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.

Stress Added

September 25th, my wife gave birth to our third child. We are an excited family, and welcome him to our family. My daughters absolutely love and adore him. Now, how do I keep the momentum that was created in the first month from home?

I have decide to take 7-10 days from work to enjoy and assist with him at home. This means I have missed out homecoming week festivities, including the dance, but was able to view nearly two quaters of our football victory. I will miss some inportant meetings while I am out, and don't know how to balance the new family with the new job.

Keeping the expectations high is important. I am relying on a great set of assistant principals to carry the flag, to keep the ball rolling, and to fight the good fight. I know they can do it.

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!

Second Monday

Today marked the second Monday of the school year. I must say our school has existed in a state of confusion. I cannot pinpoint many things that have a clear and concise method for occuring. The only thing I know is that our staff has to create or recreate items on a daily basis. I believe this is due to continuous cuts made over the course of a decade. However, we do not allow that to be an excuse for not getting the job done.

We have begun our walk-throughs, and we are seeing some positives. However, there are many teaching strategies that need work. Lecturing is dominating our classrooms and coupling that with worksheets doesn't sit well. We still have a long way to go with the curriculum needs of our school.

Visibility is at the forefront of our administrative efforts. I, along with my assistant principals, have been in every classroom multiple times. Seeing is believing, and I think our staff is ready to open their doors and ask for assistance in delivering their content.

I think of this school year much like my daughter's room. Sure it is messy, but that is just her floor that is distraught. The room is still in good shape. After some tidying up, her room will shine. Our school is messy with some out-of-date practices and methods, but with some collaboration and discussion we will too shine.

Ready or Not, Here They Come!

The teachers that is! Our teachers embark on the 2010-2011 school year tomorrow. They will report to school tomorrow and participate in one of four PD opportunities. In the afternoon, our administrative staff will be working with them in their Professional Learning Communities (PLC). We are going to change the way we operate, and for the better. Too many times teachers to work independently, and miss out on all the core knowledge the other teachers possess. The TEAM approach, Together Everyone Achieves More, is going to be the Groveport Madison HS way.

Is this change the way we in education see it? Working together, instead of in isolation? Will teachers conform and embrace this, or will they be stubborn and obstinent? Isn't collaboration the natural way to learn?

Time. Our teachers will be given time to collaborate. They will have an administrator that will be on their team. Data will be collected and displayed. Curriculum will be reviewed and refined. And, students will achieve more. Teachers will be professionally rewarded and satisfied. Administrators will be heralded for leading change and increased achievement. But, in the end, it will be the teachers working together on the same side, with the same goals that will make the difference.

Tomorrow will be a new day!

Back to School

The administrative team along with the guidance staff start back to school tomorrow. It has been a rough summer to be honest. Closing out the school year never had an end to it. The main office and guidance office were tiled. This caused all of us to pack away items that may have been needed to review for the summer. Enough complaining!!

I am anxious to get this started. I feel that this is the year to make significant gains in student achievement. Our administrative staff is new and excited to get working and couple them with our veteran guidance staff and excellent administrative assistants, and I am pleased to be in this situation.

We are going to tackle this year with a simplistic plan that takes alot of dedication and focus. We will collaborate in Professional Learning Communities and carry the mission of "Every student, every lesson, everyday!"

Credit Recovery Program Recognized

Our local NBC News affiliate came out today to do an interview with me. Tanya Hutchins, Education Reporter, asked me about our credit recovery program. I think she di a nice job with the piece. It is always helpful to provide students with multiple opportunities to succeed. Especially, since we know how important a high school diploma is for future growth.