The Principal's Handbook

In today's episode, I'm going to share tips on how you can survive the month of March. That's all coming up right here on The Principal's Handbook. Stay tuned.
Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a Certified Life Coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, we'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
Welcome back today. We're talking about how to survive the month of March, and I'm going to give you tips on how you can support your teachers during this time, and how you can take [00:01:00] care of yourself.
Because we know the month of March is a very stressful time of year. It's a time of year when we are all ready for spring break. In the building you see decreased motivation. Teachers and students are struggling to stay motivated during this time of year. There's decreased engagement in classrooms, usually low energy levels throughout the building, and just a general lack of enthusiasm for school activities because people are ready for break.
And as a principal, it's really hard because you may not be as motivated. So you're trying to keep yourself motivated, but also trying to keep your staff and the students motivated. That's a difficult time for you and for your staff and students. Also, there's an increase in teacher burnout during this time.
Usually there's an increase in absenteeism from staff. There's a drop in the quality of instruction as teachers. teachers are just ready for the break, , maybe even a less proactive approach to classroom management. We see teachers that usually can deal with behaviors fine [00:02:00] sending more kids to the office.
It just seems like their resilience level for behaviors are lower than normal. , and teachers are dealing with less, teachers are dealing with less student engagement. And so teachers get frustrated with that too, and those kids might end up being sent to the office. During this time, there's also a lot of academic pressure because teachers are stressed out about state testing or end of year exams approaching.
There's a lot of pressure for you as the principal to support teachers, but also help them maintain that focus on academics and still have rigorous things going on in the classroom. It's a really hard time of year. And then add in the behavior issues that are happening as kids are restless and teachers need more support than normal.
Staff morale is down, which usually means that, , teachers are just struggling. and need more support from their principals. They may even be struggling with getting along with other colleagues, so there might be more staff conflict. So it's really just important to find ways to [00:03:00] support the teachers, acknowledge their hard work, and just foster a sense of community and unity throughout the school.
Also in March, If we're not dealing with enough, we start thinking about the next school year. And so there's times when you're planning for next year already, because there's things you need to get in place before teachers leave for summer. And then teachers might be anxious if there's changes next year.
Maybe they're worried if they are moving to another grade level or maybe losing their position, or maybe they're getting a new principal or new assistant principal, whatever that is, teachers get anxious about the next year too, which then plays into. What's going on in the building?
Principles, you may be facing your own overwhelming stress if you don't handle things properly and take care of yourself.
That's why I also want to give you today, tips to support your teachers, but tips to take care of yourself because both are really important during this time. I just want to remind you that. It's so important that your staff [00:04:00] feel supported, even if they're stressed and they feel supported, it will make all of the difference for them.
In a study by the U. S. Department of Education, over half of teachers reported not feeling a great deal of support or encouragement from their administration. And when teachers feel supported, they're less likely to leave the profession, and students also do better when teachers are supported. It just creates a better learning environment for students to learn.
I want to share today five ways that you can support your teachers. So the first way is to plan fun events to boost morale.
It could be a luncheon that you have. It could be some sort of fun game or competition that you have throughout the building. We've done things like scavenger hunts that are really fun. I've also seen schools do sports activities in the gym that staff do.
Maybe it's a night out as a staff or drinks after work. Whatever it is, a way to foster community and a much needed break just from the day to day grind and everything [00:05:00] that's going on as we prepare for spring break. My second tip is to plan a time to give teachers a break or extra planning.
If you're in elementary, you could schedule an extra recess for each grade level or find coverage for their class, even if it's just 15 to 20 minutes. Giving teachers that time or maybe it's just you as the principal being more present and walking through classrooms and checking on teachers and if you notice a teacher struggling, you cover for them and say, Hey, go take 5 to 10 minutes.
Go sit in the lounge for a few minutes and just cool off, be extra visible and more present so that teachers know you're there supporting them, and if they need you, they know you're there for them., The third tip is to remind teachers one test does not determine their worth.
I think this is really important as we get ready for state testing season. I think this is really important as we get ready for state testing season because so many teachers put their worth [00:06:00] on one test. I see that a lot, especially, , with the teachers that I work with, and I'm in the United States, and we have state testing, and it is very stressful, the scores of the state assessments then get printed onto a report card and they're shared and available online for the public.
I know what's been voiced to me from teachers is that they're worried about what The community will think of them as a teacher if they look at the test scores, and I get all that. As a principal, we are stressed about that too, but we need to make sure that our teachers know that as long as they're teaching using evidence based strategies, and they're talking about data and really reflecting on their teaching all year.
That is what makes the difference. We can't cram right before the test or take a bunch of practice tests and just expect that kids are going to do good on the state test. We need to be just doing good practices all year long.
And as a principal, we need to be a good instructional leader and remind teachers that we're always doing good [00:07:00] instructional practices and it's not about just one test on one day. Tip number four is to reteach PBIS expectations throughout the school. So if your school does any sort of PBIS, positive behavior interventions and supports, make sure that you go back and have everybody on the same page with expectations, This is just going to help you have a more orderly environment where students are following those expectations.
They know what is expected of them and everything is very clear. Also, it keeps a positive environment. Revisiting the PBIS expectations will reinforce what students are supposed to be doing and how they should be acting in the building, and it makes it easier for teachers to manage behaviors because Students know what they should be doing and you should be practicing it and reteaching it.
And it's not going to be perfect just because students practice the expectations, but it will help with behaviors. I [00:08:00] think sometimes we get to the month of March and we just assume that kids should know the expectations, but that's not the case, especially when things get hard kids want to be out on break as much as we do, then we need to make sure that we're really reinforcing those.
And then, of course, you have kids who don't want to be on break, so their behaviors are worse than ever. So we still need to really be reinforcing what those expectations look like and practicing them throughout the year. Tip number five is offer professional development opportunities.
When teachers are starting to feel burnt out, it's not that you want to offer more things to put more learning on their plate and add more things they should do to the classroom, but you want to give them opportunities for professional growth where they can feel supported. So you would want them to get professional development in things like teaching strategies that are going to help support things they're already doing.
It could even be professional development and stress management techniques or [00:09:00] really personal development for your professional development. Or it could be PBIS training or some sort of discipline training where teachers can get refreshers on what to do when students aren't listening. So I think just having these workshops or professional development activities that teachers can.
Revisit some of the things they might already know where it's not adding extra things to their plates, but just good reminders or good tips that they can take away from those trainings is really good. So now that you've taken care of your teachers and you've supported your teachers, it's really important that you take care of yourself.
It's that idea you can't pour from an empty cup. And so we as principals are constantly doing things for other people. And we always have to make sure that we're supporting our teachers, we're supporting the students, and we're supporting parents, but it's really important that you support yourself by taking care of yourself.
And March is the month when I [00:10:00] experienced burnout two years ago, it's because I did not have the resilience to deal with everything that was going on. And so making sure that you have that resilience comes from taking care of yourself.
It's important to utilize these tips that I'm about to share all year long, but make sure you're dialing it in when things get really hard.
So tip number one, get plenty of sleep. There is a lot of research out there that you need seven to nine hours of sleep at night, you need adequate sleep to make good decisions and be your best self. I think a lot of times we get stressed and I'm guilty of this too.
And I think I need to sleep less. I have so much to do, but really it's not good for you. And then you're not performing at your best the next day. And I noticed this. If I don't sleep enough, I cannot make decisions quickly because I have a lot of brain fog. So making sure that you get plenty of sleep is so important, especially during these stressful times.
Even if on the weekends you're taking an app or sleeping in more, you need to get sleep to make sure that you are feeling at your best. [00:11:00] Tip number two, take care of your physical health. Make sure that you're getting some sort of exercise regularly, and it doesn't have to be a huge thing.
It could be things such as going on a walk, doing yoga, aiming for 10, 000 steps, doing a 30 minute free YouTube video, , riding a bike, whatever that is, but just get some sort of exercise regularly to help reduce your stress. Also make sure you're eating healthy foods.
The more processed foods and junk foods you're eating, you're not going to feel your best, which is not going to allow you to be your best. So you want to make sure that you're eating foods that fuel your body and make you feel good. Also make sure that you're not using stress as an excuse to eat more.
And then you gain weight and you feel terrible about yourself. I'm sharing that because I've done this from experience. You know, I eat when I'm stressed and so I'll get stressed and I'm not sleeping enough or I'm not getting enough exercise. Then I [00:12:00] eat and I start to gain weight and then I feel worse about myself.
And it's just a terrible cycle. . You want to make sure even when you are super busy that you are taking that time to get plenty of sleep, get physical activity, and you're eating healthy. My third tip is to lean on other colleagues.
We need other people to collaborate with and be able to talk to. So lean on other principals, whether it's principals in your district or if you have a principal group you meet with outside of your district. Maybe there's other administrators that can support you like central office,
whoever that is that can help you, just make sure you have somebody. Just have somebody that you feel like you can talk to and collaborate with.
If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, make sure you talk to someone about it. You know, seek input, get advice from others. That is so helpful and know that you're not alone in that feeling. Tip number four is prioritizing your mental health. So just like we talked about taking care of your physical health, it's so important that you look after your mental [00:13:00] health.
Setting aside time for activities that help you recharge is really important, such as reading or meditating or doing something that you enjoy. Maybe it's golfing or running, whatever that is, find a hobby that you enjoy that has nothing to do with school or education and take time to do that.
It's so important to do that for your mental health. Also, if you're feeling super overwhelmed and maybe you are starting to feel burnout, consider speaking to a professional therapist or counselor who can give you coping strategies. Also, you might want to hire a coach, somebody who can hold you accountable with goals and help you change your thinking.
That's another thing you could do for your mental health. Tip number five, set boundaries and take breaks. You need to recognize the importance of setting clear boundaries for work in your personal life. Make time to unplug from work.
And that means no checking emails, no taking phone calls. You need to have clear boundaries. For me, I [00:14:00] like to take email off my phone because I don't want to check email at all when I'm home from work. If somebody needs me, I know they'll call my cell phone, so there's no need for me to check my email.
Nothing that comes into my email is that urgent that I need to be looking at it before the next school day. Also, when you're at school, make sure that you take short breaks throughout the day. That helps you clear your mind, and it helps you to reduce stress. Brendan Burchard talks about working in chunks of 50 minutes and then taking 10 minutes to do something mindless, whether it's walking around or just taking some sort of short break, it's going to actually make you more productive.
So taking that time, get fresh air. If you're an elementary principal, go outside for recess. These breaks are going to help you reset your focus and have higher energy levels. A lot of times. We try to power through and get as much done as we can without taking a break all day, without taking a lunch. And what happens is then we lose our focus towards the end of the day, and then we [00:15:00] have no energy.
We have no energy to give when we get home. Make sure you're taking those breaks throughout the day so that you can sustain your energy, not just during the workday, but when you get home as well.
As we close this episode, I just want to remind you that you are the role model of the building. You set the tone for the building. So you need a model taking care of yourself for the teachers and tell them what you're doing. You just want to make sure that you are not only supporting the teachers, but you're taking care of yourself and modeling that for them and reminding teachers to do the same. When we take care of ourself, we are building up resilience so that we do not get burnt out. Over time and March is a really tough time for educators.
And so now is the time to really dig deep and help support the staff and take care of yourself. Every principal needs someone they can collaborate with and check in with them. If you're interested in one on one coaching, please reach out to me I'll put a link below and I would love to talk about how [00:16:00] I can support you in your role. In coaching, we work on setting and achieving goals, finding your purpose, taking care of yourself mentally and physically.
We also work on your mindset and reframing to have a more positive mindset. To become the person you want to be. So reach out to me if you're interested. I'll put a link in the show notes. I would love the opportunity to work with you. I also have a resource to stop doubting your decisions as a principal, which I'll also put in the show notes and you can find me on Instagram at Barb flowers coaching.
If you like this show, share this episode with a friend and keep in mind, do you have the power to shape your life according to the mindset you choose? I hope you have a great week and I'll see you back here next time.
Mhm. [00:17:00] Mhm.