10 Steps Action Plan
Setting Instructional Direction
An administrator has to be able to guide the instructional focus of a
school in the right direction to promote student achievement and ensure it is
working to meet the schools vision. Throughout this program, I have had
opportunities to engage in activities that adhere to the school vision and
shape instruction.
At the beginning of this school year, I worked with the faculty to revise
our school vision. Our goal was to create a vision that was concise so
teachers, students, and parents could easily remember and quote. To begin
the activity, each faculty member wrote their vision for the school. Each
grade level gathered together and discussed the individual vision
statements. These individual visions were edited into one. Last, as a part of
the leadership team, we met together and studied the visions from each
grade level and department. We discussed the strengths of each and
common ideas throughout all. We merged the ideas together into a single,
school wide vision. This activity allowed each member of the faculty to
participate in the development of the vision and to help promote buy in.
As a future school administrator, I have to remember to base decisions
off of the school vision. Too often there are so many things going on in a
school to offer improvements, because they are not in line with the vision
and mission. A principal has to prioritize and self reflect to ensure that
funding and efforts are being directed on the right initiatives. In order to
prepare in this area, I will ask current principals for advice about how they
have manage to keep the school in line with the school vision, county vision,
and state vision.
Teamwork
Being the administrator for a school comes with a great deal of
responsibility and time restrictions. For this reason, a principal has to have
strong teamwork skills to ensure that everything can be completed.
Principals need to empower teacher leaders to lead projects and committees
to help achieve the school vision.
In addition, principals need to have strong abilities to work with teams
to be successful with committees and collaborative decisions. This is
imperative because many decisions in education are made alongside with
multiple stakeholders from the faculty and community. A principal must
have the needed skills to bring people together to productively share
opinions and work through differences to make decisions that are in the best
interest of students. In order to better prepare myself in this area, I will
continue to serve in leadership positions on committees to strengthen my
abilities to manage groups effectively and handle conflict such as, grade
level chair, leadership team, literacy committee, and school wide positive
behavior support committee.
Sensitivity
Teaching is a position that brings high levels of stress and emotion as
people try to work with frequent changes, standardized test, and student
issues. Principals need to be aware of these issues and use sensitivity to
ensure that teachers feel heard and supported. In addition, principals need
to be able to diffuse tense situations by being listening carefully and
foreseeing negative responses.
In order to better prepare myself for these types of situations, I will
interview current leaders to discuss how they deal with difficult situations
and to ask successful strategies that they have used.
Judgment
A school principal must be able to handle situations quickly with good
judgment. The most frequent statement that I have heard from leaders
throughout this program is that each day as a principal is filled with
unexpected challenges. Issues arise frequently from upset parents, student
discipline issues, media involvement, or a safety issue such as a fire or
lockdown. In each of these situations, a school leader must be able to
quickly assess the issue and form a solution. If not, student safety can be at
risk or a situation can quickly begin to escalate.
My judgment experiences come with serving on the leadership team
and chairing committees. I have analyzed data and formed plans to improve
situations and student test scores. However, I have not had the experience
to have to make the quick, high stakes decision that principals make
frequently. In order to better prepare myself, I need to ensure that I am fully
versed and aware of county and school procedures and policies to be able to
make appropriate decisions. In addition, I need to speak more with school
leaders to inquire about how they have handled difficult situations in their
career.
Results Orientation
Each day principals make many decisions; however, they need to be
capable of prioritizing issues and keeping focus on long term goals. This is
one thing that I have noticed throughout my teaching career. Many
principals lose sight of what they were trying to accomplish. The changes
and goals of last year are forgotten in May, and new, unrelated goals are laid
out in August. This is unproductive, and it wastes time and money while
damaging student achievement.
A principal must be capable of dealing with immediate issues while still
remaining focused on the goals. I have had the opportunity to serve on the
school leadership team for several years. Through this, I have watched what
seems like an endless cycle of goals and change. It is endless because it
does not build on previous work. This promotes short-term change, and as a
result, I have seen little long-term change. I learned through this program
that lasting change continues even after the principal has left. I hope that I
will be able to accomplish this lasting change when I become a school
principal. I will prepare myself for this task by participating in additional
leadership training such as, Leadership Fellows and reading books and
articles from successful school principals to study their successes.
Organizational Ability
Schools constantly have events arising. A principal has to be capable
of managing the events, creating a well thought schedule, and ensuring
appropriate staff is available to cover. If these areas fall short, than it can
create chaos and damage instructional times. For these reasons, a principal
must be extremely organized. They must plan to be available to attend IEP
meetings, conduct classroom observations, etc. while still maintaining a
strong presence in the building.
When the school day is moving smoothly, that is establishing a climate
that is conducive for learning. In each principal panel discussion through this
program, I have heard principals list this as their biggest struggle. There is
so much to do and so little time to do it. When I become a school principal, I
understand that a large effort has to be placed on managing priorities. Time
must be spent on the areas that matter. Teacher leaders must be used to
help with managing tasks and delegating responsibility. This allows more to
be accomplished throughout each day to better benefit students. In order to
improve in this area, I will observe principals through programs such as,
Leadership Fellows to learn strategies for managing time.
Oral Communication
Being a strong communicator involves being well rounded in numerous
areas of communication. It is not an easy task because different forms of
communication are needed for a variety of situations and with different
people. A good school leader is able to balance communication during good
times and bad times, and they are able to communicate with individuals,
small groups, and large groups.
Throughout my field experience, I have realized that my area of
weakness in communication is public speaking. I have very little experience
in public speaking. I am more than comfortable teaching and speaking in
front of a classroom of students, but a room full of professional educators is a
different scenario. There are areas in which I plan on better preparing myself
as a public speaker. I can meet with support staff and administration in our
building to seek tips for public speaking. Hopefully, these individuals will be
open about how they have helped prepare themselves for public speaking.
There is also a large range of reading materials available to study how to
improve ones public speaking skills. I intend to read several of these
throughout the next few years. In addition, I will seek feedback from others
after times that I speak publicly with our faculty.
Written Communication
Most of my communication with my school principal is through written
communication. There is not enough time in the day to have a face to face
conversation about every issue; therefore, email is used because it is quick
and easy. In the last year, I have watched a transition in our school as
faculty meetings have become a thing of the past, and school wide
communication is sent through emailed weekly newsletters. This is a great
source of communication because it allows everyone to receive the
information needed. However, these newsletters have taught me about the
importance of proofreading and peer reviewing. A few times the newsletter
will be sent out late Sunday night with updates for the following week, and it
will include a typo or false information. People begin going to one another
and confusion grows very quickly. Typically, several people go to speak with
the principal to clarify information.
In order to avoid these sorts of situations, group emails need to be
carefully written, edited, and as our books suggests there should be several
drafts to ensure the correct information is being sent. Allowing someone to
read the draft and analyze for errors would provide better chances that the
information is clear and factual.
Developing Others
The role of a principal contains many facets. One important area is
being an instructional leader. The principal should be knowledgeable on
best practices and curriculum to be able to offer feedback to teachers to
improve instruction. Also, the principal needs to encourage others to attend
professional development, work with academic coaches, and be continual
learners.
In order to prepare myself for this capacity, I will meet with literacy and
math coaches in my building to gain information on how to teach teachers
and offer useful feedback. I hope to work as a literacy coach before stepping
into a principal position to better give me experience in this area.
Understanding Your Own Strengths and Weaknesses
Throughout this program, one of the most important points that I have
learned is the importance of self-reflection. In order to improve ones self,
there has to be a continuous analysis of strength and weakness. Analyzing
these areas and setting goals to improve is a good way to ensure that I am
able to become an effective school leader. For this reason, I will be diligent
to reflect frequently throughout my administration career to work to improve
my skills and abilities.
