five tips to surviving your first year in the principalship iasp fall professionals conference 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Five Tips to Surviving Your First Year in the Principalship
IASP Fall Professionals Conference 2014
So You Think You Can Lead?
Aimee LunsfordPrincipal, Flint Springs Elementary School
Huntington County Community School Corporation
Huntington, IN [email protected]
Follow me @Flintfalcons
Introduction
Why 5 Tips?
Our jobs are comprised of tasks that are short in duration and rapid in
pace.An average of 50-60 of these tasks in
an hour.We balance tasks that require
diverse skills, technical capabilities, cognitive functioning and emotional
intelligence.
#1 Be a Listener• Buy Notebooks
in Bulk
• Find a Mentor
you Trust
• Embrace the
Survey
Find a Mentor!
• Mentors that
will be
proactive
instead of
reactive.
• Mentors that
will check in on
you when you
don’t know
which side is
up.
• Mentors in
district and out
of district.
#2 Create a Positive Culture• Greet at all Cost
• Never
underestimate the
power of LUNCH
• Café Lunsford
• Class
Competitions
• Birthday Treats
CLASS COMPETIO
NS
• Pumpkin
Decorating
• Door
Decorating
• Scarecrow
Decorating
Encourages
teamwork,
collaboration,
problem solving
and parent
involvement!
#3 Communicate Well• Weekly Newsletter
• Remind 101
• Update your school
Webpage
• ANSWER/MANAGE
your emails
• Leave notes after
observations
Weekly Newsletters do more than just update
• Tell the
week’s events.
• Set a positive
tone
• Let your
vision/culture
be known
• Say it in the
newsletter so
you don’t have
to call a
meeting
#4 Lead with Vision• Get input from
the whole staff
“What are your
big ticket items?”
• This must have
shared
commitment
• Make it your
language
Creating a Mission
Using a
collaborative
tool like
PADLET can
allow your staff
to all give
input,
categorize into
groups and
work to put
those items into
words that can
be
remembered.
Flint Springs Mission
Statement
“Encouragi
ng Minds to
Grow,
Hearts to
Care and
Lives to
Share.”
#5 Create a Community of Experts
• Grade Level Chairs
• Tech Savvy
• New Teacher Go To
Groups
• Lead PD/Communicate
Initiatives
• Empower your non-
classroom teachers
• Be an expert yourself
by studying the experts
Study the Experts
Be the Lead
Learner and
model/share
who you study
and research to
be on the
cutting edge of
leadership!
Don’t just take my word
for it…
Go to
Todaysmeet.c
om/IASP1stYe
ar
Tell us your
tips for
survivng the
first year of
the
principalship.