Principals who remember ths little touches know how to motivate this teacher

Look at the star I received from my principal.

She also underlined the importance of asking a student, "How can I help?"

She sent us an article that emphasized that our job as teacher is not "what can I teach today."... it's "How can I help you today?"   A child who is hungry doesn't need a bold new worksheet.

The article also emphasized global skills.

So it might mean more opportunities to talk to students about how they can use Skype in their homes to practice being BIB Penpals.

Students can go on www.BIBPenpals.com and learn how to become conversation assistants over Skype for Jair da Silva Filho, a teacher in Brazil.  Here's a sample video.

A checklist for a principal: What recent books have influenced your school's procedures?

An interview is an opportunity for me to learn more about your school.

Are you open to using these procedures?

projects portfolios

digital portfolios                           team teaching

cross-discipline planning (one project for several classes)

The flipped classroom (lectures on video, class time for discussion and elaboration of the themes in the lectures)

controlled / limited / careful use of social media for academic purposes

smart use of the Internet

Do you have teachers who used to be in business or other professions?             

Penpals with other schools

peer mentoring by teachers (Finnish style "open door" observation)

internships and mentors (links with community for mentoring and volunteers)

after school hours?   The "community school"        

Are your students asked to help keep the school clean and organized?  (some schools have extra brooms available to sweep and dust the classrooms)

Do any of these authors inform your procedures?

Malcolm Gladwell  10,000 hours (Outliers)

Blink

Dan Pink:   Drive (autonomy, mastery, purpose, Fedex day)

To Sell is Human (the new elevator pitch)

A Whole New Mind (Conceptual age, Automation, Asia, Abundance)

Thomas Friedman The World is Flat

Seth Godin  Purple Cow

Let's clean our school

Students serve the food

It's lunchtime

Food is cooked in a central kitchen and delivered to schools.
The students distribute the food, plates and silverware

Add caption

time to eat

clean the dishes

recycling

brush teeth after lunch

Kids rate their own performance

slippers when you go into the restroom (so the germs in the restroom
stay on the soles of the shared slippers) ... It's better to share slippers
than to bring the germs from the restroom into the rest of the school

Put on slippers to walk around the inside of the school

The community school -- open from 7 am to ??

Tips from the Interview box

I went into an interview today and there was my envelope, addressed to the language arts teacher. "Oh, I heard about your from your emai message sent through teachers-teachers.com," said the principal.

TIP:  Send the resume to teachers, but also send an email.
TIP:  Put "Teacher Vacancy" or "Response to your teaching opportunity" on the outside of the envelope.

When the principal asks, "What would be your ideal job," don't describe anything other than the position that you are applying for.  I told the fellow about my dream of teaching the 25 worst-academic performers, in a project-based classroom for three years, without a worry about testing, and the response was, "You should talk with my friend who wants to start a school.  You would be an excellent assistnat princiapl in charge of curriculumm."   Ugh.   TIP:  Don't talk about the future.  Describe the ideal job for the very near future.

This is the sort of principal that I want to work for... Interactive, inclusive, encouraging. Darine Amhaz Beydoun, Ayoub International School

http://edtosavetheworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/human-beings-not-machines/

Here's a quote from the EdToSaveTheWorld wordpress blog

Let's find a position for this able principal...

I am posting this information to help parents see what a great principal's experience looks like.

To Whom It May Concern,

Please consider this letter of interest, resume and reference list as part of the formal application process. 

In my 26 years in education, I have been a teacher, Magnet Coordinator, and administrator. During that time I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of K- 12 schools and school types from Title I regular education to Gifted and Talented.  I have enjoyed the challenge of working on closing the achievement gap and improving student performance through the use of best practices for teachers, data driven instruction with differentiation and by having high expectations for all stakeholders. Accountability has been a key focus of mine in my efforts to improve student performance.

I have worked on and have written grants to open new specialized magnet programs for students with special interests at the middle and high school level.  In the mid 1990’s, as a member of the Ad-Hoc Change Committee in Houston, Texas, I was part of the beginning process for writing No Child Left Behind.  I have also collaborated on and written five- and six-year district strategic plans for small school systems in Florida, Texas and Arkansas.  In these endeavors I have been given responsibility for:

• • Management and administration of the overall instructional program including accreditation reviews at district and building level
• • Development, evaluation and assessment of new instructional programs at the district and building level
• • Selection of materials including textbooks and equipment for district wide and building usage
• • Management of budgets ($21,000 to $4 million) at school and district levels
• • Publications concerning school materials at the school, district and state levels (Statistical Briefs between 1978-1981) for the Florida Department of Education
• • Coordinating and developing family literacy programs and Pre-K initiatives
• • Supervision and evaluation of personnel 
• • Implementation and administration of negotiated employee contracts
• • Coordination and supervision of transportation services, student discipline and facilities  
• • Active recruiting and support of business partnerships and community relationships 
• • Implementation of strategic planning 
• • Communication with all stakeholders
• • Primary and assistant grant writer for federal and state funding sources
• • Data and statistical operations at the state level working with public and non-public schools
• • Administrator at all three levels of K-12 education; Goal oriented leadership style used at all levels
• • Teacher at the K-16 level in Reading, English and Computer Sciences
• • Extensive work on “closing the achievement gap” through refining the curriculum, using data driven strategies, the use of technology and staff development procedures; having high expectations academically and socially for all students.

Also in my career, as an administrator and thru the use of my degrees in Language Arts and Reading, I have led an elementary school from needs improvement (corrective action) by state guidelines to being a high achieving school in the top 10% of the state within a three year period.  

In so doing the school earned the prestigious International Reading Association Award for Outstanding Reading Programs for 2004 and the Exemplary Reading School Award for Georgia 2004.  Through these achievements the school also earned the Jostens’ Renaissance School People’s Choice Award for 2004 and 2005.

In 2003, I had the honor of being an attendee and presenter at the Oxford Roundtable on Gender Equity in Education.  I wrote and presented a paper on Girls in the 21^st Century and the Technologically Literate World.  Through this experience I have worked with many colleges and universities in researching and examining the gender differences that occur within our schools.

I hold both a Bachelor and Masters Degree from Florida State University in Language Arts, Reading and Social Studies with an additional 30 hours in Educational Leadership from Texas Southern University.  I have all but a dissertation completed (ABD) at Capella University in Educational Leadership for Higher Education.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my application

Sincerely,

xxxxxxx 

For contact info, write to  TheEbookman@gmail.com ... 

I look forward to working for this principal again...