Tag Archives: G-town

Don’t stop believing

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The Seneca Nation of Indians sponsored a family carnival this evening. The three contract schools participated with JOM faculty, Seneca Nation employees, faculty, staff and administration volunteering. I think they planned for 500 people to attend and we ran out of tickets. It didn’t matter though, because the kids all played whatever games they wanted to and there was food enough for everyone.

Each district sponsored a welcome booth and each school within the districts sponsored a game booth. A friendly competition was waged among the three schools where carnival-goers voted for the best welcome booth.

The thing that struck me about the evening was the reaction to the Gowanda pride shown by all of us. As we signed in participants, we encouraged them to go to the ballot box and to vote Gowanda the best booth/best school. There is almost a reluctance to say, “yes, Gowanda rocks!” and not just at tonight’s event. But you know what I noticed? The more pride we showed in our school, the more comfortable our students were. I hope at least a couple of parents and kids left thinking, “I’m glad to be a part of that school.”

I’m still, in my third year, combating the “it’s Gowanda, what do you expect?” attitude. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I expect the best, that’s what we’ve got and that’s what we will continue to be. I love Gowanda and I’m very proud to be the high school principal here. Not anywhere else–not the #1 ranked school in football or Lacrosse or Math or English–Gowanda. We’ll get there. I’m in it for the long haul, G-Town, and you’re worth it. Believe it. I do.

Why support school sports?

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As a part of my job, I attend a lot of sporting events. I try to attend at least a couple of home competitions for every sports team we have in G-Town. I have some sports that I enjoy more than others. I honestly have some difficulty focusing on the details of many of them, but it’s important that I be there to support our students and coaches. Honestly, I spend most of the time talking to parents and students in the stands.

I’ve worked for schools where teams have won state championships. I’ve seen the excitement in a small community when that happens. We’ve got only a couple of possibilities for big wins right now in G-Town. But our students work hard, we hope, and we support our kids, win or lose.

At tonight’s cross country match, I was reminded of the real reason for after school sports programs. Our modified, boys, and girls cross country teams all supported one another. They got some great exercise and competed against some terrific teams. But the best part came after the boys’ race, when the boys’ varsity team slid through the mud, came up completely caked in it, and then cheered on the girls’ team. Why was this a defining moment in high school sports for me? Because they were just kids, having fun, together as a team.

It was good-natured, fun loving, and spontaneous. The coaches and parents laughed about it and everyone left happily, from the fastest kid to the slowest. Once again, it was a group of G-Town students, coaches, and parents that I am proud to call my own. No state championship needed.

We don’t need no thought control.

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I’ve been paying attention to this blog, JCC CSC 1590 Computing Fundamentals I, created for our college level course that’s taught here, to our students, by our math teacher for Jamestown Community College credit. If Mrs. Furman keeps this up, her students will be owning the content in no time. As Jordan and Courtney have shown in their comments, they are responding to the reading in the textbook by posting summary notes, with examples, for their classmates to consider.

I’m sure this caused Jordan and Courtney a considerable amount of anxiety, which led to a meaningful study of the text–how much more meaningful than a traditional reading of the text, only they can comment on. The other students in the class have the ability to post questions and to try to find the chink in the summaries. They have to read the summaries with a discerning eye so that they can turn around and comment intelligently.

Watch out, Mrs. Furman, your students are actually thinking about your text, responding purposefully, and just maybe, learning something unexpected along the way. And all this without you dictating it to them, without you telling them specifically what to regurgitate. This is teaching and learning at its best. You make me proud to be in G-Town, where the most innovative process is happening right now. Thank you, G-Town students and teacher, the best in the biz.

Take this job and love it.

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There are days in this job when seemingly nothing goes as planned. Student issues override everything and some nights I arrive home realizing I’ve just reacted to everything that was coming at me all day long. Not the best management style, not intended, and certainly not the kind of day that anyone wants to have. These are the days that leave me wondering if I’ve been effective at all, exhausted, and raiding my secretary’s desk for candy bars.

But the best part about the unpredictability of working with adolescents is that it works both ways. I had about four different tough student issues this week, the kind of stuff that I can’t solve. Those are the issues that take it out of me. Right when I’m feeling worn down, something always seems to happen to lift me out of it. And it’s always the kids—and I’m reminded of why I’m here, why I’m fighting the good fight, why I’m trying to make a difference. The problem is that we sometimes get tied up in the most extreme cases and we miss those other 98% of the students who are just coming to school, day in and day out, doing exactly what we ask of them.

Here’s how it went today. I was leaving a meeting at BOCES, where some of our students go for vocational education, and all of my G-Town kids were waiting with the other BOCES students for classes to start. They haven’t seen me there before and their reaction made me smile. They were friendly and excited and calling out to me. They wanted me to stop and talk and they wondered why I was there. I told them I was checking up on them and they said “we’re doing great, aren’t we?!” I felt proud that they were my kids and even prouder that they “owned up” to me in front of their friends from other schools.  I remembered why I’m a high school principal—it’s for each of them. It’s for the G-Town students who need me the least, those who just go about their business every day. I need to schedule time with them every day, for me, more than for them. Yep, I love this job.  

Teachers giving it a go in G-Town

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Two teachers in G-Town are giving blogs a try in the classroom. Crystal is using a classroom blog to post questions for students in her college level computing fundamentals course. I can see her students struggling to move beyond the level of commication they’re accustomed to on IM and myspace. Crystal remains dedicated to the content and is helping her students move over to a new technology, a new way to communicate, and at the same time, learning about her content through a connective tool. Crystal is an innovator, the kind of teacher who hears about a good idea, thinks it through and implements about five minutes later. We need more teachers like her.

Steven is using blogs in his English 12 class to post assignments on the “mother blog” to which students respond in posts on their own blogs. This has been interesting as students tackle content while linking to websites and then responding in writing. The writing remains the part of the task that many dislike. I’m anxious to see what happens when Steve moves over to allowing students to post on their blogs about content that’s exciting to them. He is one of our most creative educators so I’m sure his students will produce some terrific content. I’m looking forward to the day when students start to receive comments to their posts.

And as both teachers and the students they touch move forward, they routinely handle the “techie” stuff that comes up, no big deal. I’m glad they’re in G-Town, moving us forward.

And the beat goes on.

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Our school is trying to build up it’s marching band program. Actually, our terrific band directors Jill Ryan and Deb Lippa are trying to do that with the support of their department leader, Robin Smith. These are an energetic trio and I wouldn’t trade them for any other music teachers in the country.

I’m struggling a bit with one aspect of the transition. Our band directors began last school year. Previously our long standing band director was very laid back with our students, as many didn’t attend lessons and his expectations were just different from mine. We had a lot of complaints from the community, students and parents about our poor performances.

Jill started with very high expectations for students and most important, for herself. She has the drive and the  desire to take our music students to another level. That’s exactly what we were looking for and what I thought our students really wanted. But now we’re experiencing some growing pains where students don’t all want a more rigorous program and several key members have dropped. This has been bothering me, sort of that, “geez, nothing we do makes these people happy feeling.” 

But then there we were at a parade today on the Seneca Nation territory, which is partially in our school district. This is a parade our school hasn’t marched in before and one that we should be in–Jill easily agreed to give it a go. Four days into school and she’s got about 30 students showing up on a Saturday morning, in the pouring rain, to march in a parade. Our students looked terrific, they played the best they knew how with only four days in, and some even stepped into positions they’d never assumed before. And there was our band director, right next to them, smiling and directing and just making us look great.

Made me realize again we’ve got to keep moving forward, keep raising our expectations, keep showing our kids that we believe in them and think they are so much more than some have been shown before. Yep, I was proud to be there with Jill and our students today. We may not have been the best marching band around, but we were the best we could be at that moment, on this beautiful day. And for those who aren’t coming along with us, I say “SOOO LONG”.

Student apathy? Not today.

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This is the second August that we’ve offered the Regents exams to our students, free of charge. For those outside of New York State, these are the state exams that our students must pass to graduate. Also, the scores achieved and Regents courses/exams taken indicate the diploma type for graduation. The exams include Comprehensive English, Math B, Living Environment, Chemistry, Global Studies and Geography, and others. 

Our teachers come in for five days of review prior to the exam and work with students for a couple of hours each day. It’s a completely voluntary testing opportunity, just our way to give students another chance at the Regents exams.

We’re a small grade 9-12 high school, about 500 students, and we had 161 students “register” to take one or more Regents exams. And on the past two beautiful days in August, we had 120 students show up to re-take a Regents exam. Our guidance director and teachers had a lot to do with it, as our guidance director, Beth, called just about every student to encourage participation. And teachers did their best to encourage students to come to the review and to prepare for the exam.

The best part for me is knowing that 120 students cared enough to show up, when it wasn’t required, to try to improve a test score. And that’s what about 35% of our students came for specifically. They’d already passed and just wanted a better score. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me.

And the other great thing about it? The students who passed on this August administration can now have schedule changes made for September 5, moving forward in their course work toward graduation and saving valuable time that otherwise must be devoted to repeated courses or to academic intervention. This should keep students moving toward the goal of a diploma as it’s much easier to convince students to stay in school when they’re on track and making progress.

So for every teacher and administrator who grumbles during the school year that “these kids won’t do anything and they just don’t care”, please think of the 120 students who showed up in G-town on August 16-17, just to improve and move forward.  I’m glad our School BOE and Superintendent recognized the value in showing our students that we care enough to offer the opportunity. When we don’t care enough to offer opportunities, students don’t have the chance to show us what they’re made of, which looks like pretty strong stuff.  

What do you expect of yourself?

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I swear to you when my fourteen-year-old son hears me mentioning blogging, he covers his head with a pillow, his hands, anything he can get. Not that he’s adverse to the idea, he’s just sick of hearing about it.

This makes me think about fourteen year old children in general and the fact that I have 130 of them entering my building in another month. I wonder how often my son, and others just like him, will want to cover his head rather than hear something again and again in class. I wonder how much richer his learning experience would be if he had only those teachers who are passionate about learning and about students. And more important, teachers who fuel his passions and interests—those are the teachers our kids need.

I have mentioned before and continue to maintain that it is the teacher’s responsibility to make the class engaging in a meaningful way and more important, to make it relevant. I wonder why this is so difficult for some teachers to do. How is it that someone can stand in front of a room of disconnected learners, who are clearly and visibly disconnected, and keep doing the same things? If a teacher is dedicated enough to go to college and to achieve a Master’s degree in their chosen content, then they must be dedicated to teaching. Right? Or are some just dedicated to the content, to the idea of being a teacher, to the summers off and the ability to return home by 2:30 in the afternoon?

We need teachers who are dedicated to the students, each and every one of them. Teachers who realize they aren’t teaching Math, Science, English, Social Studies, or the encore subjects. They’re teaching children. All 130 students entering our ninth grade are different, with interests, passions, hopes and dreams. They also come to us from very different parents, backgrounds, and histories. I want teachers who care about every student who walks through the door, who understand it’s their responsibility to connect with each student, to give them their absolute best each and every day. You know what? Our kids zero in on those teachers who don’t care or don’t know what they’re doing faster than we do. And our kids don’t want to do anything for those teachers. So listen at your faculty meetings this year because those teachers complaining the most about students not doing anything often lack the ability to connect with all students and they therefore lack the ability to motivate. Kids won’t do anything for a teacher they hate and they generally hate a teacher more than anyone else who disrespects them or belittles them. Pay attention to the teachers who keep quiet during those discussions, because they’ve most likely figured out ways to engage and connect with students. In seventeen years in education, one thing I know for sure is that children will do anything in the classroom for a teacher who they know cares about them and expects the best of them.

I don’t want to hear about how hard the job is or how difficult it is to get everything done. Every job is hard in different ways. If this one is too hard, go find something else to do. Our kids deserve the very best, the most passionate teachers, and adults who care. I believe with all my heart that there is no job more important or more rewarding. How hard is it to love our kids and give them 100% each and every day? I plan to do just that on September 1 and throughout the school year and I can’t wait to see my teachers return, ready to do the same.

Don’t underestimate the power of a teacher

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I spent the morning working with educators from two school districts and with representatives of the Seneca Nation regarding drop out prevention. The group was formed after an initial meeting with school superintendents and Seneca Nation representatives about the consideration of an alternative school on the Cattaraugus territory. The intent was to provide another opportunity, another way for our Native American students who are not succeeding in our public schools. 

I should mention that approximately 27% of our students are Native American and too many are lost to us before graduation. Not only is it of paramount interest to me as the principal, but also to our teachers, superintendent, BOE members, and community. It’s a fight we can’t afford to lose. 

At the initial meeting, there were those of us who said, “Wait a minute”. Before we consider the evolution of an alternative setting, let’s talk about how we’re currently serving our students. Or more to the point, let’s talk about how we may be falling down. My hope would be that we could be that alternative school, that place where all students can find success. And before we look for another way, let’s make sure that we’re getting it right for as many students as possible. 

This led us to the thought that we should form focus groups and listen to the students. While several studies have been conducted over the past ten years, not much ever seems to change as a result. What if we started to think differently? What if we ask our students questions directly about curriculum and instruction? Questions like what works for you in school; what is keeping you from doing well in class; which is the best way for you to learn; with which teachers do you do the best and what is it that they do that makes that happen; in what classes are you always willing to participate; what challenges you the most; what are the characteristics of the adults who matter most to you; do you feel emotionally safe in school–why or why not; what kinds of things would you like to do in the classroom?

So that’s how we’ll proceed. There are a lot of other details I haven’t mentioned like the group or individual interview formats chosen, the communication with parents and community members, the formulation of a meaningful action plan, and the students we’ll involve. But there’s something about the whole process that keeps playing over and over in my mind. They are all items that are within our realm of control and responsibility. I’m reminded again of the power of a teacher. The teacher is the variable in the classroom, he is the only person who can effectively change what happens based on what our students tell us. She has the incredible power to make a difference. If we only listen and endeavor to connect, to adapt and to constantly strive for engagement. 

We acknowledge that there may be circumstances in students’ lives that are overwhelming to any school experience we may provide. We know some of our students have huge obstacles to overcome. We also know we employ some of the best teachers in the state. I hope they come back in September rejuvenated, hopeful, and willing to assume responsibility for instruction. When they come back, I’ll be hopeful that they’re willing to listen and that we can get past any ideas that it’s “these kids and we’re doing the best we can with them”, ideas which only deflect responsibility. Because while I acknowledge that some of the needs seem insurmountable at times, “these kids” are entrusted to us, they need education, and we’re what they’re given. They deserve everything we’ve got and more.