Remembering What's Important: Priorities of School Leadership

by Charles A. Bonnici

Overview

In Remembering What's Important: Priorities of School Leadership, Charles A. Bonnici addresses several issues facing school leaders through strategies supported by real-life examples and anecdotes. The issues addressed include questions such as: What is the most urgent issue faced by a new school leader? How can this leader address the chaos of being both a teacher trainer and evaluator? What are the school leader's personal responsibilities for hiring, training, and retaining staff? How does the school leader create a positive learning ambience in a school? How can this leader address the issues created by the physical plant of the building itself? How can a principal treat the difficult waters of the social and political context of the outside world that impacts on the school? How can a school leader insure that the management systems created within a school and the gains in student achievement accomplished are maintained and improved upon after he or she leaves the school?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610480840
Publisher:	R&L Education
Publication date:	06/09/2011
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Charles A. Bonnici has been an educator for forty years, serving as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal in the New York City public school system. For the past ten years, as an adjunct professor at Pace University, he has developed and taught three educational leadership courses for students seeking their state certification.

Table of Contents

Foreword Daryl Blank vii

Preface xi

Introduction xiii

1 Surviving 1

2 Improving Instruction: Guidelines for the Observation Process 15

3 Improving Instruction: Alternative Observations and Other Practices 33

4 Hiring New Staff 41

5 Training and Retaining New Teachers: The Critical First Week 57

6 Training and Retaining New Teachers: The Fall Semester 69

7 Training and Retaining New Teachers: The Spring Semester 91

8 Creating a Positive School Ambience: Respect, Instruction, Welcome 107

9 Creating a Positive School Ambience: Support Services, Parental Involvement, Staff Development, and Punitive Measures 119

10 Establishing Formal and Informal Systems for Creating a Positive School Ambience 113

11 Working with the Custodian and Physical Plant 147

12 Dealing with the Larger Context: The School District, Media, Advisory Boards, and Celebrities 159

13 Dealing with the Larger Context: Politics, Parents, and Panaceas 177

14 Passing the Baton 187

Acknowledgments 197

About the Author 199

Editorial Reviews

Charles Bonnici's writing style is conversational and respectful to all in the educational enterprise. Its strength is in its practicality and the reality base. There are chapters I would use in my own courses, especially related to leaders having to lead themselves before they can be effective leaders of others. This is a book for any school leader, not only for interns or new principals. We all need this refresher to help us see ourselves a little more clearly.

Remigia Kushner

New principals and assistant principals often wish the job came with an instruction manual. In this, his second book, Charles Bonnici provides such a manual. Throughout my career in education I have benefited from the wisdom and strategies succinctly presented here. As his student teacher, teacher in his department, and assistant principal in his school, I had the opportunity to observe Bonnici as he developed and honed the guiding principles found in this book. This book is short on theories and filled instead with the nuts and bolts of putting theories into practice illustrated with a wealth of anecdotes told with the wry sense of humor one needs to succeed as an administrator.

Thomas P. Conway

So often education texts are written through research rather than from practice. Professor Bonnici's research was over twenty years of daily practice. There is no substitute for his first-hand knowledge and experience. Remembering What's Important doesn't just tap that wealth of experience—it is that wealth of experience—and it is the most valuable text in any educational leader's professional library.

Chris Casal

As a former student of Charles Bonnici, his lectures and wisdom have been instrumental to my development as a school leader. Schools are complex organizations that Mr. Bonnici helps you understand through careful analysis and thoughtful reflection. This book is a must read for every novice school leader!

Ivan Tolentino

In Remembering What’s Important: Priorities of School Leadership, author Charles A. Bonnici wastes not time. He hits hard the 'eight key areas' as principals and other leaders pursue a career: living and progressing from being neophytes to experienced school administrators. He reveals leadership 'survival strategies' for hiring and nurturing new teachers; building the school culture; managing the school; and working in the larger social environment with parents, community leaders, and the media. Finally, Charles Bonnici looks at 'passing the baton' to the next generation—making the book important for succeeding as principals move from beginners to educational veterans—in the exciting, challenging, rewarding world of school leadership and improvement!

Bruce S. Cooper

Succeeding as a school administrator requires patience, planning, and attention to an ever-growing list of priorities. In Remembering What's Important, Bonnici provides a comprehensive guide full of "survival strategies" for administrators, covering everything from teacher observations to working with custodial staff. This book should be required reading for new school leaders and is an excellent refresher for veterans.

Shannon Fierro