Uncategorized | Jan 24, 2009
How principals can motivate teachers
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
How principals can motivate teachers
By Angela Watson
I regularly receive emails asking for help with various teacher problems, particularly those related to my favorite topic, classroom management. This one comes from a principal, who gave me permission to share his question so that my fabulous readers can offer some advice:
I am the principal of a small rural school. I was an aide for 7 years. I taught for 5. I was an assistant principal for 1. Now I landed “the big job.” How do I motivate my staff? I have always been a “bootstrap” and “hours” kind of guy. Lace ’em up and work as long as it takes! But not everyone I work with shares my values. I feel like some are going about 50%. What aspects of administration motivate you to “go above and beyond”?
Any good suggestions?
I deeply admire any new administrator who cares enough about his staff to pose this question, and I think this guy deserves some sincere responses.
I happen to have worked for The World’s Worst Principal (oh, the stories I could tell if I never wanted to work again) as well as a bunch of eh-schmehs that are basically forgettable. They pretty much did the opposite of everything I’m about to mention, or they flip-flopped back and forth in a schizophrenic way that made me afraid to breathe wrong. At the moment, I have an absolutely amazing principal, so I can share some tips that actually do create a positive school climate and keep teacher morale generally high. (Yes, it’s possible. I never thought so, either.)
- Smile frequently and genuinely.
- Ask how your staff is doing, and listen to the answers you get.
- Share information about your personal life, but don’t overshare.
- Hold meetings only when absolutely necessary.
- Create an atmosphere of trust through small gestures, and never make it seem like you’re trying to catch your staff doing something wrong.
- Compliment your teachers in writing after a classroom walk-through and in public as often as possible.
- ALWAYS have your teacher’s back when a parent makes a complaint. Reprimand the teacher privately if needed, but create a united front to outsiders.
- Take on some of the district’s demands yourself, rather than hoisting them all on teachers.
- Don’t create additional paperwork.
- Make “a trip to the principal’s office” something to fear for unruly children, and non-threatening for teachers (not the other way around).
The majority of you really dislike your principals and assistant principals. (I know, I read your blogs and comments.) So here’s your chance to sound off: What do you wish administrators knew about motivating teachers? How could a principal entice–or better yet–inspire you to go the extra mile? What does your administration do (or fail to do) in order to create buy-in and give staff ownership over the school?
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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Anyone reading my blog can see that I dislike working for my principal greatly. At my previous school, I didn’t necessarily like working for the principal there either, but I was much happier. Here are a few reasons why:
-Principals that back up teachers have a good relationship with them. Don’t let a parent bad mouth a teacher and if you agree with the parent (face it, it happens) make that discussion private.
-Respect the “real-life” of the teacher. Teachers put much of their lives into their career. Perhaps more than any other career out there, but they do have lives outside of the buiding. Respect that by supporting teachers when they are dealing with family, health and other other problems at home. A happy teacher at home is a happy teacher at school.
-Respect the exprience of teachers. Teachers bring a lot to the table. Discussion about how to work things with parents and children can be colleague to colleague, not just boss to employee. When we are problem solving in schools, there is no right answer, we have to work together to make things happen.
-Constructive criticism. Help teaches improve their practice with positive and negative feedback. When noting areas that need improvement: make suggestions, offer for classroom coverage to visit other rooms/schools, follow up in a few weeks to see how much improvement has been made.
These are just a few things that my past principal did that really made a difference in staff moral and support. And again, she wasn’t the best principal, but this treatment of staff goes a long way.
Teachers are always expected to go “above and beyond” because it’s part of the job description. I think it is important to remember that every teacher comes from a different background and has a different life situation. What might be 50% for one could be 150% for another.
As far as an important quality in a principal, I would say that there are two things I find to be incredibly helpful. First, be clear in what you say. If you want to make something a policy, write it down. You can’t do the doublespeak thing- it’s too damn confusing for everyone. Second, FOLLOW THROUGH ON PROGRAMS. If you start something, see it through. Nothing is more irritating than a mandate that is started with great intentions and then abandoned or left partially finished a month later.
Okay. Maybe we need to define “above and beyond.” All the elementary teachers at my school have more than we could possibly do during a regular school day. Our county suggests that a teacher should tutor the low preforming students before or after school for free. The more they ask, the more we do. It’s to the point now that we are getting sick and depressed. No one smiles much anymore. We need to quit being such a bunch of saps and refuse to do some of this stuff.
I think all admin staff need to support the teachers and be a united front. One bad aspect of schools can be schools that have a dominant female staff. I know I’m betraying my gender here, but us females can be very volatile and it takes only one person to upset the apple cart as such. be consistent..if yoou apply it to me, it applies to everyone. Different rules for different people is very disheartening. I also think admin need to have a backbone..pull staff into line if it is needed. We have a particular staff member who is downright nasty but no-one will deal with her because admin don’t want to have to deal with the issue. As a new graduate, I also think that admin should be very supportive. Visit classrooms but make it non-threatening. I think it is best to observe people regularly and make it part of routine, as teachers don’t stress about it then. Feedback, when constructive can change so much in a teacher. I don’t care if what I did was wrong, if I can do it better and you suggest a way, I will always give it a go. Good luck.
Remember two simple rules:
1.you are not going to like everyone and aren’t going to be liked by everyone. It’s part of the job.
2. Be honest and laugh at yourself, that will take you farther than anything and will help your realtionship with your staff.
Good Luck, I don’t envy the challenge you are about to take on.