"One Thing" for Mon. Dec. 9

Plugging leaks. Literally, that is what I was doing this morning as one of our HVAC heaters was spurting water everywhere in my classroom. Since it was not my teaching day and my usual partner was ill, an unsuspecting Teacher On Call was in the room freezing (because there was no heat) and needed help with the burst pipe. So, we moved the class out into another room and then mopped up the puddle and called in the professionals from Honeywell.

It seems that my role, in my second year as Vice Principal, is part "leak-plugger", part learner, part teacher, part communicator and part "just get stuff done". Somedays you just don't know where exactly the day will take you and you just try to help out (today that was setting up the gym for our holiday Polar Express performance) in whatever way you can. It often seems that things pop up that you need to deal with as they happen and that seems like it is supposed to in the natural flow of things. However, that can't be everything you do.

After Christmas I am going to start dedicating some time each week to my own professional development as suggested in the book I am reading called Taking Charge by Paul L. Shaw. In it, he talks about "Finding Time" and calls it the 50-40-10% Solution.

The 50% is dedicated to pedagogical leadership. (I am not there yet, but hope to do so as I grow in my role; I find myself spending more of my time in the next section, I would bet)
The 40% is for administrative tasks (things like fixing leaks and doing Health and Safety checkups)
The 10% is time dedicated to professional development (where I need to get to)

Hopefully there will be less leaking and more learning happening.