(FYI - this first paragraph is a repeat of Employment Application Material, part 1 from July 3rd as it sets the tone and reason for posting, though the actual questions and answers copied in below the paragraph are new)
After finishing my administrative masters degree and obtaining my administrative license, I began applying to principal positions in Shawnee Mission as well as several nearby school districts. Last year, while experiencing a swell of parent support at Prairie Elementary, I halted the search for principal positions and expanded my plans to concentrate supporting students at Prairie. This included Coleman's Camp, One-On-One tutoring, these websites, and an overall professional and personal connection with parents that is pervasively enriching. The last two years have been a time of tremendous growth and reinvestment in being an exceptional teacher. The parents of Prairie and the students of Prairie have caused me to reevaluate my plans and choose to remain at the school. I hope to serve the community and continue my own learning adventure. For the next few posts to Smells Like Burning Army Men I thought to share some of the material I wrote for my administrative applications in various districts. I spent months writing, revising, and distilling my experience and perspective into short statements that were to be used to evaluate my qualities and qualifications. Though I can readily find areas in the responses that could use additional refinement were I to apply to new principal vacancies, my plans of staying at Prairie mean this material may be relevant now primarily as information to the Prairie community.
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How do you set academic expectations?
The principal’s monitoring and evaluation of the school curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices are essential tools by which to set academic expectations. From this vantage point, awareness of students’ achievement and managing an ongoing appraisal of curriculum mastery helps the principal determine to what degree a school is satisfying the goals of the school board and community. In this context, I set student achievement as the forever-retreating endgame, revising all related conditions that may conceivably trickle down and influence the student. In practice, the entire school structure must be responsive to students, constantly adapting to accommodate the needs of hundreds of students every day. To maintain academic expectations, I foster collaborative teams and continual progress monitoring procedures to evaluate assessments and set goals at the individual, class, and grade level.
What will be the mission of your leadership?
In pursuing an Elementary or Middle School Principal position in the Shawnee Mission School District, I draw upon my own thirty-year relationship with teachers and administrators who initiated, provided, or supported my diverse educational training, broad professional opportunities, and unique leadership background. As an elementary teacher, paraprofessional, and lifelong student, I have undergone an ever-widening appreciation, concern, and desire to enrich students beyond the walls of a single classroom. As a leader, I instill a pervasive culture of positive behavior support, professional learning, individualized and meaningful instruction, student empowerment, and continual incorporation of educational research. In assessing my qualifications, I find my experiences and skills provide an ideal foundation for an exceptional principal.
How do you view your role?
As a principal, I strive for the cohesive interweaving of school culture, motivation, evaluation, communication, ideals and beliefs to provide the expectations that will infuse a given learning environment with purpose, adaptability, success, and continued renewal. I see that we seed the prospects of each new generation in classrooms filled with injection-molded chairs, along hallways decorated with construction paper projects, using teacher-made materials we laminate late into the evenings with pride - utilizing the energy and dedication of regular people to instill our skills, beliefs, and values to children.
