The first week of the school year has passed. My new staff completed their first week with their students and had the opportunity to meet the parents. I usually meet with the new staff at the end of the first week for 15 minutes to check in and ask a few questions. However, after reading John Wink’s article on “5 Alternatives to Asking New Teachers How They’re Doing” I was excited to try a different approach. While reading this article, I realized how much I related to it. He described what I normally ask my staff, whether they are old or new. “Hi how are you? Or “Hi how’s it going?” He stated that when we ask those types of questions, it does not give us any indication on how they are truly doing. So instead, he states to ask specific questions.
Tag: IB Schools
Reflecting on my first year as an AP
For the last twelve days I have been reflecting over the past school year. I have completed my first year as an AP and I felt as if I was on a roller coaster. There were many ups and downs and I found myself going round and round.
Thinking back on the year there are some things that I would do differently. In the moment, it’s difficult to analyze all situations. I don’t think anyone even with years of experience would have an answer for everything. Being in education there isn’t a day that repeats itself. There is never a dull moment because you are always on your toes.
Goodbyes
Working in International Schools is not easy. I am finding it harder and harder year after year to say goodbye to wonderful admin/teachers. As a teacher I used to hide so that no one could come and say bye as I know that tears will start rolling down. Being in an admin role I knew that I couldn’t do it as everyone wants to come by and say bye. Those whom I built relationships with were the hardest. With some of them, I managed to say bye from far and waved and gave them a flying kiss. They understood the way I am with goodbyes. Those who don’t know how I am with goodbyes probably thought I was weird, cold hearted and heartless.
The Day in the life of an AP without your Principal!
The day has come when my principal would not be at school for 3 days. It was the day I feared most. My goodness, 2 days of trying to be in so many places at once was insane. Day 1 started at 6:30am and ended at 5:15pm. It was non stop, one thing after the other. I could only connect with the KG AP for about 10 minutes. At one point, I had to be at 3 different places at once. Between attending to teacher’s needs, to solving students behavior problems, to answering angry parents, to going into meetings, to calling home and speaking to parents, to making decisions on the spot, to seeing unexepected parents that showed up at my office was exhausting and overwhelming.
Continue reading “The Day in the life of an AP without your Principal!”
My Recruiting Experience!
Over the weekend my superintendent, owner of the school and I flew to Dubai for the GRC recruiting fair. It’s a one day fair and I must say that I was nervous about this trip. Those two nights I barely slept. Especially the night before for the fair. I was told I was going since September. And since then I always wondered what it would be like. We got in on Friday. Friday night my superintendent and I met and we reached out to our candidates by email. We set up interviews timings to those that sent us their CV’s through the GRC website and went through our interview questions.
Saturday came and we sat up our table, had breakfast and was ready for the candidates. The doors opened at 8am. From 8 am till 10am the candidates came and confirmed their interview timings. Some people checked out our openings and dropped off their CV. Working 14 hours straight with 1 hour break was exhausting. Smiling, talking, interviewing, answering their questions and making small talk was insane but loved it. I did my first interview with my superintendent and then went solo with the owner by my side giving me tips and answering their questions. The whole experience was surreal. Between interviews we would get other directors/principals asking us for reference checks for our current staff that were there attending the fair as well. When we were done interviewing, it was our turn to email and ask for reference checks for those we interviewed and were interested in offering a contract. The minute we were finished interviewing, we debriefed over dinner, got their referenced checked, then sent emails offering some candidates a contract. It went by so quickly yet so slowly and I learned a lot from both my superintendent and the owner. So many countries and schools attended this fair. It was interesting to see lines were queues for China, Vietnam and South Korea. I went around to see which schools were there. The ballroom was filled with tables and schools from around the world. It was fun, tiring, exhausting and overwhelming all at once. Can’t wait till next year’s fair! 🙂
My First Week
My first official week as an AP with students and parents was wonderful. I loved and enjoyed every minute of it. It was definitely overwhelming, eventful and exciting all at once. Supporting teachers, going into classrooms when I am not in meetings, helping students, being on duty to check on staff and to connect with students were just a few of the things that kept the whirlwind of excitement going for me the first week. For the first few days it all felt surreal; is this really happening? The secretary was calling me for something almost constantly, and there were always parents waiting to talk to me. It seemed never ending, and I reveled in all of it. My dream … I’m living my dream.
Before school started, my principal,KG AP and myself changed the schedule timing. Something I have been wanting to do since the first day of working at this school. We managed to add 20 minutes to advisory/homeroom time. This way students get stability, time to settle in and see their homeroom teacher for a significant amount of time. They can spend the time doing whatever homeroom teacher decides. They can settle them down, tell them what’s happening during the day so they know what to expect, have a read aloud or give students time to read to themselves. In using 20 minutes efficiently, you accomplish many things.
We also added 5 minutes transition time after recess, and decreased recess down to 20 minutes. Since then, we noticed that bullying decreased, and there’s no longer a line of students outside our offices waiting to complain or receive some sort of punishment. Having 30 minutes recess was insane. The last 10 minutes of recess was when students got bored and started picking on other students, causing trouble.
Some feedback we had received was that there wasn’t enough time for students to eat in grades 3 and 4. I personally think that if they are trained properly and reminded, they will eat properly and have time to play. This is all new to them and they need all the training and reminders they can get. That was the first accomplishment we succeed as an admin team, and I was very happy with the changes.
Another change I did was revamping the duty maps for teachers. Each one now knows exactly which zone they belong to and what responsibility they have for that zone. It’s now clearer and straight to the point. I try my best to be outside during recess when I am not in a meeting, and try hard not to have any meetings scheduled during recess time. Between changing timings in schedule and revamping maps, most of my time was completely taken up for my first official week at work. It’s worth it when teachers come up to me and thank me for making it so clear and colorful, and I really appreciate all their positive feedback.
My first week has been absolutely wonderful in every way, and I almost didn’t want it to be over. I am loving my new position and loving being outside the classroom. The challenges that come my way out of nowhere keep me on my toes like never before. Being able to help our newbies and support them in any way possible is a great feeling. Lets see what the rest of the month, and year, have in store.
Time for a change…The Interview
By 2016 I marked ten years of teaching, and felt I needed a new challenge. I started to grow bored of being in the classroom. Having already done two PTC courses and knowing that I had two more to complete the following summer meant to me that I needed to begin applying for assistant principal (AP) positions anywhere in Kuwait.
Luckily there was an opening at the school I was already working in for an AP post in the upper Elementary Grades 1 – 4. I updated my CV and applied for that position. I applied thinking I wouldn’t get it but wanted that interview experience. My interview was during the same day as the 3rd grade assembly, so it was day full of excitement and anxiety.
The time for the interview came once the assembly was done, so I got changed and ready with a tummy full of butterflies, and walked to my superintendent’s office. The walk seemed endless, with my heart beating so fast. I got there 5 minutes early and waited with the secretary. The door opened and my heart froze. I walked into the conference room to see all principals from all divisions, along with the KG AP. Yikes. Be still my thumping heart. I had coffee before my interview as a little pick-me-up. I am not usually a coffee drinker, but when I do have it, I’m wide awake and start bouncing off the walls. I introduced myself and shook hands with everyone there, and somehow managed to sit down without falling over. The entire interview took about 20 minutes. I asked my one question, got my answer, thanked them and left. I felt I did well, and that I gave it my best. I went back to my class to change again and planned for the next day. They told me that I would get an answer back within three weeks, which felt like a lifetime. Meanwhile I continued doing what I had to do as a team leader and teacher.
The Beginning
For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher. As a child, it seemed as though I constantly held a red pen/crayon in my hand, placing check marks and X’s everywhere. When I had friends over, I always seemed to convince them to play school, and I was always the teacher. I don’t remember ever having an interest in the business world, or anything corporate. All I knew for sure is that I wanted to be a teacher, and that it came naturally to me.
I went to school and graduated with a major in Education. I graduated with honors, and solidified a teaching certificate as well, completing four years successfully.
It wasn’t always a smooth road however; I remember that during my student teaching stint, I had an overwhelming urge to quit and drop out of college entirely. My supervisor insisted on me completing my student teaching for three months in a government school, and it was grueling for me because I had been in private schools growing up and found public education to be a completely different world. My goodness what a difference it was.
When I found that there was no way out of the situation, I didn’t give up. Instead, I went daily for three months without skipping a moment, and completed the three months which felt like three years. But I was done. I knew that I would never fit into a government school. It simply wasn’t a space I belonged in. But I didn’t allow that to deter me from pursuing my education dream.