Parma Plan It: Why Are YOU Still Here?

Over break I was able to watch a few movies. Some were high action, some gave me nightmares, some were gushy love stories. One made me think a great deal and led me to a little research and reading on Steve Jobs and his success at Apple. The movie, Jobs, with Ashton Kutcher chronicles the
journey of Steve Jobs and the development of his vision for Apple Computers. (I bought the DVD if you would like to borrow it.) There were four things I really took from the film: vision, passion, a culture of excellence and having a powerful team. These are the same things we talk about at Parma Elementary. I believe these are just as important in our school as they are in Apple or any other organization.

When asked about his feelings on Apple surpassing Microsoft in market evaluation, Steve Jobs said that it was surreal, but that "it doesn't matter very much, it's not what's important, it's not what makes you come to work in the morning, it's not what makes any of our customers buy our products." He goes on to say that "...it is good to keep that in mind and to keep in mind what we are doing and why we are doing it." Does this scream MEAP or Standardized Test Scores to anyone else? Having our students
score well on standardized tests is fantastic, but it isn't what any of us went into education for. Preparing our students to take these tests isn't what makes us excited about coming to work every day. I dare say that having high test scores isn't what gives our parents the greatest pride and faith in our school. Yes, we have to keep in mind the outcome of high achievement and test scores, but it is most important to keep in mind that we have a far greater responsibility to our kids and our community than just how they perform on a test.

When Jobs went back to Apple, which was 90 days from bankruptcy, he was surprised to discover that

there were still very good people working there, "miraculous people" Jobs called them. He asked them, "Why are you still here?" The reply he got was, "....because I bleed in six colors." This was the old 6 color Apple logo. This meant to Steve Jobs that they loved what Apple stood for, and he says because of that, they all wanted to work that much harder. There are many challenges in our job as there were for the employees of Apple in the early days. There have been other job opportunities in our district and county. We are still here! I have to believe it is because we believe in the mission of Parma Elementary School, we believe in the mission of Western School District, we believe in each other, and we believe in our kids. Yes, our students can be challenging. There are factors we cannot control, but we come to work every day determined to make a difference. One of the employees of Apple said that it is because of those challenges that Apple enables you to do "the best work of your career." I hope you find that you are able to do the best work of your career in your role at Parma Elementary. Let those challenges push us to be our best!

It has been said that Steve Jobs had an obsession with detail, but Steve's point was not an obsession about detail, though he certainly had that, it was about "Building a culture that doesn't tolerate defect as its starting point of design." He had a staircase redone twice in the Apple building because he didn't like its design. He had the tiles laid three times in the men's bathroom because two tiles were askew. He believed every aspect of the company from the tiles in the bathroom, to the building to each employee to each product had to portray and strive for a culture of excellence and perfection. It was this obsession to detail, this intolerance to any defect, this passion for perfection and the ability to build a strong team that created such a successful company. Walk in our school and notice....what does it look like, feel like, sound like? Is this consistent with our mission and vision? Does it portray the pursuit of excellence at every corner? Does every team member contribute to a culture of excellence? Though perfection isn't realistic because we are people working with children, and we are not perfect, the pursuit of excellence, of greatness is always very realistic.

Common Core challenges us and our students to problem solve, to develop higher order thinking, to develop strategies and skills to think deeper, to create. While watching the story of Steve Jobs and how he constantly strived for better, for the next best thing, I couldn't help think about how we are challenged to get all of our kids to think in such a way, to want to find out more, to seek deeper knowledge. In common core, there are no limiting factors placed on the nature of advanced work. Steve Jobs thought beyond limits. He did not let limits stop him from imagining what could be and from creating something better. We want our students to be deep thinkers and problem solvers. They need practice and experience in problem based learning. Basic skills are not enough. We have to help kids know how to take those skills, like Jobs took the basic computer design, and go deeper and think beyond the limits, beyond the current reality.

Our job is challenging, but I also hope you will find it exciting and rewarding. I hope you always know why you are still here! I hope you see the role you have in the lives of our kids and their future. I am so thankful YOU have chosen to be here!

Next Week at A Glance:

Monday, January 13th: 1:1 Tech Leadership meeting at 1:00
Monday, January 13th: 6:00 p.m. District Spelling Bee at CAC
Wednesday, January 15th: Grades 3 - 5 Assembly and Collaborative Teacher Meeting
Thursday, January 16th: 6:30 p.m. School Board Meeting
Friday, January 17th: 8:00 Staff Meeting - Discussing section 1 and 2 Smarter Charts

Articles Worth Reading:

The Role of PBL in Making the Shift to Common Core

Problem Based vs. Project Based Learning

When we let our Students Plan our Lessons - by +Pernille Ripp

Bloom's Taxonomy Should Start with Creating - shared by @judybrunner

Innovation Week - by @Vendram1n

Videos Worth Watching:

Steve Jobs Explains the Rules of Success: