Building and Enhancing School Cultures
Through
Stories, Celebrations, and Leadership
Practices
NESA Conference
Istanbul, Turkey
Dr. Kent D. Peterson
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Emeritus Professor
2014
Culture is a Powerful Force
School culture influences
how people think, feel, and act.
Culture shapes focus, commitment,
motivation, student success, and
professional learning.
Performance and Spirit
“Without heart and spirit nourished by
cultural ways, schools become learning
factories devoid of soul and passion.”
(Peterson and Deal, 2002, p. 7)
"School culture is like soil and structure
is like a seed. If the soil is healthy the
seed will grow, if the soil is toxic the
seed will die."
(Anthony Muhammad)
Elements of Culture
 Norms, Values and Beliefs that underlie
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thinking, feeling and acting
Symbols and Artifacts that Communicate
Meaning
Cultural Networks
Stories that Herald Values
Heroes and Heroines
Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
“Culture is ”The way we do things around
here!” (Bowers)
Unpacking Core Values
 What makes a good day?
 What makes a good week?
 What makes a good year?
Symbols and Their Meanings
 What are the symbols of your school?
 What are the meanings behind those symbols?
 What do your hallways, classrooms, and
entrances communicate?
 What message does the architecture convey?
 What does your office symbolize?
Use Symbols and Artifacts to Reinforce Values and
Build a Unique Identity
 Logos
 Websites
 Letterhead Fonts and Appearance of Materials
 Signs and Entrances
 Hallways and Classrooms
 The Front Office and Head’s Office
 Social Media Well Designed, Relevant
 Historical Artifacts Displayed Well
Madison Country Day School
Riverstone International School
Presidio Hill School
The Philadelphia School
“Walk the Halls and Talk to the
Walls”
 Imagine you are new to the school. Walk outside
and leave your “To Do List” at home.
 Now, walk through the school.
 What to you see, hear, and feel? What
messages are sent by what is on the walls and
what is going on in the classrooms?
 What does this tell you about the culture?
 What should be kept and what should be
changed?
The Informal Network
Shapes the Culture
 Positive Founding Staff and Leaders
 Supportive Gossips
 Social Media Gurus
 Heroines and Heroes
 Storytellers
 Compasses
 Navigators
 “ Keepers of the Dream “
The Toxic Informal Network
Damages Culture
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Anti-Heroes and Anti-Heroines
Pessimistic Storytellers
Rumor Mongers
“Keepers of the Nightmare”
Negaholics and Naysayers
Prima Donna
Space Cadets
Martyrs
Deadwood, Driftwood, Ballast
Saboteurs
Rogue Pirates
Resource Vultures
Assess Your Network
Role Players
 What are the key roles that reinforce the culture?
 How do you relate to them?
 Are any positive role players likely to retire or leave?
How will their roles be filled?
 Are there any negative role players in your school? How
are you working to curb and contain their impact?
 How will you work to empower positive role players?
Making the Informal Network
More Effective
 Know who resides in each role.
 Provide stages for storytellers.
 Recognize heroes and heroines.
 Use Gossips to pass positive information.
 Work to decrease the negative impact of hostile
roles.
Stories and the Culture
 Stories are the foundation of a culture.
 Stories communicate purpose, reinforce
success, and maintain traditions.
 Stories transmit the culture to newcomers.
Examples of Stories, Myths, and
Legends
 The Student malgré lui.
 The student who thinks he can’t learn---does.
 The Helicopters who Landed
 The helicopter parents who came down to earth.
 The Uncovered Talent
 A student pushed into art at home gains a love of math.
 The Collaborative Team of Superheroes
 A group of talented teachers realize they can work together.
 The Family of Friends
 The staff pull together with food and support for an ill
colleague.
Unpacking Stories and
Storytelling
Types of Stories: Historical, Success, Special People,
Challenges Overcome, Meaningful Events, Actions to Protect
Core Values
Form of story: Funny, serious, meaningful, emotional,
personal, parent or student related, achievement connected?
Share a story with a person at another table.
Assessing Your Storytelling
 What are the histories, myths, and stories of the
culture?
 What stories to you recount to newcomers and
what stories do you retell to seasoned staff?
 Analyze the stories you tell to all stakeholders.
Using Social Media to Shape
the Culture
 Communicating, reinforcing, and celebrating the culture
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through multiple medias
Face-to-Face Contact
Paper Notes
YouTube videos
Email and Texting
Twitter Stories
Snapchat
Vine
Instagram
Community Exemplars Model Core Values:
Heroines and Heroes
 Those who are deeply respected by all.
 Remembered fondly.
 Their lives are the stuff of legend.
 Exemplars of what is best about the school.
 Heroines and Heroes show us what we can be.
Share a Story of a
Heroine or Hero
Rituals, Traditions, Ceremonies, and
Celebrations
 Rituals are regular routines embedded with values.
 Traditions occur yearly to reinforce purpose.
 Ceremonies and Celebrations are larger school
events to recognize and celebration
accomplishments of individuals and groups.
 These events are crucial times to communicate and
reinforce core values, beliefs, and purpose.
 They support and transmit the culture in deep ways.
Ceremonies and Celebrations are
Key to Nurturing the Culture
 The elements of ceremonies.
 The timing and frequency of ceremonies.
 The types of recognition events.
 Activity:
 Map your ceremonies and celebrations over the year.
 Share and discuss your ceremonies and celebrations.
 Examine the meaning and messages sent during these
communal gatherings.
The Importance of Ceremonies
and Celebrations
 Reinforce Values
 Build Culture and Community
 Recharge Motivation
 Communicate Purpose
 Celebrate Successes
 Recognize Contributions to the School
Types of Celebrations
 Welcoming Staff and Students
 Beginning of Year
 Fall Solstice
 Host Country Celebrations
 Ethnic Events
 Recognition Ceremonies
 Retirements
 End-of-Year Events
 Large and Small Successes
Identify the Core Elements of
an Opening School Ceremony
 Movieclip: “Dead Poets Society”
Elements of Ceremonies
 A special and value-linked purpose
 Symbolic clothing and adornments
 Symbols, signs, banners, flags
 Stories and sagas
 Music
 Setting and Decorations
 Food and drink
 Special language and tone
 Message of hope and recognition
Map Your Ceremonies and
Celebrations Over the Year
Analyzing
Ceremonies and Celebrations
As you examine your “map,” what are the core
values and beliefs communicated in the
ceremonies and celebrations?
Are new messages needed? Are the elements
in tune with the message?
Are new ceremonies or celebrations needed to
be scheduled?
Elements of Toxic Cultures
 Negative Values and beliefs hold sway in toxic cultures.
 The sense of purpose is spiritually fragmented.
 Harmful stories or harmful memories of the past are
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recounted regularly.
Negative relationships and interactions are considered
“normal”.
The cultural network’s most powerful members are
negaholics (Carter-Scott, 1989)
The only heroes are anti-heroic.
Few positive rituals, traditions, or ceremonies exist to
develop a sense of community and hopefulness.
(Deal and Peterson, 2009)
Turning Toxic
 Rapid Decline:
* A new leader damages core rituals, values, and
norms.
* Positive traditions and celebrations are
ended.
Gradual Slide to Dysfunction:
* Ceremonies start to end or become empty.
* Core values become fragmented or forgotten.
Slow Decline:
* Positive stories are forgotten and storytellers
become keepers of the negative.
* Time to maintain relationships decreases and
symbols become meaningless. Commitment ceases to
exist.
Does your school have any of
these dysfunctional features?
*What are actions you are taking to change these
damaging aspects of your culture?
Avoid Turning Negative
 Maintain the positive elements of the
culture.
 Build trusting relationships.
 Reinforce the good that is happening
through stories.
 Decrease the power of the negative
network.
 Regularly share successes together.
 Work hard and celebrate often.
•List Six Adjectives to describe your
school.
•Think of a song that depicts your culture.
•Create a metaphor… If my school were an
animal, it would be a _______
because_________________________.
•Conduct a school history.
•Conduct an “Educational Garage Sale”
•Interview the school’s storytellers.
Songs for My School
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RESPECT
What’s (Instruction) Got to
Do with It?
9 to 5
Knock 3 Times on the
Ceiling if You Want Me
Can’t Get No Satisfaction
Anticipation
Eight Days a Week
2001 Space Odyssey
Hard Days Night
It’s Just
Another Tequila Sunrise
Wind Beneath My Wings
The Wall: “we don’t
need no…..”
We Are Family
Workin’ Hard for the
Money
The Hero is In You
Bridge Over Troubled
Waters
I Believe I Can Fly
I Did It My Way
The World is a Rainbow
Tomorrow is only a
Day Away
The Way We Were
It’s the Real Thing
Trailers for Rent
Chain Gang
On the Road Again
To All the Girls I have
Loved Before
We are the Champions
Helter Skelter
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
It Don’t Come Easy
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Bad to the Bone
Imagine
Help!
The Long and Winding
Road
I Will Survive
Movin’ On Up A Little Higher
Lean on Me
Ball of Confusion
We Are The World
You Can’t Always Get What You Want…
Don’t Fence Me In
Yesterday
16 Tons and What Do You Get
Whistle While You Work
Ain’t No Stopping Us Now
Living La Vida Loca
Ball of Confusion
If I Could Fly
Take This Job and Shove It
It’s a Small World
Junkyard dogs
Who let the Dogs Out
The Times they Are A-Changin’
Change, Change, Change
Conduct a School History
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Major Events
Key Formal and Informal Leaders
Ideas about Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment
Types of Technology Used
Key Successes and Challenges
Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
Students, Community, and Locale
Major Events and Changes
People and Personalities
Clothing, Hairstyles, Music of the Time
Conducting an Educational
Garage Sale
 Purpose: To assess the culture.
 Stations of the Sale:
 Museum,
 Not For Sale,
 Repair Shop,
 Reclamation Station,
 Garbage Can,
 Toxic Waste Hauler
 Individuals list items to go in each station.
 Discuss the items, prioritize positive and
negative ones , and make a plan to address
the issues.
(Peterson and Deal, 2009)
How Leaders Shape Culture
 Identify core norms, values, and beliefs
 Use symbols to communicate values
 Support positive cultural networks and reduce the
influence of negative role players
 Tell stories with messages of value and purpose
 Encourage the actions of Community Exemplars
 Use rituals, traditions, ceremonies and celebrations
to reinforce core values and beliefs.
 Reinforce norms and values in daily routines.
8 Culture Shaping Roles
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Anthropologist
Historian
Visionary
Symbol
Potter
Poet
Actor
Healer
(Deal and Peterson, 2009)
Final Activities
 Describe the special accomplishments of a school.
 Present a story of today and a story for next year.
 Identify a song for the future.
 Write an advertisement for the school.
 Announce an award the school should receive in the
future.
 Write a positive Tweet.
“Teachers usually have no way of knowing
that they have made a difference in a
child’s life, even when they have made a
dramatic one…
Good teachers put snags in the river
of children passing by, and, over the
years, they redirect hundreds of lives…
[Great schools are] made up of people
who can never really know the good they
have done.”
Kidder (1989): Among Schoolchildren
Thank you for your energy,
hard work, and collaboration
today. You are key to shaping
positive school cultures!
These materials have been adapted from
work by Kent Peterson, Terrence Deal and
Pam Robbins. Please appropriately cite the
source if utilizing them to serve children and
their schools.
Resources and Research
 Kent Peterson and Deal, Terrence. 2nd Edition (2009). The
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Shaping School Culture Fieldbook. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
Deal, Terrence and Peterson, Kent. 2nd Edition (2009). Shaping
School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, and Promises. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Muhammad, Anthony. (2009). Transforming School Culture.
Solution Tree.
Kruse, Sharon and Louis, Karen. (2008). Building Strong School
Cultures. Corwin Press.
See books by Pam Robbins and Harvey Alvy, Fullan, and Others.