What
is Consensus?
Many years ago, for our district’s convocation
we received a surprise. Each teacher and
staff member was given $200 in Susan B. Anthony coins. They literally had wheel barrels full of
plastic bags of coins at convocation. Many
of you may remember that convocation. It
was AWESOME!
At least, I thought that it was
awesome? I was walking out of the
coliseum with my bag of loot and I ran into a teacher who was not too
happy. “What is the matter?” I
asked. The teacher replied, “Why did
they have to give us the money in coins?
I would have rather them give it to us in our next check. Now I have to carry around this bag of
coins.”
As I look back on this event, I
think to myself there will never be a unanimous vote. If we cannot unanimously agree that receiving
$200 in any shape of form is a good thing, then what can we unanimously agree
on? I would have taken $200 in pennies.
There will always be delta’s. The shear fact that as leaders we make
decisions causes a delta. Having a bell
schedule for meet the teacher night can be a good thing. Not having a bell schedule for meet the
teacher night can be a good thing. I
truly would have been happy either way providing that we had consensus.
Rick Dufour defines consensus as: “Do not
move forward until all voices are heard and the will of the staff is clearly
evident to all, even to those who most oppose it.” This
is the definition that we will adhere to on this campus.
Does consensus mean we have a
majority vote? No, it doesn’t. For
example, in your classroom you do a plus/delta on home work. Not surprisingly,
many of your students see delta’s with home work: my hand hurts, it is hard, I like to play or
watch Sponge Bob when I get home, I get confused when I take the work home or I
have to watch my brother and sister. You know that homework is the best way to
address your academic goal for the majority of your students. This is a
teachable moment for you and your students.
Sponge Bob is not a legitimate barrier.
Not understanding when you get home is very legitimate. How can you overcome this barrier
together? Maybe tutorials after school could help with this? Maybe it is a class where students need to pay
more attention in class and this is an opportunity to have this
discussion?
What is the barrier for the solution? Learn, work on, and address the legitimate issues
or barriers for the good of your students and then you move forward towards
your goal. Your students were heard and
you addressed their concerns. It is
really about having all voices heard, so do not put it up for a vote unless you are willing to go either
way. No matter how awesome your class
is, they will probably vote against homework.
It was clearly evident that as a
campus, we agree on the need to address and encourage good behavior and that we
see the Power Strip as a means to this end.
Many of our high achieving students do not get the positive
reinforcement at home for their achievements at school. The Power Strip provides the “carrot and the
stick” to teach our students desired behavior.
In
our meeting we discussed the concern that some students might never be able to
attain the Power Strip because of the 90 grade average. This could be a barrier. It may limit access to the program for some
students.
I
am not convinced that everyone needs the “power.” The purpose of this endeavor should be
clarified. This program is a reward for
students who are demonstrating scholarly and responsible behavior. Many of the rewards associated with this
program will require our students to be extremely responsible. It is important that they demonstrate this
responsibility prior to receiving the privilege associated with it.
I
feel that there would not be harm in providing an alternate route or avenue for
students to apply for the program. It is
not about the 90% combined average, as much as it is our students demonstrating
the scholarly and responsible behavior.
For example, a student who has an 89% combined grade average, turns in
all their work (NO ZEROS), obtains recommendations from all their teachers, has
impeccable conduct, and applies to a faculty panel for entrance into the
program should be a consideration. This
example student may be the person who needs the program more than the student with
a 99% combined average and is able to navigate through school easily.
I
am excited about this! The campus that
used this program has similarities to us demographically and it made a big
impact. I believe that it will at HMS
too. Confronting the barriers is helpful.
It does no good to pretend that they are not there.
This
Week @ HMS
Monday, September 9-
7th
Grade Volleyball @ North Ridge
8th
Grade Volleyball @ HMS
7th
Grade Football @ HMS
Tuesday, September 10
Happy Birthday Cari Myers!
8th
Grade Football vs. North Ridge @ The Black Hole
Wednesday, September 11
Department Chair
Meeting 4:00 @ The Conference Room
Thursday, September 12
AP ILT (Meza out
in the AM, Bailey out in the PM)
Friday, September 13
Saturday, September 14
Theater Field
Trip to HHS 8:15-12:30
Tiger
Thumbs Up
Libby
Elrod-Great job with the
mission statements
Anthony
Lopez-Love the
plus/delta on the cabinet.
*Lindsey Courtney and Melanie Hayes-Love the Data Wall and
Mission Statement with student signatures
Betina
Rhine-Love the Mission
Statement and student signatures
*Saw many spaces
for Data Walls; look forward to seeing the data
