Setting the Stage for Current and Future Learner Success

The traditional goal of any education system is to prepare students for either college or careers. Over the years, I would say that while this view still holds value, the context has changed dramatically.  The world has radically evolved as a result of constantly advancing technology and the COVID-19 pandemic.  With knowledge readily available and the means to seamlessly engage in digital spaces now the norm, educators need to keep pace and ensure that the strategies they use will serve learners well into the future. While this might seem like a monumental task, it is not as difficult as one might think. 

While preparation for college and careers might remain a focus, it is important to understand that there is no uniform recipe for success as this varies significantly between different learners.  Herein lies both a challenge and opportunity for educators.  As I shared in Disruptive Thinking in Our Classrooms, our world needs students who have the competencies to replace conventional ideas with innovative solutions to authentic problems. There are many different pathways to accomplish this goal that I discuss in detail in the book. However, a more holistic approach can be taken to set the stage for developing a learner’s ability to accomplish any aim or purpose they set out to achieve.

When designing lessons, projects, or assessments, consider whether or not they empower learners to:

• Engage in problem-solving
• Collaborate with peers
• Think critically and creatively 
• Communicate clearly and accurately 
• Develop open-mindedness 
• Make real-world applications
• Reflect on learning
• Analyze, reason, and evaluate

Setting the stage for learner success requires a commitment beyond just the people that have direct contact with students.  It is important to note that administrators play a crucial role in how they support their teachers with feedback on the elements listed above.  Pedagogical leadership can pave the way.

While the elements above are undoubtedly essential, it should be noted that not every lesson, assignment, or assessment will include all of these.  Hence the need to develop a system of norms that can be implemented routinely that will either directly address or set the stage for disruptive thinking.  Below is a checklist of sorts containing questions that can be used to reflect on daily practice and serve as a means for growth:

• Rigor – How are all learners being challenged to think through scaffolded questions and tasks? Is the work that they engage in thoughtful and providing an opportunity for discourse and collaboration? 
• Relevance – How are learners applying their thinking in meaningful and purposeful ways? Are they afforded the opportunity to leverage authentic resources and make interdisciplinary connections between various concepts?
• Empowerment – Do learners own their experience in the classroom or school through personalized strategies that promote voice, choice, path, pace, and place? Are they able to access and use a variety of tools to construct new knowledge and demonstrate what they have learned? How has the learning environment changed to respond to individual strengths and weaknesses? 

Ensuring current and future learner success doesn’t rely on a technology tool or a passing fad.  It is achieved through a dynamic combination of strategies that future-proof learning for all kids so that they can thrive in a disruptive world.  Try not to overthink things. Even though the world will continue to change rapidly, you have the knowledge, tools, and mindset to equip kids and put them all on a path towards success. 

10 Ways to Empower Educators

What motivates you to be your best, take risks, and seek out opportunities to improve?  I’d be willing to wager that there are an array of responses you would give to this question. As such, I am going to try to sum it all up with one word or concept, depending on how you look at the actions that create this feeling.  Empowerment is the secret sauce.  I genuinely believe that you get more out of people by building them up as opposed to knocking them down. I love the following quote from Laura Garnett:

Leadership is shifting from telling everyone what to do to empowering others to come up with the best and brightest ideas that have either never been thought of before or implemented and acted upon in a respective environment. It’s about caring for and instilling a sense of belief in others that leads to greater confidence in one’s abilities as well as the place where he/she works or learns. This is how you empower people to be their best.

Empowerment isn’t just about making people feel good but more importantly valued.  It’s in this state where a vision, mission, and goals can actually become a reality as there is a unified desire to succeed.  Consider this from Brian Tracy:

Once you empower people by learning how to motivate and inspire them, they will want to work with you to help you achieve your goals in everything you do. Your ability to enlist the knowledge, energy, and resources of others enables you to become a multiplication sign, to leverage yourself so that you accomplish far more than the average person and in a considerably shorter period of time. 

So how can you empower others? It’s not as hard as you think. Below are some simple ways to create a culture of empowerment:

• Be present during conversations (eye contact, body language, devices away)
• Provide timely, meaningful, and specific feedback
• Say thank you when the opportunity arises
• Distribute praise equitably and away from yourself
• Model what you expect
• Speak less and listen more
• Provide the autonomy to take risks
• When making decisions utilize consensus as much as possible
• Exhibit sincerity when complimenting others
• Co-develop professional learning opportunities that best meet the needs of all

Never underestimate the impact that the above strategies can have.  Consider this thought from Archie Snowden:

To empower someone is to give them the means to achieve something.” It makes them stronger and more confident, ready to take control of their life and to also be an advocate for themselves. 

In the end, it is all about giving the people you work with (educators) or for (learners) a greater sense of purpose in what they do.

3 Questions to Help Make the Most Out of the Money You Have

How do you make the most out of the money you have?

I hope the question above gets you thinking.  Educational institutions around the world spend billions of dollars on textbooks, curriculum, programs, technology, and professional development.  I’m sure I missed some categories, but you get the point.  Now, I am not saying that anything listed is not valuable. On the contrary, there is research, evidence, and practical needs that justify many of the purchases that are made in each category.  My point is this.  In times where the budget hammer comes down and critical decisions have to be made, what criteria do you use to make them?

As a principal one of my primary responsibilities was that of preparing a budget. Requests were made through a digital platform and had been done so years before I took the helm.  One significant change I made was allowing my teachers, through their department chairs, to have more autonomy over this process. Once funds were allocated to each respective department, I then told them to spend as they saw fit. After all, why should I make these decisions if I am not the one actually teaching the kids or serving directly as a facilitator of learning?  It made sense that the people who had the most day to day contact with students were empowered to make the best choices with the funds we had.  There were a few times I had to intervene though when some of the decisions were questionable at best, but oversight is essential.  

Image credit

Big ticket items or those that were outside the realm of specific departmental needs followed a different process.  Many of these fell within the categories listed at the beginning of this post.  In this case, the teachers submitted wish list items while my leadership team and I consulted with students and staff alike to determine school needs.  The goal was to make the budgeting process more collaborative.  Leaders need to understand the positive impact that shared decision making and more autonomy have on culture. In many cases, those making the decisions think that is the case, but reality states otherwise.  An article in Education Dive titled “Principals, teachers have different views on employee input” shared the following:

Most principals — 96% — think that teachers are involved in making important decisions about their schools, but that’s far more than the 58% of teachers who feel the same way, according to a new RAND Corp. American Educator Panel survey of both teachers and school leaders.

Just as teachers use strategies in the classroom to encourage participation from students who aren’t typically likely to volunteer their opinion or ask to be the first to give a presentation, principals will likely need to use multiple methods to ensure they are hearing from a broader cross-section of teachers. 

The budgeting process and how money is spent represents one of the most significant decisions that have to be made each year. To build morale and culture, leaders need to relinquish some control and trust those who are tasked with educating kids.

Beyond school and district budgets all educators should be critical of how money is spent to improve not only student learning but also their own. All funds are precious, whether they originate from your school or out of your own pocket. Think about the supporting research and evidence of impact to guide your decision-making process. 

When spending money on programs, curriculum, professional development, or technology consider these questions: 

1. Why invest in this product, service, or event? 
2. How will (or has) it improve learning outcomes? 
3. What criteria will be used to determine if it was a wise investment or to continue funding?

Spending any amount of money is a big deal.  Engage in conversations at the district, school, or individual level to make the most out of what you have. When it is all said and done you want to be confident that the financial commitment either has or will continue to, positively impact learning outcomes for kids. 

Empowering Students to Be Self-Advocates

Right before the holiday break I was contacted by Dwight Carter, the Principal of Gahanna Lincoln High School in Ohio. He wanted to pick my brain about technology integration strategies that I have used at New Milford High School in New Jersey. Somewhere in our conversation that spanned multiple areas of educational leadership, we talked about how we regularly meet with groups of students in our respective schools. The goals of these meetings are to challenge the students to be catalysts of change and work to make their school the best it can be for them.


Suddenly the light bulb went off in my head and I asked Dwight if he would consider holding a joint meeting between our student groups using Skype. Even though he had never used Skype before, the idea was immediately enthusiastically embraced. Upon our return to school in January, Dwight and I set up a few Skype test calls to get him acclimated to the tool, set an agenda, and prepare our students for the meeting on Friday January 11, 2011. We originally had the meeting set for Wednesday, but my school was closed due to heavy snow. After all of the preparation and excitement there was no way we were going to let Mother Nature ruin this genuine learning experience that we had been working on for weeks.


Our meeting was held yesterday and the dialogue between the students of our two schools exceeded our expectations. As facilitators, we challenged the students to openly discuss and develop strategies that addressed increasing academic rigor/accountability and improving learning environments. The student voice is crucial in school improvement efforts and most often this group is excluded entirely. One of the overriding theses that both Dwight and I stressed to our students is that they must not be afraid to advocate for themselves if they feel that they are not being challenged or learning is not taking place.

It was difficult to listen and take notes at the same time as I was thoroughly engrossed in the student discussion, but I did mange to jot a few main points down in Evernote. In terms of rigor and accountability our student groups had this to say:

• Having a passionate teacher who makes the course challenging from beginning to end is essential. We want higher expectations set.
• Relationships between teacher and student are key.
• Instruction caters to all types of learners.
• Homework needs to be meaningful, regularly assessed, and directly linked to class content. Too many teachers give homework that is not relevant to the lesson and does not tie in at all.
• We learn more through interactive projects and our own successes/failures than through traditional means of assessment (i.e. note-taking, quizzes, tests, etc.).
• The learning process is a partnership between teacher and student. The students want and need a voice in how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning. 
• An interesting sidebar that came out of this was how the teachers dress impacts how seriously students take them.
• Students have to see a purpose to using technology tools in the classroom. They want to create content using technology.

For the last 20 minutes of the hour long meeting, the students from Ohio and NJ discussed learning environments. One thing they all agreed on was that classrooms need to move away from desks to more open, collaborative spaces. I actually threw in that if I could have my way all of the classrooms in NMHS would look like a Starbucks lounge (they really liked this idea). One issue they were split on was technology. As the conversation began, there were those students that stated they didn't want technology to be integrated into instruction because of their immersion in it outside of school. Then there were others who felt exactly the opposite, that technology plays such a huge part in their outside lives that in order to motivate them it should be widely integrated. Well students never let us down! By the end of the conversation they came to the same consensus that all of us in education have and that is that there needs to be a balance between research-based instructional techniques and technology.

GLHS is in the process of building a state of the art, three story learning environment that will blend traditional and contemporary (Starbucks) learning spaces, high powered wireless connectivity, project-based learning, and student voice/choice.  The facility will house up to 350 juniors and seniors who choose to select classes that offer creativity and project-based learning opportunities.  The conversation that took place between the New Milford and Gahanna Lincoln students describes perfectly what Dwight expects to see in the new building.  


The student-driven conversation left Dwight and I inspired to continually seek out the student voice in an effort to transform the teaching and learning cultures of our schools. As we learned, students want to be challenged, have high expectations set, and be provided with meaningful learning opportunities. These are challenges that both Dwight and I are ready to address head on. Once our time came to an end, we in turn challenged all of the students that their role is vital in this process and that they must become self-advocates to assist us in school improvement efforts. Based on the overwhelming positive feedback both Dwight and I received, we plan to continue facilitating conversations between our students while looking to expand the dialogue to other students in schools across the country and world.


Do the students in your school have a voice? Are their ideas respected and acted upon?

Priceless Moments

Early this morning I was greeted by a 12th grade student who wanted to give me a gift.  She asked that I not open it until she had left and I reluctantly obliged.  A few minutes later I unwrapped the gift to reveal a picture frame that was hand-decorated by the student.  In the frame was a photo taken of the both of us at the senior prom that occurred a little over a week ago.  This was an extremely thoughtful gesture on behalf of this particular student, but even more meaningful was the card attached and the words written in it:

Mr. Sheninger,

     Thank you for always being there to help make these past four years memorable.  You've done a great things for the school!  Thanks for being a great Principal!

The field of education can at times be a thankless profession.  Like most educators, I did not venture into this field for a paycheck or glory, but instead to make a positive and lasting impact on students.  By doing so I would be putting them in a position to be successful in their future endeavors.  The greatest gift I could possibly receive from any student is knowing that the hard work by so many is paying off.

At New Milford High School the vision has been established where learning should be student-centered, engaging, and relevant.  Students are also empowered to become active participants in the decision-making process and take lead roles in changing the culture of the school on academic and social issues.  The end result is one of many priceless moments like the one listed above that I will remember forever.  This is why the profession of education is the noblest of all as the most significant reward does not involve money or material items, but rather the assurance that WE have the incredible opportunity each and every day to make a positive difference in the life of a child.  Moments like this should be savored by all educators because they provide a constant reminder of how invaluable our profession is.  I am truly appreciative of my entire staff and all of the other educators from all over the world working tirelessly to accomplish this lofty task bestowed upon us.  THANK YOU!