Build transformational leadership using social media! Close the gap of knowledge and experience between educators and learn how you really can find the time to connect with other leaders using social media. This highly instructive and conversational guide makes it easy. Filled with real-world experiences from leaders all over the country, you’ll build balanced and effective leadership skills, grow a network of support, and model your vision for a thriving community of learners. Includes a handy start-up guide to help busy principals: Connect virtually with K-12 leaders Model continuous learning Find solutions using Twitter, Google Hangouts, and more

"At last we have a book that realistically, empathically, and interestingly describes leadership and the professional development work that needs to accompany it—for principals. It is all here: readings, web sites, theory, practice, helpful forms to use, vignettes of principals. Lindstrom and Speck are both ′insiders′ and ′outsiders′ teaching us in the best of ways how to both think about and act on our new knowledge!" Ann Lieberman, Senior Scholar Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching "This is the book to read! I will recommend it to my colleagues the minute it is off of the press. The authors should be very proud of their work and contribution to a pivotal need in the field. Bottom line: It will help improve what we do for children—our ultimate purpose." Becky J. Cooke, Principal Evergreen Elementary School, Spokane, WA Raise student achievement by developing leadership, teamwork, skills, and knowledge in teachers! Individual teachers have the greatest effect on student performance. Principals, as professional development leaders, are in the best position to provide teachers with the professional development strategies they need to improve their skills and raise student achievement. The Principal as Professional Development Leader guides readers through a step-by-step process to formulate, implement, and evaluate long-term professional development. Authors Phyllis H. Lindstrom and Marsha Speck simplify and focus the function of the principal as professional development leader by providing scenarios, processes, context, and content that principals can use to create an integrated, collaborative learning environment. Aligned with National Staff Development Council standards, this user-friendly resource includes Rubrics, worksheets, and surveys Professional development planners Sample forms for classroom visits and observations Calendars of professional development activities Recommended readings and reflective questions In order to improve learning for all students, this unique text provides the strategies, skills, and tools necessary to build the capacity of professional development within the school. The authors supply practical techniques for analyzing student achievement data, evaluating professional development plans, and achieving a culture of sustained improvement.

An essential handbook for educating students in the 21st century, since its initial publication A Principal's Guide to Special Education has provided guidance to school administrators seeking to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The third edition of this invaluable reference, updated in collaboration with and endorsed by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals and incorporating the perspectives of both teachers and principals, addresses such current issues as teacher accountability and evaluation, instructional leadership, collaborative teaching and learning communities, discipline procedures for students with disabilities, and responding to students' special education needs within a standards-based environment.

This resource provides principals with practical support, step-by-step plans, and hands-on strategies to lead the development of thriving professional learning communities in their schools.

In this second edition of Improving Instruction Through Supervision, Evaluation, and Professional Development we’ve maintained the conceptual framework while updating sections to provide the most recent research on instructional strategies that have the most promise of helping all students learn. Modifications of the law resulting from the reauthorization of the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act—Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (2015)—and their implication for practice are embedded throughout this new edition. Updated data collection tools for classroom observations are also provided. We included a link to a website that contains all the observation tools in electronic format so that observers can have the opportunity to collect data on a tablet or laptop, save the observation data as a PDF file and e-mail those data to the teacher observed. This new edition recognizes the reality that all principals are responsible for supervision, evaluation, and professional development of their teachers—tasks that are neither simple nor without conflict. The primary audience of this text is aspiring and practicing principals. We hope to help them understand both the theory and practice of supervision, evaluation, and professional development. However, observing instruction, collecting data for reflection, and having conversations about teaching, are not the sole provinces of principals. Master teachers, teacher leaders, and teacher colleagues can also benefit from the supervisory sections of the book, especially the chapters on high-quality instruction, improving instruction, and the classroom data collecting tools. The book provides numerous tools specifically designed to collect a variety of data in classrooms to improve instruction. Embedded in each chapter are exercises to apply Theory into Practice by responding to a set of questions posed by the key issues of the chapter. After the explication and illustration of the key concepts and principles of the chapter, actual Instructional Leadership Challenges as described by a successful practicing principal for reflection and analysis.

"Why do I lead?" With this deceptively simple question, best-selling author Baruti K. Kafele begins a powerful examination of what it takes to make a school community achieve the greatest success in the classroom and beyond. In The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, Kafele, a veteran school administrator, guides motivated school leaders through 50 self-reflection exercises designed to yield a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the work that they do. Along with many other insights, this book shows how best to • Inspire and motivate students, teachers, and other school staff to approach their work with vigor and purpose; • Ensure that all students, regardless of color, creed, or origin, are valued and represented in the school culture; • Focus mission and vision statements to address students' most critical needs and integrate shared values and objectives into the fabric of the school; and • Engage parents and other community members so that they feel a stake in the school's success. Brimming with passion, written from the heart, and informed by hard-earned experience, this transformative book is essential reading for principals and other building-level administrators determined to reinvigorate their practice, revitalize their staff, and--most importantly--guarantee the strongest outcomes for students.

The key to thriving, as both a human and an educator, rests in mindfulness, reflection, and daily self-care activities. With Take Time for You, you will discover a clear path to well-being by working through Maslow's hierarchy of needs: (1) physiological, (2) safety, (3) belonging, (4) esteem, (5) self-actualization, and (6) transcendence. The author offers a range of manageable research-based strategies, self-care surveys, and reflective teaching questions that will guide you in developing an individualized self-care plan. Embrace imperfection as you develop your own self-care plan: Understand the challenges to mindfulness for teachers and how Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes into play in your personal and professional life. Design action plans so you can meet your own physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs and, finally, transcend and connect with something greater than yourself. Take surveys and perform a daily time audit to determine how well you are meeting each of your needs. Use the journaling space and self-reflection questions provided throughout the book to reflect on your implementation efforts. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Understand the Framework Chapter 2: Physiological Needs Chapter 3: Safety Needs Chapter 4: Belonging Needs Chapter 5: Esteem Needs Chapter 6: Self-Actualization Needs Chapter 7: Transcendence Needs Epilogue: Final Thoughts Appendix: My Personalized Self-Care Plan References and Resources Index