Once More From the Top

Goals for a new school year

Refresh by Claudio Gomboli from the Noun Project

Another year begins, kind of. The administrative year never actually ends. I’ve been back and forth to work a bit here and there over the entire span of the summer, but teachers came back yesterday, kids are back on Tuesday, and I’ll be expected to be here every day until next June, so this week is a bit different from the most recent ten.

One goal for the new year is to avoid repeating the mistakes that I made last year. Not that I did anything profoundly stupid during year one, but I certainly didn’t have a perfect run. It’s also an excellent opportunity to change things that seemed sub-optimal last year, and implement some new ideas. In the spirit of getting it all out on the page for scrutiny, here’s an unordered list of changes/new ideas for the new year:

1. Send less email- I’ve written about email in administration previously. Last year, I think I was over-reliant on email. The convenience that sending an email affords is insidious in that it drives me to send too many emails. To help with that, I’m going to try binning my email processing to twice per day, and see if that helps me minimize the number that I send out.
2. Transition the Middle School science program to an in-house electronic textbook- This project came out of (now-delayed) renovations to the middle school science rooms. Teachers started developing the in-house textbook this summer during curriculum writing. Now it’s going to start getting used, which pretty much guarantees that there are going to be a pile of unforeseen kinks that need to be worked out in real-time.
3. Start moving all subjects to alignment with the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS)- Last year, my focus was on getting everyone on the same page with the NYSSLS and how it was going to change instruction. This year, it’s time to start making those changes, seeing what works and what doesn’t. I’ve set a few different NYSSLS initiatives in motion in my department and with a bit of luck, they’ll help us start figuring out what science & technology instruction is going to look like under the new standards.
4. Be more emotionally intelligent when dealing with people- On the interpersonal level, one thing I learned last year was that I have a bias toward assuming everyone feels the same way about things that I do. Now that I’ve seen how that bias can lead to problems, I’m hopeful I can avoid making similar assumptions this year.
5. Improve my observations- My observation focus last year was on simply getting comfortable observing lessons. I think I did that pretty well. Now it’s important for me to work on refining my observations so that I can be as helpful as possible in the process for my teacher’s development as educators.
6. Concentrate my efforts- Kind of related to the email thing. Last year had a habit of suddenly presenting me with unforeseen issues that demanded my attention. I’m hopeful that was more a function of my suddenly taking over a department that had three different bosses in the three years that preceded me than it is anything fundamental to the job. And I think I cleaned up everything that needed to be cleaned up from the churn that preceded me. So with a bit of good fortune, I should be able to focus on my responsibilities as I understand them, and not be too surprised by things coming out of left field.
7. Spend more time in classrooms- This connects with my observation focus. I did a pretty good job last year, but I’d like to be even more present in classrooms this year. Mostly because it’s the most fun (and, I’d argue most important) thing I get to do in this job.
8. Be less overwhelming- Another interpersonal lesson from last year was that I tend to throw myself at the things I focus on in a way that can be overwhelming for others. While I certainly don’t want to be underwhelming, I do think I can approach things from a less intense purchase, particularly when those things involve people other than me.

That’s a pretty good list of priorities. I’m sure I’ll be uneven in how well I accomplish them, but the point is to aspire, not necessarily to succeed. All in all, it looks like it’s going to be a great second year, and I’m eager to begin.

Is it your second year in administration? Maybe you read my list of goals and something resonated (or maybe it bothered you)? Why not drop a line and let me know. I’m always up for a bit of conversation!