I often refer to the LYS Nation as the freaks of education. And I say that with nothing but respect, love and affection. We are the freaks because we operate outside of the norm. When you are two standard deviations away from the mean, it doesn’t matter if you are on the left or right side of the bell curve. You are different. Last week I ran across an article that highlighted the “Freakiness” of you, the LYSer. You are brainstorming ways to embed bootleg technology in your classroom and on you campus. On the other hand, one of our Mensa candidate peers in Pennsylvania has decided that the best course of action on his campus is to ban Uggs and other high-top boots on his campus. Why? It seems that students are smuggling their cell phones and I-pods on the campus in their…. wait for it…. Bootlegs. While he’s at it, I think he should also ban backpacks. I hear that students often use these to carry books of their own choosing on to campus. After all, we run schools, we can’t have students accessing the depth and breadth of human knowledge just willy-nilly. A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us. To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of February 19, 2012, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse. 1. The academic performance of fragile learner is the best indicator of the health of the instructional system. 2. With the GT learner, the understanding must be that “Commended” (Texas annual assessment ranking) is the floor. Anything less is instructional failure. 3. Elementary teachers – There’s a reason why kids are talking while waiting in line. They are bored! Have flash cards and distract them with practice. 4. When you use small group purposeful talk, the positive energy in your classroom doubles. 5. Download PW Pro… I just did… best $1.99 you will spend for the students. (By @cheadhorn) 6. Like head coaches, there are two types of Superintendents. Those that have been fired and those that will be fired. 7. Rank order (unofficial) why Superintendents are fired. 1 – Doing the wrong thing. 2 – Doing nothing. 3 – Doing the right thing. 4 – Just because. 8. LYS Update: Sean Cain will provide the keynote address at the Region 10 Leadership Conference in November 2012. 9. The latest lawsuit over our school finance system is just another example of failed leadership by our elected leaders. (By @SadlerTX) 10. Our book, The Fundamental 5 (by Cain & Laird), sold out and was the top seller at the Oklahoma Middle Level Educators Conference!!! Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn…

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASSP Conference; NASB Conference; Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)