Poor principals. They’ve got it rough. Serving as the administrator of a complex organization with thousands of moving parts, they also have a responsibility to be compassionate towards kids as well as be the “lead learner” in a building dedicated to improving learning. They have to coach employees to improvement while at the same time disciplining those who don’t. They’re the head of public relations, human resources, research and development and quality control. Yet despite the wide range of hats the typical principal is asked to wear, all excellent school administrators share three key characteristics.
1) An unwavering commitment to
Perhaps the most important aspect of being a school administrator is hiring. Hiring new teachers is the one decision that will have the greatest impact on all aspects of a school, most importantly, student learning. Hire a great teacher, and your students will have transformative experiences, learn a great deal, and love coming to school. Hire a lesser teacher, and depending on the circumstances you may be risking your school culture, or need to spend additional time addressing parent concerns or providing them additional supports. No school leader dislikes helping teachers get better or meeting with parents, but all would
Earlier today, my principal did a really cool thing for our faculty. She handed out those silly “coupon books” like the kind you make for your parents when you’re a little kid that has things like “one free night of dishes” and stuff like that. Ours was all cheap stuff – jeans days, candy bar, stuff like that – but spending money isn’t the point. The point is, as a teacher, it felt kinda cool to have a principal say “Hey, thanks for all you do for students. I appreciate it.”
This sort of thing goes a LONG WAY towards
The key to developing a classroom culture that is truly focused on learning begins with the old saying, “pick your battles.” Here are a few questions teachers may ask themselves when attempting to “Focus on Learning” and some possible answers for each.
This may sound a bit odd, but I believe that as spring time rolls around and teachers and students start to think about summer vacation or next school year, I believe it is healthy for educators to consider their own career options.
Obviously there will be some reading this who are working their dream job in their dream scenario, doing their ideal job at the perfect age level in exactly the community they’d always hoped to work in.
A few of you will be in the opposite situation...you’re only reading this after hitting “refresh” on your favorite job board for