First year principals may have many struggles in the beginning of the year. First, teachers might not be receptive to a new principal, especially a young one. I have been a teacher for eight years and every time there is a leadership change, many teachers are hesitant. I have heard many older teachers complain that young administrators do not have the experience needed to successfully run a school. In order to effectively deal with this situation, I would start out by treating the staff with respect and trying to open up communication. I would consider holding individual meetings with each teacher to find out how long they have been teaching, where they taught, what grade levels, etc... In order the establish respect, I will make sure that the former administrators and their policies are never bad mouthed. Even if I disagree with the way things were done in the past, I will not put them down.
Another issue that new principals may face is dealing with resistance when initiating change. Personally, I feel that during the first year, major changes should not be implemented. I need time to see how the building, teachers and current policies work. After a year, if there are changes I would like to make or issues that I would like to research and review, I will form teams that will involve all stakeholders to look at an issue, analyze data, review research and make decisions. By including all necessary stakeholders and analyzing data and reviewing research, I think the staff will be more receptive to change.
Finally, I think that new administrators need to know their role and keep themselves in check. Leading a school is not a one person job. Principals facilitate change and learning and with the support and experience of others, run the building. I have watched first year principals, who just left the classroom, become very power hungry and forget that effective leaders do not rule with an iron fist.
This course has prepared me in many ways. It has taught me the importance of working as a team. Like I stated earlier, running a school is not a one person job. Once on a team data needs to be analyzed, research based strategies need to be reviewed, resources need to inventoried and managed, budgets need to be balanced and goals, visions and plans need to be developed to meet the needs of the students. This course has taught me all of the aspects that go into making these decisions and has provided me with resources, such as the School 2.0 Toolkit to help me work with a team and make appropriate decisions. My team mates shared many ways in which technology can be used to communicate information, such as podcasts and collaborate learning such as online professional learning communities using Web 2.0 tools, such as Wikispaces and blogs. Finally, I was constantly reflecting and building in time for the team to meet, review and revise plans if necessary. Just because a plan looks good on paper, that does not mean that the implementation of the plan will be successful. If a plan is not working, the team needs to reconvene and determine if any changes should be made. I feel that this experience will help me lead a school in the 21st century.
Once again, I believe that leading a school is a group effort. Parents, teachers, administrators at all levels, community members and students should be a part of the decision making process. My intervention plan includes all of these stakeholders in the decision making process. More importantly though, it includes all stakeholders in the implementation. Parents and community members will be encouraged to work as classroom volunteers and student mentors. Parents, teachers and community members will participate in and lead meetings, trainings, workshops and share information at job fairs, community fairs, culture fairs and family fun nights. Students will have regular meetings with me to discuss the vision of our school and how technology is being used and how it can be used more effectively. I believe that everyone has an important role to play in the making this plan a success.
