What kind of principal do I intend to be?

No one asks this type of question of themselves unless they hope to improve.

I believe I was better last year than the year before. I was better organized; I did more teaching, and I spent more time in the classrooms.

Where I felt less effective and/or efficient were in the areas of recording and reporting. I still need to spend more time in the classrooms too and I need to become better at teaching the classes I'm in charge of. It also does not need to be said, I could always improve the organization of my days.

How many of us take the time to sit down and reflect upon our practice? Sure we wonder how we could improve. We also wonder what went wrong when things don't turn out. We might even pause to think how we could do things better. What I'm talking about is actually dissecting the planning from beginning to end and taking the day to day and analyzing what it is that did go right and what went wrong, with using that analysis to gauge how you will change for the better.

An analysis of this sort does take time, but it has been in my experience that it is time well spent. Researchers like Whitaker, Sergiovanni, Dufour, Fink, Hargreaves, and many more all take the time to analyze how and why things happen the way they do and what is important in the big picture as well as the day to day. I also have found that when I take that time to think and reflect on the day's events, I am able to put on a perspective that assists me in returning to my guiding principles. As a result I am able to make sound decisions that are best for students and staff in the school.

Last year, I was getting better at reflection and analysis. However, it was not as methodical or as routine as I would like it to be. Therefore, this year, I intend to be a principal that reflects weekly and think about how we do things at our school. I plan to be a better recorder and communicator of expectations. I also will continue to hold staff and students accountable to our guiding principles. I also want to expand the circle of leadership within the school so that I have more time for this reflection and analysis. Hopefully at the end of this coming school year, I can look back and say, "Yes! We did it!"