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The Need to Read

I strongly encourage all Administrators to join organizations that promote ongoing professional learning and reading. It is very easy to fall out of the habit of taking up PD to stay current with the prevailing pedagogies and instructional practices. As instructional leaders we have an obligation to model this for teachers, who model it for students. 

In purchasing a membership to ASCD, I not only receive great newsletters and access to (virtual) PD, I also receive books - ones that you can touch and old and highlight all over and make margin notes in... old school! My first read is by Marilee Sprenger, Social Emotional Learning and the Brain. This is a perfect fit for leading and Alternative Education Program. The hope it to easy-to-implement resources that contain concrete strategies for my staff to use to support the complex needs of the students in our school. I love to be able to make these sorts of offerings. I strongly believe that it sends a clear message that I understand the magnitude of the work that my teachers do. It's also a reminder to everyone the the Principal is STILL a teacher. I think sometimes Ps and VPs need that reminder too... We can't have expectations if we don't model or engage.

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