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Wednesday, May 6, 2015

What do School Leaders do in the Summer?


My friends find it interesting that I am a 12-month employee. 

What do administrators do in the summer? They ask.

Well, depending on the school and responsibilities, there are all kinds of things that school leaders do in the summer, such as...
  • Inventory textbooks
  • Hold registration
  • Host professional learning days for teachers
  • Work on students' schedules
  • Get organized for the next school year
  • Oversee summer cleaning of classrooms and buildings
  • Attend professional development conferences
  • Interview teachers to fill vacancies

When the students are gone and the hustle and bustle of the school day is no longer, it's a time for school leaders to slow down, reflect, plan, and LEARN.

I've set some goals for myself for this summer, and I'm sharing them here as part of my own accountability. (Ask me at the end of the summer if I met my goals!) I also share my goals here because if YOU are planning to learn about the same thing, or if you have expertise in an area and can help me learn, I would love to collaborate with you!


The biggest thing I want to learn about is Google Classroom. I use Google Drive daily, and I want to use Google Classroom next year with teachers so that I can easily collect required documentation from them such as lesson plans. Our teachers of ninth graders have been using Google Classroom since our ninth graders were using Chromebooks this year, so I l plan to tap into their expertise as well as the knowledge that I can easily curate from the Internet and my PLN. 


Another goal is for the next few weeks. I plan to create an app (using Yapp) for our school's PD schedule. A teacher or staff member will be able to download the app to their phone, and check dates and information about our sessions from their phone without having to log in or check a website. Cool, huh?! (Can't you just picture teachers at the pool or park, checking their phones for the next PD time and date?)


My summer learning plans include attending ISTE, CLAS, and AETC, as well as the Closing the Achievement Gap Conference, featuring keynote speaker, Dr. Stephen G. Peters. I love learning and being a part of conferences where the people who are in attendance are excited to be there, too. I'm also looking forward to spending some face-to-face time with my online PLN!


What about you? What's on your list of learning for the summer?

5 comments:

  1. I have to chuckle every time someone says, "Want do you do during the summer? After all, the kids aren't there." People don't realize that what we do then makes everything else possible. We will have to connect at AETC and CLAS.

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  2. I have to chuckle every time someone says, "Want do you do during the summer? After all, the kids aren't there." People don't realize that what we do then makes everything else possible. We will have to connect at AETC and CLAS.

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  3. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Frank! We will definitely connect at AETC and CLAS!

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  4. You have quite a list of new and interesting things to accomplish this summer! Hope it's a great time of learning and renewal as you prepare for another great year.

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  5. I love your summer list Jennifer. I am working on mine for my first summer as principal. I also smile when people find out I work all year - including summer. My favorite part of summer is the sense of renewal both for my school and for me. Great post.

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