Remember the Fun

Reflective, practical steps to focus your year on all that is good

BY CARRIE J. SANCHEZ

The role of an educator is awesome for many reasons: it is meaningful, it is inspiring, and it is invigorating. Being an educator is also fun. It is fun! When we surrender ourselves to the joy that lives in our classrooms, hallways, and schools, we remember the fun. We are in the midst of the onset of the 2022-2023 school year; let us make it our mission to remember and seek out the fun in the work we do!

To take it one step further, the role of school leader is even MORE awesome because of their unique perspective regarding the entire school. While some may jest that from the principal’s perspective the fresh start of the school year resembles Bill Murray’s iconic Groundhog Day, that fresh start is truly one of the greatest gifts of the role.

Having emerged from the vicious grasp of the coronavirus pandemic, now is an opportune time to embrace the fresh start opportunities for school leaders. However, embracing the opportunity is just the beginning. Being strategic and purposeful will serve principals now more than ever. Fresh Start Suggestion: Ask as many people as you can, “What was your favorite part of school last year?” Keep it simple, but ask everyone (students, parents, teachers, office staff, classified staff, bus drivers). The answers will enlighten you!

Principals, as your class lists and bus rosters are finalized and your teacher supplies are arriving, you must also strategically craft your intentional fresh start. We want to thrive and maximize this school year, not just survive the next 180 days.

Debugging Your Daily

While the last two school years have been unlike any in modern history, use that to your advantage. Did you learn anything new about your school in the past two years? Your staff? Your students or their families? Use those new perspectives to your advantage!

I encourage you to scrutinize your school, and find one thing that the pandemic changed about your school that was positive and you would like to continue. Additionally, look for one thing that the pandemic caused that you would prefer to never see happen again (Contact tracing is too easy — be clinical in your analysis).

School leaders must be intentional about the daily operations of their schools. From the volume levels of the students to the logistics of the passing in the hallways to the environment of the teacher workrooms — school leaders, I encourage you to purposefully design the daily operations of your school.

Office Norms

The main office of your school is the heart of your building. What is the “feel” of yours? Walk into your main office just as a school visitor would and observe what they see. Are visitors bombarded with signs and procedures and protocols? What is the lighting like? Is there clutter that suggests chaos? Do visitors feel genuinely welcome in that space? Or do they feel out of place? Be intentional with your fresh start this year and seek out some simple but meaningful adjustments to your first impression strategies.

Fresh Start Suggestion: Enter your office as a guest would, beginning in the visitor parking. Observe the walk, the entrance, the admission procedure and the greeting. Then sit and be present in the office for a solid 10 minutes (you can invest 10 minutes!) and observe all of the intricacies. I promise you will be energized, enlightened, and informed.

Your Personal/Professional Goals

School leaders often become consumed by the daily operations of their school, and they lose sight of their own personal and professional goals. Write yourself a note and put it in a place that will offer a friendly reminder: “Who do you want to be next year this time?” Your goals are not selfish, and your goals should not be at the bottom of the priority list. That fairly simple question offers a LOT of layers of contemplation for you.

School leaders are also often very goal-oriented, task-motivated people. Do not let your own goals become an addiction. Set achievable and realistic goals that will enhance, improve and invigorate your work.

In addition to these goals, plan your reward. Plan the celebration of what you have achieved. No one will do that for you. Capitalize

on this time of year and embrace the fresh start that is at your fingertips. Make your growth and development a priority too!

Fresh Start Suggestion: Give yourself a micro-goal to complete by the end of October. Make it something simple yet meaningful. That accomplishment, no matter how small, will fuel you to set and accomplish your next goal.

Family Communication

Teach your parents what you want them to know and how to access that information. While repetition is important, over informing your audience will lead to disengagement and overwhelm. Often, school leaders are encouraged (or required) to send weekly newsletters or daily bulletins. However, if it includes too much information or is sent too frequently, parents will skim and miss the information you truly want them to consume. It is a critical balancing act and one that school leaders must be willing to be flexible with throughout the different seasons of the school year.

Another way to start fresh is to vary the modes of communication used to communicate with your school community. It needs to be more than mere emails. If you video your morning announcements, you may want to consider a print version too (perhaps families cannot listen to the audio at work but want to know what is being said). If you send a weekly S’more newsletter, perhaps the critical updates are in a colored text to draw the reader’s attention. In this information age, getting the right information out in an accessible way is the critical objective, not just frequent information.

Fresh Start Suggestion: Teach and train your families how to access all of your school’s information early in the year. If your website is your information hub, have extra devices at student/family orientation meetings with staff available to help navigate. If an app is your main portal, consider having students create tutorial videos walking users through navigation points. People want information, and they will engage in what they find meaningful.

Teacher Expectations

Teachers work hard. They want to be successful in their classrooms, and they want to feel they are making positive contributions to the school. When you have an expectation, make sure you convey that expectation long before it becomes an emotional event. Share that expectation often and early with everyone when it applies to everyone. Do not surprise your staff with giant initiatives or changes and expect immediate implementation. The professional courtesy of providing time to process, question, and design will build strong relationships and foundations for trust.

Equally important with timing is establishing and conveying the reasoning behind the expectation. Sometimes school leaders do 5 not have the luxury of explaining why a decision is made, but more often than not there is time. This extra effort by the school leader really stimulates the sense of community within the school and professional team when everyone’s time and perspective is honored. Additionally, extra time also allows for misunderstandings to be resolved before an emotional crisis occurs!

Fresh Start Suggestion: Try this methodology with something simple and watch it unfold. Perhaps it is a staff meeting at an unusual time or different location, or a change in a regular routine for a special event. Start with something out of the ordinary that perhaps you would like to become ordinary. Invest your extra time and effort and be amazed at how grateful your staff is!

Control Your Calendar (Don’t let it control you!)

My favorite fresh start of the school year is my pristine calendar just waiting to be filled with meetings, sporting events, concerts, trainings, and observations. It took me a long time to realize that no matter how busy I become, *I* am still in charge of how each day rolls out.

I live by my Google Calendar synced to my phone, but I also have an old school paper desktop calendar that is critically important to me as well. My electronic calendar is for my day-today activities/operations, and my paper desktop calendar is for bigger events like professional conferences or upcoming travel. It also helps me to see my month at a glance.

This system works for me, and that does not mean it would work for anyone else. My point is, find what works for you, and be brave enough to admit when something is not working for you. There are few things more damaging to a school leader’s reputation than looking disorganized and unprepared. Your calendar can not only be your lifeline, it can be your journal as well.

Fresh Start Suggestion: Invest time to set up your calendar in a way that will allow you to use it consistently. If you set up a system and find yourself not using it, that is a clear indicator that you need to try another system. I like setting repeating events in my calendar, especially “office work” for 30 minutes once per week. That is sacred, uninterrupted time for me to do a few things that need my undivided attention during school hours. I also like setting extra minute/hour reminders, scheduling in 10 minutes of “prep time” before all meetings, and even strategically scheduling preparation time for things like board presentations or parent meetings.

My sincere hope is that every one of our OAESA members has their best year on record. The work you do is incredibly important, honorable, and meaningful. Embrace your fresh start this year (and every year!) and THANK YOU for accepting the challenge to lead your school.

Carrie Sanchez is the Director of Leadership and Learning for the North Point Educational Service Center in Sandusky, Ohio. Carrie is the current president of OAESA as well as an adjunct instructor for the Graduate 6 School of Teaching and Learning at Bowling Green State University. You can contact Carrie at: csanchez@npesc.org.

Ohio Leadership for Inclusion, Implementation, & Instructional Improvement (OLi 4 )

A two-year professional learning program for school principals, assistant principals, and teacher-leaders. Advancing Inclusive Principal Leadership (AIPL)

Selected districts will participate in eight monthly synchronous sessions with a $5,000 honorarium to offset costs.

This program prepares leaders to support system-wide and sustainable improvements in teaching and learning on behalf of all children. Built to address the challenge of improving learning for every single student, including students from marginalized groups, through the development of inclusive instructional and organizational leadership capacity.

Research-based theory of action that treats improved performance and increased equity as inseparable Continuously evaluated and revised based on new research and evidence based data Cultivates a reflective approach to leadership through building trust, collaboration, and a system-wide culture of inquiry and learning Focus on inclusive instructional leadership as a key function of the interlocking teams that form the foundation of the Ohio Improvement Process Opportunity for in-district virtual process coaching with the team Access to resources, team time, reflection, and cross-district conversations Option to pursue more in-depth learning during a second year of involvement

This virtual professional development series supports partner districts in developing or strengthening shared leadership team structures for improving teaching and learning across the district. Districts will identify a seven-member vertical team in order to augment systemic district-wide continuous improvement efforts.

A PROGRAM BUILT BY EDUCATIONAL LEADERS FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS The 2022-2023 cohorts filled up fast! Don't miss out on your chance to join this opportunity...be on the lookout for information about registration for the 2023-2024 cohort.

Promoting Systemwide Learning Prioritizing Improvement of Teaching and Learning Sustaining an Open and Collaborative Culture Building Capacity Through Support and Accountability

Don’t miss out, there’s still time!

You have until Oct. 31, 2022 to find out how you and your employees can take advantage of the limited-time changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Learn more

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