Qualities of an Elementary Principal

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Permalink Reply by Mark Miller on December 30, 2008 at 9:32pm

Principals who have had some experience teaching in an elementary classroom have a greater chance to understand the dynamics of the school and more "street cred" with their teaching staff. It also helps them to think through the repercussions of changes in school organization (e.g. schedules, job descriptions, class sizes and assignments).

Critical knowledge would include current educational methods and curriculum standards, local community social dynamics, how to listen to students, parents, and staff, and how to communicate efficiently and effectively.

Permalink Reply by Joe D'Amato on December 30, 2008 at 10:18pm

Thanks Mark!

Being a middle school guy I am wondering if lack of elementary classroom work is a deal breaker when being applying for elementary spots.

I currently lead a 5-8 middle school and have 11 years of teaching grades 6-8 math (all in a K-8 setting).

I agree with your thoughts on critical knowledge, and the street cred.

Am I wasting my time trying to move to Elementary?

Permalink Reply by Mrs C on December 31, 2008 at 5:13pm

I agree with Mark that having been in a classroom is number one, for the reasons he stated. As a 5/6 teacher in a K-6 school, I count anything below year 7 as primary (elementary) anyway, especially since your experience is in a school with little tackers.

I have a great principal - he is fairly quiet and so deals with little kids really well - in fact, he's better with them than the big kids. He gets out and plays footy and ball games with the kids and has a huge social network within the school community, especially within the parent community. He understands the need for absolute consistency but also knows when to break the rules. Since those are the skills I particularly appreciate in my principal, I'd say they are desirable qualities too.

We are currently moving to a K-12 school setting and have been having high school teachers in the primary classes (and vice versa) - it's great seeing a year 12 physics teacher taking 5 year olds for reading! But it's been very successful on the whole, so I certainly don't see any issues with a middle school teacher taking younger (or older) classes. I guess it might depend on your district too though.

Hope this makes sense - I'm not quite over last night's celebrations!

Permalink Reply by Joe D'Amato on January 6, 2009 at 8:49pm

Thanks for your input.

Your story of moving to a K-12 setting is intriguing. What was the rationale for this? Was there any pushback?

I would like to hear more if you would like to share.

Permalink Reply by Mrs C on January 9, 2009 at 5:23am

Hi Joe,

Our three town schools (one secondary, two primary) have been negotiating, researching, debating, etc for years about the opportunity to combine onto a new campus. I think it's been in the pipeline for about 6 years? Feels like longer though. There have been many doubts, arguments and some very worried and stressed teachers throughout the process, some parents and community members too, but gradually they have come around and I think we can now see that the overall project will improve learning outcomes for all students. I sometimes have my doubts though - I really like my school and it has 120 years of history of which to be proud. Still, it's going ahead so I either need to embrace it or move on. For now I am staying!

The idea is to take three old schools and revitalise them all for 21st century learning. There's been a lot of research going on, many visits to other schools (interstate and overseas) and special consultants to try to develop a next practice plan. The school buildings will be built from scratch to our specs (that part is exciting, but a big responsibility too) and will be combined with some community facilities such as a sports stadium, pool, sports ground, childcare and kindergarten. That's the plan, anyway. :-)

Currently we are moving most classes into learning studios - I will join a colleague to start one this year, meaning we will have 9 out of our 11 grade 3-6 classes in studio format. A lot of what we're heading towards is based on the work of Prakash Nair and Lane Clark.

That's the short version!

Permalink Reply by Joe D'Amato on January 9, 2009 at 5:34am

That is an amazing undertaking. The whole six years of planning sounds like forever, but considering the scope of the project I am sure it had to take that long.

Who came up with this idea? Studio format is something I have yet to see or even hear about.

This project makes the building project we have and moving 1 grade level down to the elementary school seem small and insignificant.

Thank you for your feed back and good luck with your change----it sounds exciting!