Principal Connections

The nature of leadership is changing. To be a leader is to be a learner and perhaps, the most vulnerable learner in the school. Being a connected leader involves taking risks in order to maximize influence in their schools, communities and beyond. For school leaders, it’s no longer a question of “are you connected?” but rather “just how connected are you?”   Connected leaders need to be engaged in active learning. This could be as simple as building a PLN (Professional Learning Network) on Twitter and connecting with other leaders in various systems and sharing in their learning experiences. It could also mean attending professional learning opportunities provided by the school board. “The Tech-Enabled Administrator” was a professional learning series that has been offered in our board since 2014 where school leaders lead professional learning sessions for other school leaders. An administrator sharing their learning with other administrators is a powerful strategy. It’s one ...

The one thing I miss a lot about being a classroom teacher is all the wonderful PD opportunities. I love to learn, so there was never any moaning and groaning from me when there were workshops and in-services to attend. As a VP, we have some opportunities made available but we are constantly fighting against time. There just isn't any. It's hard enough to carve out time to eat lunch much less set aside a whole morning or afternoon, even though I would really like to. In the last 5 years, the only trouble with PD, apart from the lack of time to attend, is that it doesn't always meet the needs of administrators, especially since the needs of our schools are so different. PD needs to be rooted in an immediate need and for principals and vice principals, those needs are defined by their own school communities. Yes, there are "big picture issues" that affect us all and in those cases, it would be great to have presentations from associations like CPCO and OCT or even...

I've decided to attempt becoming Google Certified Educator Level 1. It's not like I'm not busy enough, right? I'll admit that part of me feels a bit out of the loop now that I've made the jump from teaching to administration. If I was still in the classroom, I would have done this long ago. I figure that I never turn away a good opportunity for more meaningful professional learning. My certification may give me even more credibility to be able to contribute on a system-wide level. I've already been providing some PD for my colleagues on ways in which administrators can leverage GAFE on a daily basis. I think I'll be better able to support teachers. I'll admit, that while I will always continue to "put myself out there' when it comes to being a sort in-house support for teachers, teachers have a hard time regarding me as a teacher, which is what I am after all. I actually gave a moment's pause to how this certification might be perceived by...

For the last two years, I have been offering professional development for my staff that I call Tech Tuesdays. One day each month, I don't permit any field trips to allow for a day where staff won't be need for additional supervision. This allows them to "drop in" on their prep time for a micro PD session that gives them practical ideas/tips/resources that they can begin to use the next day. I ask the staff to drive the focus for each day so sometimes, these days turn into clinic-like scenarios where I help them to troubleshoot some of the "blips" they have encountered along their journey towards broadening their technological skill set. This means that one day each month, my time belongs exclusively to the staff. It's not meant to be some sort of token gesture. The intention behind it is simply to show the staff that I am committed to supported their learning as much as the kids. The staff made it clear early on that they will "entertain" PD ...

I attended I really great session today on self-regulation. It was part of a series of centrally-organized vice principal leadership sessions. This has been the best session to date! The workshop was premised on the work and research of York University's Dr. Stuart Shanker, who provides one of the most practical and understandable definitions of self-regulations, at least that I have read: "Self-regulation is the ability to manage stress. It refers to the neural processes that control the energy expended to deal with a stressor and then recover. When an individual's stress levels are too high various systems for thinking and metabolic recovery are compromised. The signs of dysregulation can show up in the behaviour, mood attention and/or physical well-being of child, teen, or adult." Having self-control or responding to situations in an appropriate manner were part of what I previously understood self-regulation to be about. Clearly it goes beyond a sense of co...

Recently I hosted a day-long drop in session for teachers called " Leveraging Social Media ". In June of the last school year, I made a year-long commitment to the teachers on my staff who indicated in great numbers, that they wanted more in-house PD to support the various technology needs on staff. I decided that the last Tuesday of each month would be dedicated to Tech Tuesday. I don't allow for field trips to be booked on this day to eliminate the need for on-calls, which frees up all teachers to come to the conference room on their prep (yup, you read right... they agreed to it...) and receive bite-size PD that they would find practical, yet manageable. I don't determine the focus of these sessions. I use Google forms to generate ideas and the last round indicate a huge number of staff expressing interest in social media and how it could be integrated into the classroom. Staff expressed specific interest in Twitter and blogging and I added in Pinterest and Insta...

Chromebooks are all the rage at the moment. I  have one. I like it. It does what I need it to do. It fits in my purse. At my school, many seem to feel that now that they have access to a free device, they are "21st century teachers". It's sad really, because like all other trends in education, pedagogy always seems to fall by the wayside. Our school board has invested huge financial resources in devices because certain people feel that if we want teachers to integrate technology, there can't be any road blocks to access. Each school was given a class set of Chromebooks for teachers to use. I think the thought process behind it was that as long as the Board was providing access to the technology, teachers would be more inclined to use it. Instead, I have had requests for certain software to be loaded onto the device so that marks can be done at home. Teachers want the Microsoft Office applications loaded, not understanding (and clearly missing the point entirely) that ...