Back-to-School Instructional Leadership Tips

For the first time since I was four years old, I don’t have first-day-of-school jitters. From preschool through last year, I was in school, first as a student and then as a teacher. Now, with summer break a distant memory, I support schools worldwide with their teacher effectiveness and growth programs, and watch bittersweetly as they excitedly prepare to welcome this year’s students.

One beginning-of-year exercise I miss is when students, teachers, and administrators set their annual goals. Nostalgic, below I suggest a few goals our school leaders can set (in TeachBoost!) to make the most of our platform:

• I will fill our TeachBoost Library with my favorite PD resources, align them to the framework, and recommend them to teachers in the context of my feedback.
• I will encourage peer observations and mentorship informed by the Teacher Competency Matrix. I will ask that teachers add notes from these meetings as evidence in the context of their goal progress.
• I will set teacher observation targets to keep me on track for the year and not wait until the last minute to do all my observations!
• I will participate in and complete the Instructional Leadership Challenge to help me prioritize instructional leadership this year.
• I will advocate for TeachBoost usage throughout my district so that we can build a diverse, talented, and engaged PLN across our schools.
• I will enter these goals into TeachBoost and keep track of my progress through the year.

Administrator goals help instructional leadership, teacher collaboration, and professional growth become integral components of your school’s culture. Keep that destination in mind as you begin another year’s journey. TeachBoost is the engine, but you are the driver.