Coshocton County Fatherhood Initiative: All Pro Dad Breakfast

What dad doesn't enjoy breakfast? Especially when it is being prepared for you, and it has to taste better sitting with your child(ren)! On Thursday January 30th and Friday January 31st I had the distinct pleasure of sharing the importance of being an involved father with approximately 1,000 combined students and parents! It is also appropriate I believe at this time to add that the new Coshocton Elementary School is amazingly huge and beautiful!

Being a father of two young daughters myself, I am constantly trying to improve.  I often share during these keynotes what I need to hear myself, after all, we all need to be reminded and influenced.  I am a subscriber to the All Pro Dad daily email list, and receive links to their blog entries daily.  I would also recommend that you log onto their website allprodad.com  as it is a great place to visit  for the plethora of resources or if you would like to get more involved.

Using a sports analogy and being backed by Super Bowl winning coach and fatherhood advocate, Tony Dungy, the All Pro Dad Breakfast is just another avenue of getting dads into the schools.  With games and raffles, dads have the opportunity to be with their kids on “their turf”.  In this case, it was discussed that this may have been the first opportunity some dads had the ability to visit the brand new school that has just recently opened and is continuing to look better and better each day.

Incorporating the theme of sports and fundamentals, I challenge the fathers as Coach Dungy alludes to, “To Be the One”.  Challenged with the stats that show that there are far too many fatherless homes, and single mothers left to raise their children; we need to not only talk about, but show our child(ren) that we are their Hero.  Our child(ren) should have to look no further than their dad to see their hero.  I love the saying, and have it proudly displayed during my speaking, “A Dad is a son’s first Hero, and his Daughter’s first Love”.  I am not sure there is  a more true statement! With that now said, here are some highlights.

Being Your Kids Hero

• Just like in sports,  fundamentals are important in fatherhood!
• The two most important fundamentals of fatherhood are love and leadership!
• As fathers we spell love, T.I.M.E!
• To win in sports, we must execute the fundamentals!
• To be an All Pro Dad, those same principles apply!
• An All Pro Dad is no ordinary dad!
• An All Pro Dad makes the extra effort to be Extraordinary!

When fathers are involved in the education of their children:

•their children learn more

•perform better in school

•exhibit healthier behaviors

Just like in my closing thoughts at the breakfast,  I would like to leave you with this in mind.  The late Kentucky Highway Patrolman and motivational speaker Leo Mudd use to speak of  the 4T’s :Take time to Think.  Well, here are 4 things to take time to think about. 

•The Character of a Child is Rooted in the way he or she is raised

•My children are a product of my parenting

•Modeling is the Most Powerful of All teachers

•Children will hear half of what you say, but see 100% of what you do!

"THE BROOM"

Great fatherhood takes balance, stability and the ability to focus on the task at hand!

Thanks to the Coshocton Elementary staff, Coshocton City Schools, Coshocton Fatherhood Initiative and the many volunteers from the Coshocton community agency’s for making this event possible. Thank you to the students and fathers for allowing me to be a part of your day!

The Educational Tsunami: The Weather is Not the Only Storm Educators are Facing

Recently educators and students in our great state have been subject to unusually harsh weather, even for us. As the snow piled up and the cold set in, school districts all across the state were forced to use calamity days.  However, for the great students and great educators, the work continues.  Many districts are turning to online modules in their daily instruction, while others have turned to the use of blizzard bags.  Both of these initiatives have strong merit.  With this in mind, I cannot think of any educational professional development that does not mention that the most important component in student learning is the person standing in front of them instructing.  It is not about "making up" days, or being granted additional calamity days, it is about having time for quality instruction.  

In the last week I have spent "my calamity" days attending trainings on solidifying  the coaching aspect of the teacher evaluation system and attending PBIS, to assure that we are positively impacting and teaching our students.  I say this not in a bragging sense, but to say that in the majority of cases this is what educators do whether in or out of school.  Educators have always wanted what is best for their students, but today because of the "Educational Tsunami, with some many changes and mandates in store, they are even more aware of the high stakes their growth and improvement play.  So I decided simply to ask my teachers and others, "How are you getting better today?".  

We have all heard, you are either getting better or you are getting worse, you never stay the same.  I too believe this to be incredibly true.  Self actuation followed by self motivation is what moves you to get better.  Ultimately it is up the the individual to improve.  Others may offer advice, guide, and even provide the resources for improvement, however one will only improve if they act themselves.  I love the 6 W's as a reminder ; "Work will win when wishing won't".  You simply cannot wish for things to happen, you have to work.  Whether the weather by as the song goes "Sunny and 75" or is -20 below.  You have to work to get better.

You may now be asking what did I do to get better, what did I learn.  The first thing I would say, is that I tried to use these days as a re-newal of my passion.  The big term starting to be thrown around the world of education is "re-Purpose".  I do not know if that is new or not, but it has recently got fire.  The Educational Tsunami has led teachers and administrators to really prioritize.  We all must do a self reflection as to where we are in our teaching.  Think about it, how many of you look in the mirror to see how what you are wearing looks before stepping out to school?  We seem to have no trouble looking, seemingly time and time again, well then why are we so fearful of looking at ourselves and how we instruct?

So with that here are some of the finer points I picked up, "on my days off":

• Think of Coaching as: You may be building the framework for the house but the teacher has to step into the house and live in it, so they should want to have impact on the details (the carpet and cabinets)- eventually the teacher has to move into the house!
• Discussion during post conferencing is like being an attorney -- trying to lead them to what you want without telling them and getting evidence thrown out!
• As an educator, always look at it through the lens of the student --- make it about the student learning/growing -- their growth is your growth!
• Observations are to improve not to Remove!  Ongoing professional conversations are paramount to evaluation success along with fostering teacher and student improvement and growth!
• Like in society and our own homes, modeling must be first and foremost!! You have to inspect what you expect!!  If you wanna see it, you had best model it!
• How do you communicate?
• 7% conveyed in words
• 38% conveyed in tone
• 55% conveyed in body language
• While the words we choose make an impact it's how it is delivered that makes for lasting rapport and change. It's not what you say, it's how you say it!
• Assessments Expire too:
• Assessments are like a jug of milk and not a bottle of wine.  Milk has a relatively short shelf life.  Milk doesn't get better over time -- neither will assessments w/o change,  
• If you are using old assessments you better question yourself -- do you like spoiled milk?
• Not teaching and testing the same old thing.....students not learning same old way!

I hope you are working in advance to weather the storm as the Educational Tsunami hits land!