Six Ways to Endear Yourself to Your Principal
October 6th, 2010 By: Diane Trim in Administration, Articles, Learning Community
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Most of your contact with your principal happens outside of your formal evaluations, so my advice is to try to make every meeting with your principal a positive one, even if it’s just a casual word in the hallway or a faculty meeting. Let’s face it: her opinion of you and your teaching extends beyond your classroom doors and bell schedule. I’m not saying to ingratiate yourself to your principal, but I am saying that it’s wise for her to form an opinion of you as professional and competent – before she sets foot in your room with a clipboard and an evaluation form.
1. Respect her time. I’m pretty sure lightening will strike me down for this as I type, but try hard to be on time for everything. If you’re the one who shows up late to every faculty meeting, you’ll stick out in your principal’s mind, but not in a good way. If she schedules a meeting with you, be prompt. If she asks you do to something, do it as soon as you return to your classroom. When you drop in on her during your prep period, always ask if it’s a good time to talk or if she has five minutes to talk. If she doesn’t have a spare minute, tell her you’ll send her a meeting request instead.
2. Have positive things to say. It’s really smart to have something nice to say to your principal every time you see her. I’m not saying you should complement her on her nice jacket, but you should have some bit of good news for her. Maybe one of your students who has been struggling has had a really good week. If you witnessed a couple of students help another pick up the books she dropped, pass that on. When the teacher down the hall watches your class for you, so you can run to the restroom, let your principal know that, too.
3. Pay attention. When your principal calls a faculty meeting, don’t be one of those teachers who is correcting papers. It just looks bad. If the group at your library table is whispering and talking, don’t participate in their hushed conversations and don’t sit with them next time.
4. Keep your kids in the classroom. Principals respect teachers who keep their students in the classroom, on task, and learning. Kids who are walking the halls unsupervised are often looking for something better to do than factor polynomials. If they’re your students who are slow-motion walking outside the closed study hall, the principal won’t be impressed. Better to limit passes judiciously than to have your students roaming the halls.
5. Dot your i’s. All of your contact with the school office should be professional. When you send a student to the office on a referral, make sure you’ve listed all the phone calls you’ve made to the student’s parent, all the ways you’ve tried to fix the problem, any detentions the student has served, and why the student can’t remain in class that day. The more complete your referral form, the less work you make for your principal and the more opportunities she has to look well informed when talking to parents. You want your principal to stand behind you and she wants to talk to parents intelligently. When your principal sees one of your referral forms, you want her to think how easy you’ve made her job.
6. Do your homework. If someone in the office requests paperwork from you, send it back right away. Have the reputation in the office as the first person to meet a deadline. The office administrative assistants have a lot of contact with your boss, the principal. Make sure your reputation with them is that you’re responsive and someone who meets deadlines and exceeds expectations.
The bottom line is to be professional in all your dealings with your principal. That’s true of parent interaction and even interaction with your students. Good work habits like having a positive attitude, meeting deadlines, and doing good work will endear you to any boss. But, having these good habits will endear you to your principal and save her time, which will give her a favorable impression of you long before she enters your classroom for your evaluation.
How about you? What do you do to make sure that your relationship with your principal is a good one? Is that something that teachers should be concerned about or should we just focus on the classroom and our students’ results? Share your opinions in the comments.
Tags: evaluation, principal, teacher evaluation
15 comments:
The list of recommendations were basic rules that should be observed automatically by the teachers involved. It doesn't hurt to have refreshers to remind us what is expected as professionals.
The idea that we teach in a professional vacuum is naive. These are basic business rules adaptable for all fields. Nothing here is burdensome or distracting from our core purpose here, to educate. It would be nice if we treated one another with a little more kindness as well.
I come from a business world where communication is critical. So I try my best to communicate with others. Some people may take some of these comments as negatives but that is not the case at all. I try to be very positive about the school to everyone and work my tail off to do as much as I can for the school and to be the best teacher I can be. I think teachers can not be so wrapped up in their own classroom to not be willing to assist other teachers, especially when at a school like ours we do not always get the support or appreciation from the parents. We need to be willing to share ideas and communicate with each other, this includes teachers, administators, everyone at the school.
One of the situation among administrators and staff that creates problems is ambiguity.
I would like to share some tips in how to deal with ambiguity: (just follow this link)
http://www.ehow.com/how_4476437_deal-effectively-ambiguity-work.html
Communication is the key. When one
doesn't know what is going on then problems will occur. We should always work as a team, not as seperate groups for the common goal, but when there is this thing call AYP staring you in the face, I suppose we just hybernate in the classroom and try to produce positive results.
As a former police/Detention officer I have met and dealt with all types of people professional and non. The lack of communication around our building is disheartening on many levels. Many times teachers who do participate in many extracurricular activities don't even bother asking for assistance from their co-workers because of the fear of rejection. I believe once we begin to see ourselves as a family and not 60+ individuals then we will start to see a change. Let's first start by speaking to each other in the hallway.
It is important that everyone focus on the student body and not just the students that are in the classroom everyday. These other students may end up in your class at some point. In order to achieve success there has to be communication. We are in a professional environment which means that we don't all have to be the best of friends, but we all get along and work together as a team. I personally just keep the principal and all parties involved updated with important information that may affect the school as a whole.
The posted article/blog points out all that we should be doing not just to impress our principal but because we are professionals. Sadly in our profession many lack that professionalism. I think one reason teachers have to fight so hard for “professional” recognition or status is we allow too much unprofessional behavior to go on and on and on. In the corporate world when you come to work late several time you get fired. You get fired in the corporate world when reports, projects, and other assigned duties are not done on time or correctly. I do not believe in pay for performance for teachers as to many variables are out of our control, but I do believe we need to do more to bring teaching to a higher professional level. Those who cannot reach the level of professionalism that should be found in every school in every state should be shown the door. All they do is make the job harder for the other teachers. We will never be professionals or recognized as such until our profession becomes “professional”. No one is perfect all the time and I understand that but, ask a few questions of yourself and your fellow teachers.
How many of us come to work late on a regular basses?
How many of us do not follow the 15/15 rule?
How many of us beat the kids out the door in the afternoons?
How many of us give “free days”?
How many of us never read the emails?
These few questions alone clearly show we have a real lack of professionalism at Spencer?
My question to all is how can we make it better? I believe until we have order, structure, and self discipline in our professional lives we will never have order, structure, and self discipline in all our students. These three things are the keys to making AYP.
Our first evaluation should not be from Mr. Griffin, but from a close look at ourselves as to how we can do better. I include myself in that statement. No one is free from the need to improve with everyday.
C. E. Sneed
I agree with the other comments that these are basic business rules adaptable for all fields. Often we get caught up in the big picture, or the overall goal, that we tend to forget the small things that really matter; such as being kind or respectable. We're fortunate that our principal is approachable and straightforward. Mr. Valdes's link had some interesting points that should be taken to heart as well, good food for thought.
I agree with the previous comments that this list of rules should occur automatically in any professional working environment. If we don't see ourselves as professionals no one else will either. So we need to take a close look at our own behavior and identify areas of deficiency and work to improve those areas. Professionals self evaluate without relying solely on judgment from supervisors.
"All we need is love"
I agree that these rules are not only essential in the education profession but in other career fields as well. I also agree that we should all focus on developing professionalism and making sure we are respectful and kind to all of our colleagues. We are all striving toward the same goal.
I agree with several of the comments listed here. What we as educators have to understand is that we have to work togther for the betterment of our Profession. Education and Teaching is under attack by most dangerous, less informed elements in our society. Notice, we often receive very little condemation for parents but from those who have little at risk in this. We also have to realize that so much is tied to so little. The importance of tests, and testing has its place in education but it is only one-third of what we do. So, in effect, we have to emphasize testing to this madness subsides.
c. blake
Teachers are Professionals and should conduct themselves accordingly in every aspect of the job. I believe that by doing my job and being professional, I will help my Principal to do a better job.
I think that you should do you job. Doing your job, makes his job easier.
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