Reclaiming the Principalship ― Instructional Leadership Strategies to Engage Your School Community and Focus on Learning

As a principal, your days are filled with decisions. How do you keep student learning central to your work and the school's mission while managing all of the mandates and administrative work? With Reclaiming the Principalship as your road map, you will discover how to let learning guide the many decisions you make each day.

Experienced administrator Tom Marshall shows you that, by establishing a learning mindset, you can rekindle the spirit of learning in your school and create an environment in which learning is simply a way of life for students, teachers, and even yourself. An environment of engaged learning, not simply compliance.

In Reclaiming the Principalship, Tom targets some of the biggest current issues principals face, including scheduling, teacher evaluations, isolation, improving academic achievement, and school climate. He includes questions, checklists, templates, and examples to help you:

• build a professional network with other principals
• take on the role of instructional leader
• evaluate teachers honestly, constructively, and supportively
• build and lead the school community
• connect with and nurture your own learning life.

Schools need leaders who have just as much love for teaching and learning as they had when they started their careers. You don't have to give up your commitment to learning, or students, or your dedication to teachers. With Tom's guidance, you can make decisions that will have a long-lasting, positive effect on the lives of the students and teachers in your school.

Tom Marshall is a former teacher and staff developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. He is currently the principal of Stony Lane Elementary School in Paramus, New Jersey. Tom runs a course for literacy coaches from around New Jersey, coordinates the Littogether Teacher Leader Project, and is the founder of the New Jersey Literacy Leaders' Network, a learning group of over 150 educational leaders who meet to study ways to supervise and support best practices in literacy instruction. You can find him online at http://www.littogether.com and on twitter at @TomLitTogether.