Hug Your Administrator
I’d say we show administrators our support by giving them a hug once in a while. Now, you might think I’m being cynical or saying this in jest. This interpretation would be far removed from the truth. It’s in our best interest for our administrators to be happy and successful. Consider the contrary.
An unhappy, unsuccessful administrator, is trouble. Professional frustration ensues and this leads to the kind of desperation that seeks objects of blame. As teachers, we become the primary recipients. Reasoning becomes skewed and they succumb to the lesser human emotions. Convinced that we are not paying sufficient homage to their authority, conspirators against them are imagined and they divide teachers into friends or enemies. Teachers perceived as friends get rewarded and those as enemies get what they apparently deserve. I need not tell you that working under such conditions would/is unpleasant. We’d wake up in the morning hating the day ahead of us before it began.
Unhappy/unsuccessful administrators poison the morale of teachers, and by extension, students and their learning experience. This, of course, is unacceptable.
On the other hand, happy/successful administrators are effective and just. They zero in on issues that most directly affect the educational quality of our students and maintain a healthy/supportive working relationship with teachers reflecting in high morale and retention.
A good administrator admits being wrong and enacts change when new data supports yet do not conveniently select it to promote their agenda. They are warm, inviting, approachable, magnetizing, not intimidating. They keep their word, are intolerant of gossip/hearsay by cutting it on the spot and somehow avoid the trap of bureaucratic ’principleship’. They are educational leaders more than paper pushers. They inspire teachers to love their craft and students to excel in academics. They meet obstacles with grace and dignity, are benevolent to friends and merciful to perceived enemies. They welcome dissent and take to heart fables such as The Emperor’s New Clothes. They are always light, perky and willing to laugh at themselves. Furthermore, they would never sacrifice substance over smoke and mirror pyros to look good. Such an administrator rides to school on a white horse instead of a …
Alright, so this sets too high a standard?
So how do we limit the damage caused by the abuse of an unhappy administrator? What can we do to minimize the impact on teacher morale and student learning? Our teacher union, as any union, at best, can counter the power of unwise administrators. At worse, unions become collaborators with poor administrators and by doing so contribute to the seeds of bad education. How does this happen? By abdicating their role and responsibilities as a union. Our message can be direct: we are with you when you promote good educational leadership and a positive school culture, but will not hesitate to ask for accountability when you don’t.
So, now that we agree that it is in our best self-serving interest to wish success and happiness to our administrators, what can we do when they are not? We work with them once, twice and before it’s hopeless, we smack them in the head with the contract and wish they’d be promoted downtown behind a desk to a position of zero influence.
So, by all means, let’s hug our administrators and be supportive always...but let’s keep our big stick in our pocket.
An unhappy, unsuccessful administrator, is trouble. Professional frustration ensues and this leads to the kind of desperation that seeks objects of blame. As teachers, we become the primary recipients. Reasoning becomes skewed and they succumb to the lesser human emotions. Convinced that we are not paying sufficient homage to their authority, conspirators against them are imagined and they divide teachers into friends or enemies. Teachers perceived as friends get rewarded and those as enemies get what they apparently deserve. I need not tell you that working under such conditions would/is unpleasant. We’d wake up in the morning hating the day ahead of us before it began.
Unhappy/unsuccessful administrators poison the morale of teachers, and by extension, students and their learning experience. This, of course, is unacceptable.
On the other hand, happy/successful administrators are effective and just. They zero in on issues that most directly affect the educational quality of our students and maintain a healthy/supportive working relationship with teachers reflecting in high morale and retention.
A good administrator admits being wrong and enacts change when new data supports yet do not conveniently select it to promote their agenda. They are warm, inviting, approachable, magnetizing, not intimidating. They keep their word, are intolerant of gossip/hearsay by cutting it on the spot and somehow avoid the trap of bureaucratic ’principleship’. They are educational leaders more than paper pushers. They inspire teachers to love their craft and students to excel in academics. They meet obstacles with grace and dignity, are benevolent to friends and merciful to perceived enemies. They welcome dissent and take to heart fables such as The Emperor’s New Clothes. They are always light, perky and willing to laugh at themselves. Furthermore, they would never sacrifice substance over smoke and mirror pyros to look good. Such an administrator rides to school on a white horse instead of a …
Alright, so this sets too high a standard?
So how do we limit the damage caused by the abuse of an unhappy administrator? What can we do to minimize the impact on teacher morale and student learning? Our teacher union, as any union, at best, can counter the power of unwise administrators. At worse, unions become collaborators with poor administrators and by doing so contribute to the seeds of bad education. How does this happen? By abdicating their role and responsibilities as a union. Our message can be direct: we are with you when you promote good educational leadership and a positive school culture, but will not hesitate to ask for accountability when you don’t.
So, now that we agree that it is in our best self-serving interest to wish success and happiness to our administrators, what can we do when they are not? We work with them once, twice and before it’s hopeless, we smack them in the head with the contract and wish they’d be promoted downtown behind a desk to a position of zero influence.
So, by all means, let’s hug our administrators and be supportive always...but let’s keep our big stick in our pocket.
posted by Aureliano Nava at 1:23 PM
1 comments
