{"id":1995,"date":"2013-01-31T09:57:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T14:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.vassp.org\/?p=1995"},"modified":"2013-01-31T09:57:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T14:57:14","slug":"mentoring-for-principals-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/?p=1995","title":{"rendered":"Mentoring For  Principals : A Good Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you moved into the role as principal in\u00a0 your school(s), did you at any time wish that you had a mentor who could be used as a sounding board for your ideas and policies, actions or programs and just simply for decisions for which you need input?\u00a0 It should be helpful to have a mentor , but not all principals have this opportunity for assistance when they begin their role in this position.\u00a0 Unfortunately, some school divisions just\u00a0use handbooks as a mentor &#8220;device&#8221; for new principals. At times, having an experienced professional educator who you can trust to provide input and advice could help save time and provide assurance of competence for a new principal.\u00a0 As an assistant principal, the guidance and input of the building principal should serve as a mentoring process and\u00a0be a part of the AP&#8217;s\u00a0leadership development. \u00a0This relationship, if it is positive, gives the AP the mentoring\u00a0which is needed to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>It would seem then\u00a0that\u00a0 for \u00a0effective school divisions to attract effective administrators, one solution would be to provide mentors. In the case of a new or inexperienced\u00a0school leader, there are several critical issues that need to be faced and for which a mentor would be helpful.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Complex job with many responsibilities:<\/span> You are the Leader, the one person that everyone, from parents to staff to superintendents turn to for decisions. The old phrase, &#8220;It&#8217;s lonely at the top&#8221; is so very true. You will certainly understand this phrase when you face your first overall, encompassing decision that only you can make. A mentor can help with after decision feedback if needed.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Learning curve:<\/span>\u00a0 You can certainly use assistance from a mentor to help you learn how to make changes, sometimes fairly quickly. One thought to keep in mind what is tried and true = OPE (Other Person&#8217;s Experiences).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Isolation<\/span>: When you take this position, you are the position. A mentor can help by lending an ear\u00a0and the voice of experience when issues arise.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Skills<\/span>:\u00a0 There are several skills a mentor can introduce to a new principal:\u00a0 Delegation &#8211; you cannot do it alone: Time Management &#8211; be sure to eat lunch daily, your body&#8217;s stress levels will build if you do not take a break in the middle of the day. Remember, you are not being paid to ruin your health; Ability to see the &#8220;Big Picture&#8221;- step back and see how a crisis can be handled in light of past\/future actions; Dealing with all kinds of people &#8211; it is helpful if your mentor knows the school community at large and where the &#8220;personalities&#8221; come from;\u00a0Instructional Leadership\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0 a mentor can help you learn how to trust and rely on your staff to get things done for learning. They will do it, just give them a chance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In smaller school divisions, mentoring may take place with a one to one relationship. In large school divisions where there may be multiple principal vacancies, group mentoring would be a potential source of skill sharing and coaching.\u00a0 One advantage to group mentoring would be the access the prote&#8217;ge&#8217;es have to listen to each others successes and failures.\u00a0 Again, it helps to know you are not alone.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, mentoring for principals provides stability and creates a support system, either one-on-one experiences or in groups. Knowing that one has a &#8220;coach&#8221; to speak to in times of uncertainty helps new principals adapt much more quickly to the position and be much more confident in their ability to survive that first year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you moved into the role as principal in\u00a0 your school(s), did you at any time wish that you had a mentor who could be used as a sounding board for your ideas and policies, actions or programs and just simply for decisions for which you need input?\u00a0 It should be helpful to have a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/?p=1995\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[200],"class_list":["post-1995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home","tag-mentors-for-principals","item-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1995"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2006,"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions\/2006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.vassp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}