Principal Connections

After reading about Steve Yee, the principal at Oakwood Collegiate, and the week he's having , I can't say I envy him one bit. How does one deal with a school community that was victim of an almost attack on one of the most infamous anniversaries in Canadian history? What's more, this story is all over the news... Today, principals are called on not only to be prepared to run schools under the most difficult of circumstances, but those circumstances are further complicated when the media gets involved because it multiplies the audience exponentially. Not that anyone is trying to hide anything, but with the number of tragic stories about schools in the news in recent years, it heightens pre-existing anxieties among parents and students alike.  How does he rally the support of his staff, who are very likely to be feeling scared and unsure, to help make the students feel safe at school? How does the principal win the confidence of parents so that they believe their child

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 hate confrontation. People who know me think that it's absolutely hilarious that I have the job that I have, especially since I encounter confrontation and conflict practically on a daily basis. I'm not laughing about that, trust me - especially when it comes to having those "courageous" conversations, whether it's with a teacher on staff or a parent. I've been thinking about the reasons why perhaps some administrators experience a little anxiety over the prospect of having these kinds of conversations and I've narrowed down my educated guesses to the following, in no particular order: 1. the need to be liked 2. fear of the unknown, namely the reaction of the individual 3. the desire to avoid the involvement of the union 4. physical and mental exhaustion 5. trying to find "the right time" 6. second guessing of one's own judgment If we don't have these conversations, the repercussions are worse, I think than any of the reasons

Tonight was Parent Teacher Interview and for the last few years, our Parent Council has paid for a staff dinner that is prepared by the students in our Hospitality program. This is so great on so many levels: 1. The appreciation shown by our Parent Council towards our staff goes a long way. 2. Eating a meal that is prepared by kids gives them a sense of pride and validation. 3. The ritual of sitting down and breaking bread together, if only a couple of times a year, is a very intimate way to build a strong sense of community with staff. Tonight, our Admin team decided to up the ante by serving. I think it's good to for staff to see Administrators showing their gratitude and respect for teachers and all that they do through simple acts of humility. Kind of takes the idea of servant leadership to a different level. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again. Having the outfit helps!

Today I spent the afternoon with my "mentee". I've been asked to mentor a new Vice Principal, T. I'm kind of nervous and excited and wondering what on earth can I offer this lovely woman??? We participated in a large group PD session and she asked me to hang back after it was over. We chatted about how her first few months in the role have been going. She was very clear that she had no regrets and was really enjoying the role. A lot of stories that she recounted were so familiar and her feelings and reflections certainly struck a chord with me. I could tell almost instantaneously that her heart was crafted for this position. She seems to be getting a handle on the knowledge as time goes on but she is rightly motivated. She is going to be a great advocate for kids. It's going to be my privilege to listen and ask or answer questions. I'm excited about checking in with her to see how she's doing. I'm honoured at how receptive she is to feedback beyond her

Today is Remembrance Day. I've always been a proponent of this day being a stat holiday because of the significance of what and who we are remembering. I think I'm beginning to change my mind. Each year, Canadian schools prepare observances of some sort that often involve some pageantry, a member of the armed forces who comes to speak to the kids and in our case as a Catholic school, an offering of prayers of thanksgiving for those who have gone before us to secure our freedom and those who so courageously have taken up that cross to do the same today. If not for this opportunity that kids get at school, would they take the time at 11am to sit in quiet contemplation? Would they care? I'm reminded of a video that I think I have shown every year that I have been in education. Do you know "Pittance of Time" by Terry Kelly? The song is based on a true story and video so beautifully illustrates it: As time goes on, what and who we remember evolves. The First World

There's nothing like a short-handed Friday... What can go wrong does. Trying to juggle a teacher evaluation in the middle of it all. Students are crying because of this drama or that and their mothers presenting themselves to defend their honour... You try to find humour and you end up shaking your head more often than not. Today was fun. My partner and I got called up to a classroom because there was an "intruder". We get to the class and see that there is a supply teacher in charge (fantastic...), every other kid out of uniform, one full-out snoring under a hoodie... and one who doesn't even go to our school! Yes, a complete stranger managed to find his way into the building and decided to "hang out" with his friend and thought it was perfectly ok. When we hauled him out into the hallway I asked him why I shouldn't call police. He was shaking and beginning to tear a bit so we escorted him out and told him not to come back. I called over to his high s

So I'm new to my school this year and one of the strategies that I found worked like a charm at my previous school when I just began was snooping. I use my mad ninja skills to quietly sneak into classrooms, labs and the library to see what kids are up and learning. I've had a lot of fun! I learned that in the Medieval period, artists used egg yolks as a binding element in tempera paint. I came upon a research session in our library where students were trying to convince me that Deet is NOT the root of all evil. I've walking in on students learning how to make French pastry and in sneaking into one of our hospitality classes, students gave me amazing pointers on how to make salmon. Seeing flipped classroom in actions and witnessing Holocaust memorial lessons makes me excited and serves to remind me that there are ALWAYS fantastic things happening in our schools across all curricular areas. My snooping usually results in catching the teacher totally off guard when he or she

Friday was Faith Day. It is intended as a break for our students, and a much-needed day of contemplation and thanksgiving for those of us who have answered our calling to accept our role as educators in this unique and separate systems. I feel fortunate everyday to work in an environment where I can freely live my faith and attempt to model for our kids what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ on earth. Days like these are especially important to me because they afford me the gift of time - time to reflect, to relate with the staff and even time to catch up with my principal on the drive up. This year's event was held at Loretto Maryholm (check out the view in the photo above) and while I will admit to have moaned and groaned about the distance away from the usual work location, I later appreciated the drive up because of the good, uninterrupted conversation that was had during the car ride up. We are so mired in the daily grind that we sometimes forget the importance of

Being a member of any team is always an interesting experience. Lots of different experiences. Lots of different philosophies. Different talents. Different approaches. I was very fortunate at my previous school to be a part of a team that was so naturally cohesive and part of the reason for that, I think, is that many of the different aspects that I began listing were so similar. We were on the same page all the time about everything everyday. It was weird, but awesome. This year I find myself on a different kind of team and I think that the Almighty figured I could stand to learn a thing or two. Each of us couldn't be more different. Everyday I have learned something new. Sometimes the lessons are harder to learn and accept but it's learning just the same. Today's Halloween experiment was proof that when we put our mind to it, we can be quite the unit. I think we have come to be very supportive of the collective. It's been an absolutely MENTAL two months, bogged down

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that often in my role, I have to tell parents a lot of things they don't want to hear - their child is failing multiple courses or that their son or daughter's poor choices have resulted in a suspension. I think that becoming a parent and growing in this role while simultaneously growing my role as Vice Principal has had an effect that even I underestimated. I deal in fact so naively, I try to trick myself into thinking that if I stick only to the facts, I won't allow any emotional reaction or prediction of outcome interfere with how I conduct myself. Typically, the fact-finding process is pretty straight-forward - interview kids, searching lockers, viewing camera footage... Secretly, I hope though, that I'm not going to have to break a mother's heart with what I find. The other day, I conducted an investigation into allegations of sexual assault. When the student and her mother came forward to see me, I could tell that

My grade 8 teacher was the late (and truly great) Classford Johnson. I remember his class like it was yesterday, including something he used to say on a daily basis: "I don't want to be loved, I want to be understood." As a kid, I knew what he was getting at. He wanted us to respect him, his rules and expectations. If we got along, great. If we didn't, it didn't matter to him as long as we respected him, his rules and his expectations. Most of us loved him. He was tough but fair. He appreciated a good joke and laughed with the rest of us when we something was funny. My memory of Mr. Johnson and his infamous phrase came into my head quite a lot in the days after I had bid farewell to the staff and students of the school I have just left. Admittedly, I was confused. As a kid and as a classroom teacher, I never really paid much mind to what people thought of me. I have always abided by the Golden Rule when it came to my relationships at school and hoped for the best.

I've been called a lot of names in my day, but today took the cake. Our very lovely chaplain paid me a visit today and called me "cyber Santa" . It just make my day. The name-calling came on the heels of some technological initiatives of mine that went 'live' today. This year, as a part of my own personal growth plan I plan to increase our school's online presence by expanding to various other social media, namely Facebook and Instagram. I also took over the existing school Twitter account and made a few adjustments. The aim is to promote our school with as many different types of social media as possible and provide parents and the wider community with options in how to learn more about what is going on at our school. In my efforts to help streamline administrative and operation procedures and processes, I had planned to introduce a number of paperless processes, managing the school's master calendar through Google Calendar, whereby each staff member has

I've only been an administrator for a short while, but I have met a number of Principals and Vice Principals over the past five years who still shudder at the thought of having a personal Facebook account or become suddenly overwhelmed by the prospect of engaging on Twitter. When I ask about the possibility of establishing accounts for their schools, the silence is sometimes deafening and the the looks are their faces are too priceless, almost as if to say aloud, "... but why would we do that ?" I'm not sure what it is. Are the age-old misconceptions about social media still pervasive? Is there anxiety about one's ideas floating around in cyberspace? Are we still afraid of the "evils" lurking amidst the users of the Internet? Are people simply stuck on the word "social"? News flash folks: education IS social (the last time I checked, there are an awful lot of people in the mix...). Knowledge IS a social construct. Literacy and Numeracy (an pre

This August will mark five years since my appointment as Vice Principal. I think it's fitting that I'm starting at a new school (even though I've worked with the principal at my previous school). As much as I will miss my previous school community, especially the kids, I'm glad this next stop on my journey has taken me to a new geographic locale within the school board. No doubt, I will need to learn, un-learn and possibly re-learn because no two schools are alike and most certainly, the admin team I'm working with is not what I am accustomed to. That all said, here is what I have learned (in by no means an exhaustive listing) in this role so far, and in no particular order of significance or importance: 1. One of my main roles is that of an advocate.     ... of the student who is struggling in a mainstream setting and needs access to any number of         resources to achieve some sense of stability ...     ... of the teacher who wants to take instructional ri

Perhaps it's the end-of-year melancholy that has caused me to be introspective or the emotion that comes with packing up and moving out of my school that has come to feel like home that is making me a bit ... mushy, for lack of a better word. I have been thinking about the last four and a half years A LOT over the last few days. With each box that I have packed, I have had to look at each item - every book, every keepsake... and have recalled the memories and people attached to them. I never realized the menagerie that I had amassed in my teeny tiny office. I've also been prompted to think about the many people who have supported the beginning of my career in administration, whether it was directly or indirectly and two people came to mind whom I have come to regard as my mentors. First is Lori. I have known Lori since I was in high school, where she taught English and was a teacher librarian, but I was never her student - then. She went on to become a Program Resource Teache

I'm not so sure I gave the notion of leaving a legacy at a school in which I have worked a second thought. Not until a couple of days ago when such a comment was made and I have been thinking about it ever since. I'm not entirely comfortable with this idea. The context: I was given the task of learning how to create the master timetable and determine room and resource allocation for the next school year. I doing so, I was finally about the have the freedom to move and shake things up about to create a cross-curricular Chromebook lab where all of the Tutorial and Learning Strategies courses will be taught. This class room is far away from the often looked-down-upon "Special Education wing" of the school. I thought it was important to: 1.) invest the resources in these courses in order to equip the students taking these course, who are often at risk in so many ways, with a solid set of real-world technology skills while they recover their credits, and 2.) make a s

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

So the Principal comes rushing into my office yesterday to look out my window. My office faces our lovely peace garden and I have always loved the view. This day was no exception. "Chris! There are two kids kissing on the benches of the peace garden and it's getting kinda racy. A lot of people have been watching from the windows." Great, I thought... Myself and the other Vice Principal thought it might be a good idea to take a stroll into the peace garden, looking as if we were investigating... something. We said 'hello' to the students as we passed by and at that point, there was a safe amount of distance between them. My colleague started pulling out weeds and I kept looking around. I can't imagine how completely and utterly ridiculous we looked, although my suspicions were confirmed by the staff who were watching the whole episode unfold from their office windows. At one point, we even walked up to the students and asked them if they saw anything out of the

I just received news yesterday morning that I will be transferring to a new school in September. I'm mostly excited beyond words. I'm finally getting a chance to work in a new community. I'm not expecting a "better" experience, just something different. I think I need to serve in another school in a completely different location before I begin to discern whether or not being a principal is for me. That's right, I still don't know. It's not that I'm unhappy in my job or have any regrets. I'm definitely not ready at this point to say with any certainty that I'm ready.  Anyway, there are a lot of mixed emotions. In as much as I thrive on change and new challenges, I'm sad to part ways with the families I have worked especially close with over the past four years. For anyone who doesn't believe that Administrators make real connections and differences in the lives of kids and families, you should look at my inbox.

Since 2008, I have been a member of my board's FNMI Steering Committee. It has been a highlight of my career. I have written curriculum, helped to influence policy, but more importantly, I have made friendships with wonderful colleagues and members our of local Native communities. Now as an VP, I have worked to promote our self-identification process and the various Native Studies courses. It never ceases to amaze me how people react when I share this experience. "How many of those kids can there possibly be in Catholic schools?" they ask. It doesn't really matter. Read the MOE policy framework: this good work benefits all kids and I'm proud to be a part of a movement that promotes cultural sensitivity and awareness, and fosters communication between two historically estranged communities, all in the interest of doing what is best for kids. Today, I attended what I thought would be our last committee meeting of the year and instead, we were surprised with a drum m

Couldn't have said it better myself... 

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 am who I am...

http://visual.ly/what-difference-between-management-leadership I found this interesting infographic on Pinterest. Thought I'd share.

It's 2016. The 21st century has been underway for 16 years now. SO WHEN DO WE STOP CALLING "IT" 21ST CENTURY LEARNING??? Pedagogically speaking, I understand the need to distinguish this century from the previous ones collectively as the needs of the world are rapidly changing and students need to be prepared to participate in the world with a very specific skill set. Schooling must be rooted in innovation, creativity and critical thinking to name a few, I also get that school boards weren't in sync with these needs at the turn of the century. I can personally attest to that because it was the reason why I left my position in the curriculum department at my school board in 2010. Despite all the research I was doing and the in-servicing I was providing that was causing a lot of people to think, system leaders weren't ready to hear about this and after the umpteenth kick under the table, I returned to the classroom to completely overhaul my own practice for t

I just learned about Whisper. Do you know about this app? It allows users to combine images with text and post anonymously. Naturally there's a whole lot of different kinds of posts rated G-X. It is what it is but as an appreciator of clever memes there's a lot of potential as users can use stock images or upload images of their choice. Here's one of my first cracks at it:

Remember the film, Lean on Me ? Morgan Freeman plays the no-nonsense principal Joe Clark and completely transforms the toxic culture of an inner city high school. This was always one of my favourite scenes, especially the interaction with the teacher...

I spent my March Break hanging out with my little one. It's amazing how much perspective crayons, Play Doh, playing with dolls, watching Disney in your pjs and having some girl time with my almost four year old (gasp!) can bring. I will definitely endeavour to remind myself of the sense of this temporary serenity when it's back to the grindstone on Monday. This profession can become all too consuming if we lose sight of what's important. It was nice to have enough time and enough energy to give all the attention that was needed, instead of fighting fatigue and worrying about what lay ahead at school the next day. My daughter is a priority and sometimes I'm not so sure she feels that way, even though she's as young as she is. The truth is that being a mom of a young child in this role emphasizes the fact (and I know I'll get crucified for this...) that us women simply cannot have it all. There is a tremendous cost, usually in the form of time - away from home du

I saw this image on Facebook this evening (couldn't for the life of me find where it originated from) and it caused me to pause and think. Administrators have a lot of resources at their disposal and can mobilize people and resources to address issues of injustice. Sometimes we fund-raise. Sometimes we provide direct financial assistance. We approve events like food drives and electronic recycling programs. Other times we reach out to community partners like CCAC or The Children's Aid Society. This is the only glory this position affords, contrary to popular belief. There's no proper monetary compensation. There aren't a whole lot of thank yous to be had, but when you have had a hand in making even the slightest contribution to raising awareness and moving a community to care about other beyond the four walls of the school, then you have modelled for staff and students that no matter what path they take in life, we are all called to look after the least. Call it a mo