SamTastic Weekly Tip: 8/14/26 - Best SAM Team Practices the First Week with Students

This week’s Tip: Best SAM Team Practices the First Week with Students

SAM teams begin work with teachers and support staff long before the first student contact day.  The best SAM teams are also thinking about their work the first week of school.  They know that work with teachers needs to happen every school day, including the first week.  Good leaders expect teachers to begin their work with students the first day.  The principal, AP and instructional coach need to do the same with teachers, too.

What can you do?  It can be chaotic the first few days as the school year begins.  Many leaders elect to appear in each classroom.  Nice.  Consider something more targeted, specific:

• Schedule 30 minutes to do a seeing instruction activity with one teacher. (Descriptor: Work with Students)   Sit with a group and assist as you watch the teacher.  This can be a very positive experience for a new teacher as well as for a veteran. It also communicates to students that you care about the purpose of school, not simply student behavior and management tasks.

• Visit each new teacher’s classroom before the start of the day, each day, the first week.  Provide encouragement and ask about the prior day’s work.  (Descriptor: Non-directive feedback)

• Schedule a 30-minute meeting with one group of teachers at the end of the day.  Facilitate a discussion on how the day progressed.  Listen.  Reflect.  Support.  (Descriptor: Planning/Curriculum/Assessment)

What you do as a leader is noticed, the first day and every day.  Make clear you value time working with teachers to improve practice and student outcomes. 

If you are back at work, I bet you connected with your Time Change Coach last week. Great!  If not, be sure to do so as soon as you return.

Look for an email from your Time Change Coach.   Your coach will want to set a day/time to observe a SAM Daily meeting for August.  Your coach is also available to help you set up your TimeTrack for the new year.

Not back at work yet?  No problem.  If you grayed out on TimeTrack the days you are off for the summer your Time Change Coach will know.  Do your coach a favor, though.  Email back today a day/time you’d like to have your August meeting.

Best for a SamTastic week,

Mark

Mark Shellinger, Director

National SAM Innovation Project

The NSIP Board is the first to receive the annual SAM Team Performance Report each year compiled from the end of year sessions each SAM team completes facilitated by their Time Change Coach using TimeTrack data.  Use this link to access the comprehensive report:  https://bit.ly/44pYH44    Use this link to access comments from SAM teams and their Time Change Coaches concerning outcomes:  https://bit.ly/4fX0YKw

Here’s comments from NSIP Board Member Jennifer Stapleton, SAM, Springfield, Illinois:

Our Board meeting in Traverse City was great as always.  Lots of work and fun mixed in.  All members of the board and their significant others are just wonderful humans.  I am blessed to have met and/or worked alongside every one of them.  During the in-person board meeting in July, we were able to review the SAM team rubrics.  We were given an overview of the past year to read, reflect,  and share our thoughts.  I love that the report broke down the different areas and analyzed each one, making it easy to see and understand the results.  And as always, it was impressive to see that all teams were able to connect their time usage to improved teacher practice, which ultimately leads to improved student achievement.  With all the uncertainty with funds in education, it was refreshing to see the work that these teams continue to put in.  Congrats to all of the Teams,  celebration is needed!

Note:  Last week, we competed in-person training with 50+ SAM teams in Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and San Francisco.  This week, I’ll be doing in-person SAM team training in Kansas City and Columbia. 

We are now accepting registration of in-person SAM training in New York City, September 24 for new teams.  This training is also open to new SAM principals in cities with easy rail access, including Baltimore, Prince George’s County. New teams from outside NYC are eligible for complimentary rail reimbursement and hotel room.  Use this link to register:  https://bit.ly/SAMTrainingNYC

Of course, new SAM teams can schedule online training at any time.  We’ll also announce soon in-person training in Atlanta, Tampa and Nashville.

If you are ready to start, click here to arrange for training:  https://bit.ly/NSIP_Training

If you would like to schedule an online meeting to discuss, click here.  https://bit.ly/NSIP_Meeting