Principaling in a Pandemic

Principaling in a Pandemic Supporting staff to adjust and adapt

BY KATIE NOWAK

When the 2019-2020 school year started with the excitement of greeting our students to the building, we had no idea we would finish in remote learning, last seeing our students in person on Friday March 13, and saying goodbye virtually. Over my 16 years in education, I have dealt with a variety of situations, students in crisis, changes in curriculum, staffing issues, budget cuts, a campus wide reconfiguration process, but nothing even comes close to the experience of ‘principaling’ in a pandemic. In a whirlwind, schools upended their structures, practices, and classrooms from in-person learning to remote learning virtually overnight.

Principaling in a pandemic put our leadership and problem-solving skills to a new test of responding around the clock to a myriad of issues, from technology, health concerns, food for families, adjusting to online learning and new tools, professional development for staff, adjusting curriculum and grading policies, all the while trying to meet the needs of all students, staff, and families who each had their own unique situations during the COVID-19 statewide stay at home order. Fortunately, in 2018, our school district embraced and implemented the R Factor with our staff and students. Applying our R Factor skills as a leadership team in our district, allowed us to respond to the unprecedented event of the coronavirus school closure and to support our staff in adjusting and adapting to this event, and ultimately, taking care of each other and our students.

R Factor: The Importance of Our Response

The R Factor is a culture, behavior, and decision-making framework used by staff and students to develop exceptional life skills to successfully navigate their school and life experiences. One of the premises of the R Factor is E +R=O, Events + Responses= 24

Outcomes. Having a discipline driven or intentional response can greatly impact the outcome of a situation. There are six disciplines of the R Factor: press pause, get your mind right, step up, adjust and adapt, make a difference, and build skill. If you’d like to learn more about the R Factor you can check out the Focus 3 website, or read Urban Meyer’s book, Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Program. Principaling in a pandemic definitely required pressing pause to get your mind right, to step up and take action, all the while adjusting and adapting our response to the situation. Remaining calm and focusing our efforts on what we could control was key. In order to be successful for our students, the first step was supporting our staff in this situation and helping them adjust and adapt to the ever-changing situation of the COVID-19 closure. The following supports for staff are what I found to be successful in navigating the spring’s quarantine and remote learning experience.

Taking Care of Staff to Take Care of Students

You may have heard the metaphor that you can’t pour from an empty cup. This is certainly true for staff; hence, caring for and supporting them allows them to be the best for our students. One of the first actions I took to support my staff was a weekly Google check in form as part of my Sunday Staff Newsletter. The Weekly Check In asked about a lot of topics like how they were feeling, supports needed, technology celebrations, and great “borrowed” ideas. The questions were modified over the weeks to also include lighthearted items: a good book to read during quarantine, a great show to binge watch, and a favorite outdoor space to visit. We also shared some of the survey results with other staff to share ideas. Monitoring the results weekly, allowed me also to see who might need a personal call and/or a card sent in the mail, or perhaps even a meal delivered.

Community Building During Remote Learning three days in one slide deck for easy access and organization. Session To build a sense of community, routine, and a positive environment, strategies for supporting SEL in virtual settings, personalized learning, our building administrative team adjusted our daily school differentiation, assessment in an online environment, and choice announcements to daily video school-wide announcements on our sessions on various technology tools to support direct instruction, New Albany Intermediate Schoology page. We enlisted the help of online discussion, and feedback. Teachers had opportunities to staff to be guest announcers, sharing birthdays, celebrations, different collaborate with one another across grade levels and content areas, as daily themes such as Wonderopolis Wednesday, and incorporated well as work on building online courses using a district-wide course read alouds, trivia, and games. Students and staff alike were excited template. to view the daily announcements and would comment on the Schoology Page. This helped to build some video and technology Staff Appreciation and Fun skills of some of our staff members through this process. We also included a virtual version of our Eagles RISE Wall of Fame, To keep a positive mindset, show our appreciation, and maintain a which recognizes students and even expanded to include some staff positive school culture, our administrative team wrote a handwritten celebrations as well with an email certificate and positive email to the card and mailed them home for every staff member. We would start student, teaching team, and parents. Finally, we hosted Fun Friday on staff meetings with fun and giveaways such as playing “name that Instagram live, where the administrative tune,” or hosting a scavenger hunt team along with staff would host a fun with digital gift cards as prizes. We activity to do at home such as “minute to win it” games and STEM activities. Again, “As I adjusted had a virtual Shout Out board using Padlet for staff to celebrate one staff and students alike enjoyed having another and share positive messages. some fun, connection, and community building during this challenging time. and adapted, We asked staff to submit a photo of themselves from elementary school, Virtual Office Hours and Professional learning new tools, and played New Albany Staff Bingo, to see if they could identify each Development other. Being able to have humor, and During the remote learning period, modeling support connection was important to staff morale. We had staff members in teachers held virtual office hours to support students and families, so our and grace for turn, use some of our games and fun with their students virtually during building administrative team held virtual their weekly Google Meets to foster administrative office hours to support teachers in adjusting and adapting to our staff, positive relationships and connection in their classes, again adjusting and this new online environment. Every adapting to support students. Tuesday and Thursday at 1pm, we held an they in turn optional office hour via Google Meet to Own Your R support staff on a variety of topics, such as tips and tricks for using our Learning did the same In reflecting upon this whirlwind Management System, Schoology, or how experience of being a principal in to use EdPuzzle and Nearpod as an instructional resource. We also invited for our students.” a pandemic, I found that I really needed to own my response, using some of our teacher leaders, tech coaches, the R Factor to press pause in and even an Apple Education Specialist who had been working difficult moments, to get my mind right, take action, and continually with our district to various sessions to offer support or lead mini adjust and adapt to the needs of teachers, students, and parents. By lessons. Some office hours had agendas and others we just logged in remaining calm, focusing on what we can control, and connecting to answer any questions or offer any support. We also occasionally with others to problem solve, this allowed us to support staff and would host a fun game or scavenger hunt for people just looking to be better together. Jimmy Casas, author of Culturize says, “What we connect. Our optional virtual office hours were well attended, and we model is what we get.” Through this experience, I witnessed that as received a lot of positive feedback. Beyond this we also held virtual I adjusted and adapted, learning new tools, modeling support and staff meetings twice a month and continued with weekly grade level grace for our staff, they in turn did the same for our students. and content virtual meetings for collaboration and support. Our district held a three-day virtual district wide professional level. She is the principal at New Albany Intermediate School and serves as the development in May on blended learning and online course OAESA Federal Relations Coordinator. She has presented at conferences at development to continue to adjust and adapt our instruction to meet the state and national level, and is an Ohio NAESP National Distinguished the needs of our students and families based on stakeholder surveys. Principal. Nowak can be contacted via email at nowak.3@napls.us and via Using an electronic notebook in Google Slides, all resources, articles, Twitter at @KatherineRNowak. documents, videos, and online meeting links were embedded for the topics included blended learning models, building relationships and Katie Nowak has served as an administrator at the elementary and middle school