HITTING GOALS WITHOUT HOVERING: THE PRINCIPAL'S SECRET SUPER POWER

In the my early years as a principal, I hit a few bumps on the road. Picture this: weekly academic meetings dragging on for three hours, yet loads of things were left undone- from required lessons to teach down to projects. We’d breeze through an entire term only to find out that teachers had skimmed over crucial topics or were ill-prepared to teach other topics. Uncovering these gaps after a full year or when there was a teacher shuffle was heart wrenching for me. These hiccups hit me hard, and I kept asking myself: how do we fix this? How do we get our academic team to nail it every time?

Here’s how we cracked the code:

a. Identifying What Should Be Taught:

Collectively, we used rolling wave planning to identify key topics for the semester. We planned the term in detail and outlined subsequent terms at higher levels, working collaboratively on subjects.

b. Scheduling the Semester

We scheduled topics according to weeks, taking into account holidays, weekends, and school activities, and allocated the required effort per period.

c. Evaluating and Retrospecting Weekly

We evaluated and discussed progress in scheduled meetings which were no longer than 15 minutes, addressing what had been taught, what targets we couldn’t reach, and genuinely discussed why. This led to more creative and alternative ways to improve.

Once we implemented these steps, our academic meetings became fruitful and more of a learning process.

We noticed residual benefits: fewer topics were skipped, and learners had a better understanding of the lessons. Teachers loved the weekly meetings as they saw them as opportunities for professional development. Our meeting durations shortened because all staff came prepared. We turned things around, making sure no topic slipped through the cracks!