(4) A comfortable compensation and benefit package that allows them (A) to flourish, (B) to stay in Christian education for their career, and (C) to retire well.
Leader, ensure your workspace is welcoming for you! Why?
(1) Because a welcoming workspace helps you flourish.
(2) Because having a welcoming workspace increases the likelihood of productivity (I work best in a space with the right temperature and good lighting) and well-being (having a standing desk helps me).
(3) Because not having a welcoming workspace increases the likelihood of reduced productivity and reduced well-being (think neck pain and back pain).
(4) Because having a welcoming workspace is a best practice.
Question 1: For you, what’s an unwelcoming workspace like? For me, it’s a space that’s too hot or too cold, that’s too humid or too dry. There’s no natural light, I can hear too much external sound when my door is closed, and the furniture doesn’t fit my 6’2” frame.
Question 2: For you, what’s a welcoming workspace like? For me, it includes natural light, a standing desk, plants, a bookcase, a round table with comfortable chairs, student artwork and photos, and personal touches, like a family photo.
Question 3: What can you do to make your workspace more welcoming? What can you do to help your workspace increase your productivity and well-being? One thing that comes to mind for me is better computer and screen cable management.
Michael P.S. Try this ChatGPT prompt: Act as an interior decorator. What are 20 differences between a welcoming office space and an unwelcoming office space?
Like you, I want to get better at improving. I want to more effectively and efficiently improve. I want to find ways to go farther faster.
Let me ask you 3 questions:
Question 1: What steps have you taken in the past 12 months that actually helped you and your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better?
I’m asking because I want to find out what’s working for others and try it out.
I’m asking because working on school improvement goals is a challenge—one that can crowd out working on ways to do school improvement better.
I’m asking because you might be making school improvement harder to do than it needs to be.
Include a well-being component (for example, ask everyone to share a recent high and low).
Help everyone know how each meeting fits into the big picture. You can do this by connecting (as appropriate) the mission, vision, improvement process, and improvement goal to each meeting.
Includes key components like reviewing the purpose of school improvement; assessing the current situation; developing and implementing an action plan; assessing, celebrating, and reporting progress; and determining next steps.
(10) Address the root causes of each action plan, for example: unhelpful mindsets, insufficient staffing, inadequate policies and processes, faulty assumptions and misunderstandings, a lack of training/expertise, and insufficient shared understanding of a given facet of Christian education (for example, curriculum, well-being, using student assessment data, and helping students grow strong in Jesus).
How can you use the working genius model to enhance school improvement? What comes to mind for me includes the following:
(1) Be sure to galvanize others. It’s not enough to invent a solution and then use it. You need to galvanize people—get them energized, inspired, and moving! (Lack of galvanization can result in people being uninterested, uninspired, and unengaged. Not good.)
You need to galvanize people before the work starts, and you need to regularly galvanize them as they work. One way to do this is to remind them of the purpose of improvement and how addressing this problem/growth area will help others flourish.
(2) Assess your Steering Committee/Leadership Team in terms of working geniuses to ensure you have a good mix. Read this helpful article, assess the geniuses represented on your team, and determine next steps.
(3) As school improvement coordinator, assess your own working geniuses, how they fit with your school’s improvement efforts, and determine next steps. For example, to coordinate efforts to implement the school improvement plan, you need Tenacity. If Tenacity is not one of your working geniuses, you’re going to need to find a way to adapt.
Instructional coaching (aka meeting teacher needs) helps international Christian school teachers flourish. As a result of instructional coaching…
(1) New teachers are mentored through the steep learning curve of the first couple of years so they stay in the field and flourish.
(2) Somewhat experienced teachers receive targeted support to keep adding tools to their pedagogy toolbox. (Some may struggle in one or two areas that keep them from really flourishing, and they can get help in those areas.)
(3) Veteran teachers get encouragement, a resource every now and then, or a colleague to bounce ideas around with.
(4) Teachers and leaders learn to use data knowledgeably in decision making. (Did your school get an accreditation recommendation related to data use? No shame here—most schools I know have.)
(5) Teachers experience focused, effective professional development. (This includes special speakers, regular meetings, differentiated exploration.)
(6) Teachers align a relevant, consistent curriculum and content with standards and current best practice. (My first year of teaching, I announced the next novel study according to the curriculum I’d been given, and the students told me they’d read it already. That was frustrating.)
Like I said, instructional coaching (aka meeting teacher needs) helps teachers flourish—and unfortunately, in my experience, instructional coaching is underemphasized in international Christian schools for 3 reasons:
(1) Coaching, instead of being seen as something that helps all teachers flourish, is seen as something to help struggling teachers survive. Given that coaching is not frequently used, no one really feels comfortable offering or receiving such support.
(2) Various people (for example, principals, curriculum coordinators, and department chairs) are assigned various tasks to help teachers—but these tasks do not fully cover instructional coaching, and sometimes overlap without sufficient communication by responsible parties.
(3) Those involved in helping teachers have not benefited from training in instructional coaching.
I sure wish I had had the benefit of this course before becoming a department chair and a curriculum coordinator. If I had, I think I would have been able to help teachers flourish more effectively and efficiently. Here’s why:
(1) The course defines instructional coaching. The authors say, “You will encourage teacher growth through modeling, reflection, data analysis, and high-quality professional development, and this comes in many different forms” (Unit 3, Lesson 2, The Tier-Coach-Grow Model, p. 1). Then they lists some of the ways this can happen:
Supporter of student learning
Supporter of effective instruction
Curriculum and content facilitator
Data coach
Facilitator for change
Learner
Professional learning facilitator
Resource provider
Note: First, this definition was really helpful to me. When we don’t all agree on a definition or have a common vocabulary, it feels like I am playing a game of blindman’s bluff, swinging wildly at partially perceived but not fully articulated needs. I don’t know what exactly it is I’m doing, who else is doing it, and how we can best do it together.
Second, for schools I served in, I don’t recall all of the above being fully provided. For example, one school didn’t provide data coaching, another didn’t provide curriculum facilitation, and another school didn’t provide professional learning facilitation.
What’s your experience?
How does your school define instructional coaching?
What additions might you need to make to your definition so that your teachers receive full-orbed instructional coaching?
(2) The course offers helpful content, for example:
(A) The suggestion to have a data wall in my office to model data usage for teachers. (This seems so obvious–why didn’t I think of it before? Maybe because I’m not confident in my own data usage, and so I need the following resource.)
(B) A schoolwide data guide giving 5 categories of data (discipline, engagement, classroom assessment, norm-referenced testing, and process/implementation), types of data in each category, and examples of how to use the data.
(C) A culture of learning self-assessment tool listing 8 qualities (growth mindset, teacher ownership, avenues for collaboration, leadership values PD, common mission/vision, data valued, sense of trust, and focused school-wide goals). For each quality, it gives negative signs indicating that the school’s culture is toxic and positive signs that the school’s culture is ripe for learning. This would be a great faculty discussion piece, given the authors’ claim that a culture ripe for learning is a prerequisite to any change. This is something that I’d want to work on before putting a lot of effort into professional development and change initiatives.
(D) Checklists of what to do before, during, and after professional development to make it most likely that learning takes root in helpful and lasting ways. Most of these things I learned bit by bit, by experience, for instance, with facilitating professional development book discussions. But it’s great to have these concise lists all in one place, whether for running a cross-check on a big event or a check-up on regular meetings.
(F) A plan for tracking coaching contacts that gives me a quick look at who I met with, when, what we did, and what follow-up I need to do. This is a tool I now use daily.
(G) Three complete bonus lessons on how to support teachers in some specific practices like teaching students time management skills, planning for different student work paces, maximizing instructional time, and streamlining transitions. These are great materials that can be given directly to teachers, and they are also good models of the types of materials that I could develop on my own.
Bottom line: Help your teachers by providing instructional coaching. (Hint: Enroll in 40-Hour Instructional Coaching today!)
Resources—I want my 6 grandchildren to have helpful resources like nutritious food, a supportive church to participate in, high quality books to read, and good places to play. What I don’t want is for my grandchildren to have unhelpful resources. I also don’t want students, staff, and leaders at international Christian schools to have unhelpful resources, to have resources that don’t help them flourish. Let me explain:
Unhelpful resources look like…
Helpful resources look like…
1. A non-existent or insufficient reserve fund.
1. A reserve fund of at least 25% of the annual operating budget.
2. An insufficient number of staff (so staff are on overload).
2. A sufficient number of staff (so staff have a reasonable workload).
3. Teachers who aren’t flourishing (due in part to not completing a teacher training program and/or teaching subjects for which they don’t have a major or minor from college).
3. Teachers who are flourishing (due in part to completing a teacher training program and/or teaching subjects for which they have a major or minor from college).
4. Not having enough time to work on school improvement.
4. Having enough time to work on school improvement.
5. Textbooks that are out of date and/or insufficient in number.
5. Textbooks that are current and sufficient in number.
6. Library holdings that don’t reflect the cultural diversity of students and staff.
6. Library holdings that reflect the cultural diversity of students and staff.
7. Building temperatures that are either too hot or too cold.
7. Building temperatures that are conducive to study/work.
8. Internet that is not fast, not reliable, or both.
8. Internet that is fast and reliable.
9. Not enough computers for all students in a given class to work on essays.
9. Enough computers for all students in a given class to work on essays.
10. Unclear and/or undocumented procedures.
10. Clear, documented procedures.
11. No resource backups: no extra textbooks (for when new students enroll), no extra light bulbs (for when light bulbs burn out), and no extra computers (for when 1 or more computers aren’t working).
11. Resource backups: extra textbooks (for when new students enroll), extra light bulbs (for when light bulbs burn out), and extra computers (for when 1 or more computers aren’t working).
Bottom line? Unhelpful resources are exactly that—unhelpful. And helpful resources are exactly that—helpful!
Question: What do you think the key resources are for an international Christian school? Here’s what I’m thinking:
Resource #1: God. Enough said.
Resource #2: The Body of Christ, meaning Christians working together seamlessly and interdependently—like your body does. Please remember that the Body of Christ is not a collection of individual Christians (some or all of whom may be disconnected from each other—think silos). And leaders, get the Body of Christian flourishing—create a flourishing culture!
Resource #3: Individual Christians (staff, leaders) that serve at your international Christian school.
Right now, what resource would help you flourish? For me, I think it’s a team or a professional learning community I can be part of—a group that regularly meets, talks, and works together to help students, staff, and leaders at international Christian schools to flourish in Jesus.
What about you? What do unhelpful resources and helpful resources look like to you? When have you experienced unhelpful resources? What do you think the key resources are for an international Christian school?
For school improvement, what you do matters, how you do it matters, and why you do it matters. So leaders, be sure to overcommunicate all 3—what, how, and why!
(1) What: Overcommunicate “what” to ensure that everyone understands what your school’s improvement goals are. One way to help is to give 1-3 word titles for each action plan, for example: data usage and curriculum development.
Quick check: If I ask each staff member and leader at your school what your school’s improvement goals are, what percentage of people will answer correctly within 10 seconds?
(2) How: Overcommunicate “how” to ensure that everyone has shared understanding of school improvement in terms of:
Perspective: What’s your school’s understanding of school improvement and what mindsets does it use for school improvement?
Process: What collaborative process does your school use?
Practices: What best practices do you use for school improvement?
Quick check: If I ask each person at your school, what your school’s improvement perspective, process, plan, and practices are, what percentage of people will readily provide correct responses?
(3) Why: Overcommunicate “why” to ensure that everyone has shared understanding of the purpose of school improvement. For me, the purpose of school improvement is to get students, staff, and leaders flourishing. What’s your school’s documented purpose?
Quick check: If I ask each person at your school, what your school’s purpose for improvement is, what percentage of people will readily provide the correct response?
In my experience with school improvement, schools seem to start with “what” (the major recommendations or action plans), pull in “how” as necessary, and incidentally address “why.” Simon Sinek suggests the opposite: start with why, then explain how, and finally address what. Using this order helps people engage:
You successfully finished your international Christian school’s accreditation visit—congratulations! You’ve received the visiting committee report, complete with new major recommendations. You’ve done some celebrating. And you know that you soon will need to implement your updated improvement plan.
To what extent are staff and leaders using the 5 elements of flourishing as a framework for seeing Christian education?
(2) Review and then assess your improvement engine—your improvement purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices. Use the following scale: Great • Good • OK • Poor
Our purpose for improving is galvanizing, documented, gets used, and actually helps us improve.
Review your after action review, improvement engine, discussion of a separate action plan on flourishing, and updated action plan; and then to make revisions as necessary.
Regularly reflect on school improvement, including the implementation of the updated plan.
Note: On a time-permitting basis, I provide free coaching for staff and leaders serving in international Christian schools. Interested? Please contact me.
International Christian school leaders, doing alright does not equal flourishing! So, don’t be satisfied with doing alright—instead, strive to flourish! Why?
Because God calls you to flourish, not just to do alright.
Because when you’re flourishing, you serve more effectively because you’re growing and thriving (instead of just doing OK, good enough).
Because your international Christian school needs flourishing leaders who “function at extraordinarily high levels—both psychologically and socially. They’re not simply people who feel good. Flourishing goes beyond simply happiness or satisfaction with life. Beyond feeling good, they’re also doing good—adding value to the world” (Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3-to-1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life, 2009, p. 17).
Let me explain further by providing a description of what it looks like for leaders to experience each of the 5 elements of flourishing at the “doing alright” level and at the “flourishing” level:
(A) Passionate purpose:
Doing alright leaders experience decision-making that is somewhat guided by purpose statements, some shared ownership for school improvement and mission achievement, and a board that monitors the leaders’ responsibilities.
Flourishing leaders consistently experience decision-making that is guided by and aligned with the purpose statements, deeply shared ownership for school improvement and mission achievement (see Construct: Responsibility, p. 14), and an inspiring board that rigorously monitors the implementation of the purpose statements.
(B) Resilient well-being:
Doing alright leaders experience some exercise and some daily devotions, a Christ-centered environment, and a supportive board.
Doing alright leaders experience an adequate work space; plans, policies, and procedures; and discussions about resource management and resource planning.
What about you? What’s the difference between doing alright and flourishing? For a leader, what does it look like to be doing alright for each of the 5 elements of flourishing? For leader, what does it look like to be flourishing in each of the 5 elements of flourishing? What’s 1 action step you can take to toward flourishing?
Intentionally and thoroughly address root causes of each of your accreditation recommendations! Why?
(1) Because addressing root causes helps students, staff, and leaders at your international Christian school to get flourishing.
(2) Because addressing root causes increases the likelihood that you’ll address the actual problem, prevent future problems, and achieve lasting change.
(3) Because not addressing root causes increases the likelihood that you’ll address symptoms of the problem, face the problem again, and achieve temporary change.
(4) Because addressing root causes is a best practice.
Let me ask you another question:In the chart below, which international Christian school is more likely to actually improve?
School #1
School #2
Proactively frames the recommendations as an opportunity to help students, staff, and leaders flourish
Reacts to the recommendations with urgency and possibly thinks of the recommendations as something the staff is forced to do
Focuses on prevention (addressing root causes) and on completing the recommendations
Focuses on getting done with the recommendations
Documents root causes
Doesn’t document root causes
Intentionally and thoroughly addresses root causes in the plan and completes the recommendations
Gets done with the recommendations
My answer? School #1.
While both schools get the recommendations done, School #2 places too much emphasis on getting done, on urgency. School #2 is about, for example, getting rid of the weeds by pulling off the tops of the weeds (not the roots)—which is sort of like students who work for grades (not learning). Not good.
Meanwhile, School #1 sees recommendations as an opportunity to grow, to prevent problems, to address root causes. School #1, for example, is about getting rid of the weeds by pulling up the weeds by the roots and by putting weed killer on the yard—which is sort of like students who focus on learning (while getting good grades).
Your turn—for each recommendation you received from your last accreditation visit, ask yourself the following questions:
(1) What are the root causes of this recommendation? Possible root causes include unhelpful mindsets, insufficient staffing, inadequate policies and processes, faulty assumptions and misunderstandings, a lack of training/expertise, and insufficient shared understanding of a given facet of Christian education (for example, curriculum, well-being, using student assessment data, and helping students grow strong in Jesus).
You’re giving your students time to read–great! You’re giving them access to books they can choose from–fantastic!
But there are some students who just can’t seem to settle on a book. They spend the whole 10 minutes of independent reading time digging through their backpack for the book they say they have. Or they randomly grab a different book every day off the class library shelf. Or they have the same book, but they’re not making any progress in it—they’re staring out the window or falling asleep–and they’ve read 2 pages in a week.
They’re not flourishing as readers. And it may be because they don’t know how to choose a book they might be interested in. To a reading adult, this might sound crazy. But think about it for a minute. How do you choose a book?
I use a variety of things to choose a book—and these things make up my book selection system. Here are some of the things I do:
I make use of the hold system at my public library.
How did I build my system? I’m not sure. But I was born into a home that was full of books. As a child, I was taken regularly to the public library where I checked out every book on horses I could get my hands on. My mom read books to me, and I learned early that I loved fantasy, like the Narnia series, and that I loved its author, C.S. Lewis. I had friends who shared their books with me–one in elementary school who had the entire Nancy Drew series, and another in middle school who had the entire Anne of Green Gables series.
What if I hadn’t had all that? Is it possible that I might not have any idea how to pick a book? Yes, it’s very possible.
So, what are some things we can teach students about how to pick a book? Here are some that come to mind for me:
(1) Look for a book that will grab you. Not everyone will like every book. People have very different tastes. If a particular book doesn’t grab you, abandon it and move on.
(2) Think about your preferences: What books have you enjoyed in the past? What authors, genres, topics? Can you find a similar book?
(3) Examine a book: check out the front cover, the back cover. Read the first page.
(4) Talk to your friends about what they like to read. Maybe you’ll like it, too.
(4) Ask an adult for a recommendation—a librarian, your English teacher, or another adult in your life who knows books.
(5) Keep a list of titles you come across that you might like to read. That way when you finish a book, you know exactly what you want to read next.
What can we do in class to give students scaffolded practice choosing books? Here are some things I’ve done:
(1) Start the term with an activity like a book pass or book tasting designed to give students the opportunity to examine a lot of books, chat with classmates about them, and write down titles they find interesting.
(3) Orient students to how to find books in the places they have access—a classroom library (mine was organized by genre), an online library (a little class time to figure out how to log in, download the app, and use the search function might just be the push a couple of them need), a school library, or a public library.
(4) Occasionally have students turn to the person next to them and share something about the book they’re reading.
(5) Give your class book talks—just 2-minute ads—about books they might find interesting.
(6) Once a term, a first-line tournament is fun. Just have students pair up, read the first line of their book to their partner, and then decide which is the best. The loser sits down, and the winner finds another partner. The final playoff is decided by the whole class.
(7) End the term with students giving book talks to the class.
(8) Give students time to reflect on their book choosing strategies—what strategies they’ve used, which have been most helpful, which they’d like to use more of next term.
Bottom line: Teach students strategies for picking a book, and give them scaffolded practice using those strategies. (Remember, access to books and time to read isn’t enough to get every student deeply involved in reading.)
How about you? How do you choose books? How do your students choose books? How have you helped them? How can you help them even more?
If you have additional strategies and scaffolded practice ideas, let me know!
Get flourishing!
Kim
P.S. To do a deeper dive into supporting independent reading, check out the following books:
Get Flourishing 
