Principal's Quest

Reflections on my blogging experience

Where has this year gone?  Could it really be possible that we only have a month of school left until summer break? As I reflect on the highs and lows of this school year at J. H. House, one of the highs definitely has been my experience with blogging.  The student comments have meant so much to me. At times they have made me smile! For instance, Mike said,

"I felt like I was not important enough to even have an adult conversation with the SACS commitee. I am so mad that just becuase I am a little kid I have a little mind becuase I don't. P.S I am very intellegent."

His comment was in reference to the fact that the SACS evaluation committee had asked to meet with students at our school and then ran out of time before they were able to talk to the students.  I had to smile at Mike's comment because he is intelligent and I would love to have heard what he planned to tell the committee.

I'll have to admit time constraints have been a problem for me. Other things seem to always come up that are "in my face" and get my immediate attention. However, the interaction with students on the weblog has kept me going. I really do value their opinions. That means I have to find the time somehow to continue in my "quest". Next year, I would like to continue with chapter 2 of the Principal's Quest. Perhaps I can somehow tie current events into character education somehow. My thoughts are still swirling around somewhat. I visualize being able to respond to segments of the CNN news by identifying the positive character traits exhibited by someone in the news or perhaps their lack thereof. Let me know what you think.

Commenting on Comments

Your comments have just made my day! I'll have to admit that I was feeling a bit "down" earlier today, but when I began reading all of your comments my attitude changed completely.  Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my thoughts on "character" traits. I enjoyed seeing how your writing is improving and how you are becoming so adept at expressing yourself.  I'll be posting next week on "Compassion".  If you observe someone who is demonstrating compassion, please let me hear from you. Feel free to continue to respond to any of the "character" traits blogs.  I love hearing from you!

A Civics Lesson from our Parents

On election day, J. H. House was a voting precinct. I saw many of our parents there exercising their right to vote. They were demonstrating self control because they remained calm even though the voting lines were very long. It was very tiring to stand in line for as long as they did without feeeling irritable and becoming rude. However, our parents knew they had a civic duty to vote and they did it without complaining. Way to go voters at J. H. House Elementary!

Adding to our Weblog Community

What a great community of webloggers we are becoming! I am so excited that each of our 3rd grade teachers has established a class weblog. See Rikard's Weblog, Lane's Weblog, McCullers' Weblog, and Babin's Weblog. I know it takes time to develop something like this, but it is so worth it. When I was in third grade, I could never have imagined being able to communicate with others like this. WOW!! We have really come a long way!

I Think I'm Going to Like Blogging

I think I am going to like blogging. It's another forum to include students, teachers, parents, our business partners and the public. I want my weblog to be interactive. A principal's life is a busy one. I hope this weblog will provide a way for me to keep in touch with my staff and students. Being able to discuss important character traits online is a worthwhile endeavor.

That said, this is how I plan to use this weblog. I will try my best to post weekly. I may not be able to post about every character trait as we have one-a-week that the entire county spotlights. We will continue to do that throughout the school but I want to allow some time to express my thoughts, recognize student/teacher responses to my weblog, write about writing and maybe even some of the other school weblogs that are created as we go.

I'm sure I will learn a lot as I continue this but the special part is that the whole school will be a part of the learning! Wish me luck!

Plans for My Weblog

In the planning meeting with Anne Davis this summer, we discussed how we wanted to make writing the focus of our weblogs project. As we brainstormed ways teachers could use the weblogs format to provide an outlet for students’ writing, I began to think about how what I, as the principal, could use as a springboard for interacting with students. One avenue which came to mind was “character education”. Character education is so important that it must be more meaningful than simply posting a word a week on the outside sign or announcing it over the intercom. If character traits are to be relevant and meaningful in students’ lives, they must have an opportunity to think about ways they see evidence of those traits in others and themselves. My thought was that if I used the character traits as a springboard for my writing, we could get dialogue going between the students and myself. What better way to internalize those traits than to write about them while at the same time sharing and celebrating the many good qualities they see in those around them. Since writing is our focus, this format would provide students an outlet for “quick writes” or lengthier thoughtful responses and opinions. This would allow students to see authentic reasons for writing and to begin to see writing as a tool that makes a difference in their lives. I’m excited to see where this leads…

On a Quest

What else could happen? It was only 7:20 a.m. on a damp gray winter morning as I unlocked the front doors to the school so that several bus loads of students could make their way inside. Already I had had to meet the bus outside and bring a sick child in to the nurse’s office, talk to a concerned parent on the phone, and then find someone to watch the classes for three teachers who were going to be late due to a train stopped on the tracks. Just as I was taking my post so that I could begin to greet the students, the secretary told me that I had another important phone call. This time the call was from a distraught fifth grade student, Angelica, who tearfully asked if I could come to pick up her as well as her brothers and her sister, since they had missed the bus. I’ll have to admit I hesitated before answering that I would be right there. I didn’t want to start a precedent with this practice, but I couldn’t bring myself to say no if she wanted to come to school this badly.

When I reached their house, all four children were standing on the front porch waiting for me. All of the children thanked me for coming and wanted to know if they were going to be late. I told them I would do the best I could to get back to school on time. As we started inside the front door, Angelica turned to me and said, “Mrs. Davis is coming this morning to work with our group and I couldn’t miss it.” Now I understood! Mrs. Davis had told me all about her Weblogs group and how hard the students were working. What I didn’t realize was how much the students loved it! As I talked to many of them, they all told me the same thing – they were learning so much and they were having to work very hard. Their enthusiasm was contagious. If they can do it, I can too. I am going to start my very first Weblog!!

My name is Joyce Hooper. I am the principal of J.H. House Elementary School in Conyers, Georgia. Anne Davis, a former teacher from our school who now works at Georgia State University, has worked on special weblog projects with our students for the past two years. You can view these projects by clicking on the links below:

NewsQuest

Thinking & Writing Wrinkles

Idioms Are Fun!

Yes, the childrens' enthusiasm about weblogs was contagious! I'm a principal on a quest to learn more about weblogs and how they can be used with the students and teachers in my school. I'll tell you more about my plans for this weblog in the next post!