Super Bowl: Super Schools

I admit, I don’t know much about tomorrow’s Super Bowl. The few facts that I know is that there will be fab new commercials, my boy Justin is performing at halftime, and I need to stay awake long enough because the cliffhanger to This Is Us is on right after the big game.

Half time - ✔

After game - ✔

I do know know enough about football though...I am a Buckeye after all :) and all the hard work it takes to have a winning team is a lot like having effective, positive schools.

Get your Team Together

Any winning team needs to have a great group of people on the same mission - success. Success in schools doesn’t necessary mean winning sports events or extra - curricular trophies. It’s not having the highest test scores either. It’s about having people with a vision and mindset that ALL students can and will succeed. It’s bringing the cheerleaders, the players, and the coaches together and finding out what works best for the students in the school. You need an All Star Team for All Star results!

Read the Playbook

Good athletes read their playbooks, not once, but often. They stay current. As educators, we need to do the same. Friends, “what’s always worked” doesn’t always work. Our populations are changing and learning needs are diverse! We need to be reading works from our peers (blogs are great for this) and staying current with trends. There are so many journals available now that are so specific to what we each do, there is truly no excuse to not stay current.

Analyze the Scores

Coaches and players alike scrutinize over their team and individual scores and data. They take that and use that to improve. We do the same as educators. But are we each truly investing the time to really think about what our student/school data shows us and using it to make improvements? Most are. How do we get all our coaches, cheerleaders and players to do the same though?

Watch Old Videos

Players and coaches watch videos of games to improve. Unlikely that we would do this as often in the school, but we do need to reflect. We need to reflect weekly (if not daily) on our practices and consider what works, what doesn’t, and what we can change to better the education for our students. Sharing this through Teacher Based Teams and with your Personal Learning Network enhances growth for not only you, but for others as well.

Celebrate

Teams celebrate in big ways. Gatorade thrown, parties, end of season ceremonies. Do we do this enough in education though? I think we could do more. No, I don’t want Gatorade dumped on me when a student raises their reading score by a whopping 24 points, but I’m bringing the parent and student in and celebrating him! In a recent webinar I hosted, Principal Mark French said he celebrates his staff with a treat trolley. We need to celebrate the greatness in our schools.

Regardless of who wins tomorrow (I’ll be there for JT and a hopeful Prince tribute!) we’ll be back at school on Monday (after a tear filled This Is Us I’m sure).

How will you celebrate your MVPs?