Lead by Example
Advice is easy to give, but sometimes hard to follow. School administrators across Virginia have found it difficult to get staff and students to commit to certain actions through advice alone. One administrator has noticed that just encouraging staff to practice breathing exercises was not enough to motivate and engage the staff. She said, “you don't just tell your staff to breathe. You've got to model that breathing because you've got to take care of you, too. If we don't model it, we are not demonstrating what we are expecting of our staff.” Another principal used a similar method with their students. At a back to school event during a COVID school year, the principal noticed students were not excited and seemed down. This principal knew they could not just approach the students and tell them to be happy. So they decided to bring the energy that was missing by dancing to the welcome song, playing some of the games, and participating in school chants. This led to an improvement in morale and increased engagement from the students.
Some principals looked to their staff to find individuals who could lead by example. When making the transition from virtual to hybrid and in-person instruction, one middle school principal turned to her teachers for help leading professional development. She asked teachers who had already transitioned to face-to-face and a Zoom classroom hybrid to allow virtual teachers to sit in on lessons. The virtual teachers were asked to observe the various classroom styles and jot down some takeaways in a Google doc. Then at a faculty meeting, some of the in-person teachers sat on a panel and answered the virtual teachers questions. This helped virtual teachers see it was possible to transition to in-person or hybrid and gave them the confidence to do so.