Early in my teaching career, someone asked me if I would ever become a principal. The conversation included a mention of "the dark side," a phrase often used to describe school administrators. Today, I am actively pursuing my first administrator role in the public school world. Paying attention to the journey has proven insightful.
As I am making this transition, I am reading George Couros's The Innovator's Mindset, a wonderful exploration of leadership that promotes a culture of empowerment in both teachers and students. So much of what he explores resonates with who I want to be as a leader. He describes "moving from compliance and engagement to empowerment" When asked in an interview to describe my beliefs about homework, I stumbled my way through the response because I, quite frankly, had not anticipated that question during an interview for Assistant Principal. Later, when I reflected on the answer I gave (philosophically I think we overemphasize homework and its role), and the response it garnered (a clear belief in the value of homework), I found myself going back to Couros's examination of compliance vs. empowerment. An important principle in my own leadership beliefs is that if we empower students and teachers to reach their own greatness, then our schools will become places of transformation. What I do know, and will be better at explaining in the future, is that homework given to teach responsibility or work ethic is simply a compliance driven practice. It's not that homework is inherently compliance based, but unless that task has true instructional purpose, then it isn't serving to empower the student.
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July 2018
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