When you stop and reflect upon what is expected from you each and every day in your building, do you sometimes get overwhelmed? From instruction to safety/security to helping teachers and students, responding to parent concerns, to time spent in seemingly endless meetings and nights away from home due to athletics and the list goes on. Most of us do not take the time to review all of our roles and responsibilities as there really is little time left to do so. Quite frankly if you did, you may wonder why you do what you do. The challenges continue daily, but so do the rewards.
Principals are aware of what is necessary and important for leadership and proper management in their school. Effective principals all demonstrate the same general traits.
Instructional leader – You are the go-to person regarding sound instructional practices and work hard to maintain these practices in your staff.
Create a vision – A plan for learning is developed and you stick to it and keep it in your focus by your established practices.
Support excellent teachers and teaching – You encourage staff to participate in relevant professional development that supports the vision established by you.
Be visible – Good building leaders are visible leaders. The principals of earlier decades served as building managers and as facilitators, and spent much of their time in the office. Maintaining order and overseeing the school operations were the primary functions. Instruction was important, but it did not have the close scrutiny that administrators experience now. Our current level of accountability in all facets of our job require that the principal is “out and about” during the school day to monitor the staff and students and to gauge the mood of the students in hallways, cafeterias, and classrooms. Student interactions may vary due just to the time of day. Student arrival time in the mornings are especially critical times for observation by administrators. Students often bring issues to school that have developed overnight through telephone, email or the variety of social media. This early morning time can be a prime time for arguments and altercations to begin and monitoring by administrators is very important. Class change times during the day need monitoring by administrators as well as your presence in classrooms during the day. Students need to feel a level of comfort that comes from your visibility and your efforts to greet and speak to them. Being visible in your building takes dedication and a commitment to get away from your paperwork and computer to put yourself “out there” with your students and staff. If visibility in your school needs a boost, then you are the one who will need to get it done. It does pay off when you see your students in the hallways and the cafeteria and they recognize you and speak to you. Increase your visibility and you will find that it does make a change in school climate.
