This has been a year for the books. The whole world will agree, we have been through a lot collectively this year. While some professional fields worked twice as hard doing the job they always do, some professional fields had to take additional risks with their own health and safety to get their jobs done. Some professional fields shut down and stopped in their tracks, and some moved offices into their spare bedrooms and set up offices at their dining tables.
And then you have teachers….who had to completely redefine what the design and delivery of instruction looks like. They essentially had to relearn how to be a teacher using virtual formats. They had to blend virtual and face to face instructional methods while learning new technology platforms, maintaining high levels of engagement, documenting attempts at getting students and families engaged, and in many cases work from home while trying to care for and educate their own children.
Out of this situation I had some powerful learning take place with in my own office. I gained valuable insights, and will be a better principal and educator moving forward.
Principal Lesson #1
In many ways, virtual and hybrid instruction was less equitable than face to face instruction. This isn’t the lesson, nor is this news. It was all over the headlines that economically disadvantaged families could have more difficulty accessing education, even after computers and internet were provided. They may have been working two jobs and unable to find time to support their children’s at home learning experience, or at work during the children’s school day. They may be outnumbered with the child to adult ratio and unable to meet the needs of all the children in the home (I think this happened to some of our affluent families as well). The lesson for me here was that when it came to meetings, conferences, IEP and student study team meetings our parent involvement data during these types of situations actually improved when meetings were virtual. Take child study meetings as an example. In past years, we would have about 40% parent participation rate. This means that 40% of parents showed up to face to face meetings during the school day. By eliminating the barriers to of taking time off work, finding a ride to the school, arranging for childcare for smaller children….and providing a virtual option, our participation rate increased to over 90%. This was huge.
Principal Lesson #2
Old dogs learn new tricks. I could probably find a more PC way to say this, but here is the truth of the matter: sometimes teachers get into a routine that works for them, and they stick with it. There are always the teachers, and I think most school districts have them, who don’t want to learn a new math methodology and who don’t like new curriculum adoptions, new technology and with stick with the routine. I will say that I saw so many teachers step up and while maybe not embrace change, but tackle and conquer the learning curve. I spent last summer taking classes on technological innovation in instruction and learning platforms thinking I was going to be coaching teachers through it…. but THEY NAILED IT! They didn’t need me….at all. At least for technology.
Principal Lesson #3
This lesson has little to do with the pandemic, and a lot to do with some of the activities that are typical to a school setting: spirit week. Now, I’m not usually one to indulge in spirit week outside of homecoming where spirit week is district wide. But this year we had no homecoming. So for the last week of school, I thought it would be a good idea to have spirit week. Actually the fifth grade students wrote me a letter asking for spirit week to commemorate their last year in elementary school, and I capitalized on it to keep kids and families engaged. Those who know me know that I give nothing away for free, no unearned uniform free days, no unearned activities….I am the grinch who stole holiday parties at my school (See the post on why I cancelled school parties to understand why). So this wasn’t exactly free…I needed to keep attendance numbers up, and we teach until the end. So, I digress….I let the fifth grade students brainstorm ideas for spirit week themes, put them in a survey, and let the fifth graders choose. I thought this was genius… I was able to do something ‘normalish’ during a year so abnormal, and it benefitted me too!!! Here I was all feeling like it was a principal win….until it wasn’t. It turned into a principal fail on Twin day. So we had all sorts of fun on twin day, taking pictures of the strategically matching outfits the kids came in with, some even tripleting, even quintupling….and of course some kids did not. It wasn’t until I received an email from a parent whose son didn’t participate, and when I found out why, I was crushed. You see….this kiddo didn’t have a close buddy to twin with. He felt left out. This was NEVER my intention, but a kid felt left out in a school that I work hard to maintain high levels of inclusivity in. Ugh. TOTAL. PRINCIPAL. FAIL. I thanked the parent for the insight, apologized that her child felt that way, and promised to abolish twin day for the rest of my career. There are plenty of other more inclusive spirit day options to choose from.
We survived the pandemic school year, and there were a lot of small lessons along the way, and I can’t help but to think about all the valuable things I learned this year, in the craziest of crazy times, and think about how much better we will be next year with the new learning under more normal circumstances. Watch out world, this principal is ready to take on 21-22 wiser and more knowledgeable after living through a school year of pandemic.
