As I began my second semester of being an Assistant Principal there are three main things that I have discovered, an frankly my friends I have discovered each of these through first hand experiences. Like it or not what I’m about to type is the reality of my world as a Public School Administrator. I’m gonna venture to say that if you asked any 10 administrators they would almost all say the same thing or at least close to the same. So here they are my three top eye openers: 1) TIME IS LIMITED-might I add to that personally, my time is limited!!! Being a principal is a complicated job and you no longer find time for yourself, in fact your so busy you often times forget what day it is. I find myself so consumed by others wants and needs that I more often than not forget to eat my lunch. From the moment I walk into the school in the morning the phone is ringing (parents calling), teachers coming into the office unexpected, students are asking questions, and new directions from my superiors come in. The list could go on and on! Not to mention we have 600 students who all have their own unique and wonderful personalities to deal with from the get go! 2) PARENTS ARE PERFECT IN EVERYWAY-I think most of you guys reading this can certainly feel the sarcasm in eye opener number 2. What I have discovered about parents is astonishing to me. No matter how much evidence you have against their child they are by NO means in the wrong. Their student could be on video tape and the parents would still plead the 5th for their child. Accountability is something of the past and has long been neglected in public education. By the way thee above statement is by no means all parents, believe me most parents are truly supportive and really do want whats best for their child. But the 10% of parents from the above statement can sure leave a sour taste in the mouths (minds) of those working in this field. Finally, number 3)TEACHERS-sometimes I leave the school thinking “You have to be kidding me did an adult just act that way”. I found that there seems to be about 10% teachers who I would consider awesome, wonderful, and amazing at what they do. They jump at every opportunity to improve their skills, they know the benefits of constructive criticisms, they understand the concept of relationship with parents, teachers, and students, they never blame the students when they fall short on assessments (test) they only see it as there obligation to improve instruction, they have a passion for seeing young people develop and mature an the patients to let it happen, their considerate of others yet hold others accountable when necessary, they plan lessons that are invigorating, challenging, stimulating, child centered, and rigor driven, finally they help each and every child regardless of back ground, social class, race, or gender reach his or her potential (by the way this list is not all of what they do). Then I have found there is about 80% of teachers who I would call simply ok teachers. They never really do things that are outstanding but they do enough to help children learn. They don’t spend extra time developing their skills or really see the importance of relationships. Their kind of the average JOE’s, the fence sitters, or the ones stuck in the middle waiting for the top 10% of teachers to grab a hold of them and move them in the right direction. The negative side to these 80% of teachers is just that they make up 80% of teachers in public education. Not to mention that they can easily be pulled down to the bottom 10% of teachers that I will speak on in a moment. Overall, with a little push in the right direction they will jump on the band wagon and roll along just fine, well they may hit a few bumps in the road but nothing that a good ol administrator can’t take care of. Then there’s the bottom 10% of teachers! Watch out for these ones, their constantly negative, every things against them, it didn’t used to be that way mentality, students just don’t respect adults anymore excuse, its never their fault but it’s always someone else’s, not to mention if student fail on their exams guess who they blame–the students and parents. They constantly try to drag others down to their level so they don’t feel alone and ashamed. They bicker and nag at anything they can get their eyes on and if they can’t get their eyes on it then they will feel for it blindly. They are the ones that yell at kids, use sarcasm with parents and students, and pass the buck to others. They are a sour piece of the apple pie who needs to be cut from core and tossed in the can. They don’t belong in the profession and they even give it a bad name. They need to move and find something else to destroy. Man I feel like I have been typing and typing, I guess I have! I will certainly be posting more post in the future so keep your eyes peeled, because I have some great stories to tell about middle school kiddos and how awesome their little minds are and how much of a joy it is to watch them grow. Until, see you later!!! By the way if there are typo’s sorry but it’s longer than I want to read at this moment!!!
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