8 Ways to Revitalize Your School Leadership
Principal Reboot: 8 Ways to Revitalize Your School Leadership
By Jen Schwanke
(ASCD, 2020 – Learn more)
Reviewed by Frank Hagen
No one ever said the job of a school principal would be easy. With the challenges of social media, increased emphasis on standardized test results, rising community tensions, the COVID-19 pandemic, the already complex and demanding job of a school principal has become even more difficult and challenging.
Jen Schwanke in Principal Reboot shares eight ways to revitalize one’s school leadership and rediscover the energy and commitment one had at the beginning of your career as a school principal.
Options to plot your reboot
The journey to regain one’s self efficacy includes rebranding the school so everyone knows “what are we trying to do here?”, reconnecting with school stakeholders, embracing risk-taking and innovation, sharing school leadership with teachers, reframing school data, and improving operational procedures.
This is not a formula carved in stone. Rather, it is a cafeteria of focused and intentional choices. Each school leader needs to choose wisely to find what it takes to reboot their career and recapture the initial energy, joy and satisfaction of being the school leader.
It’s a good read. Jen Schwanke shares ways you can “relax, rediscover, and revive” your success as a school principal. Her use of the analogy of a teeter-totter strikes home in how you must take time for yourself so you can be the leader your school needs to meet today’s challenges.
Frank J. Hagen is a retired school principal who currently teaches school leadership (18+ years) at Wilmington University. He was the State of Delaware School Principal of the Year as well as receiving numerous school and community awards in his 40+ years as a professional educator in two states and eight middle/high schools. He has worked as a consultant to state and national school leadership programs and mentored/coached numerous school leaders.
