Maintaining Personal Goals

I started this year with three goals for myself and my administrative team. They are to be visible, effective evaluators, and to have critical conversations. These goals are easy to uphold and meet at the beginning of the year, but as we progress the states are great and the demands greater.

Visibility takes time away from the paper work associated with discipline and evaluations. Evaluations take away from visibility. Taking time to address situations and have the critical conversations takes away from being visible and parts of the evaluation process. I didn't realize that the 3 goals would work against one another. So, how does a leader make these work in harmony?

1. How does an administrator maximize their visibility in a minimal amount of time?
There are times in the day that we must be out. Lunch, exchange times, and am & pm bus duties. When lunch duty ends take the long way back to the office. Go outside and walk around the building and enter an unexpected door. On our campus we have 14 modular classrooms and a weight room outside the traditional walls.
2. How does an administrator complete evaluations without jeopardizing the other goals?
Being an effective evaluator of talent and teaching is a critical skill for an administrator. Focus your efforts on items that are non-negotiable. In the prior to the mid 90's this was probably classroom management. Although this is important, I believe instructional strategies implemented is a higher priority for teachers. Not all the teachers have problems that negatively effect the climate and culture. Help those that are willing to be receptive to constructive criticism.
3. How do you have the critical conversations so they don't take away too much time and take away from the focus on evaluations?
Nip it in the bud. The critical conversation isn't about you and the reluctancy that you have to tell someone they are doing something wrong. Focus on the fault, describe it in detail, and give the person the opportunity to fix the behavior. Don't wait until tomorrow, it will cause you to miss out on time for other duties.

Good luck. It is always wise to have goals, be able to articulate them, and evaluate the effectiveness of your work.

Settling In

The first two weeks of school are behind us, and we are beginning to settle in for the school year. The push for the new administration to to be visible (Goal 1 for myself), and we have made that happen. Teachers are excited that we are in the hall, in the cafeteria, and visiting the their classrooms. Students know we are around. The next step will be focusing on the instruction and having effective evaluations for the staff. Currently, we are doing walk-throughs, but the more formal evaluation process will begin October 1.

Setting the table for success is tough. We are telling teachers are expectations and starting to follow through with them. Changing the metality of surviving the room to thriving in the room is hard. I get discouraged, as do my leadership team. But, if we are patient and continue to deliver the message, I know it can be done. The plan is simplistic and the articulation and the implementation of it are critical. Buy-in will be high. I know we can rally the staff and begin to make strides to overall success.

I look forward to writing in this blog about the good things that are going on at GMHS. Good things are being said, now the challenge is to change the attitude that we are great and we can be the best!