I spent a little over a year earning a master of arts in teaching degree. Then I spent two years teaching English Language Arts in a rural public high school. And I learned that my 13 years as a public school student, my 4 years as a college student at a highly selective college, and even a great deal of my year as a master’s degree student in the education school of a flagship public university hadn’t taught me how to manage a classroom, how to reach students, how to inspire a love of learning, how to teach. Eighteen years as a student (and a year of preschool before that), and I didn't know anything about teaching. Only years of practicing my skills and honing my skills would have rendered me a true professional. An expert. Someone who knows about the business of inspiring children. Of reaching students. Of making a difference. Of teaching.
This made me wonder about all I have learned about educational leadership. I've been studying the skills of great leaders, how to implement and sustain change, how to build a building culture that supports learning, how to hire, mentor, and support a great staff, and how to manage the daily business of a school for over four years. Even after earning a doctorate in educational leadership I worry that I have no idea what a principal does.
Correction---I do know what I am told about the job of building principal. What I am not sure of is the load I will carry daily knowing I am responsible for the success of my students, the concern I will feel for my staff members when the teaching profession is denigrated by politicians and community members, and the joys I will feel when I see the personal and professional successes around me. I hope that as I enter into the profession I will find in it the same commitment, joy, and challenges that I did during my 16 years as a teacher
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I love your thoughts on the job of the principal. I can tell you from 9 years in the admin role, everyday is still new learning. There are things that I do that I never thought I would have to as a principal (counsel parents, mediate between parents about custody, talk with students about things in their life like a parent who has cancer, shovel snow -- really, etc.) It is constant learning, and the day you think you have it figured out, something new will come at you. The best advice I can give you is have an open mind, an open heart, use your eyes and ears more than your voice, and give yourself time before making a decision. Most decisions can wait and do not need an immediate response.
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