Sunday, December 29, 2019

How Principals Can Provide Teacher Support

Having a supportive principal can make all the difference for a teacher. Teachers want to know that their principal has their best interests in mind. One of the main duties of a principal is to provide ongoing, collaborative teacher support. The relationship between a teacher and a principal has to be built on a foundation of trust. This type of relationship takes a lot of time to build. Principals must slowly cultivate these relationships while taking the time to get to know each teachers strength and weaknesses. The worst thing that a new principal can do is to go in and quickly make a lot of changes. This will assuredly turn a group of teachers against a principal quickly. A smart principal will initially make small changes, allow time for teachers to get to know them, and then gradually make larger, more meaningful changes over the course of time. It is important to note that any significant changes should be made only after seeking and considering input from teachers. Here, we examine ten suggestions for earning teacher trust and ultimately providing them with ongoing, collaborative teacher support. Allow Time for Peer Collaboration Teachers should be given time to work together in a collaborative effort. This collaboration will strengthen relationships among your faculty, provide new or struggling teachers with an outlet to gain valuable insight and advice, and allows teachers to share best practices and success stories. The principal becomes the driving force in this collaboration. They are the one who schedules the time to collaborate and sets the agenda for these times. Principals who reject the importance of peer collaboration are selling its value far short. Ask Questions and Seek Their Advice The principal is the primary decision maker in their building. This doesn’t mean that teachers shouldn’t be included in the decision-making process. Although a principal may have the final say, teachers should be given a platform to express their feelings or provide advice for the principal, especially when the issue will directly affect the teachers. A principal should use the resources at hand when making decisions. Teachers have brilliant ideas. By seeking their advice, they may challenge your thinking on an issue may validate that you are on the right track. Neither case is a terrible thing when making any decision. Have Their Back Teachers are people, and all people go through difficult times both personally and professionally at some point in their lives. When a teacher is going through a difficult situation personally (death, divorce, illness, etc.), a principal should give them 100% support at all times. A teacher going through a personal issue will appreciate any support their principal shows during this time. Sometimes this could be as simple as asking them how they are doing and sometimes it may be necessary to give them a few days off. Professionally you want to back a teacher as long as you believe they are effective, ethical, and moral. There are situations where you absolutely cannot support a teacher because the decision they made is ethically or morally wrong. In this case, do not skirt around the issue. Be up front with them and tell them that they messed up, and there is no way you can back them up based on their actions. Be Consistent Teachers hate it when principals are inconsistent especially when dealing with student discipline or parent situations. A principal should always try to be fair and consistent with their decision making. Teachers may not always agree with how you handle situations, but if you establish a pattern of consistency, then they will not complain too much. For example, if a 3rd-grade teacher sends a student to the office for being disrespectful in class, check your student discipline records to see how you have handled similar issues in the past. You do not want any teacher to feel like you play favorites. Conduct Meaningful Evaluations Teacher evaluations are meant to be tools that show a teacher where they are and to move them in a direction to maximize their overall effectiveness. Conducting meaningful evaluations takes a lot of time and time is not something a lot of principals have, therefore many principals neglect making the most out of their teacher evaluations. Providing effective teacher support requires constructive criticism at times. No teacher is perfect. There is always room for improvement in some area. A meaningful evaluation allows you the opportunity to be critical and to offer praise. It is a balance of both. A satisfactory evaluation cannot be given on a single classroom visit. It is a collaboration of information gathered through many visits that provide the most meaningful evaluations. Create a Teacher-Friendly Schedule Principals are typically responsible for creating their building’s daily schedule. This includes class schedules, teacher planning periods, and duties. If you want to make your teachers happy, minimize the time they need to be on duty. Teachers hate duties of any kind whether it is lunch duty, recess duty, bus duty, etc. If you can figure out a way to create a schedule in which they only have to cover a few duties a month, your teachers will love you. Encourage Them to Bring Problems to You Have an open door policy. The relationship between a teacher and principal should be strong enough that they can bring any problem or issue and trust that you are going to try your best to help them out confidentially. Often times you will find that teachers simply need someone to vent their frustrations to, so being a good listener is often all that is necessary. Other times you will have to tell the teacher that you need some time to think about the problem and then get back with them with some take it or leave it advice. Try not to force your opinion on the teacher. Give them options and explain where you are coming from. Tell them what decision you would make and why, but don’t hold it against them if they go with another option. Understand that every situation that is brought to you is unique and how you handle that situation depends on upon the situation itself. Get to Know Them There is a thin line between getting to know your teachers and being their best friends. As their leader, you want to build a trusting relationship without getting so close that it interferes when you have to make a tough decision. You want to build a balanced relationship between personal and professional, but you don’t want to tip it where it is more personal than professional. Take an active interest in their family, hobbies, and other interest. This will let them know that you care about them as individuals and not just as teachers. Offer Advice, Direction, or Assistance All principals should continuously offer their teachers advice, direction, or assistance. This is especially true for beginning teachers, but it is true for teachers throughout all levels of experience. The principal is the instructional leader, and providing advice, direction, or assistance is the primary job of a leader. This can be done through a variety of ways. Sometimes a principal can simply provide a teacher with verbal advice. Other times they may want to show the teacher by having them observe another teacher whose strengths are in an area where that teacher needs assistance. Providing the teacher with books and resources are another way to provide advice, direction, or assistance. Provide Applicable Professional Development All teachers are required to participate in professional development. However, teachers want these professional development opportunities to be applicable to their situation. No teacher wants to sit through eight hours of professional development that doesn’t directly apply to what their teaching or they will never use. This can fall back on the principal as they are often involved in the scheduling of professional development. Choose professional development opportunities that are going to benefit your teachers, not just ones that meet your minimum professional development criteria. Your teachers will appreciate you more, and your school will be better off in the long run because your teachers are learning new things that they can then apply to their daily classroom.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

The Career Of A Makeup Artist - 1778 Words

Starting at the age of 11, there was this young girl who began to get really interested into makeup. Her dad though, did not really like makeup at all so she snuck it on whenever she got to school and made sure she took it off either while she and her brothers walked home or before her dad came to pick her up. This young girl was only in the 6th grade, which is kind of reasonable now that she thinks back on it, but when she was 11 she thought it was the most unfair thing; why stop her from doing something she like that expresses herself and who she am as a person? But as time went on and she got older and understood that it just meant he was scared that she was growing up too quickly. Being a Makeup artist would be rewarding, because a†¦show more content†¦Your personality is a major key in this work field; you have to be able to communicate with others and work well with others. Being a makeup artist is all about working and interacting with people and if you can not do tha t or do not like to be around people then this is not for you. The experience you have varies a lot more than the education you have. You could have all the education in the world about being a makeup artist, but that does not mean you are good at it or have the creative eye for it. You could work with big name brand companies like MAC, Sephora, Makeup Geek, and Ulta without going to school for it, but just simply because you are good at it and you have the passion for it. Onto the duties of being a makeup artist, which vary as to what you want to do in makeup artistry. Some may have to sell makeup products if they are studying the businesses of the makeup, while others may have the duty of applying the makeup, whether it be special effects makeup, glam makeup, or regular day to day makeup which are the specific duties. General duties would be how to interact with clients, being a makeup artist you have to know your client like what they want how they want it and what they like. Wit hout knowing any of that information you could be completely clueless and the client may end up hating what you did for them. Personality is a huge thing when working with people, you do not want to have a bad attitude or

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Creating an Addiction free essay sample

The scorching August sun beat down on the sidewalk as I held my fathers hand tightly, afraid to let it go. We had just gotten off the T and the sweat was already pouring down our foreheads. Everyone around us was in a mad rush, all going to their own destinations and not acknowledging anyone else’s presence. People moved in every direction, faceless in a sea of gray and black suits. My father and I were sore thumbs in the mix; my brand new bright red jersey that had my favorite players name on the back, Nomar Garciapara, and his red hat made us the typical tourists to the area. I was overwhelmed with curiosity; the city was a place we did not venture often. My father weaved us through the crowd until I slowly noticed more of an abundance of people also sporting the color red. We had been walking for an innumerable amount of time to a child my age. We will write a custom essay sample on Creating an Addiction or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My hand was so wet that it was almost impossible to hold onto his any longer. Between the sunscreen that had recently been lathered all over me by my dad at the T station and the sweat from the summer heat, his hand kept slipping from mine. I tried to look ahead up the street, but all I saw were people. People were everywhere. I jumped into the air to see over their heads, but my nine-year-old frame would not take me up that high. Finally I saw it for the first time in person. My father had talked about it many times before, the Green Monster was up ahead, looking like an oasis in the middle of a desert, the green walls stuck out next to the glass skyscrapers and brick buildings. It was just like my father and I were a few blocks before, a sore thumb in the bland city. My dad pointed up ahead and yelled in my ear that we had finally made it. I felt uncomfortable and hurried in the city; we were packed into lines and shoved through metal detectors. My father had to remove his belt and the money clip in his pocket before we were allowed to advance towards the Green Monster. The sun was getting close to setting and I could feel a late summer breeze blowing my braids off of my sticky back when my dad finally made it past security. I looked up ahead and saw a huge banner over the street called Yawkey Way. The Green Monster was on our left, and on our right were brick buildings with red and blue awning. People walked down the middle of the street and no cars could drive through. Vendors were cooking sausage and selling beer, the smells filled the air as the smoke from the grills went up into the sky. I had to keep holding onto my dad’s hand because now everyone looked exactly like we did. A band played music outside a storefront and a man in stilts in a baseball uniform was playing catch with another kid in a red jerse y. My father and I entered a souvenir store and I stood overwhelmed at the thousands of tee shirts I had to choose from. I only knew Nomar Garciapara, and I chose shirt with his name on the back, to match the jersey I was wearing. The moment I decided what I wanted as a token to remember this trip, my father whipped it out of my hands and paid for it in a hurry. I had taken too much time deciding. He grabbed my arm and we hurried to Gate D, our entrance to the ballpark, inside the walls of the Green Monster. He did not want to miss the Red Sox take batting practice before the game. As we walked down into Gate D, we passed more food vendors and my father began to ramble about previous times he had been here. He asked me if I wanted a â€Å"Fenway Frank†, and out of fear, I politely declined the option of a boiled hotdog and instead got a candy apple. As my dad rushed down the walkway under the grandstand like he owned the entire ballpark, I saw signs that had the same numbers that were on my ticket I held firmly in my free hand, with my candy apple and my tee shirt, everything sticky as the caramel melted all over my hand and arm. My dad held my other hand tightly and we were practically running at this point, and as we rounded a corner with a large sign over it saying â€Å"Field Box 14-21† in large red letters. My dad then paused and looked down at me. He bent over so we were at the same height, in the middle of path. He looked at me and told me this was his favorite part of Fenway Park, and even at the age of nine, I could see the importance of this moment in his eyes, and I could hear it in his voice. He was about to share his passion with his only child. It was then that he grabbed my hand again and we walked up the ramp and soon I could see light flooding the exit of the walkway. I squinted as my dad pulled me up over his head and I sat on his shoulders. He was smiling ear to ear, and before I knew it I was staring at the Green Monster from the other side. We had made it into Fenway Park. My dad stopped for a moment and stared out at the crisp green field and the thousands of red and blue seats. Even I was dumbfounded at what I was looking at. The Green Monster towered above us and the stadium lights blinded us even though it was still sunny out. Baseball players were stretching and passing the ball to one another. I looked frantically for Nomar, but I could not find him. In person they all look the same. As people were walking around us to get to their seats, my dad then began to walk again to get to ours. He kept me up on his shoulders until we reached Field Box 21, and then he lowered me to the ground and lead me down stairs until we were headed into a crowd of people standing in front of the Red Sox Dugout. He then politely asked people to move and told them they were our seats. I never thought we would be sitting this close! I followed my dad into the third row and picked my favorite number, 2, over 3, which were our two seats in the row. I unfolded the red wooden chair and stood on top of it and watched the many other fans that were not supposed to be there yell to players for autographs. I could not find Nomar, but suddenly my dad picked me up and threw me on top of the dugout. Standing in front of me was a huge man in a red sox uniform. My dad yelled in my ear to hand him my ticket and a pen, so I did. The man was very nice, he asked me my name and he signed his name on my ticket, handed it back, and continued to batting practice. My dad was elated as he took the ticket out of my hand and looked at the signature. I had no idea who the man was, but I thought he must have been important if he was so excited about it. He told me that he was the catcher, Jason Varitek. I didn’t really care then however, I was still scanning the field for Nomar. People were slowly retreating away from the dugout to their real seats, and my dad and I sat down. We were at eye level with the field. The sun was behind us and was slowly dipping lower and lower behind the park. My dad took out a wipe that my mother had packed for us and he scrubbed my caramel apple hands with it. It was then that I saw him. All of the players ran out onto the field right in front of my eyes. I was captivated. There was Nomar Garciapara directly in front of me. They all had their backs to us as the National Anthem was sung. I could not believe I was actually seeing him in person. That was the first time I cried at Fenway Park. My eyes swelled and tears ran down my face, however my father did not notice. He was too busy watching the players take the field, watching the sea of red and navy blue people cheer and listening to the announcers welcome us to Fenway Park. My dad did not know that day he created a monster. He had just poisoned his only daughter with an addi ction to the Boston Red Sox.