If There's a Cracker Barrel in Heaven...

Bill-
We were supposed to have breakfast together this week. We spoke last Monday. You left me a voicemail on Tuesday. I got the news Wednesday night, then confirmation again Thursday. Today I hugged your wife, smiled at your girls, then said goodbye to you. Still struggling with that...

On behalf of the kids I sent your way, thanks for making a difference in their lives. Thanks for helping me work with them. Thanks for giving me counsel, advice, and wisdom about kids. I think I've done more good because of your help. The ripples you made in the pond went far and wide and rolled over more lives than you know.

Thanks for taking me under your wing. I know it was pretty crowded under each of your wings but you somehow found a little more room and a little more time for the new guy in town.

Thanks for showing me how to handle stress, how to let go, how to take a deep breath, how to find an identity outside my profession.

Thanks for showing me how to show the world how to be a proud husband and an even prouder father.

Your personal and professional counsel and your friendship have been priceless. I probably didn't let you know that enough but I'll let your family know.

I know we had planned to have breakfast this week - usual place, usual time - but I guess God had other plans. If there's a Cracker Barrel in Heaven, grab us a table, order your oatmeal and a couple of coffees, and I'll join you later. We'll have some catching up to do.

Bill Wakefield, I'll miss you, buddy.

Breaux and Whitaker Do It Again

The gurus of educating educators, Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker, have produced another gem. 50 Ways to Improve Student Behavior should be added to the library of every educator, teacher or administrator. As the title indicates, the book offers fifty nuggets of wisdom to help teachers improve student behavior.

Here's the beauty of the concept of this book: student behavior in the classroom improves as teaching improves. This book doesn't present fifty gimmicks to make students behave better. This book offers fifty ways to improve teaching, to improve classroom instruction and classroom management. As a teacher implements these fifty strategies and becomes a better teacher, voila!, the students behave better than ever (and they learn more, too).

This book would be valuable for teachers, obviously. However, this book would be great for educational leaders, too. Heads of school, division heads, disciplinarians (assistant principal or Dean of Students), and department chairs, all would do well to help their faculty implement the strategies included in this book. Breaux and Whitaker present the fifty nuggets of wisdom in only a few pages each, thus making them great mini-lessons for faculty meetings, in-service days, department meetings, weekly email communications to faculty, etc.

If you have teachers who are struggling with effective teaching, which includes classroom management, you will find those teachers' shortcomings and errors addressed in this book. If every teacher in your building will practice these fifty strategies consistently, your school climate will change, student behavior will improve, and learning will increase. I'd stake my next paycheck on it.

When Hiring for Next Year, Beware Job Seekers

The last several times I've advertised for open teaching positions, I've been overwhelmed by the response. Scores of cover letters and and applications appeared in my inbox and on my desk. Each time that happened, I was quite impressed with myself for generating such a response. "Either I have created such a magnificent help wanted ad that everyone wants to teach for me," I thought, "or my school is so much the envy of the educational world that everyone wants to teach at my school."

A few months ago I faced the daunting task of replacing a dynamic young teacher who moved away when her husband's job transferred them out of state. Again, my inbox filled to capacity quickly with applications for the vacancy. As I began the time-consuming process of sorting out all the applications, I had a Eureka! moment. About half of the applicants were qualified and legitimate candidates for the position. The other half simply were people who needed a job and who figured summers off sounded like a pretty good gig.

Fast forward to recent weeks as we have begun the search for great candidates to fill a position or two for next year. Predictably, I have, at first glance, more applicants than I can possibly interview. However, on closer examination, about half of the applicants are legitimate candidates for the positions while the other half are not. Among those who have applied for specialized teaching positions are drug store clerks, personal trainers, real estate agents, restaurant hostesses, and one student who will not have completed undergraduate work before the start of the next school year. Seriously! What are they thinking?

As you start the process of hiring teachers for next year, screen the applications well. I'm the world's biggest advocate of bringing the right content experts into the classroom from the outside world but they are few and far between. Teaching applicants who neither have taught nor have established themselves as content experts have a special place at the back of my bottom drawer. Don't be afraid to send a form letter to those who have no business applying in the first place. I've never met anyone who claims to have the secret formula for hiring the right person every time but I do know that odds of a successful interview process increase when the right, or wrong, candidates are eliminated quickly.