Creating a Successful School Community through Accountability and Kindness

I was fortunate enough to attend and present at the Association of Middle Level Education's (AMLE) Annual Conference October 9-12 with my amazing friend and colleague, Jon Treese. 

Krista Venza and Jon Treese

AMLE is the leading international organization advancing the education of all students ages 10 to 15, helping them succeed as learners and make positive contributions to their communities and to the world. AMLE is committed to helping middle grades educators reach every student, grow professionally, and create great schools.

The conference took place in Austin, Texas!  Wow!  I'm still pinching myself about the fact that we got to go to TEXAS and PRESENT at #AMLE2016!  Our topic was Creating a Successful School Community through Accountability and Kindness.  As an assistant principal and a dean of students, this topic is very near and dear to our hearts and what we have passionately thrown ourselves into creating over the past two years in our school.  Our hope is that if we are able to provide students with explicitly taught expectations, recognition of successes, and implement appropriate interventions timely and with fidelity we will set our students up to be successful academically, socially, and emotionally.  We do this through the teaching of our overarching theme of Being Kind Matters (#beingkindmatters) and three nonnegotiables:

*We treat others with respect and kindness. 
  Everyone. No exceptions.
*We take responsibility for our learning and set high expectations. 
  Everyone.  No exceptions.
*We show pride in ourselves and our school.
  Everyone. No exceptions.

We presented in two different presentation styles.  One is called Speed Learning which is a quick paced 75-minute session that is divided into three 20-minute segments, allowing attendees to get more personal attention from the experts and more information in a short amount of time. Several large round tables are set up in a learning lab and the attendees get to choose the three topics and presenters they want to learn from.  The second presentation is called Spark and Tell.  These sessions are intended to spark an idea and provide resources and connections to help attendees to dive deeper on their own as well as opportunity to ask questions and talk to each of the presenters at the end after each topic has been presented.

Please feel free to access our presentation and contact us with any questions, comments, or suggestions:  Creating a Successful School Community Through Accountability and Kindness by Jon Treese and Krista Venza

Presentation by Jon Treese and Krista Venza - #AMLE2016

The conference was an experience I will never forget.  The level of passion and inspiration that attendees left with is immeasurable.  It was top notch from the communication from organizers such as Dena Harrison, AMLE Program Coordinator, who began helping us months in advance to walk us through the steps we needed to take to prepare our presentations, with the easy registration and logistics once we arrived, and with accommodations for our actual presentation sessions. 

Dru Tomlin wearing our MMS #beingkindmatters wristband

There was such a high energy feeling everywhere you walked in the Austin Convention Center on these four days.  Dru Tomlin, the director of Middle Level Services for AMLE, gave an upbeat perfection of a kick-off that got everyone pumped and ready to engage in learning, collaboration, and bask in the sheer enjoyment of being a middle level educator! 

The Keynote Speakers were inspirational and had the whole ballroom excited for what was to come !  I will definitely be following Marlene Gross-Taylor and her #EduGladiators conquest toward meaningful collaboration among colleagues in the field of education!  Debbie Silver was a blast and couldn't have expressed the importance of connections and relationships any better- especially because she was so funny and had us laughing the whole time!  Jon Bernia and Derek McCoy lit up the room with their enthusiasm for the middle grades and what kid wouldn't LOVE to be in Lucas Dix's class?  I bet his kids have so much fun every day they don't even notice all of the hard work they are doing to learn!

I'm really anxious to order Rosalind Wiserman's book, Owning Up, which is about teaching young people to stop social cruelty.  Robert Balfanz's Early Warning Systems (EWS) help to identify students in need so that educators can provide them with the supports and interventions necessary for them to succeed.  This is definitely something I will be looking into much more in-depth.

The Thought Leader sessions we were able to attend were incredible and we walked away with strategies and ideas we can immediately use (some we already have in the two days we've been back from Austin!) as well as things we plan to research more and implement.  Rick Wormeli has been a mentor to me,

Rick Wormeli, Krista Venza, and Jon Treese

even if he didn't know it, for several years now.  I attended one of his conferences about eight years ago and I was hooked.  I read everything that he wrote, watched videos of him speaking, and "attended" every webinar I could.  His teachings on middle level education have guided me toward forming my personal philosophy and have helped me aspire to be the educational leader my students deserve.  His session on racism was eye-opening and thought-provoking and will certainly help us to serve the diverse population of students in our school. We also got to personally speak with Mr. Wormeli before the opening of the conference and took a picture with him!  Can you say star-struck?  I admit it.  I was.  He's amazing.  

Marcia Tate's presentation on Formative Assessment in a Brain-Compatible Classroom was very insightful and engaging.  She engaged the attendees and provided opportunities for us to collaborate and share ideas.  I love something she said, "The only people who should be more of an expert on the brain than teachers are brain surgeons."  Are there any truer words than these? 

I think the biggest "treasure" I walked away with was the honor of attending two sessions by Dave Burgess.  I've heard of Teach Like a Pirate from twitter but I had no idea what I was in store for when Jon suggested we attend one of his sessions.  I almost passed and told him that we should split up and go to different sessions.  Boy, am I glad I didn't.  His presentations were truly life changing.  I will never look at another lesson the same way after this experience.  There are too many amazing quotes, ideas, and strategies to mention here but before we left his second session I ordered us both copies of Teach Like A Pirate. We can't wait to dive in and begin creating amazing experiences for our students by asking ourselves the right questions to invoke creative ideas and ways to deliver meaningful instruction.

We can't say enough about all of the other presenters, like us, who were fortunate enough to be chosen to share our work at this amazing conference.  We met inspiring middle level educators (principals, coaches, supervisors, teachers, consultants) whom we will keep in touch with and continue to learn with. 

In my article, An End to the "Close Your Door and Do Your Own Thing" Era, I wrote, "Our success and our students' achievement are directly tied to our commitment to learn from, with, and on behalf of one another," - I have never believed that more than after the experience I had attending the 2016 AMLE Conference.  Can't wait until #AMLE2017 in Philly (which is in my back yard)!

An End to the "Close Your Door and Do Your Own Thing" Era
By: Krista M. Venza

Mixing Up the Teams: All Students Deserve the Very Best

Why tracking based on ability means everyone loses.

By: Krista Venza, Nancy Doda, Robert Salladino, Jonathan Treese

Building A Culture of Trust and Respect: One Police Officer and One Child At A Time

This article was written by my dear friend, Officer Wayne Moreland and I to share how trust and respect can be cultivated between students and caring adults that will result in a better understanding of each other and relationships that will last forever.

This is the premise for what my friend/colleague and I will be presenting at the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) in October in Austin, TX!  Building a Successful School Community through Accountability and Kindness.  Cannot wait!

7/30/16:  #beingkindmatters always.

7/29/16:  #beingkindmatters always.

Witnessing & Choosing Joy

A few months ago I had to run to the grocery store to pick up a cake to celebrate a fantastic first week of school with our staff.  I was in a rush trying to get back quickly.  When I got to my car I noticed a guy sitting in the passenger seat of the car next to mine.  He was rocking out... I mean really rocking out to the music blaring from his car radio.  The world around him didn't seem to exist.  I can just imagine the face I must have made... I probably raised my eyebrows making a strange "what in the world are you doing?" kind of face.  To be honest, my first thought was - 'what a weirdo' and then quickly put the cake in the car and headed back to school.

 

 As I pulled away I started thinking about the guy in the car and instead of raising my eyebrows, I smiled and thought, "Wait.  Why did I think he was a weirdo? The guy wasn't hurting anything.  His actions did not impact me or anyone else in a negative way whatsoever.  He was having a good time.  He was being - joyful."

This occurrence has encouraged me to look at a lot of things differently.  I think many of us, me included, sometimes rush to judge others a little too quickly and what's worse than being judgy is being judgy about things that don't hurt or impact us.  It's important to recognize that everyone doesn't find joy in the same things or in the same ways; but that's okay. 

 

This is a silly example but it's an example I used when talking to my boys about this topic.  When you drive around during the holidays you will see lots of festive lights and decorations.  Most are not my style or taste but instead of saying, "Ugh, that's so gaudy!" or "Over do it much?" I choose to remind myself, and my boys, that someone else's taste in Christmas lights and decorations has no negative impact on us and obviously it must bring them joy or they wouldn't have put them up. So now, when we find ourselves being judgy we just say, "Christmas lights" to each other.

 

I guess it's similar to a 'live and let live' attitude but I elect to take it a step further.  I want to be a witness to other people's happiness and choose to find my own joy in witnessing theirs.  I find myself stopping and smiling when I notice others being joyful.  It's a  good feeling.  It makes me feel connected with others and getting the opportunity to share in the joy they are experiencing is pretty special.  It reminds me that joy is all around us - even if sometimes we need to look for it, create our own, or soak in some that someone else is experiencing.

 

Yesterday I was traveling by train and sat across the aisle from a man who, with about two hours left of our 16 hour trip, put a video on his laptop.  He started bursting out laughing at funny parts in the movie.  A few other passengers started looking and shaking their heads- probably thinking he was weird... but I sat back, smiled, and thought to myself, "Christmas lights" and choose to soak in the joy he was experiencing for the last stretch of our trip. 

 

This new year, go out into the world and witness & choose joy!  Spread some, too, if you can!  #beingkindmatters