SamTastic Weekly Tip: 8/7/23 - Go Beyond Visiting Classrooms

This week’s tip: Go Beyond Visiting Classrooms

The SAM process is all about intentionality. Leaders often say they want to be in classrooms more. This makes sense, as working effectively with teachers requires understanding and experiencing teacher practice.

Determining your purpose for being in a classroom starts in the SAM Daily Meeting. When you select a descriptor you are stating your intentionality.

The descriptor, Walkthrough, is used when your intention is to spend a short time in a classroom watching a lesson.

The descriptor, Work With Students, is used when it is your intention to work with a student or group while you watch a lesson.

The descriptor, Student Supervision, is used when it is your intention to assist a teacher with student learning behavior while you watch a lesson.

The descriptor, Observation, is used when it is your intention to spend a longer time in a classroom watching a lesson.

All four descriptors can be used or formative or summative evaluation.

All four kinds of seeing instruction should be used to determine next steps to support improved teaching and learning. The leader’s presence in a classroom can have a positive effect on teaching practice and student engagement if the leader has thoughtful follow-up conversations with teachers and students designed to increase capacity, skill and trust. The impact is increased if the leader then aligns professional development, PLC and coaching support with what is learned during classrooms visits.

During the SAM Daily Meeting the team connects one completed event to another to move teaching practice forward. The leader is the train’s engine. The descriptors are the train cars. The SAM Daily Meeting is the link between cars that allows the train to move forward.

Registration opens for the 17thAnnual National SAM Conference, September 4, Labor Day.

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 7/31/23 - Be the Leader Teachers Need

This week’s tip: Be the Leader Teachers Need

Teachers consistently identify five things they think make a good school leader. Education Week compared a 2019 opinion article on the subject with recent online comments from teachers. These five things were consistent:

1. Good leaders foster collaboration and teamwork.

TimeTrack users and SAMs: have you scheduled time this week to listen to teachers, and other staff, parents and students? Have you set a regular schedule and process to involve your school community in decision making?

2. Good leaders respect teachers’ professionalism.

TimeTrack users and SAMs: Is your feedback primarily directive? Do you spend you time on compliance or development of teacher capacity? Can you increase the time asking questions instead of giving direction? Is your focus on coaching or evaluating?

3. Good leaders were teachers first.

TimeTrack users and SAMs: How often do you enter a classroom and assist by working with students while you watch a teacher work? Have you ever offered to grade a set of papers while you watch a teacher work? Have you ever helped a teacher create a bulletin board, display or lesson?

4. Schools with good leaders feel like a family.

TimeTrack users and SAMs: What are you doing today that creates a positive school culture? What can you do to welcome individual teachers and support staff to the new school year? You likely ask teachers to greet student at the door when they arrive. What can you do for staff when they arrive?

5. Good leaders have good help.

Teachers like leaders who don’t try to do it all. Instead, they have a well thought out SAM First Responder® structure that allows people to get help faster. The best SAM leaders never say they don’t have time. Instead, they elect one of three options:

1. provide help when requested

2. ask the staff member, student or parent, to use a First Responder

3. offer to give the issue the time and focus it deserves ~ have the SAM schedule time using TimeTrack’s Auto Select feature

We released the end of year SAM team performance rubric assessment last week. You definitely want to read the four-page Executive Summary and share it with others. It details your remarkable success and clearly establishes SAM leaders are different.

The Executive Summary: https://bit.ly/3rIWkZT

The Full Report: https://bit.ly/3rGnNf2

Mission: The National SAM Innovation Project provides a comprehensive process and set of tools designed to develop effective instructional leaders resulting in greater student success.

Vision: The National SAM Innovation Project will provide SAM services in every state resulting in greater teacher and learner success.

Registration opens for the 17thAnnual National SAM Conference, September 4, Labor Day

SamTastic Weekly Tip: 7/24/23 - Celebrate Your Success and Share it with Others

This week’s tip: Celebrate Your Success and Share it with Others

We are releasing the end of year SAM team performance rubric assessment today. You definitely want to read the four-page Executive Summary. It details your remarkable success and clearly establishes SAM leaders are different.

The Executive Summary: https://bit.ly/3rIWkZT

The Full Report: https://bit.ly/3rGnNf2

SAM leaders spend the majority of each day working to improve teaching and learning. How SAM leaders do instructional leadership changes, too. SAM leaders are in classrooms more, focus far more time coaching teachers than evaluating and dramatically increase the amount and frequency of feedback. Importantly, SAM leaders can connect their increased instructional leadership time with improved teacher practice and student outcomes…and they use data to prove it.

Do yourself a favor and spend five minutes reading the four page executive summary: https://bit.ly/3rIWkZT

Then, take five more minutes to send it to your professional contacts via email and social media. Take time to post the executive summary online. Send a copy to your superintendent and others who value and share your mission.