The Maverick Principal — Change Not Change

Mark Sonnemann
Sep 3, 2018 · 5 min read

On the eve of the start of the school year, I find myself coming back to a conversation I had last week with a new teacher about classroom expectations and rules. This teacher is new to the school and filling a role that is held by a very experienced teacher who is very well known by the community.

Being a good professional, the new teacher had reached out to the experience teacher they were filling in for in order to understand how they ran their class, how they liked things set up, what the expectations of parents and students might be, and any other information that the more experienced teacher felt was important to share. The new teacher was looking for information, advice, guidance, and support.

Based on this conversation, the new teacher had drafted a letter of introduction that covered many of the topics I mentioned. They wanted me to take a look at it and approve it to be sent home.

As I read over the letter, I thought to myself — this letter doesn’t sound like the new teacher in front of me is talking. Instead, it sounded like the experienced teacher. I was curious. I asked the teacher if this was what they wanted to say. The new teacher said that it was what the more experienced teacher thought they should say and how they thought things should look and run in the classroom.

I asked the new teacher what would be different if they weren’t just filling in — what the letter would say if they had written it for a community of students and parents at a permanent assignment.

The new teacher was very quick to point out a few things that they were uncomfortable with, some ideas they wanted to include, and added some information about themselves that they thought was important that might belong in such an introduction.

Before I go any farther, I want to say that the letter, as is, was just fine, and that the experienced teacher is a good one. This was not, in my mind, a discussion about good and bad practice — it was one about authenticity and difference.

I said to the new teacher that I did not expect them to be a carbon copy of the experienced teacher, or to simply try to replicate the classroom of the experienced teacher. Instead, I wanted the new teacher to be true to their experience and professional judgement. The best teachers, and teaching, I think, comes from contexts where we are the most authentic with our students. I wanted the new teacher to bring all of their ‘newness’ and ‘difference’ to the position, to fully own the pedagogy and community in the classroom, and to make teacher moves based on their judgement. I wanted them to feel free to take the same risks that we would be asking of students with regard to learning, and to know that I supported this journey.

It would look different. It would feel different. It would be different. And this difference wasn’t just OK, it was awesome. Change happens. We do kids a disservice, I think, when we try to insist that things don’t have to change or when we model resistance to what is, essentially, perfectly natural.

This made me think about the standard advice that administrators get about coming into a new site. Lay low, the wisdom says. Don’t try to change anything. Keep everything the same and observe and then make decisions half a year or a year in.

Generally speaking, this is good advice. However, I have come to think that it is no different than the experienced teacher telling the new teacher how to run the class. I am different than the person who held the position before me. Even if I am determined to keep things the ‘same’ they aren’t and won’t be. I can’t do some of the things that my predecessor could. I don’t know how to do others. I am unwilling to do still others. I have different experiences and interests and background. That shouldn’t just be OK — it should be awesome.

It is crucial to understand the culture that you find yourself in, but I think it is also just as critical to know yourself and be honest with those around you about what you bring to the role.

We do need to think about the unintended consequences of some of our differences — about how our approach or ideas might clash with the existing culture or people or structures, but I don’t think we should have to walk about as if everything was made of fine china. We need to give people the space and the freedom and the support to be themselves, and then be able to have constructive conversations when there is friction. Quite often, at least in my experience, this friction is unintentional. Unfortunately, we often do not extend this kind of consideration. We assume that the behaviour or choice is a threat to the status quo and we react before we have a chance to really think about or consider any other motivations. Maybe we should reflect on the status quo first? Is it really so awesome that it should never change — at all!?

Cultures that don’t accept change and allow for newness to establish some kind of equilibrium before engaging are usually, in my experience, the most exclusionary and unhealthy.

I don’t want the school I lead to be either of those things. I want to feel that we can talk about why things are the way they are, or about why I do things the way I do with equal honesty and respect. If we want our students to be happy and adaptable and resilient, we need to do a better job at showing them how to change, and still be the same. There is no contradiction here if we accept that life and growth and learning are essentially different ways of contextualizing and naming change.

Have a great first day.

Dad, Husband, Learner, Catholic Principal. I never stop wondering, questioning, and imagining.

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