Go See the Principal

1

“BUT I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL!”

Principal Tips for Motivating and Bonding Your Team

The first day of school is always a momentous occasion for parents and kids. Teachers also get swept up the excitement—even though their first day occurs a few days earlier—without many “first day of school” photos and hardly any tears.

I think opening day for teachers should be as fun and exciting as humanly possible. It’s the first time your whole staff gathers together, which presents a tremendous opportunity to bolster personal relationships.

You don’t need to rent an escape room or order an expensive catered breakfast for a strong start to the year (although nobody would mind donuts and coffee). I’ve heard teachers complain, “We don’t want to spend three hours on games when we could be getting our classrooms ready,” so simplicity is key.

Principals, I’ve developed some simple icebreakers that you can try at your school. I like to spread these out throughout the meetings so there are little breaks for fellowship in between moments of actual work.

If you don’t have much time to prepare, an easy activity is to give the teachers little packages that contain items like a fun-sized pack of M&Ms or Starburst. I like to use cans of Vienna sausages because it’s funny and there are seven hot dogs per can, but your staff may prefer candy to processed meat. I ask everyone to open theirs and share one fact about themselves to go with each item. It also helps to put up a PowerPoint slide with prompts like “What did you do this summer?” “Where did you grow up?” “Do you have children?” “What’s your favorite movie?” That way people who might be shy or who blank when all eyes are on them will have something to say. With this activity, teachers who might not know each other are more likely to have topics to bond over while they’re on recess duty or bump into each other in the parking lot. They can say, “My mother is from California” or “I was at that concert this summer too!”

If you have a bit more time, try a “Blast from the Past” PowerPoint. A few days before opening day, I go on Facebook and find meaningful photos of as many teachers as I can from earlier in their lives, like wedding or graduation photos. I play the slide show and ask each teacher to tell us something about the day their photo was taken. Then I ask, “What’s one way you’ve changed or grown since then?” This leads into a good discussion of how they can grow this year as teachers and how they want their students to grow as well.

If you have time to research and already have established a good relationship with much of your staff, pull social media pictures your teachers have posted of themselves with their children, and ask each staff member to share something special about their child. I’ll play a game where I ask the teachers to guess whose child is in the photo. “What aspirations do you have for your child?” I then ask, which leads to a discussion about how all parents have certain dreams for their kids—kids like the ones we’re in charge of seven hours per day. I emphasize that it’s our job to help those children reach their parents’ goals and aspirations. It sends a powerful message to see other teachers as parents and to remember that each parent at home wants something great for his or her child.

If you’re blessed with more time or have an active parent-teacher association (PTA), there’s the baggage icebreaker. I’ve spent a few days over the summer gathering used suitcases from Goodwill and the Salvation Army, which usually cost $2 or $3 each. If you’re on a budget, you can email a few dozen parents and ask them to lend the school two pieces of luggage and drop them off a few days before opening day. Then, the night before our first meeting, I put a suitcase in everyone’s room. I send my staff a text message that says, “When you come to the meeting, bring the baggage that was left in your classroom,” and instruct them to leave the bags in the hall. You end up with a huge pile of luggage, which can lead into a discussion about how we can have a more positive year by leaving behind old emotional baggage we’ve carried around, whether it’s anxiety about seeing parents who stressed us out last year, issues with the lesson plan, or overwhelming problems with disorganization. I put out a big sign that reads, “Baggage We’ve Left Behind,” and leave it there for a few days before school starts. Contemplating a fresh start is a release for everyone, and it’s a great visual when the teachers see 50 pieces of luggage piled up outside the staff meeting area. This is an especially effective activity if you’re at a new school or there’s been a lot of flux.

If you can get your staff bonded and optimistic ahead of time, this sets the right tone not just for the first day but for the whole year, and the benefits trickle down to the kids and their parents. Plus, you might just get some extra hot dogs for your lunch.

2

CLASSROOM PLACEMENT

The Methods to Our Madness

At my school, we mail our placement announcements out in July—the letters that tell parents which classrooms their kids are assigned to for the fall. Due to confidentiality, we don’t mail the whole list, just a letter that reads, “This is who your child’s teacher is gonna be.”

Yet somehow the parents figure out which child is in which class, and every year I get at least one silly call from a parent who complains, “I don’t want my child with Mrs. Smith.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve heard she’s a yeller.”

I’ll ask, “Who have you heard that from?”

“Well, my son walks by her room and says she looks like a yeller.”

Or, we’ll hear this:

“I want Mrs. Smith.”

“Why do you want Mrs. Smith?”

“My daughter likes the way she dresses.”

Or this:

“I don’t want my child with Susie.”

“Why not?”

“Susie’s mean.”

“Okay, we can move your child to another classroom.”

“Well, my child has friends in her classroom. Can you move Susie?”

Here’s the thing, and I can’t reiterate this enough: All parents want what’s best for their child. But these parents in particular, who want to control every situation, think they know a teacher’s personality, or whether their child can handle a year in a classroom with a particular child. They’re not considering the professionalism of the teachers and what they see every day.

It was with this in mind that I made a video in which I discussed the secret codes teachers use on student placement cards as we decide which child goes in which classroom. These cards include spaces for students’ names, academic levels, who they should be with and maybe shouldn’t be with, along with the most important information of all: codes to describe the children’s parents:

Seriously, parents, the next time you pick up the phone to complain about your child’s classroom assignment, remember that the teachers had to carefully juggle the following considerations to create a harmonious classroom that’s optimal for learning:

Personalities of students. Teachers often see conflicts between students that aren’t big enough to bring to a parent’s attention but can cause concern for placing those students in the same class. Are there three or four girls who are bossy and like to be in charge? Then we want to make sure they’re not all in the same classroom because then we end up with behavior conflicts among friends. We also look for the shy, quiet students and make sure they’ve got somebody in the classroom they’re comfortable with.

Academic levels. Teachers seriously consider academic levels when creating a class roster. If there’s a good balance of high, medium, and low students in a classroom, everybody benefits during class discussions. The high students can bring up a lot of prior knowledge and higher-order questioning. The lower students are able to give input and succeed when they’re asked appropriate questions.

Involved parents. This was what inspired the video about the parent codes on student placement cards. Whose parents can send some food in for a party or go along on a field trip? While we may do a good job of splitting up academics and personalities, we might have all the parents that are willing to help out in one classroom, when another classroom doesn’t have snacks at a party because nobody was there to help. So, we strive to ensure all teachers have parental support for their class.

Teacher consideration. Administrators need to make sure all teachers are present when they finalize classroom placement. There’s a lot to be said for a teacher who says, “I really struggled with that child’s parent,” “I know that girl well because she lives in my neighborhood, and I don’t want her in my classroom,” or “I know that family well and I do want her in my classroom.” Make sure you consult your specials-area teams, the librarian who goes, “When they’re with me, these girls fight all the time,” or the physical education (PE) teacher who says, “These two kids are very competitive.” A lot of times, you’ll separate a kid from a distracting friend in second grade, and then by third grade they’re put back together because the first grade teachers weren’t part of the conversation and no one can remember why those two were separated to begin with, and now they’re back together, more distracting than ever.

And that’s almost as bad as carrots at a classroom birthday party.

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SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Yes, We Really Need All That Stuff

Several years ago, Staples released a funny commercial in which a father danced around the store to the song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” tossing school supplies in his shopping cart while his children watched, stone-faced.

I wish all parents were that excited about pencils, folders, and protractors, but some push back when supply lists are sent home. They grumble when they have to spend $25, $50, or $100 on supplies, but they don’t understand that if the student doesn’t bring that stuff in, then it lands in the school’s lap—or even the teacher’s personal wallet—to supply them.