As an administrator at Lancaster High School, I am always seeking to help students find their place. In my experience, students perform at higher levels when they feel comfortable and a part of the school community. To provide these opportunities, our school has created academies that are tailored to certain career paths. We offer a variety of experiences so that students can choose an area that best fits the vocation they have in mind. (more…)
School of Thought Blog
High School Academies: Finding a Place for Everyone
Character Education: It’s Not Something Added to The Plate. It Is the Plate
It was my first year teaching, and I was tidying up my classroom. I picked up trash under a desk and threw it away. The next day I noticed more trash under a desk. I watched for several days as the culprit would place trash under his desk and then leave it. The next day, when my classroom offender got up to leave, once again leaving trash on the floor, I stopped him and asked him why he would leave his trash, he stated, “Oh, that’s the janitor’s job.” (more…)
The Persistence Movement: Are We Teaching Perfection as The Ultimate Goal?
Think of the perfect student. Early to school, always respectful, never an issue, and top scores in every class. If you are fortunate to know students like this, they are diamonds in the rough. Despite appearances, these students are far from perfect. Perhaps they are neurotic before each test, they have little to no social life, or they cry if they lose a point. If perfection is truly unattainable, why do we teach it as the goal? (more…)
The Learning Commons: A 21st Century Research and Technology Center
I can admit it now; I was probably the wrong man for the job.
As building principal, I knew that we needed to redesign and reinvent the space we called our library media center. We had a pretty obvious problem in there—students and teachers were not really using it. This large space situated in the center of our school had been remodeled several times—it used to be the library and before that it was actually the cafeteria. I added some fresh paint, new carpeting, new furniture, and bought some new books—popular young adult fiction and non-fiction. There were a handful of desktop computers and a SMART Board. Despite these superficial upgrades to the learning environment, it was still essentially a warehouse for a mostly-dated print collection and still largely unused. (more…)
Using Hashtags to Carry Out Your Vision, Values, and Goals
As social media emerged as a mainstream communication device for school leaders years ago, so evolved the use of the hashtag. Back in 2012 when I first was dabbling with Twitter, Patrick Larkin, one of our first digital principals, used the simple hashtag #bhschat to keep a running dialogue with his high school students, staff, and families. His example prompted me to start my own weekly hashtag chat at Timberview Middle School. We called it #TMSHawkChat, and we made great connections as a community through those weekly conversations. Now only six years later, school/community hashtag chats are commonplace all over the world, and we have learned many more uses for the hashtag on social media. (more…)
Building CultureCollaborative LeadershipCommunicationInnovationLeading LearningOtherTechnology & E-learning
Be Your Best for Others by Taking Care of Your Own Wellness
December can be a hard month for educators. The excitement of the new school year has faded, the end of the semester looms ahead, the holidays add extra stress, and the busy pace of school can get in the way of taking care of oneself. Education is a profession that demands putting others first, often to the detriment of an educator’s health and well-being. We know that we must model what we want to see in others, so it’s important that school leaders model healthy habits and personal wellness for their staff members. (more…)
In Times of Crisis: Why I Became an Adviser
No one could have foreseen our frightening circumstances, but having an NHS chapter made all the difference.
I have been a National Honor Society (NHS) adviser for three years. Actually, it’s more accurate to say that I have been the sole adviser for that long—I had previously been co-advising our chapter with my wife for some time after the former advisers stepped down. In that time, we have grown to a 160-member group out of 2,100 students; we are one of the largest high schools in our semi-rural area. When disaster struck on April 20, 2018, we needed the support of all 160 members. (more…)
Principals, you are not alone! There is strength in numbers.
E pluribus unum.Out of many, one.
It sounds cliché, I understand. Yet, as I reflect on the past few months after being recognized as the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals 2018 Principal of the Year, and after participating in the NASSP Principals Institute in Washington, D.C., I find this to be a remarkably simple and accurate summary of principals around our state and nation. (more…)
Making Everyone Happy: The Unreal Mindset of a School Leader
Being a leader means that you have to make decisions, and in my five years as an assistant principal, I have gradually come to accept the fact that not everyone is going to like the decisions that I have to make. Here is my story in a nutshell along with three key criteria I have developed that help me make sound decisions for my school, while dealing better with the inevitable complaints. (more…)
Kindness in Motion: Providing Students Opportunities to Serve Others
Empowering students to serve others through acts of kindness is something we at Regional School District No. 7 in Connecticut strive to do through a program called Kindness in Motion. The inspiration for this program came four years ago when our superintendent, Judy Palmer, saw a program on CBS Sunday Morning about Chris Rosati, a great man who—despite having ALS—dedicated the rest of his life to spreading kindness before he passed away in 2017. (more…)
What Are You Grateful for this Thanksgiving?
One of my teachers sent the following email to our staff. The subject line was: “A Thanksgiving Thought.” With his permission, I am posting it below in its entirety: (more…)
Make the Most of Your Next Staff Meeting
Do you dread staff meetings as the principal? Does your staff audibly groan when you discuss policy changes or district minutia? Do you see your teachers watching the clock and counting down the minutes until they can leave? A few years ago, staff meetings at Harrisburg South Middle School were just this way, tedious gatherings that both the staff and I wished would just end as soon as possible. (more…)
I Spent a Day in the Life of Principal—Here’s What I Saw
As National Principals Month came to close in October, the staff on the Advocacy team here at NASSP decided we needed to get out of the office—away from the politics on Capitol Hill for a moment—and spend a day reminding ourselves why we do the work that we do. We reached out to several principals in Northern Virginia and asked if we could shadow them for a day, hoping that the experience would enhance our perspective on the current successes and challenges faced by principals and public schools so we might better advocate for the resources they need in 2019 and beyond. To my delight, I got all of that and more from my visit with Carole Kihm, principal of Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church, VA. (more…)
Setting Collaborative Teaching Expectations for Student Success
Like many schools, Sparks High School wanted to implement collaborative, co-taught classes with the goal of providing a supportive learning environment for all students to achieve. Each of our collaborative classes in language arts, social studies, math, and science was designed to include a content-area teacher and an intervention specialist or English Learner teacher who would work in tandem to lead course instruction and student learning. (more…)
Midterm Wrap-Up: What Happened, and What to Expect
On Tuesday, November 7, citizens across the nation took to the polls for midterm elections. Much was at stake, and many considered the 2018 midterm election to be a direct review of President Trump’s first two years in office. If that’s the case, there were definitely some mixed results after the dust settled and, in many races, it still continues to do so. This post will examine the results of the election and provide insight into how the results may affect education policy moving forward.
Results (more…)
That’s a Wrap: National Principals Month Comes to a Close
This October, NASSP, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), and the American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA) continued the annual tradition of highlighting principals across the nation during National Principals Month. All month long, students, parents, teachers, fellow school leaders, and even entire states—with 29 of them submitting congressional resolutions, along with the House and Senate—celebrated the impact that principals have on their students and school communities and thanked them for their unrelenting commitment and hard work. (more…)
Building Positive School Culture Through Senior Interviews
Guest post by Chuck Rinkes
When I became principal of River View High School (RVHS) in 2007, our building met the academic excellence standards, and our community was pleased by our high ranking. But despite these achievements, neither our superintendent nor I were happy with the overall building culture. We witnessed unhealthy interactions between our stakeholders, students expressed negative feelings about our school, and there was an overall sense of stress and anxiety amongst the staff. In order to rise to the next level and become a great school, we needed to improve our overall culture. (more…)
Three Qualities to Look for in a Mentor
In a recent Q&A I host weekly with Danny Bauer, we talked about the importance of having a coach, or mentor, to help you become a better leader. (more…)
How Transition Meetings Can Help Schools Understand the Whole Student
Have you ever wondered what the new students in your school will be like? Will they be good at math? Will they be able to navigate technology effectively? Do they have proper parental support and guidance at home? If these questions cross your mind, then you may want to conduct meaningful transition meetings for your incoming students. (more…)
What’s the Forecast in Your School?
I am agnostic when it comes to weather. I acknowledge that it exists. But I don’t favor any one season. Some people like winter, some like summer. Each season offers unique rewards. I experience weather, but I have no great affinity for one climate over another. (more…)