What does the principalship and instragam have in common? Just let that sit for a minute. The idea of the principal being wrong really rubs some people the wrong way. There are some people who feel that an inherent component of leadership means you know everything, you have all the answers, and mistakes are not made. But….nothing can be further from the truth. Leaders are human too, and effective leaders don’t have all the answers, they don’t know everything, and they do make mistakes. As part of having a growth mindset, we have gotten better about saying, “I don’t know,…
Back to School Get to Know You
I know….I know….The school year has barely ended and here we are already thinking about getting next year started. I guess we could call this #principallifeproblems? But here we are: no sooner have we finished our end of year data reports, teacher evaluation audits, student study team summaries, PBIS behavior analysis, handbook revisions, inventories and summer requisitions…and we are already on to next year and master schedules, intervention planning, handbook revisions, teacher handbooks, textbook adoption, PD plans…and setting up our staff for a successful, productive and happy school year. Part of my start of year plan this year involves our…
PBIS….Positive Behavior Intervention and Support…AKA Positively Believe It Saves sanity!
I have heard the tales of dysregulation, I have heard school staff cursing the covid year in what is has cost kiddos, I have heard horror stories of kids running amok, and I have heard sad stories of teachers in tears. I know being back in school in more ‘normal’ circumstances is hard for kids who have not been used to the strict and consistent routines that schools have to offer during the last 18 months, especially if they were distance learning. Truth be told….it is sort of hard for teachers and school staff too. For this I am so…
Summer’s End….Unlocking the Office Doors
Don’t be deceived…..my office doors were never locked. Despite being off contract for the last five weeks, I have in fact been working. Emails never stop, phone calls must be returned, and yes, there’s are still meetings to attend. Plus, I have teachers who need to get in to work in their classrooms, because despite those pesky rumors that teachers have summers off… that is just a myth. They work (we work) our tails off during the summer. It’s is all the behind the scenes work that takes place in the summer that makes the magic happen when the kids…
Adventuring this much requires caffeine….and liquor
From the Principal’s office, day 7 Today was a shadow day for the students. They spent the whole day experiencing the school day from the Austrian student’s perspective. I am looking forward to our meeting tomorrow to debrief with them and hear the details of their day and their thoughts on the experience. In my world today, I had vending machine coffee…voluntarily. Yes, I too was highly skeptical because my only experience with vending machine coffee involves hospitals and scalding hot watered down yucktastic ‘coffee’. I put in my euro…one single euro… and out comes a nice cup of creamy…
Austrian Adventure…another day, another reminder that patience is in fact a virtue
From the Principal’s office Day 6… Today was a lesson on flexibility. Sometimes Type A people have difficulty with this. Since I am a recovering Type A..I rolled with it pretty well. I guess I should start at the beginning. We arrived at the AGI and met up with the kiddos and their host siblings. we were all set to meet with them for an hour of discussion and reflection, an then off to the scavenger hunt at 10. Well…due to testing schedules, we had to have our host siblings back by 11:30, so we had to start early…before many…
Austrian Adventure…almost halfway
From the Principal’s office…Day 5 It was so great to see the kids today! They were excited to see each other, and their excitement was hard to contain. We met at Schloss Ambras today and toured the castle, tried on a partial suit of armor, and ate lunch in the gardens. I could have spent all day there, but we were off the other adventures. Our original plan was to take a train in a straight shot to the Bergisel, but, similar to Jackson, it appears to be orange cone season in Innsbruck and the trains were down, so we…
Austrian Adventure…yep, still there
From the Principal’s office….Day 4 The view from foreign eyes…yes….So let me start with the toilet paper debate. You know the one, (if someone manages to put the roll on the dispenser instead of just sitting it ON the dispenser) should it roll over or under.? Well it seems the Europeans are ahead of the curve on this one. I have noticed that in public restrooms that have the household dispenser, (as opposed to the industrial dispenser) and the homes I have visited, they have this tp guard that insures that you dispense in the right direction. See picture. Problem…
Austrian Adventure….still
From the principal’s ‘office’…day three Something happened that has likely never happened in recorded history: I overslept. Not talking about 5-10 minutes, talking almost 9 am. I probably wouldn’t have even woken up then had Kathryn not awakened me. It’s ok though because today my friends, was Principal’s Day Off. After another amazing and delicious breakfast of Meusli, (which I might add, I will probably have to go to the meusli store and get some to bring home…and yes, there is a store here entirely dedicated to this delicious food source that I have always avoided because of my fear…
Austrian Adventure continued…
From the principal’s ‘office’ Day 2….cultural learning curve is steep! After a luxurious four hour nap, day two started off with a delicious breakfast- muesli, fruit, bread, and yogurt. I am really enjoying all the fresh Whole Foods. We used our alternate plan of indoor swimming today since it was chilly and breezy and the outdoor pool would have been a whine fest if we tried that….the irony here is I missed the wine fest today at Ella Sharp….No wine, or whining (kids)for me. Yet.🤣 It was nice to greet each student and their host sibling this morning as they…