By Taylor Walsh, WholeHealthED with Spike Cook, EdD, Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ

In January 2019 Lakeside Middle School (6-8) of Millville in Cumberland County, NJ launched a first-of-its-kind series of wellness workshops around activities usually presented separately or in piecemeal fashion: mindfulness, nutrition and kitchen skills, fitness, and environmental learning.  Uniquely, the activities were unified at Lakeside into a single program delivered during the semester.  They were also added to after-school services at Lakeside and at three other Cumberland County middle schools through the 21^st Century Community Learning Center (21^st CCLC) program of the US Dept. of Education.

The 21st CCLC commissioned a pre- and post-survey assessment of student attitudes, which summarized:

Overall, across every domain, students reported more knowledge, increased positive behavior, and more self-awareness, from pre- to post- surveys. The 21st CCLC Health and Wellness Program appears to have made a significant difference for the participants of this project.”[1]

Why did a Title 1 middle school in one of New Jersey’s most challenging communities agree to implement this approach?  And then to sustain its development during COVID?

In our online conversation this past summer Lakeside Principal Spike Cook observed:

This was an opportunity to provide something for the school community that would address the mind, body and spirit of wellness in order to transform our school culture. During the past few years, Lakeside Middle School has coordinated and participated in various mindfulness activities, so it made sense for us to take the next step in this initiative.”

The idea of unifying school-based wellness activities into a coherent program was the focus of WholeHealthED’s inaugural symposium in 2018 at Georgetown University.  Senior Advisor Kate Tumelty Felice, a psychology and education faculty member at Rowan College of South Jersey in Vineland (adjacent to Millville), led several discussions.  On returning to Vineland, she worked with county and school contacts to create by the end of 2018 a first “holistic wellness” program.

Implementation of what is now the Whole Health Studies program at Lakeside was one of the earliest examples of combining multiple school-based wellness activities into a single, coherent learning experience sustained across a semester.  It was also an entirely new way to think about the influence that students’ time in these programs might have on learning, on SEL and on mental and physical health.

Dr. Cook recounted: “As students began to participate in the events, it was clear that these were new experiences.  At first, they were timid, and some were even unwilling to participate.  As time progressed, so did their comfort level with the various activities.  Teachers and students both reported that the impact of the activities had specific benefits such as increased awareness of mindfulness, healthy eating, and respect for the environment.

“Students who participated in the activities were willing to trust the process that this would in fact help them, throughout the various activities. Each student took something special away and was able to better articulate feelings.”

Educators and specialists experienced in discrete wellness fields will recognize this kind of unfolding acceptance.  Combining the activities together as was done at Lakeside highlighted an interesting multiplier effect.  Chef Rebecca Johnson of Wellness in the School (WITS) noted this continuity when she described WITS’ “Cook for Kids” program she led at Lakeside. During our July 2020 webinar Balancing Academics and Wellbeing, she observed: “The students had just come from a mindfulness track.  Because of their heightened awareness they were unusually receptive.  They were ready for what we had to teach.”  (See: Chef Rebecca’s presentation on YouTube.)

2020: Into COVID

With the favorable results from 2019, Dr. Cook re-upped Lakeside for 2019-2020, which of course COVID shut down in early 2020.  But he remained open to program enhancements while everyone wrestled with remote learning and started to consider outdoor classrooms.   We continued to support his vision for transforming the school’s culture with our partners.

Foremost among these collaborations was with the Whole Health Institute (WHI), a groundbreaking clinical and therapeutic non-profit introduced by the Walton Family Foundation in January 2020.  WHI is bringing to healthcare an approach to healing and treatment that empowers patients to manage their own wellbeing.   Whole health principals animate this approach to personalized care; just as they do whole health learning.

But like WholeHealthED and schools everywhere in early 2020 WHI was unable to start its work in clinics and workplaces.  Together we came up with a collaboration to bring whole health principles into remote learning.   This is the unique Whole Health 4 You collection of 60 short videos (3 to 4 minutes), in which kids creatively express themselves through music, art, exercise and yoga, gardening, making meals, and other surprising ways.

Created and produced in collaboration with WHI, the videos were designed to engage kids, families, and teachers during the many months of remote learning.  They were accompanied by specially designed guidelines to support lesson plans for teachers.

Not surprisingly, a Lakeside faculty AVID teacher was the first to integrate the videos in her lessons plan in the spring of 2021.

WHI also made possible significant improvements at the Lakeside campus itself: energizing an unused school garden plot, developing green spaces, including outdoor learning resources and mobile outdoor classroom carts (shown here with 6^th grade teacher Cheyenne Langlois and AVID teacher Sandy Lokuta) and a repurposed “Teacher Reset Room.”

Dr. Cook, active on Lakeside social media, noted that after posting about these schoolyard improvements had several inquiries: “In fact, people want more spaces to be created and redesigned.”

He also noted the role of the Teacher Reset Room.  “Parents are very supportive of the program and the impact on the climate and culture of Lakeside.  Especially during the pandemic, parents wanted to ensure that the staff were being taken care of because they know that is important.”

In addition, the regional Inspira Health Network of Vineland made possible the creation and installation of a “Mindfulness Walk,” literally a visual path in and around the school designed by Dr. Felice to encourage students and faculty to pause and reflect as they move through their days.  (Inspira’s Fitness Connection director led the physical activity workshop during the spring of 2019.)

These resources were developed during the challenging 2020-2021 year.  Dr. Cook’s interest in improving the school’s wellness capabilities even as COVID caused such distress, illustrates the potential for such development.  He recalled the progress since late 2018:

“Honestly, when we first began this work, we were unable to see how the seeds of change would take root at Lakeside.  Over the past two years, we have seen an acceleration with the work and the impact on the school community.  This has truly been a labor of love.”

Takeaways

 Lakeside’s whole health learning experience represents a small sample size to be sure.  It also illustrates how talent, tools, and methods – often readily available — can be organized to offset the negative impacts of the COVID experience, and at the same time start to build a wellbeing mindset for students, and as Dr. Cook intends, for the school community itself.

As the Nation considers massive investment in its K-12 school infrastructure, it is essential that educators make the case that SEL and school-based wellness activities like school gardens are seen as wellbeing hubs in that infrastructure (which they are); no longer just “nice-to-have” ancillary programs, but essential-to-provide components of whole health learning for every Whole Child.

Taylor Walsh is the founder and Executive Director of WholeHealthED, the Project for Whole Health Learning in K-12.

Spike Cook is the principal of Lakeside Middle School, Millville, New Jersey

[1] – Lakeside Middle School, First implementation of Whole Health Studies  — 21^st Century Community Learning, Cumberland County.

The folks at ConnectEDD Publishing have quickly built a stable of quality books and resources for the education world. Their most recent addition to their quality publications is Shane Saeed’s Be The Flame: Sparking Positive Classroom Communities.  This is going to be a great book for educators as they seek ways to inspire learning in the 21st Century Classroom.

If you are looking for answers to the following questions, this is the book for you, your department, your school and your district.

• How do you establish and maintain rapport?
• What activities can encourage teamwork?
• How do you continue to build community throughout the school year?

In the introduction, Shane describes where she got the term “be the flame.” It was through her father and mother who would always encourage Shane to be a positive leader in the community. Fast forward to her adult years as an educator, and Shane wanted to honor the flame that her parent instilled in her for everyone else! Hence the title, and the analogies made throughout the book. Be careful… this book is HOT!!

There are 8 chapters to the book. Each chapter has a resource at the conclusion to encourage the reader to take action either personally or professionally. She also integrates voices from her students, colleagues and  inspirational professional development.

Teachers must stoke the momentum of the community they’ve started in the classroom and use it to create a community of collaboration ~ Shane Saeed

Here are some highlights from the book that any educator could use to integrate into their classroom immediately:

• Building positive relationships with students and parents
• Creating a classroom community
• Developing a collaborative approach to learning
• Lesson plans with specific outcomes to support a positive classroom community

Throughout the book, Shane shares vignettes that are helpful to the reader to truly understand the “why” behind positive classroom communities. I felt these reflective stories were powerful because it revealed Shane’s ability to convey a message to the reader that, although teaching is rewarding, there is a lot of work that goes into it. There are bumps and bruises along the way, and Shane does a great job of incorporating these into the book.

Teachers must keep the flame ablaze within themselves to continue lightning flames within the people they impact ~ Shane Saeed

Shane is committed to keeping the conversations going with the reader. She encourages you to stay connected with her on Instagram (@fantasticallyfourth) , Twitter (@saeed_shane) or email. Order the book by clicking here.

About the Author

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership: It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is an Adjunct Faculty member in the Masters of School Administration Program He is featured in Twinkl’s 30 Education Influencers You Need to Follow and Klear’s Top Ten Middle School Influencers. Dr. Cook is also on the Education Advisory Board for Whole Health Ed. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter, YouTube,  LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.

Who doesn’t need permission to be great? According to Dan Butler in his new book Permission To Be Great: Increasing Engagement In Your School, we all need permission.

Let’s face it. The past two years of educating in a global pandemic has wrecked havoc on every aspect of teaching, learning and leading. This is exactly why Dan Butler wrote the book. He realizes that we have a seemingly insurmountable amount of factors that are impacting the future of teaching and learning.

Because everyone in the school setting can build skill from the content provided in this book, this was written for all educators, including current and aspiring school leaders. ~ Dan Butler 

Dan’s permission begins with a very overlooked and underused application… a how to use the book. In the How to use  section, he outlines four specific “look for” or “intentions.”

1. Stories from the field – Learn about success stories from educators, students and families all over the world.
2. Practical research, leadership and experiences – Dan provides easily to understand research to ground his theories and assertations.
3. Enlightenment enhancers – Each chapter concludes with 4 simple and impactful ways you can implement the information right away in your classroom, school or district.
4. Caring for you –  Dan gets educators. We are in the service industry and spend many hours caring for others. What are we doing for our own self care? Throughout the book he outlines 8 tactics that are simple and effective to help you fill your own bucket.

Chapter 1 – The Problem

This chapter is focused on the overarching problem facing education today… burnout. Throughout the chapter, Dan provides a rationale for how we got into this “problem” and more importantly, how we can take control again.

Chapter 2 – Balancing workload, control and autonomy 

In recent years we have begun to wear our business with pride. Just take a look through social media and you can see numerous examples of all types of folks discussing how they are up at 4:00 AM, have 17 side hustles, workout for 3 hours, spend time with their family and eat like a champion. What impact does this have on others? Well, it has had the adverse effect of motivation. In fact people feel guilty for just saying no to an event or sitting on the couch and decompressing. Dan provides ways to stay motivated and to put in processes that protect your precious time.

Chapter 3 – Practicing encouragement, recognition and appreciation 

This chapter is full of examples and innovative ideas on how to take your passion to the next level. Whether you are a teacher or an administrator, there are numerous easy to implement strategies that will have you filling others buckets while not draining your own.

Chapter 4 – Building community and relationships 

Dan spends a considerable amount of time in this chapter focusing on the aspects of a health community. Faced with a shutdown of the school for two to four weeks, Dan recounts the early days of pandemic education and what he learned from the experience. He and his team put in many successful initiatives during this experience to put community first.

Chapter 5 – Focusing on values and fairness

When was the last time that you or your team or district spent time exploring what they value? In this chapter, Dan provides a very systemic process that anyone can use to determine what their team values. In addition, he provides guidance on what to do with that information once you have collected it.

Dan concludes Permission to Be Great with a very touching story about what teaching and learning is all about. It definitely brings everything together from the book and answers the question on why we need permission to be great.

If you would like to purchase this book, click here.

About the Author

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership: It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is an Adjunct Faculty member in the Masters of School Administration Program He is featured in Twinkl’s 30 Education Influencers You Need to Follow and Klear’s Top Ten Middle School Influencers. Dr. Cook is also on the Education Advisory Board for Whole Health Ed. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter, YouTube,  LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.

Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash

A few months ago, I co-hosted a 5 part series on Maintaining Balance with Dr. Aili Pogust. We explored our mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional bodies and how we are responding to various triggers.

One area that resonated with me was in the mental body in terms of our self talk.  We were asked to examine a number of belief statements to determine if we were limiting ourselves or living in abundance.

Examining the Statements – Are they Limiting or Abundance? 

Take a few moments to examine some of these belief statements and see if this is something that you are (Source: Aili Pogust, 2021):

• I have the ability to go far beyond the position I now hold.
• I know when to set my boundaries.
• My relationship with food is in balance.
• I am fully capable of taking complete control of my life.
• I am at ease with my body and my looks.

If one of those statements resonates with you. Do you believe that these statements are true?  Are you limited or in abundance?

What we believe about ourselves and our world literally creates the events we will face in the future. If we feel lack in any area, we are holding limiting beliefs that keep that lack operative. On the other hand, it is true that by imagining abundance in different areas of our lives, we can bring it about. ~ Dr. Aili Pogust, 2021

The Exercise 

When I did the exercise, I resonated with the statement “I have the ability to go far beyond the position I now hold.” I am not sure about you, but I do not always think I can get beyond something that is challenging me in life. Although I might tell others that “this too shall pass” or “the storms will be move away” I wasn’t always manifesting this for myself. So here is what I did.

The Daily Process 

After examining the limiting statement that I didn’t think I had the ability to go far beyond the position I now hold,  I spent a few minutes each morning meditating on the abundant belief “I have the ability to go far beyond the position I now hold.”

• I examined what it looked like if it was a belief system for something in my life that I wanted to get past.
• I then journaled about what that looks like, smells like, how my life would be different, and  most importantly what would I do when I truly got to the place of going beyond the position I currently hold.
• I wrote a commitment statement of something (or somethings) that I would do daily to strengthen my belief.
• I also included a visualization of how my life would be different if I operated more fully through this belief.

Guess what …..It worked! 

I spent about 4 months working on this one abundant belief as part of my daily morning practice. Although it only took a few minutes each day, I eventually was able to see how the limited belief was being replaced by the abundant belief.  We all know that change takes time, and this is true for the abundance exercise. It just takes a little bit each day.

Give it a try and let me know how it works! 
Comment below and let me know how you are manifesting abundance or struggling with limiting statements.

About the Author

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership:It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is featured in their Alumni Spotlight. Dr. Cook is also on the Education Advisory Board for Whole Health Ed. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.

6 Non Negotiables at LMS

In the spring, our staff worked collaboratively to identify a climate and culture goal for the 2019-20 School Improvement Plan. As part of the process, we did a compare/contrast on Pearl Cohn High School in Nashville. This school was featured in Edutopia’s School Climate section.

We spent a considerable time reflecting on where we were and where we wanted to go. We surveyed parents, students and the staff to help us determine a specific area (s). One of the areas that resonated with the staff was Pearl Cohn’s emphasis on Non Negotiables. In fact, one staff member said, “That is exactly what we need. We have to be on the same page with the Non Negotiables.”

Prior to the conclusion of the school year we identified our Non Negotiables (which are very similar to Pearl Cohn). We had a parent meeting to discuss the ideas to improving the climate and culture of the building. Staff met with students to ensure they were a part of the process, and even had them do a compare/contrast with the Pearl Cohn School.  Over the summer, the administrative team operationally defined and organized the Non Negotiables. We also developed a script and a response protocol.

At our Staff Welcome Back we officially “rolled” out the Non Negotiables. As everyone knows, the Staff Welcome Back time is precious but we scheduled a considerable amount of time so that we all understood the “why” and had opportunities to interact with the Non Negotiables. It was time well spent.

Our staff worked collaboratively to develop “real middle school life” scenarios and practiced how we would address these scenarios. This activity added to the ownership that is needed to make an initiative like this work. We have very creative writers and actors in our staff!

Beginning of class script (every period, every day)

“In this class, I expect that you will follow our non-negotiables. We do not use cell phones, we respect each other, we are dressed appropriately, and we do not use profanity.”

End of the class script (every period, every day)

Before we enter the hallways, remember we walk to the right, we keep our hands and feet to ourselves and we keep our voices down.

We are off to a great start. Many staff members feel that this is one of the best openings we have had at our school. We are very mindful that we need to work together as a team in order for this initiative to work. We are dedicated to doing everything we can to improve the climate and culture of the building!

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership:It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is featured in their Alumni Spotlight. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter.

Recently, our district participated in Digital Learning Day. Volunteers took time out of their day to share their learning. I shared how we use Social Media to tell the story of Lakeside Middle School. Take a few minutes to watch and let me know how you use Social Media to tell your school’s story!

I want to thank Alicia Discepola and Lauren Daigle for inspiring and coordinating this special event. Want to see more of the awesome presentations from Millville, click here.

About the Author 

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership:It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is featured in their Alumni Spotlight. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Teachers have an unbelievably long list (that grows each year) of information, deadlines and requirements. How can administrators (who have a growing list themselves) create a platform to streamline all this information? I have been using Google Classroom the past two years to try to combat this information overload. Here are 4 things I’ve learned along the way:

1. Information over load is real. We need to help teachers manage all of this information and not be consumed by it. Teachers are required to adhere to deadlines with numerous acronyms such a SGO, PGP, GCN to name a few. Utilizing a platform such as Google Classroom has allowed our staff the opportunity to sync their calendars with the deliverables, provide an opportunity for quick access to information and to model the learning that they are using in their own classrooms
2.  There are many times I wonder where the 90 minute delay schedule is or who I have to observe for the second round or what our policy is on the dress code. Instead of shuffling through papers or asking someone, “Where is the ____ fill in blank?” I can do it myself. Then, if I look on the classroom and I can’t find it, I know I need to put that information in.
3. Gather information. We have so many meetings happening throughout the month it is hard to keep track of the notes from the sub committees, department meetings, PLCs, school leadership meetings etc. We created shared folders with easy to use Google documents that are accessible through the classroom. It makes everyone’s life much easier and organized.
4. Collaboration. Using Google Classroom to collaborate is extremely valuable. Staff are able to comment on a post or direct message me regarding information posted. Eventually, we will be able to use the classroom space to hold meetings that teachers can attend on their own time.

Our Google Classroom is a living document that changes as we go throughout the year. Each year the classroom gets more and more user friendly and streamlined based on the demands of the profession as well as feedback from the staff. It wasn’t easy to get the buy-in first but as we have developed, staff have consistently placed it as an important tool to help increase communication!

How are you using Google Classroom with your staff?

About the Author 

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership:It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is featured in their Alumni Spotlight. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter.

Student led Socratic Seminar in LAL

Our school is going through the revalidation process to continue being an AVID National Demonstration School. Based on the feedback from a prior visits, the staff have been working on increasing Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

Starting this year, the AVID site team began providing weekly instructional practices, developed a Google Form to collect best practices, and they meet with me on a monthly basis to coach me how to use HOTS in the weekly email, staff meetings, and for teacher feedback.

We also began correlating the McREL Walkthrough data from last year as the compare the instances of remembering and understanding with analyzing and evaluating. The revalidation process has definitely caused our school to reflect on where we are and to improve in areas to make student learning better.

Here are Five ways we are increasing Higher Order Thinking Skills …

1. Highlight areas where it is happening. Just because the administrator doesn’t see it in the walkthrough or in the observation doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. We created a Google Form to encourage teachers to share their HOTS on a weekly basis with the staff
2. It starts at the top. This year I made a pact with our AVID site team to hold myself accountable to modeling Higher Order Thinking Strategies. Prior to meetings, weekly blog/email to staff, and professional development I share with the team and they help me to take it to the next level!
3. Let the students take the lead. In the Google Form one of our advanced math teachers shared this powerful insight, ““Students were amazed at some of the great strategies they were taught by their peers. One of the best classes. I’ve had in awhile. The students taught each other and became competitive looking for better ways to solve problems.”
4. Point of Confusion. This AVID technique is extremely powerful for students as they engage in their weekly tutorials. They identify an area they are struggling with and share it with their peers. Their peers are taught to use questions to assist the students in understanding and making connections with the material.
5. If the teacher, then the student. We made this chart to help teachers and students make small changes to increase HOTS.

This process is something that can be put into practice at any school or level. The most important aspect to this is the professional relationship between the staff and the administration with identifying and solving the problem collaboratively. Everyone becomes the expert and everyone improves!

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership:It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is featured in their Alumni Spotlight. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter.

Officer Rick Kott speaking to the students about overcoming obstacles.

Two years ago our school implemented a Retention Policy. Prior to that, as I was told, we allowed students to be promoted with 2, 3, 4 failures in academic classes. Teachers were frustrated, students were being sent mixed messages, and parents were under the impression that No Child Left Behind meant we were unable to fail anyone.

The School Leadership Committee (SLC) worked for a year on drafting a Retention Policy. They looked at what surrounding schools were doing, did some research on the impact of retention, and eventually came up with a progressive Retention Policy. We implemented the policy in the fall of 2016. Students, parents and the community were made aware of the policy which basically retained 6th graders if they failed all 4 classes, 7th graders if they failed 3 or more classes, and 8th graders if they failed 2 or more courses. During the 16-17 school year teachers, guidance counselors and administration worked with students and parents on this policy. There were increased face to face meetings after each marking period, additional resources assigned to students and more referrals to the I and RS team. At the end of the year there were 8 students who were scheduled to be retained. Each of those students either transferred to another school or enrolled in our Alternative School. The SLC closely monitored the policy and ended up requesting that we revise the policy for the 17-18 school year due to a lack of rigor.

The revised policy for the 17-18 school year was far more rigorous than the previous year but there were additional assistance added in. The new policy, which was throughout all 3 grade levels, required any student who failed more than 2 year long classes to be retained, and anyone who failed 2 classes would be required to attend summer school. As we went through the year, we continued to monitor the academic progress of the students in danger of being retained, increased our contact with parents, and added in additional resources.

At the conclusion of the 17-18 we had 17 students retained and 38 students eligible for summer school. Due to some poor planning on my part, we also didn’t have a budget for summer school. I wasn’t able to hire any staff. I had to ask all the 12 month guidance and administration in the building to assist me in running the summer school. We were also very fortunate that our contract with the online learning platform Edmentum still allowed us to use the diagnostic program Exact Path. So, in a sense, the academics would be taken care of through the online program.

As we analysed the students who were eligible for summer school, we noticed a few trends. First, these students were not your likely candidates. Very few had high levels of discipline and even fewer had attendance issues. We scoured their report cards and read the comments from the teachers.  It was through this exercise that we were able to identify the main reason these students were in summer school. Want to take a guess at what the main factor was?

If you guessed motivation than you would win!

The major theme of the teacher comments on the students centered around motivation. It was not a case of “can’t do” but rather a case of “won’t do.” Armed with this data we developed a summer school that would get to the core of the issue for the students so that they could use this time to change their mindsets about school, learning, teachers, and most importantly, themselves.

We are only one week into the program and of the 31 students who chose to participate, we have a 90% attendance rate. Students are doing daily gratitude journals, practicing mindfulness, analyzing their 17-18 school year, and learning about the impact of growth vs. fixed mindset. They spend about half their time working on their academic areas of concern and the other half working on themselves. We show daily motivational videos and we have scheduled local community members to visit and talk with them about overcoming obstacles.

The 5 staff who are working the program have learned a lot in one week. As we have read through their essays and journals it has become clear to us that these students have so much to offer our school. Some of them are dealing with a mountain of obstacles both personally and in their community. They will admit that school was not their top priority but they are now seeing the value.

What will the next 4 weeks hold for the summer school? We hope that we continue to build the students motivation and understanding of their amazing potential. We will continue to expand their horizons and have them begin working on their service learning projects. There are even a few students who are going to be developing a presentation to the administration to show the staff based on the popular book If She Only Knew Me. Stay tuned for more as the summer school develops.

About The Author

Spike Cook, Ed.D., Principal, Lakeside Middle School, Millville, NJ. In addition to being a Principal, Dr. Cook published two books through Corwin Press (Connected Leadership:It’s Just a Click Away; Breaking Out of Isolation: Becoming a Connected School Leader). He is the co-host of the popular PrincipaPLN podcast and his blog, Insights Into Learning, was recognized as a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards. Spike earned his Doctorate from Rowan University and is featured in their Alumni Spotlight. Connect with @drspikecook via Twitter.