Jeffersons and Butterflies: on becoming a school principal

After almost 18 years of teaching with the past four as a middle school vice-principal, I have recently been appointed as an elementary school principal for the next school year!  I am thrilled, humbled and admittedly, a bit terrified at this honour which has been bestowed on me.  I have known for the past couple of years that I have wanted to become a school principal but it’s always felt like, “one day”.  Well, that “one day” is (almost) here (cue stomach butterflies).

I know that I will not be alone in this.  I know I have the skills needed and that my mentors and colleagues have helped me prepare.  I can and will handle all that a principal needs to be able to do, manage and deal with in the day-to-day.  And I know that this will not happen overnight, that there most certainly will be moments where it will be hard, and that it will be challenging.  I expect this and welcome it.  My growth mindset, willingness to take risks, relationship-building skills and support from my mentor and district office will all be factors in my success as a principal.

When I told my friends and family about my new role, someone said, “hey, movin’ on up!”...just like the Jeffersons theme song (dating myself just a little).  But the thing is, I don’t see this as an entirely vertical move.  Yes, I will be the head of a school but I really want to build the type of learning community where I am a part of something, as a partner and as a learner, with the staff at my school. I have a view of the future where relationships and trust are built to the point where collaboration is the norm and we create change, take risks, improve and learn together.  I definitely have a lot to learn and I certainly don’t have all the answers!  

So I intend to be “movin’ on over”  which is not to be confused with George Thorogood’s “move it on over” where a “mean old dog’s movin’ in”...mainly because I’m fairly young and I don’t think I have a propensity for meanness, but I digress.  I see my move into the role of principal as more of a lateral move really, where I intend to learn all I can about my new school community while I get to know everyone and they get to know me. This relationship and trust building will be the basis of everything that evolves from there. Then, when we are ready as a staff to ponder change or to face new initiatives (curriculum redesign, anyone?), my vision is that we will do so together.  

I have more I want to delve into in this blog about communities of practice and professional capital but I will leave that for another post!  Considering that I am still about three months away from my vertical-lateral move, I will remind myself to take things one day at a time now as I finish up my current assignment as vice-principal and say goodbye to my current school, students and colleagues.  My “one day” will be here soon enough (with butterflies, right on cue).

6 Excellent Reasons To Attend Redcamp13

photo from www.reddeerkiwanis.org

Redcamp13…Red Deer’s first #edcamp is set to happen on May 11, 2013 at Glendale Sciences and Technology School.  We are excited to see a number of people signed up and as we’ve been chatting with people about it, it is very clear the buzz is growing, kind of like that flashmob thing.

We know that there are more people out there who have never experienced an edcamp and are on the fence about registering.  This has inspired the following list of reasons why YOU should come to Redcamp13:

The Burnt Cookie: letting go of mistakes

A new year always gives one pause to reflect on how the past year rolled out and time to consider how things will unfold in the next twelve months.  Over the Christmas break, my kids and I were invited over to a friend and colleague’s house to skate on their home-made backyard hockey rink.  My friend’s son is the same age as my middle son and her daughter is a student at the school where I am vice-principal.  The kids had a great time skating and playing outside and then it was time to come in and have a snack.  My friend’s daughter, I’ll call her Sophie (not her real name) decided to warm up her chocolate chip cookie in the microwave.  Beep, beep, beep went the microwave as we all continued talking and snacking.

Sophie opened the microwave to a billow of smoke and a completely burnt cookie.  Any other 12-year old might have become upset or have been completely mortified at her 1-minute mistake.  Though I later heard from her mom that she said, “I can’t believe I burnt a cookie in front of my vice-principal!”, in the midst of billowing smoke Sophie laughed, waved the smoke with her arms, ran to the door to open it, and continued to giggle at her mistake.  I was so impressed with her grace and composure.

As I think about how my year as a vice-principal in a busy middle school went last year, I know there were lots of great things that happened and that I was a part of and there were also a few burnt cookies.  I am the type of person who, if I allow myself to, will ruminate over and worry about my mistakes and wonder what people are thinking about what I did. I need to learn how to be more like Sophie and laugh at myself, learn from my mistakes and move on.  I have heard lots of great things about Carol Dweck’s Mindset and have put it on my reading list for this year.  I hope I can use my burnt cookies to create a growth mindset as I work on improving my skills as a school administrator.

With that being said, here is a list of what I hope to work on this year…resolutions so to speak.  Some professional, some personal.

Resolutions:

1. Be out of the office a LOT more and in classrooms working with kids and teachers.  I think this is the number one way I can improve as an administrator and know what is going on in the school.  It also goes along with relationship building which is essential to my role.


2. Prioritize better – this includes getting better at using my i-phone calendar.  The alert function is fantastic and essential for me.


3. Thank people more – this means making an effort to notice and acknowledge people.  I know I appreciate when people notice what I am doing well.


4. Listen more – this is part of my admin growth plan where I want to improve my communication skills.  In an effort to connect with what someone is saying I know that I sometimes I talk too much about my personal experience and stop listening.


5. Focus on family – with Masters coursework now complete I should be spending more time playing with my kids, not thinking about school and work.


6. Focus on health – I have signed up for 2 half-marathons, a 12 km and the Mud Hero (a run combined with obstacles and mud…crazy right?)  I now need to align my diet with my running goals.


7. Care more about the world – I have a keen interest in social justice and follow the news but feel that I am often just an observer.  I would like to volunteer more, give more and strange as this sounds, donate blood.  I have never done that.

Finally, I resolve to go easy on myself when things do not go well.  I plan to take Sophie’s burnt cookie with me throughout the year (figuratively, of course!) and remember what she taught me about grace, the ability to laugh at oneself and how to let go of mistakes and move on.

The Ripple Effect of Administrator Growth: my own growth goal

In an earlier post, I wrote about the kick-off to my school district's administrator growth project.  In this post, I will share my goal for growth this year and reflect on how it is going so far...