Nobody remembers the mission statement on the wall. Teachers remember the Tuesday their principal covered their class for ten minutes so they could take a call from their own kid’s school. That’s the job. Not the vision document, the moments.
Here’s what those moments actually look like…
Standing between a teacher and an angry parent in the hallway, instead of stepping behind them.
Noticing the teacher who’s gone quiet in the staff room and checking in before it turns into a resignation letter.
Remembering something small from a classroom weeks later and asking about it, unprompted.
Showing up to help move desks or grade a stack of quizzes with no cameras rolling, because it needed doing.
Request a custom PD plan if you want a leadership team that’s building these habits on purpose instead of hoping they happen.
Do it Monday with no announcement and no clipboard. Tuesday, write one line about how it landed, whether the teacher seemed surprised it happened at all. Run the same loop again next week with a different moment from the list, and four weeks in you’ll have a short, honest record of which moments you actually follow through on.
Which one of these have you done for your staff this year, and which one is overdue? Reply, I read every one.
Next week I’m writing about the people holding down the hardest rooms in your building without anyone checking on them first. If that’s someone on your staff, keep an eye out.
Rae
P.S. If you’re a teacher reading this because you wish your principal showed up in these moments more often, that gap is exactly what we help close. Nominate your school for better PD and leadership support.
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