Beyond Good Intentions: Turning School Improvement Into Student Success

0:00 SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome back to a special, special edition of The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment. I am your host, Dr. Lashonta, known as that classy sassy consultant. So today we are reconnecting with Don Kirkwood, who previously joined us for an insightful conversation about creating the conditions for every student to succeed. This time we're taking that conversation a step further, examining what it takes to turn leadership intentions into sustainable practices that transform schools. So, welcome back, Don.

0:39 SPEAKER_00: So let's start with the first question. So when we last spoke, we talked about creating those conditions for student success. So, what is one critical condition that you believe schools continue to overlook despite knowing its importance? What have you seen so far?

0:55 SPEAKER_01: Well, after our last conversation, I I really started to think a little bit more critically as I go into school, especially technology centers. One thing that really stood out like, make it as meaningful, relevant, real world, because our goal is to be able to build the confidence that students would need to be successful in whatever career pathway they are. So to me, it's just making it very relevant. I think that's probably the most important thing. Academically, I would say it's all about the critical thinking.

1:31 SPEAKER_01: Give the students the go beyond just the surface, but really have some deep conversations about whatever content they're learning. Like start moving more towards those, those how might questions where students would have to justify and explain the responses. I I think the more that students have that opportunity, the more confident that they become looking at the myelin within the neuron, and you know, you really want to build up that fatty tissue. So, like really getting them to take that ownership.

2:05 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but and I love that about making it relevant that that is something I have stood on for years, and just to have a name for you know what you already do, but that relevancy is an important piece, and and making sure students know why they're actually learning this, because we hear students a lot of time saying, I don't know why. Why are we learning this? Other than to, you know, pass this course and to get a high school diploma, but just making it relevant to the learners because they will see these things again.

2:35 SPEAKER_01: Yes.

2:36 SPEAKER_00: All right. So, as someone who works closely with school leaders, how can administrators distinguish between schools that are simply implementing initiatives and schools where those initiatives are genuinely improving teaching and learning?

2:52 SPEAKER_01: Well, especially in CTE, since I've been doing a lot of work with centers, what I saw is like when I go to a center, if I'm required to go off campus to do observation, then they're starting to do what is right. Because I remember going to a construction site where students were actually building houses every two years, and they've been doing it for 50 years. One of the teachers actually built one of the houses that was on the property. Wow. Another place, this entrepreneur ship class, I had to go down to the coffee shop because they ran a coffee shop.

3:28 SPEAKER_01: So, like the students were actually running the business. So when I see those opportunities to, you know, go off to maybe a medical facility where students are doing clinical rounds, like those, I see the acceleration of learning. And like, how can we as leaders give students those authentic opportunities where they're actually doing it? I had another center that that guaranteed internships for all the students and all of their programs. So, like being able to say that, like when you graduate from your program, you will have experience on your resume.

4:10 SPEAKER_01: So it's like, how do we create those partnerships? How do we expand that network as leaders and helping out those teachers of really building their advisory committees to really have those that can really create more opportunities for students?

4:28 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. And the first one you mentioned with the houses, um, so I started uh I've seen more of your post on LinkedIn. So I actually saw that and I'm and I'm taking it in and I'm like, oh my goodness, that really that really is impactful work to see the students they're building houses.

4:47 SPEAKER_01: And it was it it was cross-disciplinary where where of course the construction workers were building the houses, but like like when you went inside and you saw the cabinet work and all that, right, that was done by another class. Right. So it's like that partnership and those opportunities, but being able to drive by that neighborhood and say, I built that house very much. Or help build that house, that's something like when you sit in an interview and you talk about like how you went from pouring the foundation to putting the roof on that house to help designing the rooms and hanging the shape rock, like to me, that is yeah, that is a game changer for students.

5:31 SPEAKER_00: It is, it is. And we actually, one of my colleagues that I work with, he actually helped to build the walls, the new parts of Hayworth, he helped to build those walls. And so for him to be a teacher in this building now is it's kind of awesome for him to see from being a student doing the work, and now you are in a different program, but you get to see the work that you have done, you know. So it is very impactful work. All right. So when we hear a great, we hear a great deal about evidence-based instructional practices.

6:07 SPEAKER_00: What does it actually take to move those practices from professional development sessions into consistent classroom implementation?

6:18 SPEAKER_01: I think the biggest thing is really one, we students need to understand why they're learning it, how are they learning it, what success criteria looks like. One of the things that I think is really powerful, and I wish I saw more of, is just analyzing student work.

6:41 SPEAKER_00: Yes.

6:42 SPEAKER_01: Being able to take an assignment and put it into three different stacks, saying this one's approaching, this one beats, and this one exceeds. And then really thinking about okay, why did I end up with these stacks? Was it my instruction? Was it the engagement? Was it the practices that we're learning? I think scaffolding is so important. Like everything that you do in the class should be connected to what you just finished and what you're going to do next. When we see that true scaffold, like they're like they're striving to meet that mastery, but at the same time, you can see the teacher has actually chunked it into smaller pieces.

7:27 SPEAKER_01: Yeah. And students have an opportunity to practice those smaller pieces that then all of a sudden become this bigger piece. I think that's where we see project-based learning being so successful because it does that. So just really creating a meaningful scaffold. I also believe modeling, because a lot of times we have teachers coming in from the workforce within a center, they don't have that degree in pedagogy. Like they haven't like studied Piaget and Ericsson and Albert Bandera of you know how a student learns.

8:05 SPEAKER_01: So being able to go in and model, but not just model, talk about the why as you're modeling. I I saw they do a career plan. How it's an event that they do after school every month, where one program would put up do a whole bunch of activities, and all the sending schools would be able to come. And I saw them, they were doing the education program was doing, and they had this dice game where where they would roll a dice and then they would flip an UNACAR. They were playing the game, but what I really wanted to see is explain why that helps someone that's four or five to actually start recognizing numbers.

8:50 SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, you get we always represent numbers by the dots, but then you have the actual number. So when you play a game like that, there's so much repetition and practice that that student is like watching that other student and they and in their mind, and before they know it, without even trying, they have confidence in recognizing that three dots is a three. Right. So really being very transparent with like why do we do this? And sometimes when we see teachers become very metacognition about their teaching, you see a different level of engagement and confidence within those classrooms.

9:32 SPEAKER_00: Yes, and and a lot of what you've talked about, and I hope that um our listeners, they know if they've listened to the first interview, a lot of what you just said, you also spoke about. So you can definitely tell that Don is a man who knows what he's talking about when it comes to helping students, helping teachers, helping leadership to be better, so that, and making sure that you know, teachers are the relevancy of the information and and making those connections for the students, going into just deeper, uh deeper understanding.

10:07 SPEAKER_00: So I know you've seen a lot in your travels to different schools. Didn't you recently go to Missouri? Was it Missouri? Yes, and you went to seven schools?

10:17 SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.

10:18 SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you were you were really traveling, and that was all in one week.

10:23 SPEAKER_01: Oh no, no, that was over a five-week period.

10:25 SPEAKER_00: Five weeks, okay, but that's still a lot of traveling, a lot of traveling. So in your role, I understand you have to go and you see different things, and and and again, just looking at what you have posted on your on your LinkedIn page, you're showcasing what the schools are doing and how they are making their career centers to be top-notch in offerings for the students. So I I definitely appreciate seeing that. That's a definitely a good way to showcase what's going on in different parts of the world because I'm always looking to see what we can bring in, you know, at Hayward as well.

11:03 SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, we've I did have one more question for you and then we're gonna wrap up. I'm gonna give you a challenge question.

11:10 SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes. Give me a hardball.

11:15 SPEAKER_00: This is not that hard, but if you could challenge every school leader listening today to make one intentional change within the next 30 days to strengthen student success, what would that change be? One intentional change.

11:34 SPEAKER_01: One intentional change. Block a time on your calendar every day to visit classrooms. That's what would be much officer. When I read the book uh Great Things Leaders Do by Todd Whitaker, that's one of the biggest things that stood out to me. Like a a principal that's in the classroom every day, it's just it changes the culture. So I still believe that yeah, we just gotta get out there and build the culture of the school by building those relationships and being able just to walk in and say, you know, good morning, and just be that positive light for those teachers.

12:14 SPEAKER_01: But I know that if we don't block it off on your calendar, it's not gonna happen.

12:20 SPEAKER_00: Correct. Correct. Because it is very easy in leadership to get bogged down with the documents and so forth of, you know, whether you're doing referrals or whether you are reviewing lesson plans, whether you are, you know, coaching individual uh teachers or you're meeting with students, MTSS, attendance meetings. There's so many things that you can get bogged down into. But as instructional leaders, we must be able to walk those buildings and we've got to be able to give that feedback, whether it is written or whether, you know, sometimes I'll leave a sticky note on the desk.

12:57 SPEAKER_00: But we have to make sure that we're doing that on a regular basis every day, as you say. That is the challenge, and I'm gonna accept that challenge because I know when we were prepared for you all to come, I was work doing some other things, but the teachers would find me and come harass me and they didn't see me for the day. So I'm going to accept your challenge and um I'm gonna let you know how it goes. Excellent. Maybe I'll ask that question at the next one. That's what you need to ask me that question.

13:25 SPEAKER_00: Trust me, you may want to ask some more questions on top of that. So we are again, I'm so glad we were able to come face to face and just being able to do a follow-up because these are these are the things that our our listeners are looking for, our follow-up conversations, two interviews in which there was some awesome dialogue. So this is definitely one of it. So again, I want to thank you for agreeing to the follow-up and being so willing to do it and looking forward to that because that does speak violence to me.

13:54 SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for that.

13:56 SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're welcome. I mean, CTE is my wife. So any way I could be an advocate, that's where my passion is. Yes. It's like, how can we really create students that are career ready? I know many years we were so college, college, college. Right. But now things have changed. Changed drastically. Like they're going into a a career right out of a program at CTE Center and making really good money. Yes. Um, and so we talk about the competitive edge. Um, our CTE programs across this nation truly give our students a competitive edge.

14:36 SPEAKER_00: And they do. They do. So thank you again. And thank you for reminding us that student success is not accidental. Student success is intentional leadership, effective instruction, and a school culture committed to continuous improvement. To our listeners, the question isn't simply whether we want students to succeed, the question is whether we're creating the conditions that make their success possible. You've got the keys, I've got the mic, meet me on the road. This has been The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment.

15:15 SPEAKER_00: Thank you again for joining us for this special edition. Have an awesome, awesome day.