March Madness: The Meaning of Success

By Guest Writer: Andy Schroeder, Physical Education and Health Subject Area Coordinator and Girls Basketball Coach.

March is my favorite month. We all have our favorite months: in June summer starts, August is my wife and I birthday and we usually take a vacation of some sort before the start of the school year, December is Christmas, but March, the sun starts to come out, you begin to have nicer weather, you have St. Patrick’s day, Spring break, but every March –March Madness!

If you’re not familiar with March Madness, March is the biggest basketball month. In high school if you are still playing in March, you’re an elite team, one of the few left to play. However, in college basketball, March is when the season gets really exciting. Every year in March every conference has a tournament. If you win your conference tournament you get to go to the big NCAA tournament. In the end, only one team in the country wins their last game.

When I think about the NCAA tournament I think about one of the most successful coaches in the history of all athletics: John Wooden.

Some facts about him:

- Born October 14, 1910, died June 4, 2010

- Enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961

- UCLA men’s basketball coach from 1948-1975

- He won 10 NCAA championships – next best is 4

- 7 consecutive NCAA championships – next best is 2 and nobody has won 3 in a row

- Won 88 consecutive games – next best in men’s basketball is 60

- 4 undefeated seasons – no one has ever done that more than once.

We are talking about an extremely successful man in terms of winning.

We are also taking about a man who did not win his first championship until his 15^th season at UCLA. John Wooden never viewed success in terms of winning and losing, this is reflected in his most famous quote about success:

This attitude, this philosophy, is embodied in his Pyramid of Success:

Wooden’s Pyramid of Success two cornerstones are Industriousness and Enthusiasm.

Industriousness – in plain language means that you have to work, and work hard. There is no substitute of hard work. The best people whether in business, law. Plumbing or art, all share this fundamental trait, they all work very hard at their craft. Individuals like Kobe Bryan, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, to name a few athletes, are legendary for their industriousness.

Enthusiasm – simply, you must enjoy what you do. Your heart must be in it. It must be a passion. As you all grow older, if you don’t like what you do, if you find yourself whining and complaining, don’t do it, get out, because if your heart is not in your work you cannot perform at your highest level. “Nothing great can be achieved without enthusiasm”.

At the center of the pyramid is Skill – you have to know what you’re doing and be able to do it well. Furthermore, you have to be able to execute all aspects of the job. In basketball you could be a great shooter, but you need to be able to get open. You could be a great coach, but you need to be able to make adjustments, and understand people. Just as a doctor. You could be technically proficient, but you also need to be able to diagnose illnesses and understand and communicate with your patient. The point is that there are a wide range of skills, and they differ from profession to profession, but you need to master them all.

At the pinnacle of the pyramid is Competitive Greatness, which Wooden defines as “A real love for the hard battle, knowing it offers the opportunity to be at your best when your best is required.”

Which brings us back to success. Success is not wins or loses, but peace of mind, knowing that you did your best, to become the best you were capable of becoming when your best was required. Had the football or soccer teams lost State, the season would not have been a failure; the team may have been disappointed at the end outcome, but definitely would not be a failure. And this is the genius of Wooden's success, because when you are continually chasing your best, the best you are capable of becoming, only you can determine your own successes and failures, because only you feel the self-satisfaction in knowing if you truly did your best.

What I want you to take from this, what I hope you understand, is that although I’ve been speaking of basketball, this talk is not about basketball. It’s about what you’re passionate about, whether that be teaching, service to others, art, music, piano, medicine, your family.

At the end of March Madness, sometime in early April they will play this video, with new clips:

As you watch this video from 2010, I hope you will see, people who are passionate about basketball, these qualities that Wooden speaks of: Enthusiasm, Industriousness, along with Loyalty, Alertness, Team Spirit, and Confidence. And once we understand the qualities associated with success we can then utilize them towards what we as individuals are passionate about to have a better opportunity of achieving success in our future endeavors.

Images

http://frankinsight.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/march-madness/
http://www.johnwoodenquotes.com/
http://www.coachwooden.com/index2.html
http://www.empowermentgroup.com/blog/2010/06/21/tgim-258-how-you-can-tap-into-pyramid-power/

Leaders Among Equals

Administrators are Leaders among Equals. As teachers, educational administrators share the same goals about the students they serve: to provide the best learning environment that will allow students to grow as informed, creative and responsible adults.

How do administrators as Leaders among Equals model themselves to enrich the lives of other educational professionals in a collaborative environment?

It's all about the BE's:

1. Be Available

Leaders are available to listen and to help solve problems. Using multiple channels of communication through a blog, twitter or a social network platform makes administrators available anytime to faculty, students and parents.

2. Be Enthusiastic

Teachers will get onboard if leaders demonstrate excitement and expertise in the use of digital tools. Teachers should look up to administrators to reignite their passion for a subject and the possibilities that technology offers to facilitate teaching and learning.

3. Be Supportive

Administrators demonstrate their priorities by providing a variety of opportunities for professional growth. As leaders, they tap into resources to provide time and funds that allow their faculty to participate in educational conferences.

4. Be Gracious

Leaders do not expect instant success. They celebrate small gains and demonstrate that failure is not the end but just another opportunity for growth.

5. Be Creative

Leaders are aware that creativity is at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy. They foster and model creative thought and innovation.

6. Be Yourself

Leaders are true to their identity as educators and don't make excuses as having to wear too many hats.

Our administrators are demonstrating being Leaders among Equals at my school by joining faculty in the creation of their Individual Plans for 21st Century using the NETS for Administrators. 

It is by being a community of Leaders among Equals that we will succeed!

Scott McLeod (Call to bloggers to participate.)

Leading for Change. Part I

On my way to Philadelphia to attend Educon 2.2 I read John Kotter's  "Our Iceberg is Melting. Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions"; a neatly illustrated book that uses a fable to discuss change in organizations.

How can I apply the Eight Step Process of Successful Change to our school?

SET THE STAGE

1. The penguins in the change committee create a sense of urgency in the colony by helping others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.

I see a need for change in our school, a need for transforming our culture into a learning community that effectively addresses the challenges of teaching and learning in the 21st century. 

We are fortunate at our school to have not only administrative support but a solid technology infrastructure with interactive whiteboards, access to computers throughout the school and a great IT team. However, at the end of the school year we conducted a survey and we found that a majority of teachers do not understand how to integrate technology in an effective way.  There is little evidence of awareness of the pedagogical implications of teaching 21st century literacies as some faculty believe that showing a Power Point on a SMART board represents a high level of integration. Moreover, at the beginning of this school year only a couple of teachers were using wikis and very few knew the meaning of Web 2.0 and the educational value of social networking.

2. The penguin's change committee puts together a carefully selected group in charge of guiding the change. 

Our school made it possible for a group of five members of faculty to participate in a year long professional development model called Powerful Learning Practice (PLP). We have been immersed in a transformational experience by being part of a virtual learning community where teams from 20 schools participate in learning and sharing about 21st century literacies. We have learned that teaching and learning in the 21st century is not only about technology but about pedagogy and an understanding of global changes.

DECIDE WHAT TO DO 

3. The change committee then finds a vision of a better future and crafts a strategy in line with that vision. It is important to be able to see how the future will be different from the past, and how to make that future a reality.

Our PLP action research project consists in designing and implementing a sustained, standards-based (NETS) professional development program. We are striving for a five year plan with yearly evaluations.

MAKE IT HAPPEN 

4. The penguins communicate for understanding and buy in. In order to get the message out, the head of the change committee calls for a meeting involving the entire colony. 

I have conducted separate sessions will all faculty from three divisions to introduce 21st Century Teaching and Learning frameworks. Teachers have responded very enthusiastically and I have the impression that the message of pedagogy driving the technology and not the other way around has been conveyed.

5. The guiding team empowers others to act by removing as many obstacles to action as possible.

We are conducting hands-on training sessions in two modalities: group and individual. The positive effect is that the teachers are actually doing instead of just listening or watching a presenter. This knowledge empowers them to focus on the best way to integrate the tools into their teaching or student projects.

6. The penguin committee is aware of the need to create short-term wins.

This is an important step as it has the potential to create a ripple effect. I can relate two examples:

a. Back in January we had a faculty professional development day with a variety of sessions.  Throughout the course of the second trimester we have seen teachers in all divisions taking risks in applying what they learned in the sessions.

b. A couple of weeks ago I invited our head of school, the PLP team, our upper school librarian, and other members of faculty to participate in a Blog Posting Reading Challenge. The project was a success, the comments were very stimulating and thought-provoking. PLPers will be able to use several of the points addressed in the crafting of our research project. 

7. Don't let up until the new penguin colony is firmly established.

We have a very clear vision of the change we want to produce but keeping the momentum will be essential!
After we assess our first year of implementing our program we should take time for reflection to go back to the drawing room and prepare for the following year. The good news is that our head of school will support our joining Year 2 of PLP!

MAKE IT STICK

8. Finally, a new culture is created to ensure that the changes would not be overcome by tradition.

I do not think that there is an end to our reshaping our culture, this will be an ongoing process.

As new technologies emerge there will always be opportunities for learning and teaching, and that is exactly what makes this journey an exciting one!



Attributions:
Expedition to Antarctica and the Falkland Islands by John Dalkin

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59303791@N00/sets/72157611993037994/