Saturday 31 August 2013

3 Cheers for great Admin

3 Cheers for great Admin

At the end of the year the Super of our area was making his rounds.  He stopped in my room and interacted with students and myself.  One of the questions that he asked me was, "What makes this school different from other schools? "

Now I am one for speaking the truth and I am not a fan of candy coating it either.  "Just say it like it is", is my philosophy. How was I going to reply to a question like that?

 The school that I am currently working at once upon a time had a terrible reputation.  It is true.  I would tell people where I work and they would cringe or apologise.  Having the intermediate students added the extra little bit of pity on the faces of other colleges who hear that news. About a year ago someone even whistled and stated, "Your are earning your strips there." We are one of the larger schools in our board and we are located in a town with lower socioeconomic status.I could tell you horror stories of student behaviour and sobbing stories of childhood heartbreak.

I will not tell you any of  those stories today because there has been a shift in the school. The attitudes of students are changing, parents are now involved, our standardised test scores have increased and teachers want to stay.  Overall the whole atmosphere of the school is an entirely different place.

When the Super asked me the question of what makes my school different from other schools my answer was really simple.
Admin.

I am not here to tell you that Admin is perfect. We all are not.  I am here to tell you that when you have a great leader in your school he/she can change the entire building.  In my case it is a male.  When he is not in the building due to meetings or illness. you can feel the difference in the kids, the staff and the general overall aura of the whole building.

I can tell you that if I ever have a problem with anything from reports to student behaviour he has his door open and is ready to brainstorm solutions to the problems. He has developed a positive rapport with all of the staff. He is completely passionate about his job.  He is so passionate at times he forgets to eat....forgets to sleep.  He is passionate about what he does.  Some tell him to slow down. Others tell him to take better care of himself.

Yet it is all paying off.  The scores, the attitudes, the parents, and the community are all changing.  He is successful at what he does.

 Having the passion in what you do, is evident to others around you.

I saw this video via a twitter feed.


The message reminded me of him.  Three cheers for the great Admin that I am so fortunate to work with again this year. Thanks for being a great leader and inspiring others around you to be successful. 

 How bad do you want success?  What is success?  This is going to be my kick off message to my grade eights this year as they come into the room on Tuesday.

What do they consider success?  How will they measure it? Steve Jobs explains the rules for success.


 

I am excited for this year to start. I am excited to share these and other videos I have found.  I really am looking forward to hearing what is it that they want to be successful at.  I think too many times we assume that all students want those academic goals.

What if their success is showing up on time every day?
What if their success if making a close friend?
What if their success is raising their hand once independently?

I know I have to complete reports but I am excited about the idea of allowing students to set their own success criteria for this school year.

I will keep you posted to how it turns out.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...