Thank you all for responding to my initial post about what services you
provide for your school administrators. I really appreciate all of you
taking the time to share your thoughts. I had an overwhelming amount of
responses to my question. Within 24 hours of my original posting, I have
so far received over 30 responses and have compiled a word document that
is over 10 pages long.
My basic questions in my posting were:
*What do you do for your school administrators?
*What kind of relationship do you have with your principal?
*How do you manage to stay out of school gossip/politics?
Here are the highlights.
What do you do for your school administrators?
The most common suggestion was offering to do training during
professional development days. This will free up some time for your
principal since s/he will not have to spend time planning. Staff
development can include training on databases and information retrieval,
but we can also train teachers on how to use new and old technology both
as a technical tool and as an educational tool.
The second most common suggestion was providing articles or literature
of interest to your principal. Caution should be used in selection, so
as not to inundate your administrator with too much information.
Providing articles on educational news will keep your principal
up-to-date for district meetings, making him/her aware of the popular
concerns before they are sprung on him/her from higher up. Also, someone
suggested that they purchase a book for their principal in March when it
is reading month.
Many of you said you put together a monthly newsletter that includes
highlights of achievements in collaboration, cool websites, and new
books. Surprisingly some of you said that you do not provide annual
reports and monthly statistics because you feel your principal prefers
you to communicate with him/her on a more informal basis.
In meetings with the principal, you said to keep it brief, only 5-10
minutes. Be POSITIVE and be a problem SOLVER. Don’t go in complaining
about what someone isn’t doing all the time; rather talk about the
successful collaborative projects you have been working on. Mention all
the cool things teachers are doing in their classrooms so the principal
will know who to give some positive feedback to and give your principal
some positive feedback about how they are doing their job. Many don’t
get rewarded for their hard work. Run any new policies by your principal
first so that s/he doesn’t get bombarded by teacher complaints.
Other ways that you serve your administrators is by being an event
planner or hostess. You plan lots of school wide activities through the
library. Many of you have conference rooms in your media centers and you
don’t mind showing off the library for important meetings and school
functions.
And finally someone reminded me that it is not what we do for our
principals it is what we do for our students. “What I do for my
administrator is be the best librarian I can for the students, not for
the principal but the students.”
What kind of relationship do you have with your principal?
Many of you said that the type of relationship you have with your
principal depends on several factors, such as gender, personality,
school size. Some of you said you saw yourselves as equals to your
principal because you had the same level of education. Some you thought
of your principal as a supervisor only and thought that if the principal
“confided” in you that it would be crossing a line. Someone said it was
a partnership that was seeking to make the school the best learning
place it can be.
Someone speaking with experience had this to say, “Being a confidant of
the principal is a delicate place to be. I've been there with some
principals, and ‘out of the loop’ with others. A smart principal will
know that you know what is going on in all the classrooms all the time,
and she will be interested in your take on it.”
How do you manage to stay out of schI think almost everyone said NEVER get caught
up in the gossip ring.
Some of you go as far as to say, “Avoid the teacher’s lounge at all
costs!” This is where the gossip starts. Someone said that they try to
stay out of the principal’s office when there are controversial issues
because she doesn’t want to become the person the principal confides in
on a regular basis. Her relationships with the teachers are too
important and could be compromised if it seemed like she was teaming up
against them.
Above all, be a good listener and don't talk or repeat what you hear!
The library position is one where you deal/work with all the students
and all teachers, so you have to be careful. Because of your position,
you will always hear more since you deal with more people. Someone else
said, “Tread very lightly until you know the staff members that you can
trust.”
Based on your initial responses I have these additional questions
Someone suggested that I ask my principal to be put on the team leader
committee. Won’t the other teachers be offended by this since this is my
first year teaching? I have 10 years of library experience, but I am not
sure that will matter to them. Also, to those of you that see your
principal strictly as a supervisor, who are your equals? The teachers?
Sorry this was so long. Given the interest in this topic I will post a
second hit (if needed) after I receive additional feedback. Thanks so
much for your interest!
Kelly Stanchfield
Northridge Middle School
Library Media Specialist
482 W 580 N
Crawfordsville, IN 47933
Phone: (765) 364-1071
email: kstanchfield@nm.k12.in.us
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