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 Staff was seated in a circle and I listened behind their backs as they talked about me. My heart beat faster and I felt myself break into a sweat as they spoke about how I performed my role as a facilitator. I almost had to bite my tongue as I felt a need to jump in and defend myself. I knew this would happen and I took some deep breaths and concentrated on what they said, furiously jotting down notes.
Having staff critique you, even when you’ve asked for it, is a challenging experience. When it was mentioned that I needed to do a better job of communicating when staff meetings were, I had to bite back my excuses. I quickly had to remind myself that, if they didn’t receive the message, it was my responsibility. When advice was given to have a more linear thinker review my plans for activities I reminded myself that, that was why I had a diverse leadership team. Finally, when I was told that I needed to do a better job of asking questions so that staff could flesh out their own ideas, I realized that just saying yes to a good idea wasn’t always enough. There were many more helpful observations but those three stuck out to me. Getting to the point of staff openly critiquing my skill set began with this year’s goal of having teaching staff record themselves in their educational practice. The purpose of doing so is to improve their skills as classroom instructors. As the building leader I couldn’t have them do something that I wouldn’t do or haven’t done. As I prepared for this moment I asked a few of the more vetern staff if they would be willing to record themselves and go through the process of reflecting on teaching. Once they said they would I knew I couldn’t put off recording myself any longer. Being vulnerable as a leader and putting myself out there as an example of a continuous learner was not easy. There’s almost nothing worse than watching the video of yourself and hearing yourself lead a meeting. Wondering, “Do I really sound like that? Is my voice really that high?”. The answer of course is yes. Before showing the three minute clip of myself facilitating a meeting I discussed my reasoning for engaging in this process. I told them of John Maxwell’s Law of the Lid, which I interpreted and will paraphrase as, the team can only be as good as I am as the leader. In other words, If I’m a C + leader, we’ll only be a C+ school because I’ll be the bottleneck even if we have A+ staff. I’m the lid. So, I let them know that I needed their help in being a better leader so that we could be a better team. After explaining my why for this particular task, I passed out a rubric that I adapted from Rubric for Evaluating Small Group Facilitators that had a place to collect data. The two data collection boxes where titled: What did you see and What did you hear? Beneath that was a list of behaviors that could be checked with either, solid, needs a tweak, or needs work. (You can see the adapted copy of it here.) I also explained that my purpose as the facilitator of our staff meetings was to meet whatever the purpose or objectives of the agenda are. I want them to walk away from our staff meetings having learned something, having connected to each other and or feeling heard. With that as their context I showed the video clips. Once that was done I turned the video off and gave them time to finish filling out their rubric. As they completed their sheets I told them that I would move out of the circle and sit behind them so they could discuss what they saw with me symbolically removing myself from the group. My objective in doing so was for them to feel more comfortable discussing me. I also made sure to keep my head down so as to not make eye contact as they talked about what they saw. They were hesitant at first but as I prompted and asked clarifying questions they seemed to relax, giving more feedback. Once they had gone over what they had seen and what they had heard they went through the rubric grading my performance. They started with the things they felt I did solidly, moved on to things that needed a tweak and ended with the things that needed work. I ended that portion of our staff meeting by thanking them and collecting their rubrics for further review. Listening behind staff’ backs while they talked about me was difficult at first. As the process went on I learned valuable information about what I could do to be a better facilitator and better building leader. What practices do you have to help you improve? Share you thoughts in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife
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  In my last blog, Principal Plans For First Day Back With Staff, I talked about the purpose for that first meeting. I wanted to develop a team atmosphere, make sure we were all on the same page and plan for that first day and the first week. I sketched out a rough draft of the agenda a few days before writing the blog and finished the final draft a few days after posting.
Below is an excerpt of what I’d prepared for the first third of our meeting: First Staff Meeting 19-20 School Year Agenda 12:40-4:00 Purpose/Connect, Update, Plan, Refresh and Learn
Welcome everybody as usual and thank you for coming in on time. Explain cameras. On the agenda are 4 topics (look at agenda pause after reading each topic. Turn to the group, freeze bod and count internally 3,2,1, Before we start (walk a few feet away from Agenda) I imagine some of you are feeling a bit low in energy after lunch, and maybe from waking up earlier than you have the past few weeks, some would probably love to be in your classrooms putting the final touches to your welcoming space. (gesture outside the classroom) At the same time, given your love for ACCE, building relationships and providing the opportunity to learn in engaging ways you may be wondering what can happen here that can make this worth you while. The first topic welcome and check-in will help get us focused and centered. The second item, team building will help us to build and strengthen the relationships we have together. The third items will give you information about changes as well as get input for our first day and Friday mornings, and our final topic will get us ready for building those relationship bonds with our students. I’m excited about the expansion of our team with Mr. J, Ms. W, Ms. Ml and Ms. M who will have a chance for a mini intro during our check in. For the newbies We typically have our staff meetings in this physical arrangement as the circle intentionally symbolizes our unity and focus on creating a family here. Physically it also allows us all to see each other without a physical barrier between which helps to create psychological and emotional safety. Touch on working agreements and seven norms of collaboration Our check in today:
T- summary of feelings S- give a brief summary paraphrase of expectations Variation Draw two names out of basket to summarize The first two paragraphs where I give myself physical direction as well as the format is adapted from the book The Adaptive School. I told the staff that the cameras were up so I could record myself facilitating a meeting in order to do some reflection and improve my skills. I also told them if I was stilted or came off a bit odd it was because I knew I was recording myself and felt awkward. Explaining the cameras is where the bombing came in. It turns out that this is all that recorded for 32 minutes. All I could see was the two boards and all I could hear was an occasional outburst of loud talking when I’d gotten passionate. I had completely set the cameras at the wrong angle. Both of them! I sent the staff the same picture and let them know that my first attempt at digital recording and reflection was a dud. I want them to see and understand that taking risks is a learning process and doesn’t always start out perfect. I hope to set an example of that growth mindset that we talk about so much. What’s something you tried and failed forward at with your staff? Share your experience in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife  Today I’m planing for the staff's return to the building and the message I want to convey. The purpose of our first meeting is to begin to develop a team atmosphere, make sure we’re all on the same page and get input on plans for the first week.
It’s important to our school culture that staff members all work together and have fun doing so. I start this process the first day we’re together with a team building activity. Two years ago we had a card tournament, last year we had a rock paper scissor tournament and this year the staff will be combined into small teams and have a competitive scavenger hunt where they’ll have to solve clues that I’ve written in order to move on to the next location. I’ve also included mini ice breakers at each location. For example, at one spot they’ll have to come up with seven adjectives that describe their hopes for the upcoming school year. At another they’ll have to come up with three non obvious things they all do. The reason for this activity is that it creates physical movement and problem solving, while also creating bonds based on similarities. Once they’ve completed the scavenger hunt we’ll debrief as an entire staff and I’ll use the adjectives that the three teams have selected to transition to plans for the upcoming year and specifically that first week. So that’s what I’m planning for the first third of our staff meeting, creating an atmosphere and an expectation of collaboration through a team building activity. As the instructional leader I’m also modeling what they can do in their classrooms. Team Building, creating a culture of innovation and play, is one of the most important things I do as a school leader. What do you prioritize as you plan your first day with your staff or students? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife 3 reasons school changes are trash: Reflections on Blueprint's Diving Deeper Level I Training Module4/17/2019  I’ve recently enrolled in the Blueprint’s Diving Deeper Level I training module. The purpose of this particular module is to give an overview on systems thinking and why the status quo and traditional methods of implementing change in a school are not sustainable. I’m taking the course because I want the “turnaround” on my alternative ed campus, which serves grades 6-12, to be sustainable when the inevitable staff turnover occurs. If you want the hard work you’re doing in your school to last watch out for these three reasons school changes are trash.
Too many tasks The definition of a task is a piece of work to be done or undertaken. Teachers too often are given tasks that are not aligned to a larger vision. These things like turning in lesson plans (that rarely if ever get checked) and common assessments are items on a checklist that can be marked off. However, just like a lot of evaluations that principals give, these are only looked at to see if they are completed. Teachers are tired of doing things that don’t matter aren’t attached to their “why” and seem like busy work. These tasks just become part of the drudgery and do not lead to dramatic increases in student outcomes. Initiatives interrupted Educationally, initiatives are defined as a specific project or program undertaken to achieve specific objectives in the short term. An example could be a mandate from the district that all 5th grade science students will be doing interactive notebooks. The general idea is passed on and teachers know students will place their notes from the teacher on one page and process the information with hands on activities on the other page. If she’s lucky, the science teacher even gets a one hour district pd in which she is shown how to make one. Later in the year at a union meeting she realizes that she’s essentially played the telephone game and missed a step because of a combination of poor note taking, chatting with her colleagues at the pd and the siloing in her building. Initiatives are often given lip service and get interrupted because of a lack of fidelity. They get thrown out in frustration. Programs! Get your programs! Programs are often distributed by the district like a guy slinging football programs at the big game. They go here, there, and everywhere and eventually end up in the trash. Programs are a set of instructions or actions taken to teach skills or strategies in a subject area. An example of this from my district is Scholastics' Read-180. This program helps level up struggling readers. This is a great program that I’ve seen work. But, it’s going away because it’s costly, there was little training in it, and with a new Assistant Superintendent of K-12 Instruction, another program could be coming down the pipe. Programs come and go just like football seasons and you’ve always got to be ready for a new one. These three common school strategies for impacting students, tasks, initiatives and programs are rarely sustainable. They are relics of past practices and when implemented in a haphazard way wind up in the dustbin of your buildings educational history. There is, fortunately, a way to dramatically impact students in your school. Please stay tuned to the next blog from my studies of the Blueprint Diving Deeper Series Level I where I reflect on systems, system thinking and how that can create the change we’re looking for. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can be edutained as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out more blogs at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife #blueprintsymposium #swft_livechat #disruptingthestatusquo  A couple of weeks before we went on winter break the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that would assign letter grades to schools.
It seems like a majority of public school educators think this is a horrible ideas. There are some who believe that this will unfairly stigmatize urban schools. Additionally, in a local article on MLive, titled Michigan House approves A-F school grading system in marathon session a local Michigan Democrat representative said, “adopting the A-F system would put Michigan in line with the systems of lower-performing states in education, not the high performers.” Both these sentiments align with my own thoughts and as a Principal at an Alternative Ed High School, where test scores are consistently low, my school would most likely fall into an F range. Regardless of that, there are three reasons schools graded on an A-F scale is beneficial to school leaders. Reminder Getting an F as a school administrator is a reminder of how our struggling students feel when they are not successful. There are always circumstances outside our students’ control that impact their education. Getting a failing grade is an opportunity to discuss social issues that might otherwise get brushed under the rug. In receiving a failing grade we are forced to reflect on the difficulty that some of our students face. It also creates the opportunity to try new things that those stuck in a traditional school mode might not otherwise have the political capital to attempt. Community Accountability If a school receives an F, the local media will run the story. Local businesses and families will have to make a decision if this is acceptable. Realtors and local political players would work hard to drive resources to schools in the hopes of raising the value of property and their own reputations. In this way more community resources would be funneled into the school system as people come together, as it would be in their best business interests to support the schools. Readability With the way people are able to twist language or use different words to soften the impact of failure an A-F scale makes it easy to see where you stand. Everybody knows what an A means. Everybody knows what an F means. There is no hiding behind political language. If a traditional grading scale is how we rate our children we should have the courage to rate ourselves in the same manner. No system is perfect. A scale that rates our schools A-F at least reminds us what it feels like to be students, impacts community accountability and is easy for everybody to read. Perhaps if we don’t like using such a scale to judge ourselves we shouldn’t use such a scale to judge our students. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the http://www.theprincipalentrepreneur.com/ and/or pre order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur. To join the podcast as a guest email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group.
It’s dark. You’re in bed. You look at the clock. It’s 10:00pm. You flip over. Sigh. Look at the clock. It’s 2:00am. You’re still frickin’ awake. What the hell? You know, logically there’s nothing you can do now about the upcoming start of school that is only 3 weeks away! As a principal our monkey minds are forever chattering in the wee hours of the morning. Especially at the start of a school year. These five strategies may help you trap that monkey and help you get some sleep. It’s 4:00am .. . maybe not.
Notepad This is one strategy that I recently heard about on a podcast by Tim Ferris. He talks about when he can’t sleep the process of writing down your thoughts prior to going to bed is helpful. He found that the mere act of writing them down traps those thoughts on the paper. Somehow his brain realizes that he understands what he has to do and so no longer goes through a repetitive loop. Having a notepad by the side of your bed so you can jot down your thoughts could help you finally get those z’s you’re missing out on. Meditation I have a staff member who is enthusiastic about mindfulness. During our icebreaker and team building of the last year she mentioned meditation and how it helps center her. I don’t do a formal version of this when I’m trying to sleep, but I do focus on my breath. I find that if I breath deep until my stomach expands for a while for two or three minutes my brain starts to chill out and I’m able to sleep more quickly. If I find myself going back to something that I can’t change immediately I tell myself to get back to breathing. For me, this technique works better than the notepad one. I’m prone to losing pens. :-) Optimal Exhaustion Working out after a day at school might not be for everyone, but getting some type of exercise in before you go to bed may help you sleep. I sometimes do a combination of stretching and breathing exercises before bed. In my stretching I make sure to cross my limbs to stimulate different parts of my brain as a way to calibrate everything. If you’re interested in learning how crossing the midline helps calm you down, you can read more about it here under the subheading Hookups. The science shows exercising helps reduce stress. In turn this might help you get a good night sleep. Blue light My wife has trouble going to sleep and I keep telling her it’s because she’s steady going through her phone, or using it to read. She’s put a filter on her screen so it no longer emits the blue light that can trick our brain into thinking it’s still day time. I do a decent job of shutting done my electronics before bed but I know many collleagues use the evening times to finally get to their emails. This will definitely keep your mind engaged and make it harder for you to sleep. If at all possible, set a time that you will actually stop replying to emails and be disciplined enough to stick to it. This will help you brain realize it’s time to shut down and rejuvenate. Night Routine This is as simple as it sounds. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. By having a set physical routine and practicing it habitually we can train our brains to shut down when we want it to. With our chaotic evenings often times we don’t know when we’re going to be home. Sometimes there’s that emergency that we solve by 7 o’clock but we spend the rest of our night reflecting on it. We wonder if we took the right steps, contacted the right people or may have missed something. Having a set physical routine alerts our brains that it’s time to sleep and makes the chances of it actually happening greater. About a million things happen in a typical principal’s day. It makes sense that a couple of those are going to stick with you or you’ll project into the future trying to problem solve. Doing it while you’re trying to get a much needed nights sleep will cause you to crash and burn. Trapping your thougths in a notebook, meditation, exercising, shutting down your electronics, and having an established physical night routine are all great strategies to try when sleep escapes you. What are strategies you use when trying to get to sleep? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection please follow me and share with your friends. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs, as voted by readers, by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce
As principals we protect our students, and staff, budgets and everything else, but rarely do we protect our time with the same vigilance. As a building leader time is always in short supply because we give it away even though it's our most precious commodity. Being efficient with our tasks creates the opportunity for us to have more time to focus on our goals that actually have a chance of moving our schools forward.
Summer, when we MAY have more time :-), is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the best way to protect our time and how to spend it. These 5 ways to save time are strategies we can add to our toolbox. Skip the nonessentials What do you absolutely need to do in order to be highly effective and efficient? Those are the priorities that you focus on first. Everything else can either be eliminated or delegated. Keep focused on your mission Keeping focused on your mission will help you make decisions about what you bring into your school. This will save time as you only allow programs that support your plan. Often times we get caught up in something that is cool or fun for the kids and it doesn’t support our overall goals. Stay focused on the mission until it is complete. Implement multiple strategies When it comes to time management come at it from multiple angels. Use technology to help save time, find others who complement your weaknesses so that important tasks can get done more quickly. Save your bandwidth for things only you can do. Stacking time saving strategies will compound the effects and provide you the hours for which you’ve been looking. Make time for yourself Making time for yourself actually increases your productivity. It gives you the mental capacity to do deep thinking. You actually will accomplish less if you try to pack more busy work in. Your brain like a muscle needs to rejuvenate so it can come back refreshed. Time for a principal is precious. Often times it is wasted putting out other people’s fires. By managing our personal time consistently we can find more time to focus on quality work. What are ways that you save time? Share your strategies in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife
Summer time is the season for principals to craft a new version of the student handbook. This is a time honored tradition as eagerly anticipated as the annual trip to the dentist. The student handbook seems to be updated and revised every year as new state laws and new societal situations impact our schools. Like the Iphone a new one is needed each year or it will no longer be compatible with new situations.
Perhaps this year a section will need to be added about transgender students or about procedures in case of a school shooting. Regardless of what is added, as principals it’s something that needs to be done regularly. These five tips will help yours be awesome, or at least as awesome as a student handbook can be. :-D Write from one student/parent perspective Imagine and pick one parent as your avatar. This would be your typical parent that you want to inform of your most relevant school policies. By focusing on a single archetypical parent your writing will be more focused. If we try to write for every type of parent we could find ourselves with an overdone, unwieldy piece of writing. Short and Sweet By short I mean concise and focused. You still want all your policies in there but cutting and editing it down to the most essential components is necessary. A good idea if you want to expand on certain issues or give scenarios is to provide a link or QR code for more information. With the ever shorter attention spans this is a great way to have a hard copy of the essentials as well as a way to get more information out there as needed. Research other handbooks Don’t reinvent the wheel! There are many examples of handbooks that you can check out online. Facebook is also a great source if you’re a part of a principals' group. Every group that I am a part of is very supportive. Attention to Detail Being short and sweet does not mean leave that important information out. Make sure things like the school address and phone number are correct. Even your own number. I accidently put my cell phone number in a version and only noticed after the first copy was printed. I’s and T’s This falls easily in the realm of attention to detail. Usually we’re doing this thing on our own during the summer. If you can, have someone give it a good once over. Put it aside for a day and come back to with fresh eyes. Review it in reverse. These are great ways to avoid the trap of glazed eyed rereading. Also, double check to make sure what you have aligns with your board policies and can be backed up if you get push back from that one parent. These 5 simple steps; having a single avatar, keeping it concise, using exemplars, attention to detail and making sure to dot your i’s and cross your t’s can support you in writing an awesome student handbook. What is your writing process for a student handbook? Share your tips in the comment section below. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife 5 characteristics of a great school and 5 simple ways to promote them to increase student enrollment7/15/2018
It’s summertime and a lot of us are reading, reflecting, looking for new books to read, reviewing handbooks, trying to come up with themes for the new school year and in general not relaxing at all :-D.
Part of my reflection is thinking about what makes a great school and how to promote that greatness to increase student enrollment. This is also the time when parents from other schools may begin to look for new schools as their children move from one grade to the next. This is a great opportunity for us to begin planting the seeds of change in their minds. One of the difficult aspects of our public school system, however, is that it’s hard to differentiate one school from the other. As schools of choice, charter schools and perhaps an impending voucher system for every state proliferate, standing out becomes more difficult. These days districts with money are using radio spots, billboards, and the backs of city buses to promote their schools. There are lower cost and far easier ways to get the word out about our schools. First we need to Identify our 5 characteristics of greatness and use these 5 simple strategies to promote them. We can use these easy to implement strategies to stand out in a crowded educational field. This will help our schools stay top of mind when families begin thinking of the best place for their child. Distinctiveness This isn’t easy for a public school because we have to be everything for everybody. This makes it hard to be unique. One of the advantages that private and charter schools have is their ability todefine their own niche. A private school can be religion based and focused solely on a particular faith. Charter schools can have a specific theme or cater to specific ethnicities. As a public school finding our focus is essential to increasing school enrollment. This has traditionally been done through an emphasis on things like athletics or band. In today’s technological age, what are ways we can stand out from the crowd? Answering this question will help us be unique. Remember, regardless of whether you’re a newly established principal or a veteran you are an expert at what you do. You know exactly what the students need to do to be successful and you’re able to deliver it. The families in your community need you and your school’s particular expertise. Once you identify your unique school culture the next step is spreading the word. So how do we deliver this information? The easiest way to do so is to use social media. Presumably your school already has a Facebook account. If it doesn’t, start one. According to Facebook stats,Facebook has the largest number of users between 25 and 35. That is a prime age for beginning families. Leverage your demographic data and use a social media platform to meet your families where they are. Use pictures and the smiling faces of your staff and students from the previous year to show how welcoming and safe your school is. While, as public schools we have to accommodate everyone, we can still specialize in certain areas. Using social media will help spread your unique characteristics. Dependability Another way to stand out is to be dependable. Based on the change in leadership, every few years schools lurch from one new directive to the next. This fosters uncertainty and parents aren’t sure from year to year what their child is going to get. Being consistent in your offerings helps parents know what they’re going to see when they come in for their second and third child. With that expected way of doing things the parents and the staff can confidently state what is happening year to year and promote your school. No one likes instability. Being unstable will creates anxiety among your stakeholders and make choosing another option more likely. Be dependable and not only will families stand by you they’ll sell your school for you. The most dependable assets at a school are also the greatest asset. The staff. Often we forget that they can do more than just teach. They have hundreds of contacts in their own email and social media accounts. Use them to help spread the word of how dependable and stable your school is. Once a month pass something onto them that they can share with those with whom they have influence. It could be as simple as a picture of them working with their students. Add a brief caption about how great the students are and send it to their friends and families asking them to share it with their friends. As the end of the year approaches have the teachers spread the word that they’ll be back and and are excited to see the new crop of kids. If this becomes a consistent practice you'll be surprised how far the word spreads. Passion Passion for our work is the secret ingredient and leads to sustained excellence. If you think of the great Principals they demonstrate enthusiasm on a daily basis. This enthusiasm helps principals promote their school because they're the first ones at the door in the morning greeting families, students, and staff as they come in. An enthusiasm for the work can also lend itself to the creation of content. If you’re excited about the things you do particularly well, spread the word. Your school might have small learning communities or have a great curriculum. Write a blog post or an article highlighting the researched based reasons these unique qualities positively impact your students’ growth. These families that you greet every day, you have them on an email list. In marketing this is one of the most valuable commodities because it give you direct access to those families. Use that list to share your content. Ask them to forward the email to families who might be interested in seeing the good things your school is doing. Collaboration. Collaboration is something that we all know intuitively is something we should do consistently, but sometimes we get so caught up trying to get something done that we forget. Gathering the advice and listening to the point of view of those on our staff is important in building a strong culture and helps lead to successes. Treating your entire staff as integral parts of a whole, creates the opportunity for more wins. Families might not be able to see that collaboration first hand but they will see the impact of it. Staff will be happier and more involved and this will spill over into how the students are treated. A great way to share the those successes that come through collaboration is through Twitter. Twitter is a great way to give a distilled version of events. Where on Facebook there’s the opportunity to expand on updates, Twitter forces you to be concise. A great way to connect to parents is through a school twitter account. Keep parents in the loop so they can feel a part of the community as well. I’ve also seen schools tweet out school events like band concerts and athletic contacts. In addition, because you have limited time you can simply grab headlines from your Facebook posts and tweet those out including a link back to your Facebook page Growth Mindset Schools with a growth mindset are always learning. They don’t rest on past accomplishments and continually look for ways to improve. Just like people with a growth mindset aren’t afraid of failure, schools with a growth mindset aren’t afraid to try new things and look for ways to innovate. Just like collaboration spills over from staff to students so does the growth mindset. Students with the growth mindset tend to have more grit and are more likely to find long term success. This grit is easily seen in the intense looks and focused concentration students have when working on new tasks. Sharing these pictures is a great way to let parents know how hard their child is working. Using a school Instagram account to capture these moments and share with families is another way to promote your school’s culture. Instagram is visual based and is most often only comprised of simple pictures with captions like “hard at work”. For busy principals with a visual style it only takes a minute to say a thousand words. Successful Principals and by extension schools promote themselves with their one of a kind offering, dependability, enthusiasm, collaboration and growth mindset. Using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, leveraging your staff, and sharing your enthusiasm for education through content creation are quick easy ways to spread the positive word. These simple strategies can help you maintain and increase your student enrollment. What are other tactics you use to stand out and what are ways that you connect and spread the word to your families? Share your thoughts in the comment section below If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife
If you’ve spent any time on Facebook you can’t help but to have at least caught a glimpse of kids skateboarding, BMX riding, or doing playground gymnastics and falling painfully onto sensitive body parts.
Well this is the principal’s version. My personal highlight reel of areas in which I need to improve. The school year is often composed of many fires each day which we race around and extinguish. Sometimes we’re moving so fast that embers remain and ignite the very next day so we repeat the same race. Before we know it a Quarter, Semester and then 3/4ths of the year are gone. The goals we put in place for ourselves, no matter how SMART, are not fully reached. Below are my top fails of the 17-18 school year. These are areas that I will improve on in the 18-19 school year.
As you read these you’ll notice that there is almost an even split between school stuff and school’s impact on my personal time. I’m wondering if I do a better job of managing school related items this will free up time to be with my family. As I look at my list there are items here that can be delegated and streamlined with my excellent staff and perhaps even my students. I’m thinking 1, 2, and 5.
Number 6, failure to address a staff member who was out of line is a priority. It is something I need to work on because I get really uncomfortable calling people out in the moment. I consistently do it the day after and come at it sideways by asking questions about the incident. I don’t know if this is the best way to handle those types of situations and is something I will continue to think about. To spend more time with wife and family I should schedule that time just as I schedule time for school meetings and appointments. I can probably do the same thing with close friends. As for consistently appreciating my wife’s support that’s going to take the most work. I do do it, but not as much as she’d like. Number 10 can also probably be handled like I hope to handle family and friends. I can set aside time for personal growth and independent learning. The more I learn, especially about leadership the better both my role as principal, husband, father and friend will be. These were my top 10 failures of 17-18. My goal is to eradicate them in 18-19. Just like those kids in the Facebook videos, I’ll dust myself off, put on some ice packs and try again. It’s not the falling that counts, it’s the getting up. In what areas do you seek to improve? Share your growth areas in the comment section below as well as possible strategies. That way we can continue to learn from each other. I know you’ll have some ideas that I haven’t even thought of. If you found this entertaining, educational or cause for reflection, please follow me and click share so your friends and colleagues can benefit as well. For more short articles and tips that support educational leaders check out my blog at the www.howtobeagreatprincpal.com and/or order my newest book How To Be A Great Principal: 36 Shared Leadership Success Strategies. You can also get a monthly email that delivers the most valuable blogs as voted by readers by joining the Principals’ Prep Minute. You can register right on the website. If you’re interested in principal swag that speaks to our #principallife you can take a look here. If you’re an auditory learner you can download my podcast The Principal Entrepreneur, on itunes and podomatic, episodes replayed weekly. If you’re interested in sharing your experience as an edleader please email me at jonathanroyce@theprincipalentrepreneur.com. Finally, I’m part of a community of supportive principals please join our private FB group. #theprincipalentrepreneur #leadership #principal #secondaryprincipals #nassp #massp #maesp #edchat #educhat #edadmin #sharedleadership #howtobeagreatprincipal #jonathanroyce #principallife |
AuthorI'm a Principal and an Entrepreneur. I'm an owner of a new food venture Hustling Hoagies, the author of the children's picture books Detective Dwayne Drake and the Alphabet Thief, Detective Dwayne Drake and The Case of the Mathematical Misfit and the ebook Making it as a Male Model in Michigan. I've worked professionally as a model and commercial actor...... Archives
August 2018
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