What I think makes a good admin.

I'm just a lowly teacher, but I have had my share of great administrators over the years. They all have a few things in common:

1. Understand the link between joy, teaching and learning
2. Let their staff take risks
3. Give support to all teachers even the ones who just need a pat on the back or a "great job"
4. Make a staff cohesive - they push innovators help those who need it
5. Make Professional Development (or we can just saying learning) central to every action
6. Make the hard descisions, which you might not agree with, but respect because they have put in the time
7. Communication (and they don't waste your time on unimportant things
8. All the small stuff that you don't see (good admin have systems)
9. Have the ability to predict and respond to issues in a timely manner
10. Have a sense of humour and keep an even keel
11. Is a school principal - go to plays, games, classes, treat all staff members as important school leaders
12. Is still a teacher - they lead study groups with their staff, teach classes, tutor kids (How many times have I seen my admin poke their head over a study carrel to help a student with a math problem)

For me, a great principal (or vice principal) will remove obstacles for teaching and learning. It's almost like Barrie Bennett's invisible discipline from "Classroom Management - a caring approach", you don't know that the structures are in place because everything just works.

-Jeremy (they call me Browner) Brown