In response to the 3/7/2012 post, “State of the Blog – The Last 100 Posts (1,000 and Counting),” a reader shares:

SC,

The LYS blog has been a great companion and source for strength when bringing change to my middle school campus. In the Fall semester, we completed a campus book study of the “Fundamental 5” (by Cain & Laird), which has provided great dialogue and discussions among the staff. With “crunch” time upon us, I have increased the expectation that the Fundamental 5 be implemented every day, in every lesson!

The last couple of weeks we have had an increase in student conflict (most often described as bullying) and it has taken me away from the classroom and moved my focus away from instructional improvements. However, this week’s faculty meeting allowed me the opportunity to re-teach Lesson Framing and reiterate that bell-to-bell teaching using the Fundamental 5 will increase rigor and allow us to use our most powerful instructional tool. Which is creating engaging lessons that excite our students about learning. 
Thanks LYS!

SC Response Thank you for the kind words and affirmation.  And you are absolutely right, when the going gets tough it is easy to cut corners and wing it.  But that is the road to ruin, short-term relief that leads to long-term pain. Instead, when the going gets tough focus on better executing the fundamentals and increasing both the quality and quantity of adult/student interactions.

Along those lines, there are tools that will help you and your staff in this continuous endeavor.  The app, Fun 5 Plans (available at the Apple App Store), embeds the Fundamental 5 in each lesson and supports teacher collaboration.  And PowerWalks (classroom observation system) allows you to create and share numerous data reports, including Rigor and Relevance reports and Fundamental 5 reports.  An introductory version of the main system is also available at the Apple App Store, just search for PW Pro.

Keep up the great work and send us an update at the end of the semester.

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: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)