"How is school, how are things?"........"BUSY!" For all my Principal friends this is a common conversation at any point in the year, but it seems more so lately. The transition to Common Core is huge for everyone right now and then add everything else and it makes for a BUSY recipe.
The SAVMP program has definitely encouraged me to stay connected (with Peter DeWitt my mentor @PeterMDeWitt) and blog about the school year and how to grow as an educator. One of the biggest contributors to my increased communication as a Principal has been utilizing Twitter throughout the day. I started tweeting last year for our school (@jseroadrunners) and have really ramped it up this year and the increased level of communication with my teachers and parent community has been outstanding.
Thirteen of our twenty teachers are on Twitter and active users throughout the week. What's really struck me lately is they're not only communicating with the families in their class, but with each other throughout the day.
- Taking photos and tweeting a fun science experiment or writing activity!
- Giving each other shout-outs or a RT on something fun!
- And of course I'm tweeting all their greatness throughout the day which is lots of fun and engages them and the parent community in a whole new way! (One of our 1st grade teachers said it very well in a tweet last week @KyreeW6)
It's also so important to remember that the face to face communication cannot/should not be replaced (said very well by Peter DeWitt here!) This past weekend was the Martinez Education Fund 5K/10K race for Education. My wife and kids came with me to the Saturday night pasta feed and it was great to see families outside of school and be able to communicate in a different way. Yesterday morning was the race and it still amazes me how excited kids get to see their Principal/teachers outside of school and doing normal activities!
It was a blast to run the race and of course I was tweeting before/after! (My wife won the 10K, I won my age group in the 10K and we were first in the double jogger category as well :)
Start line....
The Welcome family feeling good, two miles to go....
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