Teachers need to be led, not dominated by, our administrators. Dallas education isn’t as strong as it could be because our leaders aren’t as strong as they could be. What does that look like? We talked about that this morning, but what does it look like when our administrators have to lead the students? You need every level working together to make a school work and in DISD, sometimes that’s just not the case. Read more after the jump.
Leading teachers does require a high level of respect and professionalism. Not all of our admins have that, but the ones that do get every ounce of hard work out of their teachers that they can. Teachers that have that same relationship with their students have better results than their peers. The relationship between administrators and students should follow the same principles, but by nature has to be a little different.
Administrators need to be visible to the students. At my school, I’d venture to say that outside of student council, not one student could name all of our administrators by name. Why? Because our principal is barely ever outside of the office when on campus and generally only appears to threaten the kids. Other administrators are afraid of the students and have no relationship. How can a school function if the only people the students respect are the teachers?
Leading means commanding respect. Good administrators can do this without being draconian. They need to enforce rules consistently. If kids are tardy and you have a tardy policy, enforce it. Don’t just stop because you are getting pushback from the district. Sometimes being a leader means defending what’s right in the face of your higher ups. If you lead scared, no one will follow and the school will suffer. That’s why my school is in such terrible shape.
If the students don’t respect administrators, neither will the teachers. Students tell us when you are a joke. Students tell us when we write referrals and you don’t anything. Be a true leader and step up. Everyone can get behind a strong leader.
Also, stop getting cussed out in the hallway, it’s not a good look.
Administrators need to be visible to the students. At my school, I’d venture to say that outside of student council, not one student could name all of our administrators by name. Why? Because our principal is barely ever outside of the office when on campus and generally only appears to threaten the kids. Other administrators are afraid of the students and have no relationship. How can a school function if the only people the students respect are the teachers?
Leading means commanding respect. Good administrators can do this without being draconian. They need to enforce rules consistently. If kids are tardy and you have a tardy policy, enforce it. Don’t just stop because you are getting pushback from the district. Sometimes being a leader means defending what’s right in the face of your higher ups. If you lead scared, no one will follow and the school will suffer. That’s why my school is in such terrible shape.
If the students don’t respect administrators, neither will the teachers. Students tell us when you are a joke. Students tell us when we write referrals and you don’t anything. Be a true leader and step up. Everyone can get behind a strong leader.
Also, stop getting cussed out in the hallway, it’s not a good look.
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