But I'm here to tell you that I think you can do this job. Do you want to make a difference? Do you want to impact the future? Then you can do this job. Do you care about kids? Do you believe that every kid can learn and grow? Then you can do this job. We need more educators who want to do this job. So let me tell you about a typical day in the life of a principal. (Ok, there is no typical day so this is just a hypothetical schedule that comes pretty close to representing what a day looks like.)
5:00 am - Alarm goes off. Some days I get up and go into auto-pilot getting ready for the day. And then on some days...I hit snooze too many times. During my first few years as an admin, I used to roll out of bed and immediately check email. I have learned that my day starts better and any email I have in my inbox can wait at least a few more hours.
6:00 am - If my daughter wakes up, then I try to spend some time with her, maybe even give in to getting to work later than normal so I can be the one to drop her off at daycare at 7:30. During my drive, listen to messages on Voxer or listen to a book I have on Audible.
7:00 am - If I was able to sneak out of the house while everyone else was asleep, then I arrive at work early so I can have some uninterrupted time. Once 8:00 rolls around, there is no more uninterrupted time.
8:30 am - Meet with a teacher to help her process how to respond to a parent email received last night. During that meeting, multi-task and develop a coverage schedule because there are teachers and paras who are out but there are no subs available. Head out to the lobby to welcome kids to school and give out high fives.
9:10 am - Practice the announcements with 4th graders and help them pronounce some difficult last names for birthday announcements. Do the announcements and come over the loud speaker to tell the school about an upcoming event.
9:15 - Meet with the parent that showed up and asked if you had some free time to meet because they have some concerns. During that meeting, change your schedule so that you can cover one of the specials that does not have a sub.
9:45 - Divide and conquer with your assistant principal. Two bus incident reports came in and you need to investigate and meet with several students to determine what exactly happened and if a consequence is needed.
10:00 - Teach an art class to 3rd graders.
10:45 - Pop into a kindergarten classroom to squeeze in a mini observation that you had originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon but had to move to a different day and time.
11:00 - Respond to a walkie talkie call from the playground to help a student transition in to lunch.
11:15 - Read aloud a picture book to a 2nd grade classroom. (For a few minutes, remember how much you miss having your own classroom.)
11:45 - Take a phone call from central office about a situation that will require you to move some items down on your to do list. You have to have some paperwork completed by Friday now.
12:00 - Head to the cafeteria to check in with a few students about an incident from yesterday and get more information about one of the bus incidents. Get a text from your admin assistant reminding you to eat lunch. Consider going back to your office to eat, but stop by the guidance counselor's office to get briefed on a student whose family is currently in crisis.
12:30 - Get called back out to the playground because a student was hurt pretty badly and we need to make a determination if we need to call an ambulance. Ambulance is called. Now need to make a decision about who should travel to the hospital with the child and wait for the parents to arrive. Decide to send the assistant principal.
12:45 - Remember that I'm supposed to be listening in on a webinar from DESE about MCAS data. It started at 12:30. Head back into the office, start the webinar and manage to shovel a few bites of salad in my mouth. Full water bottle sitting on my table reminds me that I was supposed to drink more water today but clearly I forgot. Start drinking water.
1:20 - Decide that I will listen to the rest of the DESE webinar when they send me the link to the recording. Close my laptop and call a few students to the office to try to get the answer about the bus incident.
1:45 - Check the clock and realize the school day is quickly coming to an end. Make sure that I have everything ready for the school council meeting that is happening at 3:30.
2:00 - Pop into a 1st grade classroom to do another mini observation. Go into the library right after to try to make myself finish the write up right away. End up talking with and working with some students who were in the library. Decide that I will plan on doing observation write ups later tonight.
2:20 - Get invited to a 4th grade class to see them share some of their writing. Listen to a few stories and then get a call on the walkie talkie that staff in the sub separate room need support. Help a student get back on track, but not before being used as a punching bag in order to block the child from hitting other staff and/or the wall.
2:30 - Head back to the office to take a few more bites of salad. Realize that the admin assistant scheduled a meeting with you and the union rep to talk about something that some teachers are upset about.
2:45 - Visited by some kindergartners who have brought their work with them to show me how hard they have been working on writing their names.
3:00 - Chat quickly with the PTA president about an upcoming event happening over the weekend.
3:10 - Head out to a bus to give some assigned seats as the dismissal process begins.
3:15 - Say goodbye to students as they leave the school. Help in the office during dismissal. Need to locate two students who got on a bus but were supposed to go to extended day. Also need to call a parent because the child stopped off in the bathroom and then missed the bus.
3:30 - Run a school council meeting. Set an alarm to go off at 4:25 so I wrap up the meeting in time to pack up and leave by 4:30.
4:45 - Call to talk with the parents of the child that was sent by ambulance. Looks like he has a broken arm. Listen to more Voxer messages. Send some messages through Voxer including give a principal in Texas some advice on handling a difficult parent situation.
5:32 - As usual, arrive to daycare just a few minutes late because there was an accident on the way home.
5:45 - Finally arrive back at home. Try to figure out what will be easy to make for dinner while listening to my toddler yell and cry that she wants ice cream right now.
6:30 - Eat dinner and spend some time playing with my daughter. Facetime with daddy because he is working in the music store and then has to go straight to play a gig so we won't see each other really until tomorrow morning when he's asleep and I'm getting up again.
7:15 - Give my daughter a bath and get her ready for bed. Lay down in her bed and set an alarm for 8:45 so I can get up and do some work. Fall asleep with her for about half an hour.
9:00 - Get up and come back downstairs so I can help moderate a Twitter chat that I agreed to do for my state organization. During the Twitter chat, also post some pictures that I took yesterday to the school Twitter page which then links to the school Facebook page. Also look at tomorrow's schedule and try to plan out some more observations.
10:00 - Sit down on the couch to watch one of the many shows that I record but then never seem to get to actually watch. While watching TV, work on writing up some of the mini observations from this week, as well as an article for Principal magazine that is due in two days.
11:00 - Drag myself back upstairs to go to bed. Try to read a little from the book on top of the pile of books next to my bed. Check my email one last time and learn that a teacher will be out the rest of the week due to a death in the family and a parent sent a very lengthy email about something that allegedly happened in the cafeteria. Add the email to your to do list for the morning.
11:30 - Fall asleep while reading.
5:00 am - Alarm goes off. Time to do it all over again although I know that this day will be completely different from yesterday since no two days in this job are ever the same.
That was a glimpse into a day in the life of this principal. Seem fun? Seem exhausting? Seem rewarding? Seem like a job you want? Being a principal is fun, exhausting, rewarding, challenging and so much more. Every day is different and usually your schedule does not go as planned. But I love that it's a different experience each day. And I love that I am impacting kids and connecting with them in all different ways. I also love that I get to see teachers do amazing things for kids each day.
Do you still think you couldn't do my job? I bet you could. Who is up for the challenge? Anyone want to trade roles for a day? Anyone want to talk with me and consider getting your principal certification? Anyone want to make the jump to the dark side? We certainly always need teacher leaders who want to step up and become school leaders.
Who wants to be a principal when they grow up?!
Currently reading:
I just got some new books in the mail that I could not wait to read! The first one is a fabulous picture book called After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again. I love this book! I immediately read it to Emerson as soon we we took it out of the Amazon box. The book is all about conquering your fears and getting back up after you fall.
The other awesome picture book I got in the mail is a favorite of mine: The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors. What a seriously fun book to read aloud to kids. Have you read this one to your students or have they had a chance to read this one out loud?
I also got a great new professional development book in the mail. It's called Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. You might have seen it available at the book fair recently. I have always been a big fan of Kylene Beers because she says it like it is in terms of reading instruction.
Monday - 4th grade in house geology enrichment program, Liz at Literacy for All conference
Tuesday - 4th grade geology field trip around town, Liz presenting at Literacy for All conference
Wednesday - Co-teaching observations with Wendy Murawski, Melissa at MassCUE, Liz has K-2 SPARK winners in the gym at 2:45
Thursday - Student Council Meeting @ 8:15, Melissa has 3-4 SPARK winners in the gym at 2:45, Liz at MSAA Board Meeting
Friday - Spirit Day - Dress as you Favorite Book Character! Liz and Melissa at admin training with Teachers College 9:00-11:30, half day dismissal at 12:15, para PD with Melissa at 1:00, Teachers College PD for teachers
Great things I noticed last week:
- This awesome 1st grader came to find me and show me all of the details he had put into his writing so that he was showing, not just telling.
- Thank you for these beautiful flowers and gift certificate to celebrate Boss's Day.
- I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Groton Public Library with some 1st grade classrooms for their field trip. We listened to some stories and had a chance to explore the children's room.
- Flashlight Friday in Mrs. Gribi's class looked like a great time to hang out and do some independent reading. Next time I want to bring my book in and read by flashlight!
- Loved hearing Mrs. Devereaux's 1st graders talk about what was challenging and what was easy during their math activities.
- Ms Hoke and Ms Johnson's class was up moving and singing about being bucket fillers when I popped in to read them a story.
Check it out:
Saw this on Twitter and had to share...
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