While I have been away on a wonderful European tour with my brother Alec, I found out some amazing news. Beth Still and a few others had chosen me to be the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) “newbie” for 2011. This came as a wonderful surprise to me and I am excited for this opportunity as I have heard nothing but amazing things about this conference and what it has to offer. I am also excited about the opportunity to connect and ACTUALLY meet many members of my Personal Learning Network, as I know this is a yearly event for them.
Recently I read a blog post written by Beth regarding the goals for the ISTE Newbie for 2011. I know that I was picked due to the fact that I am an administrator, so a fitting goal Beth had believed would be beneficial to this project would be to help teachers move into the role of administration. I LOVE this idea since I really believe in finding the best in people and helping them to become leaders. I learned in the last few years from a former principal (who really helped me in my career) is that although you may lose some very valuable people from your school who move on to leadership positions, you will build a culture in your school where teachers know they are supported in their own goals, which will only attract other strong educators. I thought that I would start by sharing a few tips that I would suggest would benefit teachers who are thinking about going into admin.
- Share your aspirations with your current administration and ask for help in achieving your goals. If you truly want to go into administration, the reality in most situations is that you will need the support of your current administrators. I have seen situations before where teachers and administrators have not seen eye to eye, so it is important that there is an attempt to try and fix that. I always suggest that you are proactive in this area and not wait for another person to fix a problem, since they may not even perceive there is a problem in the first place. Talk to your administrator, share your goals with them, and ask what THEY believe it would take for you to achieve this. This will at least let them know you are interested and give you the opportunity to create opportunities with your administrator to work towards administration. They may not feel that you have the ability to be an administrator, but I would suggest that you find that out sooner rather than later. This will give you ample opportunity to change their mind.
- Learn from other administrators. This is something I WISH I had the opportunity to do more of before I became an administrator as there are many wonderful principals out there who would love to share their learning with you. Take opportunities to read and follow what they do in their schools, while also learning from the administrators in your current school (division). Start focusing on how you will implement these own practices into your career OR how you would not follow the advice in any way. Ultimately, as an administrator you always have to be able to do things that you are comfortable in doing. In my heart, I try to always focus on what is best for each child (and you should too) and because of that, I have always been comfortable (although I have second guessed sometimes due to human nature) with my decisions. Learn from their strong practices as well as their mistakes.
- Reflect on your own learning. One of the best practices that I have taken up this year has been blogging about what I have been doing at my school. Although I truly believe in sharing what I am doing and being open about my beliefs as a school administrator, I have found that it has focused me on my goals as a principal. Blogging has also opened up a whole other avenue of conversation with my PLN which I know has significantly improved my practice. Take the time to reflect on what you are doing and start to apply this reflection to your goals to become an administrator. This will help to ensure that you will start any new administrative position with your feet already on the ground.
- Take opportunities to show administrative leadership in your current school. This was something that not only helped my administrators see the potential in me as a principal, but it also helped me to understand if this is something that I wanted to do.
– One of the things that I did before I became a principal was deal with students that were “sent” to the office. I simply asked if I could take the opportunity to work with the student and help out my admin at the time, which they more than willingly obliged (they also took the time to debrief with me as well!).
– Take opportunities to deal with parents you do not teach in things such as parent council meetings or fundraising opportunities. Getting to know the parents and learning to work with them when you do not directly teach their children will be extremely beneficial for your future.
– Also take leadership with staff. Find your passion area and help to empower other teachers using this. Share your knowledge with them and help them get better without expecting anything in return. Your impact in their classroom will be plenty reward.
There are several things that you could do to help, but I believe that sometime less is more. Administration is so amazingly rewarding and I have the opportunity to get to know all of the students and staff on a different level. I miss the connection with a class that a teacher may have, but if you make yourself accessible to students (which you should) this connection can definitely still be there. Following this list might also make you realize before that you do not want to be an administrator after all, which is fine! Leaders are needed in all aspects of a school and I believe that an effective teacher leader can have just as much impact on a school as an effective principal. We need leaders in all areas!
Seth Godin said, “The best time to start something was yesterday, the second best time is now”. Do not hesitate to take a risk and try something new, but also know that there are MANY administrators out there willing to lend you a helping hand in any way you need, including this one. Best of luck!
