PRINCIPAL—A Stronger Team November/December 2014
The Principal is a magazine for elementary
principals to support best practices on how to BE-BECOME-SERVE as an effective
principal. I read it from cover to
cover, mark it up with my favorite red pen, and often take it to the gym to
review the highlights. I consider this my own portable professional development
tool. Those of us that are in this role understand how incredibly busy we are
and how each minute counts. The Principal helps me focus on the right
work. A Stronger Team
The
articles is this issue that were most reflective for me were the following:
Better Together: National Distinguished Principals share
models for effectively working with teacher leaders. By Susan
McLester. As a principal of a turnaround
school I was looking for advice from those in my same position. One of the
recommendations I found most meaningful was to hire “purpose-driven,
self-managed teachers”. They could then be developed as leaders “through
training in collaboration, data analysis, and Response to Intervention
(RTI).” Simply stated, “When you let
teachers inside your world, you get buy-in. That’s the beauty of it.”
Inspired
Instructional Coaching: Stimulate teaching by structuring meaningful
observations and feedback that will improve instruction schoolwide. By
Sandra A. Trach.
Principals
Dynamic Conversations with Teacher
Professional Renewal
Build Teacher Capacity
Improving Individual Teachers
Improving Instruction Teams
Improving Entire School
Multiply Teacher
Talent: What if your well-intended guidance stifles gifted teaching, rather
than encourage it? By Elise Foster. It is interesting when you read something that
inspires news thinking it often repeats itself in other venues. For me it is
the work in The Multiplier Effect:
Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools (2014).
“Multipliers are leaders who look beyond their own genius and focus
on extracting and extending the genius of others”. Foster reminded me how by, “Shifting from giving answers to asking
questions is perhaps the most powerful change a leader can make.”
