How Can I Support A Shift to PLCS

 How Can I Support A Shift to PLCS

Does the one size fits all approach to education leave you feeling boxed in? Then listen up. I’m Danny Bauer, and you’ve turned into better leaders, better schools. The podcast breaks free from conventional educational thinking. Each week we explore cutting edge strategies to personalize learning, cultivate curiosity, and transform your schools into vibrant learning communities. In today’s show, it’s more of a coaching conversation, and Ryan is rejoining us. Ryan’s a principal, and this is our second coaching conversation, which focuses on topics of scheduling and professional learning communities, intervention, enrichment, and how to properly support your team implementing this new kind of initiative. So once again, thanks for listening, and we’ll be right back after a quick message from our show sponsors. Hey, ruckus Maker. I’ll make this quick. If you’re listening to this message right now, you’re missing out. 

01:12
Danny
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02:11
Danny
Everyone knows how to choose a goal, write the to-do list, and pick a due date, and as a result, they’re not optimizing their potential. When you download the Ruckus maker eight step goal setting tool, I’ll send you the tool in a short eight minute coaching video that shows you how to work smarter, not harder, and create more value for your campus. Are you ready to accomplish more with less effort and in less time? Download the Ruckus Maker eight step goal setting tool by going to betterleadersbetterschools.com goals. If you could differentiate instruction in 20 minutes or less, would you do it for your students? Well, you can with IXL. Over 1 million teachers use IXL because it empowers them to use effective, data informed instruction. Get started [email protected]. Leaders. 

03:04
Danny
That’s ixl.com/leaders question, would you serve your own kids the same food you serve your students in your cafeteria? Now, quest food management Services elevates the student dining experience, serving scratch made meals using high quality ingredients that are sourced locally and responsibly. Now that is food you can be proud to serve. Learn more about Quest food Management [email protected] or follow Quest food on social media. That’s questfms.com. Ryan, welcome back to the show, so to speak. And this is coaching call number two. So excited to serve you again. I remember the last time we talked about this pre chat, but time was something that came up a lot. I don’t know if you had a chance to look at the communication policy thing as well, and that was something I sent your way. If not, hold that and revisit it on another call. But yeah, so that’s what we’re discussing. Does that still feel like it’s most important to discuss or do you want to take it somewhere else? 

04:20
Ryan
So I did read that article. That was definitely an interesting way to look at things. I’m still having to wrap my mind around it because it’s always been an open door policy and retraining myself on that. My other lead administrator lasted a few years, too. I mean, that was, hey, we dropped everything. The parents that showed up, we just dropped everything. So, no, you made some good points in that, where I have to be able to get things done during the day and there are systems that I can do a much better job of putting in place for people. And I think I did.  I just looked at some of my email loads that we talked about in the previous episode. I was Cc’d in a lot of different Google Docs that were going on, too. I had conversations with some of the different people in the building, just said, hey, like, I’m going to get off this. If it’s an important thing, then you need to let me know. I want less in my inbox so I can focus more on what’s important or bigger things that affect everybody. 

05:23
Danny
Yeah. How do people respond to that message? 

05:26
Ryan
They were fine with it because I made sure that they had somebody that they could go to and chat about it. 

05:32
Danny
Got it. And you said you liked the article or whatever I sent your way. What seemed to resonate most with you? 

05:40
Ryan
Just looking at the whole concept of not having an open door policy. I mean, stepping away from that and if there’s a time and a place for an open door policy, but for sure, yeah. Just like teachers, when it’s their time, I respect their time and do everything to protect that time. Occasionally, I’ll bounce in and have a conversation with it, and the goal is to make sure that their time’s protected, so. Same with my time, too, because I. 

06:09
Danny
Gotta be able to have a life force outside of school 100%. . And that’s the thing is, like, I’m not arguing that you go the other extreme and have a closed door all the time, right? It’s just carving out some time during the day, each day where you can do some deep work that only you can do as a principal and move some things and projects forward so that you do have that time with family or at home. And I know we talked a little about fitness on the last call, so all these things are important. They just. They get squeezed out. They get squeezed out because for not being careful, just the work takes over everything. 

06:46
Danny
You get home, it’s late, eat, if you can, and spend time with the kids and that kind of thing, and rinse and repeat, do it all over again. So just trying to buy back some of that time. So what would serve you best today? What do you want to dig in? 

07:01
Ryan
Well, just more. That whole, like I said, my goal finishing out this year is obviously finishing strong. Testing is coming up or we did our science assessment last week. Next week we have star or big statewide testing. SOL it’s just finishing strong, but then more importantly, just pairing for next year, because I do. I want a nice system rolled out for everybody. And thenBell’s schedule, we’ve been talking about the whole Bell schedule, and we talked about how having that wind time, that intervention time, intervention and enrichment time, and just making sure that is nice and set up in place or for staff next year. 

07:48
Danny
Yeah, for sure. So do you have any questions or wonderings around those sorts of topics? 

07:54
Ryan
We’re having the debate about, it’s a seven period day, so straight seven where you see all seven classes and then you’ve got. Or the rotating block where you might have some other classes or you might miss a class a week. So just that debates what we’re talking about. Staff’s leaning towards seeing everybody every day because. And I’m a big thing, too. I want to see math students and I want to see language arts kids every day. And then we do have kids that miss a lot of schools. So, If you miss one of those 70 minutes blocks of a day, you missed out on a significant amount of instruction there. 

08:38
Danny
Yeah, that’s a challenge. I think you’re talking about if you move towards a block schedule, is that right? What’s the advantage, though, if you go that route? 

08:47
Ryan
Well, it’s longer, so it’d be bookends. Monday, we do late start PlC’s, and they start at eight, and then they get over at nine, and students get here at nine. So Monday and Friday are bookends. And then you’d have, like, a rotating blog schedule during the week where I think you would just miss one class. One class per week. It gives you longer class period times. I think the classes are like 70, 75 minutes. So that would be a jump, too, because I’d have to train staff in these 49 minute classes we’re in right now, they’re pretty quick. So now you’ve got a 75 minute class where you still want to go bell to bell and not have that wasted time. 

09:35
Danny
I’ve had experience with both doing more of a traditional and with a block. And so I guess from my vantage point, I’m sort of a schedule agnostic. Like it. There’s pros and cons to both, and I think something to keep in mind is what teachers would appreciate and be able to implement transitioning to a new schedule. If you go that way, there might be some training and professional development to provide. Because sort of a misconception, but traditional, to block, you have more time. It’s not doing what you’ve always been doing and just adding 30 minutes or 40 minutes or whatever. There’s a different way of thinking about leveraging that time, too. Otherwise you might see a decrease in achievement and all that kind of stuff, because without the proper training, in a different approach, with more time, you’ll actually get worse results, if that makes sense. 

10:28
Ryan
No, that makes total sense. It’s the plug for this. Yes, absolutely. And probably, like, pick his brain a little bit, too. 

10:37
Danny
I could connect you to Mitch.  Ryan was just showing me for the listener because this is a podcast episode as well. The executive functions for every classroom book. Take a picture of that. I don’t know if you heard that episode, but if you. If you tag me and him, if you’re on Instagram. 

10:53
Ryan
Well, I was hounding you for it. I just got back from the snow machine and tripped, and I was like, hey, Danny, like you said, this guy’s podcast is going to be coming out on 19th and whatever. 

11:03
Danny
No, the team. We missed the deadline and released it a couple of days late. But what I was saying, I think on that episode, we had a contest and it’s still going. And if you do the book selfie or whatever, and Mitch, if you get picked,  I think there’s some cool stuff that he’s thrown in, which includes a call with him and I think the executive functions class online modules for your teachers. But anyways, I’ll make a note to connect you guys because. 

11:32
Ryan
Yeah, make a big note, man. Come on, Mitch, take care of me here. And go digital, right, Mitch? Like, I’m all about paper, pencil, but. 

11:44
Danny
Good luck with that. I’ll let you two have that discussion. 

11:46
Ryan
So, binders for everybody. 

11:49
Danny
What I was going to say for sure, but the training piece, I think what I’m trying to say is beginning the class in a common way amongst the staff, ending it, creating these predictable learning routines. What’s it look like to create a class agenda and that kind of stuff? If you could get them sold on that idea that he presents in that book, whether it’s block or your traditional schedule, you’re going to see the time used much more effectively and the student agency and achievement will increase as well.  I’ll get you two connected on that for sure. What one does your gut tell you’re leaning towards in terms of the traditional or the block? 

12:34
Ryan
So I had a staff member, one of my leadership team members came in this morning, and so we didn’t tell anyone. It’s 29 minutes right now, which is a waste of time. Wait times are 29 minutes. That’s not long enough. I’d like to get that up to 40 minutes. So then we talked about, well, we have five minute passing periods. Hey, we could add six minutes to this wind time. If I cut 1 minute off the passage and go back to four minutes, I’m going to tell kids they can have backpacks. You can take backpacks from class to class. Did it for a couple years. It does congest the classroom, but it gets kids to class faster. So that would give me an additional six minutes, which puts me at 35 minutes. And then now, like I said, one of the leadership team members came in and they said, well we have 49 minutes of classes right now. What if we just went to 48 minutes recording the mitch which is 1 minute out of the day? That’s 3 hours every year. But if we’re taking that out the well, I don’t think it’d be more time, more valuable time into that wind. Would you give me around 41 minutes? So you would have that wind to them where you would be able to kind of. Everybody kind of takes a deep breath because it is. I mean, the seven period straight day is. It’s fast paced, so you’d have a little bit of time to take a deep breath, check in with everybody, then do a nice targeted mini lesson or whatever needs to be done during that time, and then you could have a nice little lesson. Nice transition out of it. 

14:15
Danny
Got it. And so the wind time, just. Sorry. For me, it’s a newer concept, but that’s more of an intervention. You said what I need. So, yes. Does that mean, like, if you have 30 students, there could be 30 different things that they needed during that time? 

14:30
Ryan
Maybe this is what we can focus on with these colonels here, too. Bottom line is. Or this building, we are. The majority of our kids are two or more years behind math wise. And so it seems like for the last few years, that group has been growing instead of shrinking. So I’m like, but this weekend I thought this is the definition of insanity. We keep doing the same thing over and over again, and then we’re expecting these kids to grow. It doesn’t make any sense. We have to be more intentional with many lessons and just how we structure. How we structure the day. 

15:12
Danny
Yeah, for sure. 

15:13
Ryan
With that wind time, it would be an intervention and enrichment and just working on having some sort of flex scheduler with it. We have a current black scheduler, but it’s wonky and students don’t always know where to go and you can’t do it for multiple days. But the idea would be for teachers to. For those math teachers to pull those groups of kids in that they didn’t do well on an assessment and give them mini lessons to help them fill those holes. And then in the conversation two ways, just more globally, there’s no reason if it’s a good, structured mini lesson. The majority of my teachers in this building can’t give a middle school mini lesson on math to the students. 

15:58
Danny
Got it. So what have you done in the past? Because you were talking about the definition of insanity. What have you done in the past to address, I guess, the gap that exists with some of these kids in math? 

16:11
Ryan
So we districts have gone to more inclusion, so everybody has access to the general curriculum. And it’s beenI was a big believer in tier one, tier two, tier three. If you’re a tier three student, it’s just going to be incredibly frustrating. You’re in a general curriculum, or if you’re in the general ed class and you don’t understand any of it, can you? I was always leery of that. And then if you’re a couple years, three years behind curriculum wise, too it’s tough to get caught up. You need it at your level.  I’ve had a change in all that now that we’ve gone more towards inclusion, and we just had a big Plc conference in November. Mike Mattis. 

17:00
Ryan
Their big thing is everybody has access to the general led curriculum, because we’re going to be testing kids on stuff that they’ve never even seen. So at least give them a taste, let them see what it looks like, and then build that intervention time. End at a different time during your day. So that is the big push. Everybody has access to the general curriculum now. Social studies and science came on board this year, too. We have. We’re having some co teaching going on. Team teaching. We call it teaching. Teaching where it’s. Oh, my gosh, I’m drawing a blank on it right now on what. What we’re calling those classes that kind of have the tier two and tier three kids in it. 

17:45
Danny
No problem. I guess I’m interested, too. So, Mike Mattis,That’s a solution tree and, how do they see PlC’s and that kind of thing? So, tier three. I mean, that’s like, that’s down the road. But a lot of interventions should be happening at tier one right before even tier two, tier three. And what I’m curious about are your teachers giving common formative assessments, and then are they adjusting their instruction after that with intervention and enrichment already? 

18:17
Ryan
So that is the difference. That’s why that focus is on getting that wind time up, because we do have common assessments now. We do have the PLC time. They are going through those four questions and then the wind time, that should be addressing, what are we doing? Students aren’t getting it. So then they can bring those kids into their classes and just give them mini lessons to fill the holes that they missed on the previous assessment. You know, got it. 

18:50
Danny
So don’t. Definitely don’t want to throw a wrench into all your plans, but just observation. I’ve run some successful schools with PLC’s, and I’ve seen this talk about wind time. It’s a newer concept that I see on social media, and I’m not saying it’s wrong or anything like that. What I am saying is that I’ve seen faculties able to offer the intervention and enrichment without a wind time class. You know what I mean? So is there any challenge or pushback or maybe, again, just a need for professional development and training? Are the teachers not doing the intervention enrichment within just the regular class? Does that make sense? 

19:31
Ryan
Yeah, that makes sense. No, they’re doing the intervention and enrichment in the class, too. One of the big focuses for math, but student talk, math talk. And I think that one of the best interventions with that is just having kids talk. Setting up specific greeks where you have high, low, mid, and they’re able to have math conversations saying, which other through the math problems. And then we have math ready. So you have that personalized patent math parent that meets your high end kid. He’s getting instruction at his grade level there, or it is ability. And then the kid at the lower level, too, they’re getting instruction work where they need to have those holes filled. 

20:21
Danny
Gotcha. So I’m hearing that they are offering some form of intervention enrichment in class. So are you seeing the kids then progress and just the gap still remains the two years or. Because I guess if the intervention is effective, we should see those gaps closing.  

20:39
Ryan
Well, this is the first year we. 

20:42
Danny
Put in PLC’s and stuff. 

20:44
Ryan
Yeah, last year we started. Last year. I think we started halfway through the year. Oh, wow. Yeah. That wasn’t ideal, but I. Yeah. Do we start? I can’t remember. Last year was rough. This year is going much better. And you know, this whole inclusion model, everybody having access to the core curriculum. I think that’s making a difference. In the past, we’ve had, like I said, those tier one, you’re a tier one, you’re tier two, you’re getting core plus more. And the plus more wasn’t always targeted the best. I mean, it always felt like it was. We had good intentions with it, but it didn’t narrow that achievement.
21:25
Danny
Got it. 

21:25
Ryan
And then the tier three kids, they just kind of. It was a struggle because they’re in with a totally different curriculum. Weren’t even seeing grade level curriculum and didn’t see grade level standards. They were just working on stuff two and three years behind where they were at. 

21:40
Danny
Well, it sounds like you’re newer to PlC’s, too, so one thing, just as an encouragement, it takes time.  And so if you’re getting Mike Mattis and others to come in and train the folks, if you’re providing the PLC timing, you got the late start day on Mondays, and additionally, like, the wind time type stuff, it sounds like, from a system point of view, you’re providing the space and the resources to get the job done. One thing we haven’t talked about, is there an opportunity for making common forms of assessment and sort of like, data analysis easier? Maybe. Back in the day, this was, like, almost a decade ago, but we worked with a company called Mastery Connect. I don’t even know if they’re still around. I would think they are, but I could be wrong. But the thing that I think I liked, and I saw the faculty like, so it doesn’t matter. The app, it’s about the usefulness. But you and I are teaching math, since that’s what we’re talking about. We give the common formative assessments. We could scan in the results, and it would boom, like that. Show us the kids that were meeting and exceeding and the kids that needed the intervention, and then we could separate them out and provide that intervention and enrichment, give another assessment and see if there was growth in those two targeted groups of kids.  I don’t know if that’s an area of opportunity in terms of technology to make the PLC process a bit easier, but giving it some time and. Yeah, go ahead. 

23:09
Ryan
Yeah. Funny you mentioned that. I mean, that’s what common assessments focus district wide. So we had our plc this morning were departments, grade level departments, zooming with other teachers in other buildings, and they were going over essential standards. And then, yes, it will be going towards common assessments across the board for math, language, or social studies and science. I mean, everybody. 

23:36
Danny
Interesting. 

23:37
Ryan
I don’t remember. Edge elastic. What is the word? 

23:41
Danny
Yeah, it doesn’t matter to me. It is just as long as it makes it easier for the teacher.  You know, that’s my point.  And that they could see the data, like, almost instantly and be able to differentiate instruction and separate the kids based on their needs. Where their strengths and weaknesses are. 

23:59
Ryan
It’s so important that they see it right away, and then. Students get that feedback right away, too, to see where they’re in. 

24:07
Danny
Yeah, for sure. Cause I waited too long, and it’s like, I don’t even remember what you taught weeks ago. That kind of thing. 

24:14
Ryan
Right, right. You’d never want that thing happening, for sure. 

24:19
Danny
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25:26
Danny
Quest provides solutions for school cafeterias of every size, including multi station dining halls, cafes and coffee shops, marketplace grab and go catering and events, satellite programming and more. The quest food philosophy is to prioritize the health and wellness of students by cultivating chef crafted recipes containing high quality ingredients and using scratch made cooking techniques and responsible product sourcing. Learn more about quest food management [email protected], or follow quest food on social media. That’s questfms.com.  I’m curious about the system. Like, usually all the standards they want you to cover are impossible. Research shows us that. Is there a pressure from the district to like, still get it all done? Because I think before in the Solution Tree, people used to talk about need to know versus nice to know and gotta haves. And has the school sort of identified, like, here’s the smaller, like 80 20, right. These are the most foundational pillar sorts of concepts in math that everybody needs to master before they leave the school. And we hope we get to the other stuff. But that’s more like, that’s the enrichment curriculum, actually. And you know what I mean? And the kids that are two years behind, they’re going to master this pillar content. And I’m telling I’m the principal. I’m telling you, teacher, it’s okay that our students who have this deficit, that they don’t cover the quote unquote regular curriculum until they mastered the foundational skills. Like, we’re not putting pressure on you. To cover everything with them. They’ve got to get caught up. And here’s, as professionals, what we believe will catch them up knowing these foundations that they’re missing. 

27:29
Ryan
Solution Trees are the essential standards. And that’s why we have our co-teaching classes that target the group of kids. It’s a different pace, and it is just strictly focusing on those essential standards. So, like, we have a science essentials class where they’re given access to that general science curriculum, but it is only the gotta have standards emphasized in the class. 

27:56
Danny
Okay.  So it sounds like you’ve done the work to identify those and have segmented some kids to receive that. And again, it sounds like the system is providing the resources, the time to do the work, and now it’s given the teachers and the students time to learn the process. And it’s like the coach. Nick Saban or whoever, telling you to trust the process. This works for schools. Once they’ve implemented it, they’ve resourced it. And then you gotta make sure, though, that the teachers are actually doing it. On the zoom training meetings or whatever, like, they have to be talking about data and intervention and acceleration. 

28:33
Danny
And so the other aha for you and for the ruckus maker, listening, it’s something to think about. How do you bring those into the conversations when you have observations, when you have feedback and coaching and evaluation? But how do you keep bringing it back? Keep bringing back this idea that we’re a PLC. We do common formative assessments. We do intervention and enrichment. And this is really important, too. And you’re not a bad teacher if x percentage of kids don’t get it the first time. Cause guess what? That’s just life. That happens for everybody, even master teachers. Now, what separates a master teacher from a novice or average amateur teacher is that the master teacher then doesn’t let those kids stay there through intervention and enrichment, and the amateur just continues to move on, or they don’t really implement intervention and enrichment. 

29:30
Danny
Every teacher wants to know two things. Am I competent? Am I doing a good job? And do I belong here?  Do people like me respect me? That kind of thing? And when you look at common formative assessments and you’re sharing this,  kind of in public, even if it’s just a small Plc, it could feel vulnerable, right? And, oh, man, 40% of my kids didn’t get it, you know what I mean? And whatever the percentage is. And that could be hard to admit. So do you guys have conversations around that piece? 

30:03
Ryan
We’re still working out those essential standards. I think those are going to be more conversations for next year. When they’re actually in the mud going through all this. 

30:13
Danny
Okay. But I’m not so much, like, talking about the central standards. I’m talking about the emotional side of the work that a good portion of my kids don’t make when I give a common formative assessment. And now I feel lousy as a teacher. I feel like I’m a bad teacher or I want to sort of hide or something because I’m worried that I’m not doing a good job or that I’m gonna get a bad evaluation or that my peers will think I’m an idiot. Like, do you talk about that piece? 

30:40
Ryan
Yes, yes. And the analogy we use over here, nobody bats a thousand. Looking at those common assessments, because Matt does have some of those now. I mean, you can look and you could see, whoa. Wellyou had 70% of your kids passing that. I had 50. What did you do differently? 

30:59
Danny
Yeah, exactly. 

31:00
Ryan
And then just creating that culture of, hey, man, I want to go in and out and see what Danny did in his class to engage those kids or go over that concept. And, oh, man, maybe when we do the intervention piece, maybe Danny takes that group of kids because he really nailed that ratio assessment. It’s all about the collaboration piece. And, hey, failure’s perfect. Fine, man. As long as you’re growing and learning and have that mindset of, I want to get better. 

31:32
Danny
Yeah. And the PLC piece provides that, because when you’re doing the intervention acceleration, you can make progress because you’re actually not just steaming forward, you’re reteaching. So a couple opportunities for you to think about. Since you’re newer to the process, what can you do to, like, really have this hyper celebratory culture? So when common formative assessments are given, intervention enrichment is done, another assessment’s given, and now we can quantitatively show progress. How are you going to celebrate that on a consistent basis?  So that’s something, certainly, to explore and talk to your leaders about and that kind of thing. And then you’re in middle school, if I remember correctly. Is that right? 

32:18
Ryan
Oh, yeah, we’re the best. We love Middlesex. 

32:21
Danny
Yeah. Awesome. And so, like, the team leads are those grade level leads then, instead of departments? Or how does it work? 

32:28
Ryan
l’m going to kind of restructure that for next year. But I have a foundations team, the leadership team, and its department heads and then a couple other people that want to volunteer for it. 

32:39
Danny
All right. Can I share one story from what worked for me, too? 

32:42
Ryan
As long as it’s a good one, Danny. 

32:44
Danny
Well, I hope it is. I think it is. So our school was just like you, newer to the PLC process, and we got them the time, we got them the training, we got the technology right, everything to support them to do the job. So then the next level, and we started implementing and saw some growth. What really took the growth and made it exponential was within our leadership team meetings. We started making our leadership team meetings. PlC’s right, in the sense that this is a high school, okay? And the department chairs would bring in their common informative assessment data, even though the department chairs were not teaching similar classes or the same course or the same grade level. But we wanted to create a culture of psychological safety and trust and that we’re a learning organization and that it’s okay to fail. 

33:38
Danny
It’s like part of the process. And we get better. We learn as new data comes in. So the department chairs started presenting their results, other common formative assessments. They would share their lesson plans and unit plans. We did understanding by design back in the day, and then they would talk about how the kids got to where they were, what the results were, and what their plan was for intervention and acceleration. And then eventually, after giving that second common assessment, how did it work? Did the intervention enrichment work or not? We got the department chairs comfortable in that process, and then it was, okay, now go do it with your departments, or in your case, now go do it in your grade levels.  

34:20
Danny
So by having the leaders sort of show the behind the scenes of what was happening in their classes, because those leaders are usually some of your higher performing teachers. It helped the rest of the staff say, oh, it’s okay. Katie, who’s this really great history teacher, all of her kids don’t get it the first time around, and she had to do intervention and enrichment, and at times it was hard, too, but more kids got it. And that’s the whole point. More kids get it the next time and the next. So that might be a structure. If you don’t have that set up yet, that helps it take root within the culture. 

34:59
Ryan
Yeah, that makes total sense. You’re remodeling it, and then they just. 

35:03
Danny
Spread it out to the departments 100% what do you think? What would be, if you like that idea, what would be the easiest part of implementing it? And what do you think the biggest challenge would be? 

35:14
Ryan
Yeah, I just think right now with my foundations team, I’ve got a lot of fries piling all over the plate, and some are tall enough and just wanting to throw the ones off I don’t need and just be able to focus on the ones that are on the plate. I guess we’ll just be prioritizing this over some of the other things, which is value in prioritizing this 100%. 

35:40
Danny
Yeah. I mean, what would be more important? 

35:43
Ryan
Say. I would say this because you’re going to get to. We’re going to be there with competent assessments pretty soon. And so just having that process so that when you’re in your plc, you know what process to follow. And just having the culture of, hey, it’s okay to fail. We celebrate successes and failures. We figure out ways to make those successes. 

36:07
Danny
Yeah, that’s good. I like the analogy of the fries that you mentioned. One, they’re delicious, but two.l
36:13
Ryan
I love a good fry. 

36:15
Danny
Too many. It’s dangerous. Right? Yeah. I lived in Belgium for a while. I don’t know if you knew that. Their fries are legendary. Seriously. No, they say, like, it’s not the French who invented them, it’s the Belgians, and they take their fries to a whole nother level. I think the secret is that they fry them twice in the oil. Cause I was watching them make it.  They’d throw it in, fry it, take it out, dry them kind of a bit, and they would go back in for another dip that’s extra healthy. But the double unhealthy, man, I’m telling you, so good. And I lived. I lived at a place. Last part of this story lived right above a frit shop in Aldi. So we could come out, do some grocery shopping, get our fries. 

They did the mail over there, too, right? The mayo. You could get ketchup if you wanted to, but they knew you’re American if you got the ketchup. 

37:06
Ryan
Oh, I’d have to get ketchup. 

37:08
Danny
You can do both. I snuck out with both, and I started a ranch. 

37:11
Ryan
They do ranch, too? 

37:13
Danny
No, no. There. A couple of shops had, like, specialty sauces, and they would have it, but it was pretty much mostly just mayo or ketchup. But back to the analogy, like, are there any fries on that plate that just seem. Yeah, it’s important. The district says it’s important. It’s kind of, we’ve always done it. But like you, the business of school is this teaching and learning business. Right. And supporting teachers in their own professional growth and supporting kids and their achievement and PlC’s and intervention enrichment. Like that is the way.  And then partnering that with like how Mitch sets up his class with executive functions. That’s a powerful approach. But what else? What are the other fries? 

37:54
Danny
I don’t know if we have time to get into it, but are there any that you could just like immediately knock off and handle for them or somehow address in another space? 

38:05
Ryan
Well, I think that once we get this bell schedule knocked out. That’s a lot of the fries and I feel like we’re close on that one. And then it is, it’s going to be this executive functioning coming down the pipeline, too. But I think that that falls right in line with PlC too, for sure I know I could make more time once the build schedule is built. 

38:29
Danny
Yeah, that would be a huge lift and space cleared for sure. 

38:33
Ryan
And then just structuring out that wind time. And what exactly do you want that to look like, which should be modeled., I mean, that’s where you come in, look at the common assessments and say, hey, what kiddos didn’t get it? What are we going to do about it? What interventions are you going to be doing with it? 

38:49
Danny
I think intervention, again, I just want to over communicate. I think that could be happening quite a bit within the regular class, too. Like not just because if it gets delegated just to this wind time, it’s going to be seen as a thing that’s a kind of an add on and not the ethos of how we decide teaching and learning looks like within our school. And it’s something, it is a shift because it wasn’t natural. I had to learn this. Our teaching staff had to learn this when I went to college to train to be a teacher. Back in the day, we didn’t talk about intervention and enrichment. It’s like how do kids learn? And a bunch of theory and stuff like that, and then you get into the real deal.And you think it’s just like, hey, I’m going to design this awesome lesson. Kids are going to love learning from me and they’re just going to get it and that’s everybody’s going to be true. 

39:38
Ryan
No, yeah, I’m seeing. 

39:39
Danny
So there is a big, big learning curve there. But once you make that shift, like the kids, it’s going to be so good for you. I’m quite excited for your campus because you’re so new into this process. And in a year, two years, the results you’re going to see, you’re going to be thrilled. You really are. 

39:56
Ryan
No, and it’s time.  I would result now, but everything works like that, especially education. 

40:03
Danny
Not at all. There’s no magic. If there was everybody taking the magic pill. So it’s just a bunch of baloney. 

40:09
Ryan
Oh, absolutely, actually. 

40:10
Danny
So before I ask you, like, what was most helpful from today, the last thing I’ll say is one thing and maybe you’ve thought of it, maybe already offered it. But I’m assuming your school year is sort of the traditional school year and there’s a break during the summer, too, so that that might be an opportunity as well to do some really targeted intervention with some students that need to catch up. How can you frame it in a way that’s exciting and fun and an advantage for that student and for the families and a win for them versus a punishment because you don’t want it to feel like, well, you have to come back because you’re not getting it and you’re so far behind, blah, blah. But something to think about. 

40:49
Ryan
We don’t. Unless you are. I don’t know, instances where, well, I guess they do offer summers, but that’s like, for low, low tier three kids, so it’s rare that we offer that. 

41:02
Danny
If there’s teachers willing in a budget to support the efforts that might. That’s sort of low hanging fruit, you know what I mean? 

41:12
Ryan
I can remember one of my schools, we used to do that, but I mean, my title budgets just got by $50,000, so. 

41:18
Danny
Yeah, big cut. I got you. 

41:21
Ryan
That’s a very big cut, man. 

41:23
Danny
Yeah. You gotta do what you can do. All right,  I think there’s a lot of good things to be working on. What was most helpful from today’s call for you? 

41:31
Ryan
I think the most helpful is just going to be this. So if you could. 

41:36
Danny
I’ll write the email now, while you’re talking to. 

41:39
Ryan
I’d like to pick Mitch’s brains on some things and see how I. And you guys kind of shot me down a little bit during the podcast when you said that implementing some of these things we put them in these advisory sessions is always the best use of our time. And I’m like, well, that’s my win time. But ours are going to be good uses of time. I think some of these skills will be able to really emphasize in there, too. 

42:06
Danny
Okay, well, you could definitely dig into that with him. He’s the expert there. But I think it’s. I think it’s a bit. I wonder if he’d agree. He’s not here, obviously. But what we talked about when you put it in this special little area, then it’s just, it doesn’t become a part of  who we are as a community. And Ryan had this idea. He brought it in. If I just wait a couple more years, he’ll be gone. And then this thinking class I don’t want to do or this reteaching that’s super important, I won’t have to do it anymore. So if I just wait it out, right. Versus if it’s integrated into, like, how I operate as a teacher every day. So. Cool. Well, thank you for your time. 

42:49
Danny
I really appreciate our calls and appreciate you signing up for this. Thanks for listening to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast, Ruckus Maker. How would you like to lead with confidence, swap exhaustion for energy, turn your critics into cheerleaders and so much more? The Ruckus Maker Mastermind is a world class leadership program designed for growth minded school leaders just like you. Go to betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind. Learn more about our program and fill out the application. We’ll be in touch within 48 hours to talk about how we can help you be even more effective. And by the way, we have cohorts that are diverse and mixed up. We also have cohorts just for women in leadership and a BIPOC only cohort as well. When you’re ready to level up, go to betterleadersbetterschools.com mastermind and fill out the application. Thanks again for listening to the show. Bye for now and go make a ruckus.