Eddy Turns Blog

 For me, it means focusing on the kids first and always. And SMART goals with "zones" gives us a way to do this. Listen to the podcast on our home page from the webinar "Engaging Students in Change" and you'll hear some of the best examples of goal monitoring and adjustment involving kids and their teachers that we've ever seen.

Anne and I had the extraordinary opportunity of participating as one of 24 women-owned companies (selected out of over 100) to present to investors in NYC. Springboard Enterprises https://www.springboardenterprises.org/about is the organizing group, and through them we've discovered a wonderful community of support. These are women who are passionate about making positive change in the world, whether through advanced traffic management systems, connecting women to "best of" brands, or like us, transforming American public education.

We're in a Kairos moment right now, a moment between what was before and is no more, and the unknown future. 

Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment. The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a time in between, a moment of an undetermined period of time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos

Imagine how different schools would be if teachers and principals were able to focus completely on a few, significant priorities that have a profoundly positive impact on student learning across all subject areas. Imagine individual teachers actually having extra time because continuous, relevant data helps them target their instruction to students’ greatest areas of need.

I’m gravely concerned about a recent posting in Teacher Week by Renee Moore, a former Mississippi state teacher of the year and Milken Award winner. In a post entitled “Fixing NCLB: How Testing Hurts Disadvantaged Kids”, Ms.

I happened to catch Diane Ravitch on public television recently describing her positive reaction to the expressed desire of the Obama administration to eliminate the draconian punitive measures in No Child Left Behind. In her view, we aren’t helping students learn by threatening their teachers and administrators with school takeovers, staff firings, and the like.

“To set and work toward any goal is an act of courage.” -- Stephen Covey

Dennis Sparks recently wrote in his blog about the power of setting incremental goals, saying

Large goals can overwhelm school leaders who may not know where to start and how to maintain momentum over a period of many months and years. That’s why it’s important that leaders break large goals into small parts that can be addressed on a daily or weekly basis. ("Breaking big goals into small goals," April 21 - find a link to Dennis' blog in our Resources)

On one of our first dates, almost 25 years ago, my husband took me whitewater canoeing. Only later did we discover that the river he selected is one of the most challenging in northern Wisconsin; in fact, every year at least one person drowns on this river.

We were untrained, unskilled and not exactly well-prepared. We had the wrong kind of canoe (fiberglass) for what we were about to do and none of the required equipment (air bag, knee straps, helmets), and we failed to put on our life preservers.

Collaboration is an essential element in designing a powerful learning environment for schools. When designed properly, a collaborative network will cultivate relationships that thrive on the exchange and formation of knowledge. An effective platform will provide students and teachers the opportunity to reflect, discuss, agree, debate and challenge their existing knowledge. How is collaboration designed? P U R P O S E Purpose can guide decision making. It is the motivation to improve. It is why you take action. It gives meaning to your actions.

In a recent blog, I wrote that adding more time to a school day won't mean improved student results unless there is a system of continuous improvement in place. This fact seems to be born out by a recent Miami Herald story about Rudy Crew's "zone" program which expanded the school day for low performing kids. After $100M and 3 years, the program is now called a bust. You can read the article at http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1049341.html