Full Description
Steps to Success: What Successful Principals Do Every Day is purposefully written for practicing and aspiring public and private school administrators who desire - on a daily basis - to gain relevant skills, specialized knowledge, and overall expertise associated with being a successful school principal. The text is organized into brief, single-topic-focused chapters and is intended to serve as an "essential necessity" providing current and prospective principal readership with relevant and practical applications as related to key daily "steps" a school administrator must master to ensure leadership success. Additionally, the text chapters reveal how successful principals must daily focus on quality, learn from others, make appropriate and effective decisions, solve problems, establish goals, develop highly competent teams, focus on students and instruction, inspire excellence, lead openly, honestly, and with transparency, and boost academic achievement. The book is designed and written to best ensure principals serve as visionary leaders who possess great ideas and who are honest, moral, ethical, and act legally in all actions.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Tables
Introduction
Chapter 1. Daily Step #1 - Embrace the Day - Embrace the Leadership Role
Where Have You Been; Where Are You Going?
Yes, It's a Journey!
Who Are You? Who Do You Want to Be? Where Do You Want to Go?
Take Time to Think and Reflect
Mastering a Set of Essential Leadership Skills to Embrace Daily Challenges
Embrace Involved Service
Involved Service Defined
Initiating Successful Involved Service
Essential Elements of Involved Service
Factors Resulting from Involved Service
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - Chasing Lions: Embracing Involved Service
Application Questions
Chapter 2. Daily Step #2 - Be Organized and Prepared
Getting Organized and Staying Organized - A Daily Process
Why Being Organized Matters: Examining the Daily Benefits
The Top-10 Daily Habits and Routines Essential to Becoming an Organized Principal
A Dozen Daily Principal Leadership Practices
Areas of Relevant Leadership Preparedness
Successful Principal Preparedness Attributes
Behaviors of the Organized and Prepared Principal: A Leadership Assessment
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - Prepared and Organized: One Principal's Journey
Application Questions
Chapter 3. Daily Step #3 - Lead, Delegate, but Never Dump!
What Kind of Leader Do You Want to Be?
The Situational Principal
Shared Leadership
Supporting Novice Faculty
Investing in New and Experienced Faculty
In with the New, Out with the Old: A Principal Conundrum?
Delegating: A Mentoring Act, Not a Dumping Act
Connecting to Students
From New Principals to Successful Principals
Encouragement, Inspiration, and Motivation
Trust but Verify
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - "And I Wanted to Be a School Principal!"
Application Questions
Chapter 4. Daily Step #4 - Anticipate, Adjust, and Learn
Anticipating the Work Day and Work Week
Checking the Pulse
Mindfulness
Culture, Goals, and Honesty: Principal Guides to Better Anticipating, Adjusting, and Learning
Adjusting for Everyday Events
Handling Crises
Mindful of "Top-Down" Dictates and Demands: Principals on the "Frontline"
Understanding Similar Events May Have Different Outcomes
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - Strangers, A True Story of Principal Leadership: Anticipating, Adapting, and Learning!
Principled Leadership Actions
Application Questions
Afterthought
Chapter 5. Daily Step #5 - Recognize, Understand, and Embrace Diversity
What Do You Bring to the Table?
Unconscious or Implicit Bias
Successful Principals and Implicit Bias
Addressing Bias
The Principalship and Marginalized Groups
Communication: A Key to a Successful Principalship
Juan's Story: "Yo Hablo Español?"
Take Time to Think and Reflect
Successful Principals Encourage Alternative Views and Embrace Opposing Views
Never "No" but "Let's Arrange to Meet"
Successful Principals Embrace Diverse Personalities and Perspectives
How to Work with Difficult Teachers
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - What Are You Doing or What Should You Be Doing?
Application Questions
Chapter 6. Daily Step #6 - Meet, Greet, and Engage in Good Humor
Do This First, Every Day - Smile!
Do This Next, Every Day - Meet and Greet!
The People-Centered Principal
People Skills: An Essential Leadership Element - What Principals Must Do Daily to Lead and Succeed
The Good Humor Man (Woman) Sells More Than Ice Cream!
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - Test Your People Skills
Scoring Interpretations
Chapter 7. Daily Step #7 - Build Capacity
Building Capacity in Education
Capacity Defined
Car Analogy #1
Successful Principals Build Capacity for Everyone's Achievement, Everyday
The How, and By What Means?
Car Analogy #2
The Top 10 - 11 Capacity Building Tools
Capacity-Building and Sustainability
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - Canadian Geese: An Educational Leadership Allegory
Application Questions
Chapter 8. Daily Step #8 - Self-Reflect, Understand the Power and Problems with Social Networking, Protect Against Cyber-Bullying, and Establish Professional Networking
Being There
Confidence vs. Ego
Self-Reflection
Tomorrow is Another Day
Equality and Equity
In the Era of Social Media and Social Networking
Social Networking and Cyber-Bullying
Bullying and Cyber-Bullying Prevention
Informal and Formal Networks
Social Movements and Critical Thinking
Alternative Teachers with Alternative Training
Leadership in a Changing World
Final Thoughts
Discussion Questions
Case Study Application - Cyber-Stalked
The Rub: Therein Lies the Trip!
Application Questions
References
Index
About the Authors
