Take Aways from School Visits (July 21, 2006)

• "If you make decision for the best interest of children, then people with follow."
• When you have teachers observe one another send them with a coach to guide their observations.
• All successful principals break the rules.
• You need to have a vision.
• The massive parent endowment that allows large, high performing public schools to expand and enrich their extra-curricular activities was of particular interest. Many of the new small schools must sacrificee many of these activities that contribute to a well rounded education
• Spend as much time as you can planning up front for all situations.
• Starting up a new school is like starting up a new business.
• The principal also has to be knowledgeable in curriculum too.
• Before one takes on the position of Principal, it is important ot have A LOT (many years) of experience teaching in the classroom. It is also helpful to take on administrative roles other than principal in order to gain experience before becoming a principal.
• Grant money drives success!
• ... that experience in leadeship roles is important prior to taking on a principalship.
• Sucessful leadership is not just about being inspiring. Sometimes it's just about who has been around the longest.
• It is improtant to find community partners, who will help you do difficult leg work.
• It was awesome to see all that we are learning about being put to use in the actual field.
• One suggestion the principal had for a teacher that seems to be struggling: Cover the teacher's class, and have the teacher, accompanied by an AP, visit another class for a period. The AP can talk through the lesson with the teacher and point out what was working well. This way, the teacher who is having difficulty has a frame of reference upon which to grow.
• Get money from organizations
• as a principal - be a hustler
• The need for collaboration with teachers.

Congratulations to Triathlete Melissa Meza!

It was the Nautica New York City Triathlon. There were 3,200 psychotic triathletes who put in long hours of training. Melissa survived the Hudson River, can you imagine anything more crazy? It was a 1.5K swim, 40K bike,up the West Side Highway up to Yonkers, and 10K run in Central Park. This is her second triathlon in the last two years. She did it through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, trying to raise funds to cure cancer. Melissa raised over $3,500 for the society and the society raised over $700K with the triathletes alone. Her time was 3 hours and 40 min- a little longer than expected, but outstanding nevertheless.

Take Aways from Cooperating Administrators Workshop

Excellent, well-organized and informative.

Being politically savvy will be an important aspect of our job.

Maintain measurable and obtainable goals.

I might be able to marry the curricular piece to the non-curricular elective.

I learned how valuable it is going to be to have a supportive CA and coach.

My coach seems very supportive and me and my needs. I look forward to working with her in the year ahead.

I need to change some items on my MOA really soon.

One takeaway that I have from this event is that my principal is committed to my internship which should make it go smoothly!

Feedback is good. The more eyes vetting a document the better.

I learned that even though other SPA member's cooperating administrators didn't show up, they still had similar interests and problems in their school. We all helped to improve each other's MOA, regardless of whether the cooperating administrator showed up. TEAMWORK!

I learned a lot of practical tips on how to manage the various projects.

My cooperating administrator supports and believes in my capabilities.

I have a better understanding of the role of the coach as mediator between the administrator and intern.

While I believe I am capable of negotiating most of the terms of my internship myself, it is good to know that my coach will be available to mediate if needed.

It is through experience and cooperation that we are able to learn from one another.

The internship experience may prove to be the most difficult and stressful part of the SPA program. Although, I do feel more positive than I once did - overall, I'm still too concerned/anxious about the experience.

I am going to have a lot of support from both my coach and my CA. :)

I think I need to have a sit down with my cooperating administrator (who was unable to attend).

Keep it simple - it's not a cop-out.

Keep it simple. We are in it for the kids.

This was an important event to build the team.

My Coach is old school! I will benefit from this old-school experience.

Woah.

The many role models that were in one room...each principal there gave us one piece of advice that we didn't read in text books. Good leaders!

Take-Aways from New Principal Panel

Here are the cohort's take-aways from the New Principal Panel.

Special thanks to Lynette Delgado for facilitating the Panel and thanks to Panelists Amy Andino, Roshone Ault, Kathleen Clarke-Glover and Min Kim for their thoughtful comments:

• "What's happening" conversation.
• Managing resources is vital...
• I liked the idea that as principals, we need to have our time. That is something I really need to work on.
• I felt energized and challenged by some of the panelists' words - I like the practical lens they added to our learning experience.
• Although collaboration is great, I am still the leader, who has the final decision.
• I think I learned that I am going to have to find a way to prioritize my time and the time of my staff. Not every decision is going to be able to be made the "idealistic, theoritical" way but it will still be made and my staff will learn to accept it.
  
• Don't be afraid to be a leader, and take care of yourself (well, that's two, but they're both important)
• Protocols and the instruments that drive those protocols are really essential in establishing culture. It would be very helpful to have examples of these principals' best practices! The panel was fantastic.
• The need to identify your vision for education and to instill that vision in your school culture and community. To defend that vision with integrity and fortitude.
• Not every decision needs to be resolved with collaboration. One of my frustrations is that a common message from the classes is collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. As principal, you have to decide when collaboration is appropriate. It was refreshing to here this.
• Their honesty.
• I have had reservations about still connecting with my studets after I leave the classroom and Mrs. Glover was able to alleviate much of my concerns with different strategies at the break out session.
• The great idea is: as a leader you have to know when to make the executive decision and when to make a collaborative decision.
• I think the best idea I heard was in regard to group decision making. I think it was Kim who said you must be mindful to use the time of good people on important matters, and know when to make the decisions on smaller matters yourself. I am beginning to see time as a precious commodity, as important as or sometimes even more important than money.
• The importance of being flexible- we may not be able to predict everything that will happen, and we just have to make it work anyways.
• Small school = limited support services, teachers and principal wear multiple hats
  balance is important
• The principal is the leader of the school. Collaboration is useful and important, but many times the decisions must end with the school leader.
• The dedication of these enlightened leaders in practice was, for me, the most warming sign yet that there is great promise for our children. Anything else that I would say would belittle their commitment to education.
• That at the end of the day, regardless of the "case" situation, I am the leader of the building and ultimately I make the final decision and it's OK to take that role because I am the leader. I appreciate the fact that they all shared the need to maintain "balance". That is key
• ...that learning styles are different and so are leadership styles. Be aware of this and mind how I proceed.
• Be aware of "who" the adults on your staff are and be mindful of where they are in their development.
• A lot of very practical tips that you wouldn't normally learn in a graduate program.
• I need to think of time or lack of time when dealing with our cases.
• Ms. Kim's suggestion of ways to make sure that her staff (with whom she has a strong relationship and in some cases a friendship) knows when it's time to talk about work things and focus on that.
• I really want to hear more about Ms. Clarke-Glover's ideas about creating an environment that nurtures children's social-emotional development as a first priority.
• CASEL program used for advisory at one school sounds very useful.
• I very much enjoyed seeing the differences between the reactions in principals. This leads me to make a comparison with classroom management--what works for one teacher may be a good practice but it may not work for another teacher. This will make my eventual transition into administration easier because I wll no longer have as much doubt.
• One great idea would be that no matter what happens I need to be confident in my role as an authority figure. In addition I really enjoyed listening to the different types of schools.
• I came away with so many ideas it is hard to pick just one...communicaction is a key to being an effective leader. Be sure to explain rationale of decision making. Be present with each individual with you.
• Space is important.
• Interesting discipline policy from Lynette at Urban Assembly.
• One can't employ a collaborative approach with every decision.
• Take care of the self.

SPA Event-Socratic Conversation (7-7-06)

Tomorrow, Thursday, June 6th, Summer Principal’s Academy, in conjunction with the Gothesman Libraries, will be conducting a Socratic Conversation facilitated by Ron Gross. This fantastic and interactive dialogue will be an introductory experience in to the mechanisms used by Socrates to engage individuals and groups in structured and reasoned thought about a large variety of moral, ethical, and emotionally charged subjects. The experience of participating in this conversation will help you to become more intone with the skills principals will need to conduct civil discourse with faculty, parents, and other individuals in your future.