Saturday, August 20, 2011

Principals Who Are Classroom Teachers: Should This Be Common Practice?

This fall, I return to the classroom. Well, partially return to the classroom. I am going to be teaching Theater Arts this year, and serve as school principal. I've heard all the arguments over the years about administrators returning to the classroom to teach once in a while. The argument usually goes that administrators sometimes forget what it's like to face a classroom full of students. They need to return to the classroom once in a while as a refresher and reminder. There may have been times I've thought the same thing. After being in the role of an administrator for a few years now, I understand why that is not always possible. Still, I am both apprehensive and excited about the prospect of facing a group of students again. The apprehension comes from wondering whether my six years or so out of the classroom have made me forget all those little things every good teacher never seems to forget. The excitement comes from being able to forge teacher-relationships with students instead of administrator relationships, and there is a difference.

This year I want to try to maximize my professional learning by engaging in some of the following:

  • Use Edmodo: I have been fascinated with the possibilities of this social media-like tool for over a year now. The teachers at my school all engage in its use. I look forward to using and learning about it from a classroom teacher's perspective. Edmodo did not exist when I left the classroom 5 years ago.
  • Use Electronic Portfolios: Since Theater Arts is both performance-based and academic, I look forward to helping students assemble a "professional portfolio" demonstrating what they've learned from our class this year.
  • Use Project-Based Learning: I used PBL sometimes 5 years ago, but I look forward to bringing it central to my classroom practice.
  • Prove I Can Still Teach: I loved being a teacher. It was with some reluctance I even entered an administration degree program. Someone convinced me that I could have a greater impact on students in the role of principal.
Ultimately though, is it a good thing for school-level administrators to also be teachers? Can you be both school leader and faculty teacher too? What do you think? Thoughts welcome.

8 comments:

  1. I think it is great for all the reasons you stated. I would not recommend it every year. Done every 3-5 years I think it will make you a better administrator to your students and your teachers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I was in grad school, one of my professors said this: "Don't pick a school, pick a principal." You're the type of principal I would pick. Since I joined Twitter, you have directed me to many excellent links and information about teaching. Thanks for your willingness to return to the classroom. It's a wonderful example.

    Alaiyo
    (Twitter friend)

    ReplyDelete
  3. How much time do/can you spend observing your teachers? Will this take away from that? Who will cover for you and how likely are you to be interrupted due to a need for the principal? Anything that builds real collaboration is good. Beware of unintended consequences, especially those that may manifest slowly or as this progresses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great questions! I spend as much time as I can observing. I actually visit classrooms at least every other day for 5 minutes or so. I will complete the mandatory observations and also walkthroughs. No one is assigned to cover for me in the event that a "principal" is needed. Most administrative problems will wait until I've concluded my teaching. In fact, I haven't found anything yet that just couldn't wait until after my class. My parents and entire educational community knows that I am teaching during that block of time, so they manage until such time I can attend to their needs. It's just one more ball to juggle in the air.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I believe all administrators especially those at the district level who have heavily insulated themselves from the realities of the classroom should have to teach for 10 days (this could be split into two 5 day segments) every year as part of their professional development. There are too many administrators who issue edicts and policies with little knowledge of the realities of today’s classroom. We too often forget all that goes into teaching once we leave the classroom.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is easy for that to happen when anyone, not just administrators, move out of the classroom into other school and district roles. My year-long experience at teaching drama last year was a strong reminder to me about all the things I learned from being a classroom teacher for 16 years. Returning to teaching in some manner is an excellent way for administrators to recoup some of that experience. The only drawback to some administrators returning to the classroom is that they were never very good teachers to begin with. That begs the question of whether they can be good administrators or not, or at least instructional leaders. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

      Delete
  6. It was fascinating to read about your plan to teach a course while being the principal at the same time. As a principal, I always intended to do that too, but it took me a few years before I got around to it. I was principal of an elementary school, so the context was a bit different than yours. I did a project-based learning unit with one of my 6th grade classes. This didn't require me to work with them every single day. We designed and co-planned the unit together and there were periods when they could make progress without me. Ultimately, I was probably in the classroom an average of two days per week over 6 or 7 weeks. It was a terrific experience and accomplished many goals simultaneously.

    My other experience didn't work out as well as I would have liked. We needed to have one of the dreaded "combo" 5th-6th grade classes. To solve a logistical problem, and give myself another chance to teach, I said I'd teach social studies for the 5th graders in that class. I'd taught fifth grade for 8 years during my 15 year teaching career. I love U.S. history and social studies in general; it's a content area strength of mine. How could this go wrong? Easy, and it did. There were lots of complications, not the least of which was time. In my first attempt with the 6th grade project, there was very little for me to do when I was not with the kids. We planned and worked while we were together and they could work under their teacher's supervision when I was absent. With the 5th grade social studies class, on the other hand, I was faced with the whole curriculum and I really needed to spend time outside of class on planning and just thinking about the class, but the rest of my job would consume me and I'd be back the next day teaching on the fly. In retrospect, I think I could have founds ways to make a success of that experience, however, if I could have carved out at least a decent amount of time to devote to solving the problems.

    Thank you for the opportunity to reflect upon and share my own experience!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I found the preparation for class along with the duties of being a principal problematic as well. There were multiple times I literally needed to be in three places at once, and obviously I could not. It worked out OK, but there were also times when because of my administrator duties, I know the students did not get the attention they deserved. One such occasion was when I had to deal with a disciplinary situation that required my presence elsewhere. I had to change my class plans, get someone to cover the class so that I could take care of that major issue. It is a exercise in juggling lots of balls at once. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

      Delete