Expecting Answers.....

I have been doing the administration gig for 10 years now and my understanding of the role and its expectations have evolved over the years.  I have greatly enjoyed and embraced the role, yeah it has its challenges and there are definitely some days that I would rather be back in the classroom, but for the most part it is a great job and I love the day to day interactions with students, staff, parents and the community.  One of the things that has evolved for me is the expectation that I have all the answers to the plethora of questions I receive.  The funny thing is, the expectation from myself is what has evolved, not necessarily the expectation from others.  When I first started in administration, I believed I needed to have all the answers.  I worked hard & read voraciously to learn all I could.  Sometimes this ended in foolish decisions that revealed my inexperience, but thankfully, more often than not, I was able to make sound decisions and pass along good advice.

This shouldn't be a surprise, the idea is that when you are the building leader, you have the answers to the questions parents, students and staff have.  What I have discovered, and maybe it is a recent change due to the incredible rate of change in education right now, is that I often do not have the answers, or I am aware that the previous answer to that question is evolving.

This is one of the many reasons I stay "connected" as an educator.  By attending workshops, conferences, #edcamps, reading blogs, and staying active on Twitter, I have been able to check in and learn from educators all over the world.  Thanks to these Social Media tools, I have been able to ask questions of the authors of the many professional books I read or listen to when attending conferences.  So now that I have access to these many well informed, well researched, well written, and experienced educators and authors, am I expected to keep all of their knowledge in my head?  Do we expect our teachers to remember everything they have heard and read? Do we expect them to get it right the first time?  Do we expect that of our students? Unfortunately sometimes I do think some people expect that of our students, but I know I don't.  I have heard a great many people share how we are now in the information age, and that the amount of information available has grown exponentially in just the last decade and the rate keeps increasing.  There is an ever increasing amount of information, strategies for teaching, brain research and technology tools to improve all we do.  So, why is it I see people talking about it being okay that principals don't have all the answers, but teachers keep coming in and asking for the answers and wanting it now (or even preferably yesterday).  Is there a double standard?  I don't think so.  I'm not looking to point fingers at teachers, they are under incredible scrutiny at this time, and many feel like all of the initiatives to improve education are being crammed down their throat and they have been given no time (and very little financial support) to learn about them.  The common approach I see and hear about has been, "implement this now so we are ahead of the game, and if we make a mistake.....we still have another year to fix it."

I'm not looking to make excuses, we definitely have things we need to change in our schools. We all needed to raise our standards.  But this also means we have much to learn, and if that is the case, then we need time to learn it.  We are in a bit of a Research & Development stage right now in education, and that is a good thing.  Some of the research on best practice has never gone out of date, but there are new ways and tools to implement those strategies with now.  I know that idea doesn't exactly jive with the current hysterical call for accountability and the push for easy to use & implement standardized test scores, but we have to find a way to avoid the fear those political tools create, and get focused on student learning which means teacher learning must come first.  We have to stop expecting everyone to know the answers, and we have to start connecting with each other and learning from each other, including learning from each others mistakes.

The only way to do this is to connect, share, ask questions, try something new and share how it goes. Then.....repeat the process.  Put yourself out there, and give it a try.  Don't be afraid to fail, don't expect someone to have all the answers, and we won't expect it of you.  Share your experiences, and let's all grow together.