The most difficult thing I do

The hardest part of this job is, without a doubt, improving attendance rates for students that, for whatever reason, are not attending school.

There are certain demographic realities about the students that do not attend regularly, but more important than ethnic or economic pre-dispositions is the ineffectiveness of approach.

I was able to refine attendance monitoring this year. This enabled me to share up to date and accurate attendance figures with involved staff members and the students in question. At first talking to students about their attendance rates did have an impact. There was usually a temporary increase in attendance after meeting with a student. There was not, however, long-term improvements.

I don't think a Truancy bot would fix the problem. 

I know that the solution is to create meaningful connections with students that motivate them to attend. To reach an internal mechanism that proves the value of the relationship with the school to the student, but that task is so hard to do well.

The attendance board is sometimes effective, but usually in select cases. For something this complex there needs to be some kind of action research or best practices approach. I have a feeling that someone somewhere has a better solution. I just haven't heard from that person.

Just learning

The learning curve is steep, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. There is something exciting about knowing so little. It is akin to being lost while travelling: a little scary, done almost on purpose, and sure to provide lots of stories to tell for later.

time x.

There is a great deal to learn about the role that I must play now. There are certain tasks that an assistant principal is just expected to take care of, such as OHS, managing assessment requests, connecting students with district supports. The learning curve on those tasks is steep, but I do not feel a great deal of anxiety about being able to accomplish them. I take my job seriously, and I work hard. I have a supportive principal that is already picking up any pieces that I miss (and there are several), and the district that I work in understands that I am new to the role and bound to miss a little bit here and there. For the formal "task learning," therefore, there is a great deal of support, so I know I will get there.

The organization is supportive of learning

The more interesting, and far more challenging, learning goal that I must now aspire to is how to lead in a school from a formal leadership position. One of the key items that I know staff are looking to me for in the school setting is on the nature of discipline. My approach to discipline and support of teachers in the classroom must be transparent and fair of course, but it should also take into account the teachers needs. What is it that a teacher needs to be able to teach more effectively in the classroom? This is such a difficult decision to make, but the best approach that I have seen modelled is one that is calm, decisive and honest. Calm and decisive are easy to interpret, but the honest part is a little unclear. By honest I mean the honesty to admit when I don't have the answer, to ask the teacher that is involved what their suggestions are and to listen to what the teachers are saying and not saying. There are many avenues that this exploration of learning about leadership can take, and I do hope to address more of them in future posts, but for now I want to stay focused on my commitment to respect staff when it comes to discipline.  Fair, transparent and honest, that is the key to disciplinary leadership.

The final challenge that I want to reflect on here today is how to apply my current learning in my MBA program to my new role as AP. The class I am in right now is titled The Strategic Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. I had originally planned on writing about the challenge of finding the place for process innovation in a school, but it has just now dawned on me that rather than talk about how to do it I need to just do it. Starting after Spring Break our school will be preparing for the iCubed invention convention. This is a fantastic entry point for an innovative approach to instruction, timetabling and school organization. It is also the perfect place to leave this reflection, my first under the newly branded learn lead lead learn blog of mine that no one is really reading....

Next blog post: On the invention convention.