More Than a Building Manager!

I recently read “Mission Possible: Teaching Through Technology”, published in the National Association of Elementary School Principals. The heading Tech-Savvy Principal caught my eye – after all, that seems to be our goal! The article is worth reading, but I found another article that really captured my interest:

“Principals as Classroom Leaders” is excellent advice for those that desire to be more than a building manager! Carolyn Bunting offers realistic strategies for principals that seek to be on the front lines with their teachers. I can visualize the positive effects of the strategies she offers - book studies, areas of specialization, case studies, problem of the week, and talk sessions. I can only imagine what it would be like to work in that type of environment. She stated it best when she said, “Wanted are principals who are able to identify closely with the work of teachers and who are able to encourage and support them as they strive to improve their teaching”.

This article made me think about the principals I have worked under and the qualities that I most appreciated. One image keeps coming to mind……I stopped by school on a summer vacation day to find my principal up on a ladder painting a classroom (alongside the custodians). She was wearing a suit and heels underneath an oversized, paint-splattered t-shirt. When asked, she said that the kindergarten classroom needed painting and she had a few hours before her meeting at the board of education. She was a principal that was a part of whatever took place in the school. That is why it did not surprise me when she took a small SRA reading group herself – just like every other certified staff member in the school! Phone calls, parents, visitors, and problems had to wait during those 45 minutes every day because she was teaching.

What images come to your mind? What qualities do you admire, appreciate, and respect in a principal?