Every administrator should be able to answer one question: Can you still teach a class?
As an administrator and former teacher, I have imagined returning to the classroom. Does the idea make me cringe, or am I excited? Could I handle grading papers and assessments, compiling portfolios, and attending meetings? Do I revel in the thought of establishing classroom rituals and routines or meeting with parents to discuss why a student is failing? Do I really know what teachers are going through?
These are questions I think more teachers-turned-administrators could benefit from pondering. In 2015, I switched school systems and went back to being a teacher after six years in administration. Though I experienced mixed emotions, the move was a transformational one. My return was an opportunity to refine my pedagogical skills before taking on another administrative role a year later—an invaluable moment in my career that gave me renewed perspective on the stressors and rewards teachers experience in daily work with students.
As a result, I could better empathize with teachers as they juggled lesson planning, grading, professional development, parent conferences, and extracurricular events. I could better understand what teachers needed for their practice and make more informed decisions as an administrator. Even now that I have returned to administration, I still make it a point to go into classrooms as a teacher, not just an assistant principal. It gives me a way to share the workload with teachers, relieve some of their stress, and bounce ideas off one another.
Because my teachers and I benefited so much from my return to my teaching roots, I propose that all administrators look at their schedule, carve out some time to review the curriculum, pick a topic of interest, coordinate with a classroom teacher with whom they have a relationship, plan a lesson, and teach it to a group of students in the building.
An Instructional Boost
Administrators should approach their work as lifelong learners and consummate practitioners of the teaching craft, which requires effective planning for assessment and two-way dialogue with students. Transferring information from one person to another is not an easy thing to do. Just remember that teaching skills are not the same as presentation skills. For example, when you are presenting information at a staff meeting, you do not have to give an exit ticket at the end of the presentation to check for understanding.
I love mathematics education, so I always look for opportunities to share instructional math strategies with teachers and students. It gives me great joy to help a struggling teacher, a new teacher, or a more seasoned teacher, as well as credibility among staff and parents. I will offer to coteach with teachers or just drop by for a class visit. Or, if I know a teacher is struggling with a math concept, I will offer to do a model lesson. In these situations, in order to not step on teachers' expertise and territory, it's important to first build rapport and relationships. Offering to go into the classroom to improve your own understanding as an administrator is one thing; offering teachers specific help is another. Building administrators who can facilitate instructional conversations and academic dialogue with teachers, parents, and students can benefit everyone if we navigate the situation with trust and understanding.
A "Win-Win" Situation
So, what are you interested in? What was your strongest area of expertise when you were in the classroom? Even if your skill set has changed, you still have academic interests. You could visit classrooms and read one of your favorite poems or stories or relieve an overwhelmed teacher by going in to his or her classroom and modeling a brain break. One principal I know grades assessments with her teachers. She gets the opportunity to learn more about the teaching and learning process in her school and her teachers don't have to grade papers alone.
Now that's a win/win solution.
