The school year is coming to an end. I have to say that this has been quite an eventful school year. The first day of school consisted of an eclipse, two days later Hurricane Harvey happened, the start of the second semester we were going through a snowiceapocalypse, then Parkland happened, and then a school shooting way too close to home happened in Sante Fe, Texas. Sante Fe is less than a 30 minute drive from where I live. All this happened during my first year as an assistant principal. If I can best sum up the phases of emotions that go through the roles I have in education it would be this: As a teacher, I felt I served as many various roles for students. It was important to me that students felt like when they walked into my classroom that it felt like home. You never know what a student may be going home to outside your classroom, and the one positive and best thing that should happen to them each day at school is to feel welcomed, supported, and loved. When I moved into an instructional support role as an Advanced Academics Specialist I very much felt like a flight attendant. I was there to guide others to where they needed or wanted to grow towards. I trusted others in their roles, but I was there to help motivate and make them even better in their craft. Now as an administrator I feel more like a thousand questions at any point of the day is thrown at me, and the one thing people are looking for is for me to have the answer. So, how did I survive this because in reality I don't know all the answers? 1. Be Yourself I stayed true in being confident in knowing who I am and not being afraid to be myself. I have met so many other educators who move into administrative roles and they all of a sudden change. I never understood why. As a teacher and instructional support staff I trusted administrators more who were authentic. 2. Don't Be Afraid to Say, I Don't Know You will not know all of the answers and others understand that. Now, that does not mean that you don't take the time to find out the answer because no one will understand you not doing that part. But answering a question with I don't know is not a sign of weakness. Instead it's a sign that you are a human being and that is understandable. 3. If You Say It, Then Mean It I never wanted to make any promises that I could never fulfill. If I could not do it then I would be honest in saying just that. But if you say you are going to do something then do it. 4. Teamwork Truly Makes the Dream Work Get to know the strengths and weaknesses of faculty and staff and capitalize on their strengths. By doing so you actually help them grow those weaknesses into strengths. You cannot do everything alone and part of your role as an administrator is to build leaders. If you are the one doing everything then how will you have future leaders to make the ship run smoothly for students? 5. Be in the Role for the Right Reasons Know your why. Let me say that one more time. Know your why. In anything that you do you should take the time to understand your why and that will lead you to your role. My personal why is to ensure that every child has a learning experience that they find meaningful and prepares them for their future endeavors and to accomplish this I believe in growing leaders My first year as an Assistant Principal has been great. I stepped into this role because I realized my why. This role was one that I never thought I would touch with a fine tooth comb, but when I realized my why it lead me here. I have not had a day where I questioned why I do what I do. Instead I question how I can be better so that I can do my best to grow both student leaders and teacher leaders. Since it is the summer I am starting a blog series titled, Prepping for a New School Year: Leadership Tools, Tips + Tricks. Every Friday I will have a new blog post to ensure you have a very successful new school year. I had quite the school year this year, and at this rate I can survive anything. I will go back to older posts and link up all the blog posts in the series which are: June 1st: Assistant Principal Interview Tips June 8th: Seating Charts w/Ease: Using Random Sorting with Excel June 15th: Work Smarter, Not Harder: Mail Merge That Document June 22nd: Celebrating Staff Birthdays June 29th: Custom To Do Lists in Digital and Print July 6th: Font Pairings with Google Fonts July 13th: How To Take your PPT to a Whole New Level July 20th: Monthly Treat Tags July 27th: Full Year Celebrations Calendar August 3rd: Writing Belief Statements with your Departments August 10th: How To Live in Classrooms as an Assistant Principal : Principal Kafele Inspired Last, I definitely have to throw in some fashion into this post. If you are moving into a leadership role or are in a leadership role then you need to dress to impress. This is one of my recent finds from Nordstrom Rack that I got at a steal and is super comfortable and you definitely will make a entrance in the door with this dress. Shop the Look: