I do not pretend that I can fulfill the role of an administrator. In fact, I have no desire to become an administrator – I do not want that kind of stress. I respect those who effectively transition to the part; we need you!
Instead, I would like to offer some advice to administrators that could make their lives easier. The name of the game is to produce effective teachers. There is one simple thing administrators can do to improve their current faculty: listen. If you feel you already do this successfully, then this article may not apply to you. For the rest of you, please read on.
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Administrators must consider several factors while figuring out who will teach what. Just a few of these include inclusion courses, tested courses (the lovely ones that come with a state exam), and specialty courses (the ones that require specific training on top of a teaching degree). Just thinking about it makes my head hurt, so I cannot imagine what it is like for the administrators. Therefore, I imagine that any advice that can lessen the burden would be welcome.
Each teacher in each department has a comfort level that he or she feels most adept at. At my current school, I know of a few teachers who prefer to teach freshmen, while others prefer juniors. I am certain that most teachers have a certain grade preference. If you have enough teachers who can be spread evenly among the grade levels, why don’t you? Placing teachers in their comfort zones fosters a sense of appreciation toward their administrators and allows the teachers to become “experts” with the material specific to their grade levels. Your teachers’ chances for success usually increase in this kind of environment.
Realistically, administrators are not always blessed with enough teachers who want to teach each grade level. Sometimes, an entire department covets the same grade level. In that situation, you have to intervene. You have a few options. 1.) Offer priority to seniority. 2.) Experiment and find out which teacher handles which grade level better. 3.) Rotate every 2-3 years so that all teachers have a chance to get a different grade level. Of course, before you do anything, you should speak to your department about your dilemma and allow them to help you come up with a feasible solution, much like you would have done as a classroom teacher with your students.
Furthermore, each teacher has different talents and skills within his or her department. As an administrator, do you know what each teacher can offer? It is possible that you may have forgotten some of the training your faculty has completed (you have so many to keep up with, after all), or it is possible that your teachers have earned specialized certificates unbeknownst to you, for whatever reason. On a regular basis, you should survey your faculty about the types of areas for which they have received unique training. This will greatly help you when figuring out who should be assigned to AP, inclusion, or technical classes.
Finally, you should do your best to evenly spread the challenging classes among your crew. Inclusion classes are necessary, but they are also taxing on most teachers. Additionally, some classes are attached to state exams while others are not. It is unfair to saddle some teachers with those burdens while leaving others untouched. In some situations, you may find that certain teachers prefer and even enjoy teaching what others consider challenging. If that is the case, your problem could already be solved. Just make sure a teacher is not agreeing to something he or she does not really want to do. The teacher could feel pressured to say yes or is afraid he or she will get a negative mark on an evaluation.
If no one in a department seems overly eager to take on a challenging class, then you should consider rotating those classes so that the same teacher is not stuck with it every single time. You may also want to allow that teacher to take on a coveted class in the same semester/year as you make him or her teach the difficult one. Again, speak to your teachers and receive their input.
When teachers can voice their concerns and offer their input, they feel more valued as a member of your team. The teaching profession is only growing more stressful, as is your job as an administrator. It is now more important than ever that we learn to maneuver the minefields together.
Oh, and, it would be nice to give your teachers as few preps as possible. The more time a teacher can dedicate to planning for one class, the better he or she can make it.
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