Change

I moved schools this year and it's be a complete change!  I am now with a different principal and it's very refreshing to have someone who doesn't tell the whole staff about how much they suck on a daily basis!  My new principal is supportive, tells me what a great job I'm doing, and helps out where ever possible.  It really makes a big difference having effective administration.  Last year none of the teachers were ever able to really do what they know best, teach.  We were constantly being micromanaged, told to do things a certain way, and then 2 weeks later told to do them differently.  We all spent the whole year trying to make the principal happy and as a result we weren't able to truly teach the way we know how to!  The poor students were all effected and given a disservice simply because of the principal.  Yet all of the teachers needed good evaluations so we could keep our jobs in a tough economy, so we did what we had to do to get by and accommodate to the system.  Last year was a classic example of how the school system is failing our students.

Now this year I am in a community where there is a supportive principal who knows how to run a school effectively.  The teachers are given the academic freedom to teach how we know best and our students very clearly benefit from that!   Would you really want to tell Michael Jordan he wasn't playing basketball right and make him do all sorts of nonsense things to effect his style?  He knew what he was doing, so people let him do it!  Good teachers know what they are doing and we each have our own style.  As a good teacher we know how to make sure the kids not only learn the required curriculum, but know how to push them above and beyond their abilities!  So when you have a school with good teachers, you are going to have great progress, as long as we are given the trust and support we need and deserve! Yet sadly, our system often allows poor leadership to stay in their positions and continue to effect hundreds of students and teachers.