It's been a while since I have visited and posted on my blog. It's a frustrating and painful thing to admit, but I have struggled this year with the motivation to continue blogging. I started with fervor in July (as many educators do over the summer) with visions of regular posts, documenting the successes and trials of my daily leadership experiences. However, as is the case with many educator's grand plans, those plans were met with a cold dose of reality once the school year started. To go along with my regular duties as Assistant Principal, I was also given the responsibilities of Athletic Director for my middle school.
Despite the efforts of my incredible support staff and my fellow building administrators, I felt myself growing more and more buried in the sea of administrative minutia. I found it increasingly difficult to make time for the professional exercises (blogging, twitter chats, etc) that had made the previous school year and summer so positive. I continually tried to recommit to those practices. I even joined a great community running the #blogamonth challenge in hopes they would push and motivate me, but even they couldn't pull me out of the minutia quicksand. I found myself with little time for classroom visits, conversations with teachers, or the type of instructional leadership that I had come to expect from myself. I didn't like feeling this way, but I had no idea what to do about it. This was NOT why I became an administrator.
So in February, I made the difficult decision to resign my position and accept a new position as an Elementary Assistant Principal in another district. It was extremely difficult to leave the students and staff at the middle school and dive into the relative "unknown" that was the elementary level. However, professionally and personally, this change could not have come at a better time.
I started in my new position, which is split between two elementary schools, at the beginning of April. While my head is swimming a bit as I undergo this transition, I have found the new experience incredibly freeing. In my short time in this new position, I have been able to connect with students and teachers more as I work to become part of my new school communities. I have also found the motivation to refocus on my own learning and the professional practices that help me be at my best so I can help students and teachers be at theirs.
I don't really have a theme or take-away for this post. I guess its more of an explanation and an apology for my lack of activity. It's also served as a bit of a cathartic exercise for me, so Thank you for reading. I'm feeling more like myself, which feels pretty darn good, and that is definitely a victory worth celebrating.
Be Well.
Joe
