Leadership

Would you want to be a teacher in your district?

I was recently out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with a friend, and I was asked if I was enjoying my dish (Mexican chicken mole, which was excellent, by the way). I quickly replied something to the effect of, “Yes! I would order it again.” In my mind, whether or not someone would order the same food again is the true litmus test in determining if the food is truly worthwhile. Now, while eating I was thinking about all that has been taking place in my school district, where I am an assistant principal. Then, somehow I managed to make a connection between “Would you order the same food again?” to “Would you want to be a teacher in your district?” The latter question is the litmus test for whether or not an administrator is happy in the district for which he works. (See the connection?)

5 Reasons For a Student Friendly Principal’s Office

By Ross Cooper Leave a Comment

This year I began work as an assistant principal across two primary schools. Along with starting to establish rapport with staff members, one of my first priorities was getting my two offices set up. I saw it as my duty to furnish my workspaces prior to the students’ first day of school, even though my time on the job officially began only about 1.5 weeks before this day. If all teachers were able to get their classrooms up and running, there was no reason why I could not do the same with my rooms.

When decorating my offices I decided to go with student friendly themes, a Pixar theme for one (inspired by Creativity, Inc.) and a superhero theme for another. What I now have serves as a starting point, and I plan to add to the décor throughout the year. Here are five reasons why a building administrator should have a student friendly office:

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BYOD: An Implementation Timeline For School Districts

By Ross Cooper 1 Comment

For the fourth and final installment of the BYOD series, we will take a look at a recommended one-year timeline for BYOD implementation from an administrative/district standpoint. But first, here is a quick rundown of what has already been discussed!

Part 1: Lessons learned from a BYOD pre-pilot
Part 2: Top 10 apps for BYOD
Part 3: A recommended teacher implementation timeline for BYOD

To provide some perspective, as mentioned prior, “This year, my district has begun the process of implementing BYOD in what is being called a pre-pilot, and my students and I were delighted when we got the call to be the first classroom in the entire district to have the honor.” The timeline below reflects the lessons that we have learned from the pre-pilot, and the district goal for next year is to involve teachers from grades 5 and up on a volunteer basis.

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