Cultivating Leadership An Assistant Principals Toolkit Assistant Principals

Cultivating Leadership: An Assistant Principal's Toolkit

Assistant Principals -Are you ready to make the move from the classroom to the “dark side? ” -Here are the keys to your office, the faculty handbook, the student code of conduct, your laptop, now proceed! -How do you move forward? -Here are the keys to your toolbox! 2

3 Hello! I am Shannon Mahiai I am here because I want to help you be successful as an Assistant Principal! You can find me at @shannonmahiai on Twitter; my e-mail is sm [email protected] org

Relationships- Flashlight In life we need light, the same is in administration, relationships is key! How do we build these relationships? -Get to know your staff: ask about their families, their interests, get to know them on a personal level. -Be Approachable-staff, students, and parents needs to be able to feel they are able to talk to you about issues. -Be Dependable-if you have a meeting schedule, make sure you are on time. -Celebrate!!!! (Birthdays, Birth’s, Weddings, etc) -Be Consistent-make sure what you tell one person is what you tell another. 4

Visibility-Plillers -Walk the hallways during bell changes -Be in the lunchroom -Be in the halls before and after school -Be at the bus ramp -Attend sporting and Fine Art events -Being visible and present is a preventive measure. -Being visible allows you to interact with students. -Being visible allows you to here what's going on with the students to prevent inappropriate behavior.

Classrooms-Hammer Main Tool (Classrooms are main source) -Schedule teacher observations on your calendar -Plan for 1 -3 walkthroughs daily -Plan for 24 -48 hour turnaround time (make sure feedback is meaningful) -Overschedule meeting time so you are not rushing. -Students and teachers love to see you in the classrooms, try to be there as much as possible 6

Culture- Measuring Tape 7 -Observe, Observe (watch interactions among staff, staff/students, students/students, parents/students). -Talk to students in the hallways, cafeteria (ask them about their favorite or least favorite things about the school, teachers, etc) -What is the community like? Is it rural where everyone knows everyone? Is it conservative? Is it liberal? How do they handle change? What are the traditions? -Do not rush to change things. -Keep the schools traditions, they were here before you and they will be here after you!

Support- Work Gloves 8 - Do not take things personally, you will be the talk at the water cooler. - You can not be besties with the teachers - Find and have a support system, best if it is outside the school. You need people to talk and vent to who understand what you are going through. - Find your “outlet” What do you enjoy? You need to find time for yourself. - Remember how you tell teachers a work-life balance? Are you doing this for you as well?

Time-WRench -Be realistic with your time. -Schedule travel time into your meeting time. -Do not have a group meeting, if you can send an email or have a one-onone conversation instead. -Everyone will want a piece of your time. -You are a problem-solver most of the time. People do not come to if you is everything is going well. 9

10 KEEP CALM! YOU MATTER!

Thanks ! Any questions? You can find me at @shannonmahiai (Twitter) sm [email protected] org (email) 11