The Power of Great Teachers

“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.” Garrison Keillor

I'm still amazed at how involved and engaged you all were during Spirit Week!  What a terrific testament to our family spirit that each of you saw spirit week as an opportunity to have some fun and build some relationships with students that will sustain learning throughout the semester and year. You are all amazing educators!

Many of you know I had a brief stint as a preschool teacher prior to securing a High School English teaching posting. I loved teaching small children, but the truth is I didn't have the stamina to do it day in and day out. I also probably lacked the patience and definitely the creativity to sustain a quality learning environment for those kids for too long.

At first, I mistakenly thought that my high school students did not want to please me as much as my preschoolers did. I was appalled by their apparent insouciance in terms of my regard for them. Certainly, I surmised, my preschoolers needed me much more than these young adolescents. As you are well aware, nothing could have been further from the truth. The more time I spent with my high school students, the more obvious it became that these young adults craved my attention, my guidance, and my approval.

Our Griffins feel the same about you! They need you! They rely on you for instruction, compassion, and consistency. Although it may not always be readily apparent, your students like it when you take control. Your students know that good teachers control their classrooms, and they understand and appreciate the boundaries you set. High school students thrive in an atmosphere where the teacher stresses self-discipline and communicates with parents regarding progress in this critical area. They respect teachers who discipline students in a firm yet respectful manner that does not sacrifice a student’s dignity. Effective teachers establish a set of clear, though limited, expectations with consequences that are consistently and fairly meted out. Teachers who are well organized tend to have the most disciplined classes. The structure of the classroom prevents a lot of off-task behavior, and students know what to expect from day to day.

Being fair and consistent requires courage on the part of teachers, but students will admire those teachers who stand up for what is right and speak out when they observe unfairness. The curriculum you must cover in your various subject areas is vast and even daunting. However, the values you teach your students may be even more important. Students expect you to have beliefs and opinions not only about your subject matter but also about what is right and what is wrong. Sadly, much of what our students learn from textbooks at this age may be forgotten over time. The life lessons you teach them, however, will last a lifetime! 

Thanks for expertly imparting unto our students what I consider to be an exceptional and comprehensive curriculum. Thank you also for teaching them relevant lessons about life. You are their role model; you may doubt this at times, but even during these moments of doubt, remember this truth. Our young men are watching us and learning from us within the walls of our classrooms and beyond. Therefore, be firm, be fair, be consistent, and use good judgment. 

Teach your students what you know, but also who you are. Everywhere I go, I find myself extolling the many virtues of the Vianney faculty and staff; thank you all for making this such an easy and sincere act in which to engage! Your passion for education and your commitment to our students is inspiring.  You are my role models!

Homecoming: A time to celebrate!

We are the Black and Gold of Vianney 

We are the Golden Griffins of Vianney High

Half lion, half eagle so the Griffin can roar
So the Griffin can soar above the lightening and thunder
We will win, win, win, yeah Vianney.
Oh hear the din din din and our clamor and cheer
We want the world to be told about the Black and the Gold of
Old Vianney, Vianney, Vianney. Hey!

Spirit Week! Homecoming!  A week like no other week in the school year!
Are you ready? Have you prepared your outfits for Lumberjack Day, Tacky Tourist Day, or Flotation Device Day?  Have you prepared your stomachs for Syberg's Chicken Tenders, Jack in the Box Tacos, Ice Cream and BBQ?  Can you hear the chanting of our students at the pep rally?  Will they be able to defeat the faculty this year in tug of war?

You have to admit, even as adults, there's something VERY special about homecoming!  And as our students prepare for goofy costumes, as our teachers prepare to harness some of the excitement during class time so learning can take place, it's time to reflect and celebrate!

At St. John Vianney High School we have MUCH to celebrate this time of year!

Just look around....

Athletics:
At 2-1 our football program is scoring points at an unprecedented rate!  Fans are packing the stadium! Students are adorned in Black and Gold and parents and alumni are cheering until their voices are hoarse! When the Billikens visit The Heeb this week there will be an intimidating atmosphere that they have not encountered in many years!
Soccer continues to establish a culture of excellence.  The Griffins are undefeated and just claimed the CBC Tournament last week by defeating MCC rivals Sluh & Desmet and tying CBC.  The soccer Griffins are currently ranked #2 in the area polls and look to compete deep in to the post season.
The Swimmers & Divers continue to make a splash in the pool.  Many school records have already been challenged or broken this year.  Lead by sophomore Nick Alexander the Aqua Griffins will be real contenders in the state rankings this year.
Cross-country remains solid, getting better with each race.  They will compete again this week after already claiming the Marianist Cup earlier in the season. And don't forget about the success we had last spring.  Baseball advanced deep in to the state playoffs and we were able to claim state titles in golf and volleyball!
Matt Mueller became the first Griffin to win the State Golf Individual title and Volleyball claimed their 17th state championship!

Academics:
This is definitely an area I'm extremely proud of.  We should all be celebrating that Vianney is a Top 50 Catholic School for Academics.  This summer more accolades were attributed to our faculty and students when Vianney became only the 10th school in the country to be named a Model School for Brain Based Education by the Gurian Institute.
Vianney students are excelling at unprecedented rates.  Our ACT scores remain higher than state and national averages, 99% of our graduates attended college this fall, Anthony Schrader and Jack Lyons were recnely named National Merit Semi-finalists.
Our 4x4 schedule is innovative and provides a terrific framework to educate young men.  The faculty at Vianney is second to none in the state of Missouri.  77% have Master's degrees or higher and their commitment to our students is inspiring!
Later this year our chess Team will try to claim their third NATIONAL Championship!  Our curriculum has grown exponentially over the last two years: 12 new courses, 4 new dual-enrollment courses, partnerships with Drury University and Kansas State!  Our freshmen love their Forensics science course!  We are living proof that school can be fun, practical, and rigorous all at the same time.

Spiritually:
What separates our school from all the others is our spirituality.  We should celebrate all the many things that Vianney does to LIVE our Faith.  Many schools pray before school or have monthly masses, but we do a lot of living Faith Formation. From praying the Angelus, Daily Communion Services, participating in the Living Rosary, and wearing outward symbols of our Marianist Faith, Vianney is a special, sacred place.  This past weekend ALL of our coaches participated in a "Play Like a Champion" Retreat to continue their faith development.  And each athletic program has Athletic Apostles now!  At Vianney we LIVE our Faith!

Those are just a few of my thoughts this week!  It will be electrifying to welcome back our Alumni on Friday Night!  Collectively they will share many stories and celebrate the education they had at Vianney.  Between the football and the food, the fight songs and the pep rallies, I hope you'll also take a few moments this week to celebrate the MANY things that make Vianney Special!

Igniting the Flame: Lessons from a Dancing Man

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.” ― William W. Purkey

I have to admit that in my mid-thirties I'm probably STILL much more adolescent in behavior that a seasoned high school principal should be.  Many times it may even appear that I am resistant to enter the world of adulthood.  Should anyone need a letter of recommendation regarding my resistance or my self-endorsement of my adolescent behaviors my wife Lesley is now accepting calls and emails.


Since I'm cleansing my conscious of my adolescent behavior and openly disclaiming my faults and tendencies I should also mention my love (dependence) of technology and my a fixation on TedTalks and Youtube.  I find there's an endless world of videos that say and demonstrate things far more articulate than I could EVER dream.

Which leads me to the video, "Dancing Man Gives a Leadership Lesson" I invite you to watch the video and perhaps comment on what you learned from "The Dancing Man."  Or respond to the Question of the Day at the bottom.

Lessons I learned/Questions I have....

I wonder how many people have enough passion for anything in life to do what the Dancing Man does: Think about it.  It really does take guts and perhaps a little insanity to make yourself completely vulnerable and to display it to the world.  Perhaps we don't all need to take our shirts off and dance in the middle of a crowd, but shouldn't there be something that we are so passionate about that we do "get up and dance?"  As educators, what is that internal flame that causes us to get up and engage students day to day?  Is your faith life strong enough that you would openly share a reflection? What about your family and friends? Do they know how much you care for them and love them?  How frequently do you truly display your affections?

Maybe we need more "Crazy Nuts" in the world: The narrator of the video suggests that the 1st follower is more important than the crazy nut.  I'm not sure I agree.  In fact, I would contend that there aren't enough crazy nuts in the world. In every school in America there are dynamic, engaging, EXCELLENT teachers encouraging our students to reach unimaginable goals, motivating students to exceed beyond what they even believe is possible! These educators are always on the top of their game. They prep for hours to master their craft.  They are always seeking professional development opportunities that will raise student achievement.  They never settle for good enough when they know GREAT is attainable. Unfortunately, even though they possess the power to dramatically change the face of education, they too often stay in the shadows. Perhaps afraid to step in to the light and challenge the status quo of education.  Is it isolation that scares them?  Fear of the unknown or acceptance/rejection by their peers?  Whatever their hesitation we as administrators need to find the antidote and cure them.  We need their ideas, we need their innovation and creativity, we need our halls infused with their passion!  We need someone to start the spark!

We need more "dancing":  Let's be clear.  I'm NOT condoning dancing!  I'm NOT a dancer and refuse to engage in most actual dancing.  By dancing I mean we need more fulfilling moments in life.  Too often we wake-up, go through our routines, and 10-15 hours later  fall asleep to only repeat the monotonous process again the next day.  Think about your BEST moments as a child, a student, a teacher, a person.  What moments truly stick out?  For me it's the ones that brought me to tears.  Either from laughing so hard with my peers or from crying over a devastating loss. When my emotions are triggered, that's when lasting memories are made.  My favorite teachers always knew how to trigger the nuerotoxins in our brains and get us engaged.  My most memorable childhood athletic moments stem from fun and laughter.  And moments in life that shaped who I am often centered around a loss of a loved one and the absence of the JOY they brought in to my life on a daily basis.

The late Jim Valvano has a terrific quote that resonates with me.

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.”
As educators we need to seek, lead, and participate in moments of emotion. Life is too short and too important to let anything else fill up our time.

Question of the Day: Will you be the follower who ignites the positive change you want to see in the Vianney? In your community? In your life?  

Or will you be the crazy nut?  And is there anything wrong with that?

Have a GREAT weekend! 

What Makes a Good School!

"What makes a good school has very little to do with how rich or poor the students are or the type of curriculum that’s taught. It has very little to do with special programs, expansive playing fields, huge endowments, snappy uniforms, celebrity alumni, or whether the school is wired to the Internet. What makes a good school, whether it’s public or private, religious or nonreligious, charter or noncharter, is a feeling. A feeling shared by the entire staff that their particular school is special. The feeling that their school really belongs to them" (Manna, 1999).

I LOVE that quote! I have ALWAYS loved it! I first saw it when I was a clueless undergrad student at Missouri State, it resurfaced in my Masters program at Drury, and I'm fairly certain I referenced it frequently in my doctoral work at Saint Louis University. And while I absolutely love that quote, I often wish I could add just one thing to it. To possess a good school, a great school, a school of excellence, one MUST have GREAT teachers. It's the one variable that ALL the GREAT schools have in common.

Go ahead, look it up if you must. Marzano, Whitakker, Hayes-Jacobs, Tomlinson, they all have the data and the stats to back up my argument. While the above quote doesn't reference teachers, I ALWAYS think of Vianney's faculty and staff when I read it. To work at Vianney is SPECIAL! It's REAL! It's AUTHENTIC! One of the Five Characteristics of Marianist Education that drive our decisions at Vianney is "Family spirit." Family spirit is NOT a catch phrase, a fancy slogan, or a marketing scheme. Family Spirit at Vianney is a living thing and it has been created, nurtured, and maintained by the amazing faculty and staff that have come before me and who currently reside at 1311 S. Kirkwood Rd.

While cleaning out some files at home I came across an article titled “What Makes a Good Teacher?” (Traina, 1999). The author sought to identify characteristics that are consistently cited by students and parents as those exhibited by their very best teachers. They are as follows:

Command of subject matter. Effective teachers know their subject matter inside and out. In addition, they convey a love of, and passion for, their subject matter.

Caring deeply about each student and about that student’s accomplishment and growth. Effective teachers take time to consider each student as an individual and a unique learner. They take the time and make the effort to get to know about each student, inquiring of their interests, family, and so forth.

Distinctive character. Effective teachers add a special flavor and zeal to their instruction that creates a memorable impression on their students. Whether it is an eccentric sense of humor or a tragedy overcome, such teachers stand out in the minds of their students.

At Vianney we are obviously staffed by teachers with distinctive character (see the photo above for evidence) who care deeply about each and every one of their students. It is equally apparent that Vianney teachers possess a superior command of their respective content areas. As a result, your students will remember you long after they leave us.

The talented, gifted, and caring faculty and staff at Vianney are one more reason why "It's a GREAT Day to be a Griffin!"