Redefining Our School Culture
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A climate and culture course for teachers at Rugby Public School District. Based on the books: School Culture Rewired and School Culture Recharged.
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Redefining Our School Culture
- 1. Redefining Our School Culture Based on: School Culture Rewired and School Culture Recharged By Steve Gruenert & Todd Whitaker
- 2. If you want to know about the culture of a school, see how the adults greet kids and you will learn a lot. – Todd Whitaker
- 3. Quick review: Climate vs. Culture Culture …is the groups personality. …gives Mondays permission to be miserable. …provides for a limited way of thinking. …takes years to evolve. …is based on values and beliefs. …can’t be felt, even by group members. …is part of us. …is the way we do things around here. …determines whether or not improvement is possible. Climate …is the group’s attitude …differs from Monday to Friday, February to May. …creates a state of mind. …is easy to change. …is based on perceptions. …can be felt when you enter a room. …surrounds us. …is “the way we feel around here.” …is the first thing that improves when positive change is made.
- 4. Six Types of Culture 1. Collaborative 2. Comfortable-Collaborative 3. Contrived-Collegial 4. Balkanized 5. Fragmented 6. Toxic
- 5. Collaborative Characteristics: • Nirvana of school cultures – embraces learning for all • Aggressively curious about teaching and learning • Focused on student achievement • Help, support, trust, openness, collective reflection, and collective efficacy • Feels a bit like family • Most people are on the same page
- 6. Comfortable - Collaborative Characteristics: • Very common • Land of nice • Conversations are limited • It is important that all teachers are happy and satisfied with their work • Don’t drill down very deep so as not to expose a teacher’s weakness • Good is the enemy of great
- 7. Contrived-Collegial Characteristics: • It can feel superficial • Leadership determines how staff are to behave • Lacks teacher autonomy • Staff are micro-managed
- 8. Balkanized Characteristics: • Collaboration only occurs within cliques of like- minded staff • Competition is encouraged • Competition for position, resources, and territory • Active recruiting of new members • Sit together at meetings whispering, bonding and laughing
- 9. Fragmented Characteristics: • People do their own thing • Each person has their own territory and likes it that way • Classroom doors stay closed – both literally and figuratively • Lack of professional interaction – especially regarding best practices or student achievement • Nothing new is seriously considered – content with the status quo
- 10. Toxic Characteristics: • A focus on negativity • Use flaws as a justification for poor performance • May not be immediately visible to outsiders due to ability of staff to hide their beliefs • A toxic school culture expends energy on preventing change • Prioritize survival over improvement • Ridicule, sarcasm, and humiliation are common in the classroom
- 11. Where do we fall? 1. Collaborative 2. Comfortable-Collaborative 3. Contrived-Collegial 4. Balkanized 5. Fragmented 6. Toxic
- 13. Discussion Question What is the culture of our school?
- 14. Discussion Question What makes our school different than other schools?
- 15. Monday is not an inherently bad day. January and February are not inherently bad months.
- 16. Discussion Question What feelings and emotions are evoked when you think about our school?
- 17. Discussion Question How can we continue to shape the trajectory of the culture in positive ways?
- 18. Discussion Question What type of school culture do we want?
- 19. What did we miss? Did anything stick out that we should talk about?
- 20. Homework • Next meeting: November 21st at RHS Board Room • Read pages 66-118 • What is your moral imperative? Why do you do what you do? Define this for yourself and send me a First Class by November 17th.
- 21. November 21st Meeting RHS Board Room
- 22. Since our last meeting how have you positively impacted our climate and culture?
- 23. Moral Imperative Themes • Familial connection • Non-family influencers • Positive early experiences • Difference maker • Betterment of society • Advocates for our most vulnerable • Enjoy kids – legitimately care • Rewarding • Relational focus • Fondness of a great teacher • Tough love • Personal struggles – can relate w/ students • Students first • Influence
- 24. Why do you do what you do? • Know your why and live by your commitments
- 25. Start with Why – Simon Sinek
- 26. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. – Simon Sinek
- 27. Student Achievement • To what degree do we discuss student achievement? Collegial Awareness • How much time do we invest in observing one another to improve practice?
- 28. Shared Values • To what degree are teachers on the same page regarding educational values? Decision Making • To what degree do teachers value the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect student achievement?
- 29. Risk Taking • To what degree do teachers value the opportunity to experiment? Trust • To what degree do faculty members exhibit trust in one another?
- 30. Openness • When a teacher observes another teacher do they feel free to offer constructive criticism? Parent Relations • To what degree are parents valued for contributing to the educational process?
- 31. Leadership • How much does leadership contribute to or hinder instructional improvement? Communication • To what degree do written or unwritten rules and expectations regulate communication among staff?
- 32. Socialization • To what degree do effective faculty support new teachers? Organizational History • How do past events and long-gone members influence our school community?
- 33. Survey Results • What kind of culture do we have?
- 34. December 19th Meeting Ely Library
- 35. Since our last meeting how have you positively impacted our climate and culture?
- 36. The elephant in the room
- 37. Rewiring a culture is like turning around an ocean liner – it takes along time.
- 38. Culture uses the past as a template for the present.
- 39. When hiring new teachers, your goal is to have the existing culture bend toward the new teacher, not the other way around.
- 40. When the leader sneezes, everyone else catches a cold.
- 42. Good to Great ‘Good is the enemy of great’ (Collins)
- 43. Good to Great • ‘Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties and at the same time confront the brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be’ (Stockdale) • Reflect on what is your reality (30 seconds)
- 44. Good to Great • ‘The good-to-great companies are more like hedgehogs—simple, dowdy creatures that know “one big thing” and stick to it. The comparison companies are more like foxes—crafty, cunning creatures that know many things yet lack consistency’ (Collins) • Reduce & connect your initiatives • Be relentless and stay the course
- 46. Next Steps • Read pages 1-28 out of School Culture Recharged • Next Meeting RHS Board Room (7:00am or 3:40pm) January 18th
- 47. January 18, 2018 RHS Board Room
- 48. Thoughts and comments from the reading?
- 49. Do we truly understand our culture to improve it?
- 50. Since our last meeting how have you positively impacted our climate and culture?
- 51. Gossip “If I cannot speak well of an Eagle, I will not speak ill of him.” - Fraternal Order of Eagles “Talking about a situation with somebody who is neither a part of the solution or a part of the problem.” “One little piece of gossip won’t hurt me. And I’m mostly just listening, so I am an innocent bystander.”
- 52. Trust
- 53. Trust • The only difference between you and a caveman is the care you drive. • Distance creates arrogance.
- 55. Negative Nelly • Have you ever known a negative person? • How do you feel around that person? • How do others feel around that person? • Did you try to avoid them? • Were they intimidating?
- 56. Think about your school five years from now. What do you hope will be different? What stories do you need to start telling today to make it happen?
- 57. Next Steps • Assignment – Based on our conversations, data, and the readings define our culture – Identify an area of improvement – Due February 15th • Reading – Pages 29 – 76 • Location and date – Ely Elementary – February 22, 2018
- 59. Since our last meeting how have you positively impacted our climate and culture?
- 60. What caught your eye from the reading?
- 61. Forget the Pecking Order at Work • Companies don’t have ideas, only people do. • Conflict is frequent, because candor is safe. And that’s how good ideas become great ideas. Because no idea is born fully formed. • What motivates people are the bonds and loyalty and trust they develop between each other. What matters is the mortar, not just the bricks. • Social capital is what makes companies robust.
- 62. Themes from your cultural definition • Too nice • Communication • Bring a solution • Stop the gossip • Team building • Okay place • Cliques • People are late • Fun and laughter • Hurt • Collegial awareness • Not welcoming • What's best for kids? • Trust • Professional respect • Open minds • Take risks • Listen to reply and not to hear • Empathy • Organizational structure and proximity • Pride • Flexibility
- 63. Reading the Mind in the Eye Test http://socialintelligence.labinth ewild.org/mite/
- 64. Getting to know you
- 65. What are the next steps?
- 66. Think about your school five years from now. What do you hope will be different? What stories do you need to start telling today to make it happen?
- 67. Wrapup • Assign groups: Brainstorm activities for next year • Reading – Page 77-128 • Next Meeting: March 27th @ RHS Board Room
- 68. March 27th Rugby High School Be the culture you want to see. Be it everyday.
- 69. Since our last meeting how have you positively impacted our climate and culture?
- 70. What caught your eye from the reading?
- 71. We should disagree more at work https://hbr.org/2018/01/why-we- should-be-disagreeing-more-at- work
- 72. Think about your school five years from now. What do you hope will be different? What stories do you need to start telling today to make it happen?
- 73. Climate Culture Plan Split into groups: Group 1: (Welcome back!) September, October and November Group 2: (Winter blues) December, January and February Group 3: (Spring forward) March, April and May
- 74. Next Steps • Next Meeting: April 26, 2018 (Ely Elementary) • Complete the remainder of the book: Read 139 – 182 • Finalize Climate and Culture plan for 2018- 2019 school year
Editor's Notes
- Goal of course is to take an in depth look at our climate and culture and seek out ways to improve. What is our current reality? What do we want our climate and culture to be? How and what will we do together to improve our climate? These are the areas of focus for this course. I say this every year – This course will be as good as you make it. I expect participation and a lot of conversation. We will have a few mini assignments throughout the course.
- Lets have a brief discussion on how we greet kids and adults in our schools. As school employees we are constantly under the microscope. What are you biggest successes?
- Being nice to each other is generally a good idea, but it can inhibit the practice of providing feedback in the form of criticism or even an alternative viewpoint.
- What are the implications of the video for our school district?
- Write these down on large sticky sheets Define each and discuss them. Try to theme them in groups. What type of behaviors do you see that seem to define these moments? What patterns recur that make your school unique? How might a visit describe what he or she sees? Are there aspects of what you see, hear, and feel in your school that you would like to change?
- Write these down on large sticky sheets Define each and discuss them. Try to theme them in groups.
- It just so happens that, for most of us, it marks the beginning of the typical work week after two days of rest. Imagine a staff person comes into the school on cold January school day happy to be there. Loves her job, her work, her students and her colleagues. Some might even ask her, “What are you so happy about?” They might even be smiling as they do it, but deep down they hope that she’ll become as disgruntled as they are. The opposite happens on Friday afternoons. Those who lost their jobs don’t want to rush out of the building as soon as the buses leave are ostracized for not conforming to a culture that expects them to do so. A school culture might encourage a miserable mindset on Mondays and a can’t-wait-to-leave mindset on Fridays among teachers even when the mindsets don’t conform to the teachers’ true feelings Ultimately, all of these things tell the students that they, too, should spend their school days counting down to the weekend.
- Write these down on large sticky sheets Define each and discuss them. Try to theme them in groups.
- Write these down on large sticky sheets Define each and discuss them. Try to theme them in groups.
- What are the elements that we wish to see, feel, and hear in our schools?
- The goal for today is to analyze our culture a bit more by reviewing the survey I had sent out. The final goal will be to provide some recommendations for next steps in terms of improve our climate and culture. We need to get a good idea of our current reality.
- We all have rough days. In fact we can choose to have a bad day any day of the week. Teaching is hard. Eli’s story When we have rough days we have to remind ourselves about why we chose this profession. That means reviewing your moral imperative from time to time. What do you do what you do?
- Turn and Talk: What resonated with you in the video?
- Separate into four groups and analyze results. Group 1: 1-3 Group 2: 4-6 Group 3: 7-9 Group 4: 10-12 Report out on thoughts and insights.
- Near the end of the book there is a quote, “ Why don’t you rewire your culture instead of talking about it to death.” This is what this conversation is about. Misconstrued conversations - Should be a safe place… Social Media - Deal with a few times every year Tshirts - Comments on a tshirt Holiday Social Molehills become mountains Can you let it go? Or will you never forget? Do we support each other? Or do we undermine each other? Support each other privately and publicly! We are sometimes our own worst enemies. I have been reflecting on this topic for a while now. I believe we have a healthy culture, but there are times when I question it. Little things have a big impact on culture. These things mentioned about that have occurred in the last month have a big impact on our culture. We all play a role in this. You can make this place a negative place or a positive place. The choice is yours. Are we all in?
- Reflect on this statement. What does it mean? How does it apply to the climate and culture within a building. Filling the void – when there is a leader but an absence of leadership, everybody tries to supply it.
- This is one of those seminal books for me and has helped guide my leadership style. I would recommend reading it some time. The vast majority of schools in ND are good schools. An overwhelming majority of parents think we have good schools – 89% to be exact. As a school leader you don’t have to do much to be good in most of our school districts. If poverty is low – it takes a heck of a lot for us to screw our kids up enough to not be a good school. Rugby was and will always be a good school. Favorable demographics (low mobility, low poverty, access to decent jobs, and etc.) The challenge in my opinion as a school leader is moving past good. It is easy to be good in ND. How do you motivate and push beyond the status quo in a good school? Very challenging.
- Explain the Stockdale Paradox This is our job as leaders – we need to confront brutal facts. Collins mentions in the book, that it is our duty to look under rocks for squiggly things. Take a minute and think about your current reality in your school district (I assume that what is said in here stays in here). What are those brutal facts that serve as the elephant in the room in your school district? As a leader, how will you figure those hidden things and how will you address them?
- Reduce and connect initiatives PLCs and SBG Relentless There will be days where you think you have made considerable progress only to realize you have taken
- What will your adults commit to doing every day in your school/district? Developing Collective Commitments Activity Each person needs one notecard Stand up, find a partner, and stand back to back For one minute, write down as many words as possible to describe a great educator Now share with your partner but, you have to yell ‘yes’ when you have the same answer Star the words that are the same Share with a new partner Circle the words that are the same with both partners Bring back to the group and begin looking for commonalities
- Share with your partner. Professional religion of other people Regardless of structural changes, all sub-climates will find a way to return to the norm Future is a big variable that can scare a culture
- This is something that I took away from the first few chapters. Do we need to dig more? This will be the nature of your homework. Do we need to gather more data? The goal of this group is to start to begin to develop a plan to improve our culture. Maybe it is perfect? Maybe it is terrible? Maybe I am blind? Review data from culture survey
- Share with a partner
- Is it ever appropriate to gossip about others? Faculty lounge? Can we ever help students by speaking negatively of them? Can we ever help adults by speaking negatively of them?
- Can we build the type of relationships needed to do this very difficult without trusting each other?
- We are a successful species because of our ability to form cultures. This is the ability to leave the den to hunt or explore with confidence that the community will protect your family and your stuff. There is a reason we’re not friends with everyone we meet. We’re friends with people who see the world the way we see it, who share our views and our belief set. When we don’t share values and beliefs it makes it hard to work together. Distance creates arrogance I think we share many beliefs and values, but when you don’t have a relationship with someone you might be seen as arrogant. Which leads to gossip and then to dislike – makes it difficult to collaborate.
- What will your adults commit to doing every day in your school/district? Developing Collective Commitments Activity Each person needs one notecard Stand up, find a partner, and stand back to back For one minute, write down as many words as possible to describe a great educator Now share with your partner but, you have to yell ‘yes’ when you have the same answer Star the words that are the same Share with a new partner Circle the words that are the same with both partners Bring back to the group and begin looking for commonalities
- Share with your shoulder partner.
- Companies don’t have ideas, only people do. Conflict is frequent, because candor is safe. And that’s how good ideas become great ideas. Because no idea is born fully formed. What motivates people are the bonds and loyalty and trust they develop between each other. What matters is the mortar, not just the bricks. Social capital is what makes companies robust.
- Test your social intelligence
- I want help with developing a plan for next school year. Month by month Themes? How do we make Mondays more enjoyable? How should we break down the sub cultures? How do we get you guys together more often?
- Share with your shoulder partner.
- Be the culture you want to see. Be it everyday.
- “If a culture has three weak teachers, then that culture, as it currently exists, may need three week teachers.” (p. 79) “Who is protecting these things that make our day at school miserable at times?” (p. 86) “Underperforming schools make changes only when they are directed to.” (p. 87) Change is constant. How do we approach change? “Reinforce the efforts, not the results” Unwritten rules always win out over the written rules SBG as a strategy – those who do it well are great, but those who do not don’t How hard is it to celebrate Monday? Are PLCs a lifeline? Or are they a main venure for increasing negative energy? What does your PLC stand for? Professional Learning Community? Pretty Lousy Concept? Or Personal Lounging Club? (p. 109) Be the culture you want to see. Be it everyday.
- Read article
- Share with your shoulder partner.
- Handout calendar and develop a climate culture plan. Split groups into thirds Group 1: (Welcome Back) September, October and November Group 2: (Winter blues) December, January and February Group 3: (Spring forward) March, April and May Brainstorm and plan ideas based on our discussions and the reading this year. Can we develop monthly themes?