Assistant principalship serves as the entry level to educational administration and the gateway to the principalship, yet many assistant principals say they have been ill prepared for lead principalship. The question is, why? Why aren’t assistant principals being prepared to become lead principals? What skills are they lacking? What experiences haven’t they been exposed to? Who is responsible for their professional growth and development? (more…)
School of Thought Blog
Reculturing the Assistant Principalship
AccountabilityAssistant Principalprincipal preparationprofessional developmentprofessional learningreadiness
Coping With COVID-19: 5 Ways Leaders Can Alleviate the Anxiety of Students
A recent report shared that Americans are experiencing more restlessness, nightmares, and generally poorer levels of sleep during COVID-19. I’m certain this is also true for students. As educators, we have a responsibility to consider and plan to support the mental health of students during this time. If we ignore their mental health, we are neglecting one of the biggest issues in our country right now. As principals, we must be thoughtful, visionary, and focused on supporting mental health and wellness during this time. Without this, our students will begin to struggle and may start to withdraw, become depressed, or think suicidal thoughts. (more…)
Leading Through a Pandemic
During the best of times, being a school leader is challenging. Balancing the wants and needs of thousands of people on any given day can be exhausting. During the best of times however, there are so many ups to compliment the downs. Looking for ups in the midst of complete worldwide disruption, however, can seem darn near impossible. (more…)
Communicationcommunity supportcoronavirusCOVID-19family engagementparent communicationremote learningSupportsupport systemsvirtual learning
5 Leadership Lessons Learned in Recent Weeks
I began writing this post at the beginning of my state’s—Kentucky—descent into being “healthy at home” and my growing consciousness of social distancing. I replied to the invitation with an acknowledgment that I was sure I could get it done during the coming weekend. That was almost a month ago. (more…)
Doing School Differently: How Student Agency and Out-Of-The-Box Thinking Will Change Schools Forever
For many years, people have discussed doing school differently. Educators can see how the world has changed—and with it, the needs of our students. This is evident not only in so much of what we see on a daily basis in our classrooms, but also from numerous studies related to engagement and learning. (more…)
agencycoronavirusCOVID-19empowering studentsengagementInnovationlearningself-directed learningstudent choicestudent empowermentstudent voice
We Can—and Will—Do Hard Things
There is no question that we are in absolutely unprecedented times. Naturally, in situations like these, we turn to the leaders in our schools, districts, states, and nation that exhibit empathy, guidance, and support. If we don’t find those things, we have two choices. We can step up and become the leaders that people desperately need, or we can shut down and become afraid of the uncertainty. (more…)
challengescoronavirusCOVID-19crisisCrisis managementreflectionremote learningvirtual learningWellness
Rethinking ‘Senior Moments’ in a Time of Cancelations
My oldest daughter is a senior, and I have been blessed to spend every day with her at school since she was a seventh grader. As we approached the last few months of her high school career, I couldn’t wait to share in those “senior moments” that create memories that last a lifetime. Unfortunately, the reality, enormity, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is more evident as every day passes and those events on our school calendars move from “postponed indefinitely” to “canceled.” My heart breaks. (more…)
Celebrating Teachers at a Distance
Communities across America will celebrate their teachers during National Teacher Appreciation Week May 4–8, with a focused celebration on May 5 for National Teacher Day. Principals often lead the charge, but the current circumstances make some traditional activities a bit more challenging to execute. So, we asked a group of principals how they are celebrating their teachers next week. Unsurprisingly, you’ve gotten creative with socially distant yet thoughtful celebrations: (more…)
‘Can I Survive This First?’: Teaching and Learning During COVID-19
In a recent Zoom staff meeting, my principal asked five staff members to share the ways they’ve reached out to students. One teacher shared that he’d sent out a journal activity to his students, and one replied, “Can I survive this first?” That comment sparked a conversation about this historic moment and the kinds of stressors, pressures, fears, and anxieties students, families, and communities are presently feeling. (more…)
Denial, Anger, Acceptance: The COVID-19 Grieving Process
As we have transitioned into new territory, I’ve found that many of us seem to be undergoing a process of grief. Initially, I of course was in denial, just as many of my staff and students were. I wanted to be at school as long as I was able to, I wanted to see the staff coming in as they came to gather their things from their classrooms; I wanted connection. I honestly thought we would get through this situation expeditiously, and our working from home routine would only be temporary. (more…)
Engaging Families in Remote Learning
Throughout my #remotelearning series, I have tried to provide practical ideas and strategies that can be used now. One aspect that needs more attention, at least in my opinion, is how we can assist parents throughout this ordeal. It goes without saying that many of them are dealing with some intense challenges such as equitable access to technology, WiFi availability, finding time to assist their kids with schoolwork, and a general sense of not knowing what to do in a remote learning world. Combine this with the added responsibility of working from home themselves, dealing with impending or current unemployment, the stress of not being able to see older relatives, and being a parent, and you can assume that tensions are running high. They need our support and understanding just as much as our learners do. Together we are better, especially in times of crisis. (more…)
Dr. Erika Burden Named NASSP Advocacy Champion of the Year
Erika Burden, PhD, principal at Westwood Middle School in Spokane, WA, has been honored as the NASSP Advocacy Champion of the Year.
Communication During COVID-19
In March 2020, students and educators walked out the doors on a sunny Friday afternoon, waving to one another because spring break had officially begun. Little did any of us know that spring break 2020 would turn into COVID break 2020. Projects were completed, more books were read, but then reality came knocking, and we as educators found ourselves back at work and communicating with students—and each other—in new ways. (more…)
New Per-Pupil Spending Data is Progress Toward Educational Equity
It’s not every day that an issue that impacts my work at my Dallas elementary school makes it into the pages of the New York Times. Yet this opinion piece spoke directly and persuasively to the need for per-pupil spending data to be available and understandable to the public in order to forward conversations about equity in education. (more…)
Moving Counseling Online During COVID-19
If we revisit Harry Wong’s The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher, we know that we can’t access Bloom’s taxonomy until we address Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. During this time of considerable uncertainty, it is increasingly important to consider mental health and wellness as a need we must address before we can get to the higher-order thinking skills associated with great instruction and learning. To that end, our school system quickly made plans to take school counseling online during this challenging time. (more…)
Tending Our Garden: The Importance of Mental Health
It’s that time of the year again—spring has sprung despite the health crisis we are currently experiencing. I first wrote this blog post for the (now canceled) April virtual tour that was supposed to occur in our building. As I attempted to redesign the event—that is what we are doing as a nation educationally, redesigning instruction, redesigning engagement, and redesigning what we do best as educators—I realized the message of supporting mental health is as poignant now as it was before. And as I have been working to accommodate our new reality, my thoughts continue to return to my garden.
Note: This post includes a discussion of suicide.
One Step in Front of the Other: Navigating Self-Care in Uncertain Times
How are you? No, really. If you are an educator today, your life has completely turned upside down in a matter of weeks. Just a few weeks ago, most of us were getting ready (or returning) from a spring break, some of us were planning activities for St. Patrick’s Day, while others were grading projects for the end of the quarter. (more…)
When School Buildings Are Closed: The First Few Weeks
On Tuesday, March 10, I was meeting with my instructional leadership team after school for our regular monthly meeting when I was alerted that an email just came in from our superintendent about COVID-19. Effective immediately, all after-school activities, assemblies, and events were cancelled. School would continue during the day as normal, but no guests would be allowed on campus. The email was sent to the entire district: staff, students, and parents. There was no warning, no call to the principals to prepare us. This was a sudden mandate we needed to respond to. (more…)
Advisories and Crisis: Taking Care of the Kids
There’s a lot to write about everything going on right now, but I’m going to start with talking about how the structures we have in place are the best things we have to lean on when crisis hits. (more…)
The Ever-Growing Role of the Assistant Principal
In an unexpected way, being from Alaska actually helped me prepare for my role as the 2019 NASSP Assistant Principal of the Year. When you are from Alaska, you get asked a lot of the same questions over and over again when you meet new people. So I was prepared when in this role, I was asked: “What are your responsibilities as assistant principal?” In honor of National Assistant Principal Week, I would like to share just a fraction of what assistant principals do every day: (more…)