Above the Line

I have chosen to focus my summer semester blogs on the book Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and a Life from a Championship Season by Urban Meyer, which is the book our leadership team is reading for the summer. Next year I will lead several professional developments based on this book.  I was introduced to the phrase "teach above the line" from my previous principal. While we did not study the book nor did I truly understand the full meaning of the phrase, the basic premises of thinking above the line stuck with me.  My current school has continuously performed well academically. We have ranked higher than the state and county on standardized and local assessments.  I am going into my third year as an assistant principal at this school and there has been a noticeable change in the students and their abilities in comparison to prior years. Now before I get into the "WHY" we are using this book next year, I want to to introduce you to the above the line way of thinking:


The great thing is this is an easy model to understand and live by. It can apply to all aspects of life.  


Although we have ranked high in the past, our enrollment has increased by 200 over the last two years. Students (and parents) in grades 1-5 who are transferring from other schools tend to struggle with the rigor taking place in our classrooms.  This fact is based on the extensive amount of phone calls I get because what we do is "to hard" and the increased number of students being put on our SST list. I have spoken with countless parents and assured them that their child will make improvements. In most cases this is true. In other cases additional support is required. I have a hard working staff and overall I think we exhibit a growth mindset, but I am hearing more below the line thinking from teachers when they have more than 2-3 low level learners in their class.  
"I have called their parents and they don't return my call so there's nothing else I can do."
"He never puts forth any effort in completing task."
"She is disruptive and defiant so she is not going to learn."
While these phrases may be partly factual, it is the "now what" that determines the above or below the line thinking. Johnny does not put forth effort when completing task. Do you
A) write him off because its his fault not yours 
OR 
B) take ownership of that student's learning by asking yourself what strategies can I put into place to motivate this student to do better? 
If more teachers chose answer B, I think our SST list would be shorter, our students in the RTI process would decrease, and academic achievement will increase for struggling learners. 

I am excited to read this book and put into practice the Above the Line thinking model.  I also look forward to sharing with you key points from my reading.