The Role of the Principal - Connector

I’ve been thinking alot lately about how research in education and other fields makes it way from academia to teachers in classrooms. One of the things I’ve realised is the importance of the school principal as a “connector”. To be sure, academics share their research in all kinds of ways that get their material read and implemented, and practising teachers also often seek out new sources of information, including current research. However, the school principal is perfectly positioned to be a conduit for current research to make its way into the hands of busy classroom teachers. 

An example of this came up for me in a recent meeting. In the meeting we were discussing what resources we would purchase to teach reading at school. Several options were presented from a variety of publishers. What was immediately apparent for me was that research into how children acquire the skills of reading is evolving, and some methods and resources that were common and widespread even just 2 or 3 years ago are outdated, called into question, or even discredited. (see “The Science of Reading Progresses”) 

I’m grateful to have the time outside of the classroom to learn about and share new ideas. I’m grateful to have the network to draw new ideas and resources from far and wide into my school. The potential for influencing teaching practise and the impact on learners and their future success is inspiring, and hopeful. That’s a great feeling to take home at the end of a day!

The Importance of Language

The Importance of Language

I’ve been having conversations with a few different folks in my Mastermind and some coaching connections about language this week, and thinking about specific 

verbiage as it relates to comments on report cards, or what we call Communications of Student Learning here in BC. For example, what is a good alternative to the gender specific 

term “sportsmanship”? I’ve come up with a few ideas, such as rearranging the sentence to include “sporting”, 

or “sporting behaviour”, or “sense of fair play”. I’d be interested to hear what others come up with.

I believe it is important that we have conversations like this, so our students (and school communities) see representations of themselves in our daily workings, and also so it is a welcoming, safe place. For this to 

happen I need to reflect on my gendered, white-normative, binary privileges and reexamine how and why I do things the way I do in the school environment. 

I can't remember where I found this link, but here’s an example of a someone doing that challenging work: 

https://medium.com/viewfinder-reflecting-on-museum-education/beyond-bathrooms-including-all-genders-through-language-300580834384