should graduate from high school ready for college and a career.  Every student should have meaningful opportunities to choose from upon graduating from high school.”) and the outcomes identified by the Singapore Ministry of Education, stating that “…because the school system is so often compared favorably to ours, it is fair to look at what kind of graduates the government of Singapore says it wants the public school system to produce.”

  TRUTH.

  Particularly because according to research from virtually every field, these outcomes have a lot to do with the golden rings that have been identified: creativity, innovation…and let’s be honest…a productive, efficient, reliable labor force that can fuel the national economy and build a stronger global community.

  For a brief journey into just one of these fields, neuroscience, take a good look at some of the evidence presented in Dr. Edward M. Hallowell’s recent book,  Shine:  Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People.  In Shine, Hallowell cites neurological research (as well as additional research in psychology, sociology, and more) explaining what exactly is needed for a person to reach “peak performance.”  Hallowell identifies Select, Connect, Play, Grapple and Grow, and Shine as his 5-step “Cycle of Excellence.”

  Hallowell’s book, similar to the work done by Csikszmentmihalyi, Gilbert, Duckworth, Dweck, Pink, Johnson, Christakis, Fowler, (who are all cited in Shine…and the work done by IEE), points out something that by now shouldn’t be surprising:  People who are healthy, happy, connected, and motivated in healthy ways (both intrinsically and extrinsically) are BETTER.

  They’re better learners.

  They’re better teachers.

  They’re better police officers.

  They’re better accountants.

  They’re better managers.

  Should I continue?  Ok, I will…

  They’re better parents.

  They’re better community members.

  They’re better waiters and waitresses.

  They’re better pilots.

  They’re better friends.

  They’re better stock brokers.

  They’re better insurance agents.

  Picking up on the pattern here?

  Turns out that things like self-efficacy, treating others with respect, conscience, integrity, thinking critically and expressing yourself confidently, communication skills, and the ability to creatively solve complex problems….REALLY MATTER.  If you’re not sure how all of this translates into the day to day life of students and teachers in a classroom setting, check out work on emotional intelligence, resilient schools & classrooms, etc.

  These things matter in the home, the community, and the workplace, and they matter in schools too, even when objectives like “passing state tests”, “reaching curriculum standards,” and “getting better grades” are identified as priorities.  Just like the skills above lead to higher motivation, productivity, and satisfaction in the workplace, they lead to higher academic performance and safe & supportive classrooms and schools as well.

  In  her article, Strauss says:

  “The Education Ministry in Singapore talks about educating students to become confident, moral, analytical thinkers who are responsible and involved adult citizens of their country. And it wants kids to grow up with a “zest for life.”

  Maybe I missed it, but I haven’t heard any school reformers here talk about that.”

  With all due respect, I have to point out that yes, Ms. Strauss is actually missing the fact that some school reformers are not only talking about this, but doing real work in schools on these issues right now (and demonstrating significant positive impact as well).

  But I can totally understand the reasons why this fact might be missed.

  Right now the push in the education field, particularly what’s playing out on TV and in newspaper headlines, seems to be  on test scores, teacher performance, workforce preparation, and career readiness.

  However both in and out of schools, many people are starting to recognize that while these elements are definitely important, there is something missing…

  As Strauss point out, it would be wise for school-reformers to take a good look at the objectives that the school systems they admire have set for themselves, because their priorities are fairly clearly stated…and seem to be fairly different from the priorities being focused on here.

  While in far too many cases US school reform priorities may seem misguided, and perhaps some of them are at times, but maybe in other cases it’s just a case of parallels in terminology going unrecognized.  You see, it’s true that we’re not directly working on improving “zest,”  but we are helping thousands of students, teachers, and others work on “living a balanced, purposeful, & healthy life.”  We also help them work on developing positive and productive relationships, communicating & collaborating with efficiency & effectiveness, managing priorities & reducing stress, committing to high standards & continuous improvement, demonstrating emotional intelligence, integrity & responsibility, exhibiting creativity & innovation; critical thinking and problem solving, and leading & serving others.

   

  That sounds pretty zestful to me, even though rather than calling it “Key Stage Outcomes of Education”, we call this “building the culture of excellence & ethics for success in school, work, and beyond.”

  While school reform can often be a polarizing topic, it really isn’t for us, because instead of  just focusing on developing people who are smart or developing people who are good, we focus on both in a highly integrated way…because that’s what research, or as school-reformers like to say, “the data”, tells us to do.

  Sometimes even though people are using different terminology they may still have the same goal in mind, which must be the case here…because in November educators in Singapore are bringing in IEE to train teachers on how to use the Power2Achieve curriculum and the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Assessment in their schools and classrooms.

  Select schools in Kansas, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Colorado, California, Texas, and other places around the country have already been blazing this trail across the US in partnership with IEE.  Hopefully the educational community as a whole won’t be too far behind.

   

  

   
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  Instead of asking for/giving feedback, ask for/give feedforward.

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 8:05 am on April 6, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: books (2), email, leadership (2)

  Post by Kyle Baker, IEE Program Coordinator

  
  

  You can sign up for once-a-day emails on virtually any topic these days.  While there is a huge spectrum to choose from, the only one I currently subscribe to is The Startup Daily.  Run by Karl Krantz, these emails arrive each morning Monday-Friday with a dose of goodness from leading organizational leadership and entrepreneurship authors.

  Here’s what’s in today’s edition:

  Instead of Asking for Feedback, Ask for Feedforward

  Feedback is typically focused on the past, and on what someone did wrong. The problem is that most people don’t like to give negative feedback, and even fewer people like to hear negative feedback. Uncomfortable topics—the ones that need the most attention—are either avoided, or the feedback is not heard.

  Ask “What Can I Do Better in the Future?” Not “What Did I Do Wrong in the Past?”

  With “feedforward” people can focus on hearing the suggestions without becoming defensive or worrying about their reply. People respond better to ideas they can still act on, and we are all free to change the future.

  -via What Got You Here Won’t Get You There:  How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith

   

  Like many books you might find in the “Business” section at your local bookstore, these quips and many of the books they are pulled from offer wonderful education-crossover appeal.  The concept of feedforward would be an awesome strategy to incorporate into educational environments (while many educators may already use the strategy itself, the term itself is definitely a “sticky” one).

  When I read these emails each morning, I spend a few moments thinking about them, then try to observe ways that they apply (or don’t) throughout the course of the day. Every single day I find myself reflecting, thinking critically, learning, and growing through doing so.

   

  You can subscribe yourself on The Startup Daily website, and if you’re a Tweeter and/or a Facebooker, you can find The Startup Daily there as well.

   

  (and while we’re on the topic of Twitter and Facebook, don’t forget to follow myself and Matt Davidson on Twitter, and check out the IEE Facebook page too!)

   

   

   

  

   
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  Building Intervention Muscles

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 2:22 pm on March 17, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  Last night I attended a screening of the movie The Stoning of Soraya M, a powerful film adapted from the book La Femme Lapidée by Freidoune Sahebjam, which is based on the true story of Soraya Manutchehri, a 35 year old woman who was stoned to death in Iran in 1986.

  I had seen the film once previously, and both times I was moved by the story and reminded that whether we choose to think about it or not, there are terrible things that occur around the world and as well as in our own backyards on a daily basis.

  Following the showing of the film, there was a brief period for comments and discussions from those in attendance.   I was thankful for those who stood up for their culture and faith tradition and said “what is depicted is not our practice,” as well as for the unifying call to “stop this kind of innocent-bystander behavior in our own lives and around the world,” which emerged early and was echoed throughout the discussion. (I would be lying if I said that every single comment during the discussion was geared toward these positive, accurate, and unifying themes, but the vast majority were, and it was an open-floor commenting format so there was an opportunity to learn from what everyone had to share.).

  Watching the film again and listening to the discussion reminded me of a recent experience.

  A few months ago, I was visiting with a person whose child attends a very “nice” (high academically performing, above average SES, strong athletic/extra-curricular programs, positive perceptions among local public, etc.) high school.  He asked me, “Do you think there are guns in my child’s school?”

  I thought about the question for a moment before answering that I could not comment on if there were guns in the school or not, because I had no information on that topic or situation, but I could assure him 100% that there were extremely dangerous, even deadly weapons that were not only present in the school, but used on a daily basis.

  I then explained to him that while I didn’t know if there were guns or knives, or if there were how many or how often they were brought into the building, what I did know was that bullying, harassment, violent language, demeaning behavior and more occurred every day within the walls of the school (and increasingly, online as well).  I told him that while these weapons may initially seem like a less urgent problem to deal with, these weapons play key factors in the cases of school violence, self-harm, and suicide that we see occur all too often (and on an increasing basis).

  These aren’t easy things to talk about and deal with, just like The Stoning of Soraya M. isn’t an easy film to watch and think about, but last night I continued to see the critical the need to explicitly teach both youth and adults the skills needed to discern right from wrong, to thoughtfully form and stand up for their beliefs, to intentionally shape the culture that we live and work in, and to develop the courage and skills needed to speak up and step in when they see or hear something that isn’t right.

  Through gaining knowledge and learning to use strategies such as those presented in the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Intervention Continuum, which is presented to students in Unit 5.1 of the Power2Achieve Foundations program and Integrity in Action Student Leadership Academies like the one we hosted on February 12th, to educators in our Power2Achieve Toolkit/Academy 5.1 workshops and our Creating a Bully-Free, Safe, and Supportive Learning Environment Toolkit/Academy workshops like the one we recently conducted in Iowa, and to others throughout our additional work, we can begin to build the “intervention muscles” that we all have within us…and in doing so empower ourselves and others to step-up an intervene in life-and-death situations as well as the situations that seem small at first, but which can lead to much more serious consequences down the road, because as the Intervention Continuum reminds us…there are no innocent bystanders.

  

   

  

   
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  Pictures from Leadership Academy for HS Students!

  Kyle Baker posted in IEE & Partners' News at 10:49 am on February 15, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  On February 12th, IEE hosted an Excellence & Ethics Leadership Academy for high school students.  The topic was “Integrity-in-Action” and the participants worked on identifying core beliefs and values, learning concrete ethical decision-making strategies, and developing skills needed for leading a life of high impact & high integrity.  In addition, they ate a lot of pizza, donuts, and candy and were able to meet and interact with students from other schools and communities!

  Check out the Pictures by clicking here!