Monday, May 10, 2010
Blogging Comment 2
All principals have specific strengths and weaknesses. Without identifying any specific principal or school leader, describe the organizational strengths and weaknesses of a school leader/principal that you have worked with in your career. You must included BOTH strengths and weaknesses.
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The one person that comes to mind is a wonderful caring person..so that would be a strength..the ability to care and be so up front with the staff being served. A weakness would be the ability to get to each class weekly and see the difficulties that room is facing or the successes that need to be praised.
ReplyDeleteOne weakness that I've seen is someone who snaps at you before they know the whole story. The bite comes first. However, this same person has a strength where he trusts us as teachers to do the job that we were trained to do. He doesn't micromanage our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteA weakness of the administrator I am thinking of seems to take favorites, and those who are his favorite benefit more. A strength would be is that he makes himself seen and has a good relationship with students. He also lets you know when you are doing a good job.
ReplyDeleteThe administrator I'm thinking of really cares about the well-being of each child and believes that each child is capable of learning at a high level. I think a weakness would be not being present enough in the school, which I believe added to the lack of a community/family feeling.
ReplyDeleteThe administrator that I am thinking of has a very good rapport with students and the community. He is always friendly and seems genuinely interested in others' lives both in the school setting outside. This makes him seem very geniune to others and therefore most people want to please him. A weakness, however, is that there is not always the follow-through with some situations. When an issue comes up he may get upset and have a heated conference with the person involved, but when it all blows over and he calms down the issue is dropped.
ReplyDeleteI thought about two principals that I wanted to compare and contrast their strengths and weaknesses. The first principal's strengths include organization, detail oriented, and data driven. The weakness of this principal is micro-management. The second principal has excellent ideas but takes very broad strokes (losing lots of details along the way) and is unorganized. With these two principals working together, their strengths and weaknesses compliment each other. I think that it is important to have principals with different strenghts and weaknesses to get a variety of options to deal with all issues that occur in the school settings.
ReplyDeleteA strength for an adminstrator would be that they are well-liked by the faculty and student body. They are willing to listen to any comment/concern we may have and offer assistance to helping us. A weakness I have seen is having favorites and allowing those favorites to get by with "murder" in the classroom. It would be nice to have all faculty observed in the same manner.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is very important to know and understand your strengths and weakness as a person. A strength for an administrator is that the person is definitely there for the main benefit being the children. On the other hand sometimes because of this the staff seems to be outweighed and sometimes may feel differently in some ways. Another strength is the effective leadership and strength in instructional approach that this leader has. One there weakness is sometimes being very unorganized, I know its a a lot to keep up with, but that is a part of the job.
ReplyDeleteI have the utmost respect for the principal that I am working with. He is highly organized, very efficient, and successfully turned our school from a "directive-control" to a "collaborative" environment. He is very strong in developing curriculum and instruction and even staff development, however, I have noticed that he is a micromanager. He tends to think that he is the only one who can "get the job done....right". It can be infuriating. I think he could build an even richer "non-directive" environment, which build respect between administration and the teachers if he were to "let some things go". Delegate. He might find that others can do the same job just as well and open up his schedule for more time to plan staff development....which, by the way, he has little time to do.
ReplyDeleteI know a leader that is very caring and understanding. I feel this is a strength. The weakness is that people often take advantage of these leaders.
ReplyDeleteThe principal that I am thinking of is wonderful and caring, supportive, and willing to work hard, long hours. I think weaknesses would include that everyone isn't always treated the same (some teachers are obviously more well-liked than others). Also, I think being able to stay level headed (not suddenly fly off the handle) is a weakness.
ReplyDeleteHaving taught Special Education students most of my career, I would say that a Principal who leaves me alone to do my job is the best. This is both a strength and a weakness. The strength is that the principal believes in me as a teacher and allows me to do my job. Unfortunately, this is a major weakness as many folks leave the special education teachers and classes (students) alone because they do not want to deal with them.
ReplyDeleteI always worked to have my students make cards, deliver flowers and candy to the office and many other things to let the school know we were there and part of the building population.
While I preferred to be left alone, it also was not fair to me as a member of the faculty and more importantly not fair to the students.
I think that there are many strengths and weaknesses that can be identified in a leader. Specifically, I'd like to think of the many strengths that I've seen. I think it is important for a principal to put students first and believe that every child has a special gift. I think a weakness is when a principal is disorganized or unpersonable. It is very essential for an administrator to have a personality.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that one MAJOR strength is that she is definitely a people person and is very approachable whenever a problem arises that you need help with. I feel maybe one weakness COULD be that she started out as a teacher in this particular school then was adminisrative assistant, then assistant principal, and now FINALLY principal.
ReplyDeleteStrengths: Supportive of school personnel. We were told at our first faculty meeting "I will back you to my dying breath".
ReplyDeleteWeakness: Micro-manager, all decisions dealing with school improvement, student discipline, etc. were made in the office without teacher input.
Strengths:
ReplyDelete-cares very much for our students
-has excellent communication with parents, staff, and students
-open door policy and very much a people person
-always puts student's needs first
Weaknesses
-not extremely well organized
-can get sidetracked easily
-always tries to give everyone what they want
A strength of one of my past principals is that they had great rapport with the school community. A weakness is they were taken advantage of during my experience.
ReplyDeleteRoss Matney
Strengths-
ReplyDeleteThe students respected the principal.
The faculty and staff had great morale with each other.
A sense of cohesiveness amongst the school community.
Extremely supportive of faculty and staff.
Very visible in the building.
Great community rapport.
Consistent with discipline.
Weaknesses-
Had difficulty with technology.
More time for observations.
I have seen strengths in an administrator who sets high expectations and gets in the trenches and works with the teachers and students. This person is very visible. This person strives to learn more about the curriculum so that he is able to answer questions and provide support adequately. A weakness would only come from new to elementary school and Virginia. This I can foresee as a potential strength, because he is aware of it and wants to grow in that area.
ReplyDeleteStrengths:
ReplyDelete•great rapport students, families, and community
•is able to give families agencies and etc that can help them
•caring
•interested in teachers lives outside of school
Weaknesses:
•Very disorganized
•Not present in building, during stressful situations
•Does not relay important information to all staff members…you hear about it by some else…which tends to make some staff members feel less important.
•Does not follow through with all situations
Strengths:
ReplyDelete-Very organized
-Visible throughout the school
-Focuses strongly on instruction and staff development to enhance learning.
Weaknesses:
-Does not support the teachers
-Agrees with parents to avoid conflict
Does not have a good work relationship with the teachers.
The principal that comes to mind was definitely a principal I WILL NOT model myself after as I progress into the field of administration. Strengths of this individual included the fact that he was straight forward and blunt with what he saw, did, believed, and said. I would rather know where I stand as opposed to not. However, this particular individual had several weaknesses that really stood out. He was way to quick to judge the potential of a person, whether it be a student or a teacher. Once that determination was made, it could not be changed. People change, and as an administrator, it is important to work with and develop your staff and your student body, not sit back and think that person is doomed forever. This principal also never had a positive word to share about any event, and always dwelled on the negative. This is another weakness in my view, as their is a silver lining to every cloud. The real challenge is to find it and develop it, and change things.This particular principal and I made things work, as I was used to this kindof treatment in the world of restaurant management, which was my crutch to make it through college and become a teacher. The new teacher int he room next to me, however, cracked under his "leadership" and left the profession forever(and I saw so much potential there).
ReplyDeleteStrengths:
ReplyDelete-cares about students personally as well as academically
-great rapport with parents
-easy to talk to
-great culture and collaborative builder
Weakness:
-Avoids having "tough" talks that would lead to change
-Lacks vision and focus
-recognizes weaknesses without any changes
In considering one of my school leaders, there was a definite strength in being positive with students, staff, and teachers. His "laid back" personality lends itself to people feel comfortable. A strength can also be a weakness. This person also did not really inspire, motivate, or challenge the staff to grow professionally. Teachers want to be trusted and feel competent, but they also want to grow and be challenged to reach beyond where they currently are. This takes strong leadership and a vision.
ReplyDeleteThis school leader I will refer to has just retired. She is a strong figurehead of the school and well respected by the community and district. Her strengths are her personal dedication to each individual (she has been in every child's home). She knows every student. She is the sole authority in the school and everyone know it. She knows what is going on. She is in touch and yet in charge. She will back up her faculty 100% and bend over backwards to help. Her word is the law.
ReplyDeleteHer weaknesses are that she does not really involve all stakeholders in decision-making. She really is a good example of authoritarian approach yet she is still up to date on research and technology. She makes decisions and delegates, but she has a deep ability to know her staff's strengths and she used them to the advantage.
She is positive and supportive in nature while remaining the one with the power. I have learned a tremendous amount about the art of leadership from her and am grateful to her for sharing with me whenever I have asked her to. But I do think that this school needs to mix in stakeholders making colloborative decisions so that they can move toward ownership, striving for excellence instead of working to meet the rules of the boss. There is a place for both.
The strengths of the administrator I selected are as follows:
ReplyDelete-very student success focused
-well organized in day to day operations
-technologically advanced
The weaknesses are:
-student discipline inconsistent
-difficult to find during critical times during the school day
-seems to have favorites (both students and staff)
The principal that comes to mind for me is one that is definitely an advocate for children. She constantly engages them in conversation and is very mindful of their individual home loves. This administrator knows every child that comes in to her building. However, one of her weaknesses would be that she does not do the same for her faculty and staff. She rarely looks at outside variables that may be affecting her staff and she often treats individuals differently.
ReplyDeleteStrengths- Keeps children as the focus, collaboration with faculty, very approachable, very knowledgeable about elementary curriculum
ReplyDeleteWeaknesses- organization and scheduling, such as regularly planning staff meetings only a day in advance
Strength: very decisive- This administrator makes a decision and stands by it. Additionally, this administrator tells it like it is. I appreciate this quality.
ReplyDeleteWeakness: shares too much information- This administrator will discuss confidential information in a social situations. This action leads people to believing the administrator is not professional.
Strengths: This building administrator is out in the hallways greeting people. They are very friendly with community and local people. They are very knowledgeable about administration.
ReplyDeleteWeakness: They haven't taught for many years so they do not always know what is happening in the classroom.
I have had the luxury of working with what I consider some strong leaders. One in particular had strengths that included: Established good rapport with parents/students, constantly attended extra-curricular events to support sponsors and students, created effective and consistent discipline procedures, and had an overall "no nonsense approach" where teachers/staff knew where they stood without dealing with smokescreens.
ReplyDeleteWeaknesses included a dislike for "crunching numbers" associated with Adequate yearly progress. This administrator was also heitant in technolgy use, although he encouraged faculty and staff to use it in the classroom.
The strength that I have seen is a collaboration with faculty. Keeping them up-to-date and making sure they are communicating with the principal so that both sides are aware of what is going on at all times. A weakness would be the lack of consistency with student discipline.
ReplyDeleteStrengths:
ReplyDelete- easily approachable
- truly loves the job and children
- dedicated to the job
- supportive of staff
Weaknesses:
- too nice
- too trusting
- weak disciplinarian
- organizational skills
- hears what he wants to hear
My leader always makes decisions with the best interest of the children in mind. Her decisions are fair and equitable and she drives the vision for our school. She is dedicated to the staff and to making sure that teachers have the resources they need to be successful. She is very organized. She is a very good problem solver and utilize collaboration from the staff to help with issues that impact them. She is consistent with discipline and works to find the "root cause of the problem" in a attempt to improve classroom management and leadership within our faculty. A weakness may be that discipline sometimes becomes a distraction to the role of an instructional leader.
ReplyDeleteSome negative attributes of a leader under which I have 'served' include not being accessible, unwilling to consider what may be in the best interest of all parties involved in a situation, and not being responsible in regard to discipline issues. Another leader under which I have 'served' was someone who always put people's best interest first and who was very accessible. I respected her tremendously.
ReplyDeleteThe weakness of my head leader is hat she is not visible to anyone in the school. Students as well as teacher can ever find her to ask a question whether large or small.
ReplyDeleteThe strength is that she fights for the math and the AP departments to receive the funding and resources needed to make these students successful. (I work in the English Department and not AP either;>)
A strength that I admire that I have seen in a principal that I very much admire is her dedication to the children she serves that live in poverty. This particular principal has personally provided and led her teaching staff to provide clothing, food, school supplies, holiday dinners, gifts, etc; She gives tirelessly and inspires those she leads to do likewise.
ReplyDeleteA weakness that I have witnessed a principal exhibit that I have served is a lack of organization, i.e. not keeping school event calndar up to date, not getting important information to teachers in time, etc; Although this principal I served was extremely dedicated and worked hard, her staff saw this lack of organization, and it affected the relationships she had with them.
This principal has a great deal of knowledge of the special education side of school but this principal struggles with the regular administration side of principalship. There is very little staff development taking place and no pride or commaradarie among school staff becuase the principal contradicts themselves in regards to student discipline and makes snap decisions without looking into the real issue.
ReplyDeleteThis principal, however, is very effective in regards to special education. The IEPs are all in order and never out of date, this principal makes sure all student accomodations are being met, and attends all FAPT meetings for our students and has a good name within the public schools so we are able to bring more students into our school.
This principal is organized by having staff meetings every week, but in these staff meetings there is disorganization and usually nothing is accomplished becuase there is complaining to and about staff not doing thier jobs.
This principal was gifted at commanding respect from the students, which made her an excellent disciplinarian. This was a tremendous asset to the teachers, because the threat of going to the principal would make almost every student straighten up immediately. Her problem was, she tried to use this tactic with the teachers, as well. This caused teachers to walk on eggshells and eliminated the possibility of a learning community with strong collaboration.
ReplyDeleteThe organizational strengths of the principal I have in mind would be her ability to motivate the learning community she was involved with, provide leadership through bonding, and she was extremely passionate about her position as a principal. A couple of her weaknesses were that she had a very strong personality which many teachers viewed as wanting to micro-manage the staff, and she was extremely busy which teachers complained made it difficult to find time to talk with her one on one.
ReplyDeleteStrengths of any leader could be well organized with a vision. A community leader who has a personality that welcomes everyone.
ReplyDeleteWeaknesses in any leader is one who is disorganized, who is not welcoming to those who want guidance.
Strengths:
ReplyDelete-Caring and always willing to listen to your entirely.
-Great interaction with faculty, staff, parents, and community
-Supports all activities
-creates an environment that is enjoyable to teach in with limited conflict
-fair and honest, and greets you with a smile
Weaknesses:
-Sometimes lack of knowledge in all areas (which I understand is hard to do)
-when he's stressed and tired, you can tell it.
-I had a hard time thinking of weaknesses, which is a good thing
One strength with a principal I have worked for is that she is a very giving person. She would give the shirt off her back to any student or faculty member in need. In fact, I have seen her pay out of her pocket many times for things the students didn't have money to buy. One weakness she possessed was that at times she could get so stressed that she was somewhat unapproachable. She had so much on her mind that when you were talking to her, you could tell she was not paying a bit of attention to you. As a teacher, that was very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteStrength: Compassion. Willingness to give time. Knowledgable.
ReplyDeleteWeakness: Instructional knowledge weak. Places authority in money. Does not make decisions based upon good of the whole.
Laura Deel-Stanley