I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in the sixth grade. That was when I had my first MALE teacher. Everyone wanted to be in Mr. Westbrooks class. He was one of us...he was a GUY!! Looking back on it he was not that great of a teacher per say. Typical math lesson would consist of the following.
1. Work five problems on the board.
2. Students work five problems on the board.
3. Questions?
4. Do page 123 1 through 50 odds.
Next Day
Repeat steps 1-3 and do evens.
What he WAS good at was listening to the kids and helping them through the tough preteen year. THAT'S when I knew I wanted to teach and I wanted 5th or 6th grade. THAT...he was good at MENTORING. I used many of his skills I learned when dealing with kids as a classroom teacher.
I knew I wanted to be a principal because that was what my father did and he did it very well in the 70's and 80's. He moved into central office and finished his career there.
I was in the classroom for 7 years. All in the 5th and 6th grade. I moved into administration and am finishing my 5th year in administration. 2 years as AP and 3 as principal. I made the jump to principal quickly for 2 reasons. FIRST, LUCKY....right place right time. Second, from the first day I was an assistant principal my principal began training me to be a leader of a campus. She allowed me the opportunity to try my ideas and be successful and sometimes not so successful. When things did not go well we talked about it. Why do you think that happened? What could we do differently? She also learned from me from time to time. That is MENTORING. Some principals use their AP for books and butts and whatever else they don't want to deal with but never train them to be leaders of their own one day. Often times when they do get the opportunity to lead they fail. I am SO lucky that I had the principal that I did. 3 years ago my principal was given the opportunity to move on into central office. Everyone on staff looked at me. Up to that point I had never run a building by myself much less one with over 7oo kids in it. I told the staff I was not putting my name in the hat and I told central office the same thing. I was busy trying to close down the school for the summer and I was going to be the summer school principal. My first solo gig. It went very well and on the last day of summer school the Superintendent called me and asked me if I would consider being the principal of our 5th and 6th grade campus the following year.
WHAT LUCK...all of my teaching experience was in that level. The first year there were300 kids and I was flying solo. The next year I got to hire an AP as we grew and I hired an excellent counselor.
I immediately started following in my mentors footsteps. I began teaching my AP to take my place and my counselor how to be an AP. My AP is awesome. She has grown so much. I will probably only have her for another year or so and then the district will snag her for principal. My counselor is getting ready to be named AP at an elementary that feeds into my campus. I am like a proud dad! Baby is all grown up and going off on their own. She will be great. I am just glad the cycle continues.
My two cents? From day one teach your replacement to do things better than you. You benefit in the long run.
As for my dad. He loves to hear my stories of how things are going and how I deal with people. He is proud of me and what I have accomplished as campus leader and on occassion I ask him for advice and we talk about how he used to handle certain situations. Sometimes he just shakes his head when he hears the stories. He tells me that I have skills beyond his level. I think he is full of it. He was my FIRST MENTOR. There are more similarities in our style than he thinks. He has said on more than one occasion that he would not last one year as a principal of a campus in today's world. Dad, I use something I learned from you every single day in the school world. I just present things a little differently.
Thanks Dad for being a GREAT MENTOR.... I LOVE YOU!!
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