Principal Connections

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...

My partner and I were talking about what often consumes most of our time as VPs. It's not student discipline. It's not curriculum or assessment and evaluation (ha!). It's not our portfolios. Instead, we spent inordinate amounts of time dealing with the fallout from teacher mishaps and misbehaviour and find ourselves either putting out fires and having to follow up with more formal measure.  Sometimes this this has meant one-on-one conversations between the teacher and myself. Other times, the principal or superintendent has become involved due to the nature of the incident. I have even had to make a report with the Children's Aid Society - one of the WORST days of my professional life, I might add. (And this individual will never know, nor likely care how horribly I felt about making the call). Often, despite developing good relationships with teachers, they often forget that my role is two-fold: 1. To advocate for and protect students, and 2. To honour the coll...