The Hungry Educator

1. "It's just the kids and I." After my last post in February, I set out to make some changes because I realized that the staff did not feel empowered  and that change was necessary in order to move forward. As I searched for ways to empower the staff it became evident that some teacher's strengths were being overlooked. The methodology and pedagogy behind technology in the classroom are new to many teachers in my school.  It turns out that there are several staff members that can give digital literacy & pedagogy workshops to their colleagues. Their willingness to do so provided opportunities for staff to feel empowered and proved to be successful. Why did I bring this up? Well, it opened the lines of communication amongst staff members and enabled them to collaborate. Unit planning no longer takes place in isolation; collaboration is becoming more common place. If someone would have asked me if this kind of collaboration could occur two years ago I would have ...

This month's question was "What are ways that you are INTENTIONAL in allowing your staff to feel empowered?" To be honest, I have not spent much time thinking about that previous to this post. My days seem to be filled with putting out 'fires', making plans for students/staff/parents, and supporting learning from one moment to the next. So I asked a few staff members what they thought. Two questions came to mind: 1) Do you ever feel empowered? If yes, when? How do you use the power or leadership opportunity that has been made possible? 2) What can I do to facilitate opportunities for staff to feel that they are empowered? Interestingly enough, the majority of the responses for #1 stated that they do not feel empowered. The responses were sad, but sadly not shocking. I thought that I had given a few staff members opportunities to assert themselves as leaders, but this did not come across from their perspectives. A hard pill to swallow, but definitely food fo...

As a new administrator I keep wondering, "How can I do all that needs to be done in the hours that I have? Is it possible to get everything done? How do others do it?" Late hours, lack of sleep, and paper work seem to pile up. I am sure that many of you have been in this position at one time or another. Making lists, scheduling activities, and doing work during non-student hours are great strategies but, in the end I was still unable to achieved all that I set out to do by the end of the day. I then decided to refelct on how I spend my time. I quickly realized that I was becoming a "Yes-How-Can-I-Help-You-Right-Away-Leader". This was the main reason that I was not achieving my daily goals. I needed to come up with a better system that did not require me to do everything, all the time, right away. This means that I would need to look beyond the list to come up with a viable solution. Basically a prioritizing system that is basic enough for me to put into practice...