To my Students - #YOUMATTER

By -

Take the time to reflect and evaluate what is reality or perception in the world around you!   

Some quick background
On Monday, October 8th, an email was sent to the entire student body with information related to the opening of the Genesis Student Portal.   It was my understanding that the email contained the user name and password to access Genesis.  Only today did I find out (by a student) that the original email did not contain any password information.   We fixed the issue and you should have received another email today with all the information you needed to access the Genesis Student Portal.

I have to say I was taken back that a whole week went by and not one student came forward to point out the error or ask, “What is my password because it was not in the email”.   

I then started to reflect as a leader and asked myself a few questions:

Do all my students feel comfortable asking me questions or giving me their opinion? 
Why did no one say anything? 
What can I do to create better two-way communication with my students?

After taking some time to reflect, I still believe I have a developed some great relationships with most of the student body, but there are areas to improve on.   To accomplish this, I plan on spending a lot less time in my office, which will give me more time to interact and engage students in conversation.   These are things I have always done, but it never hurts to spend some time refocusing and prioritizing what your "Core" values really are.    

I want each and every student at Waldwick High School to know:

Your Opinions/Thoughts/Concerns all matters to ME
I am never too busy to stop and listen to what you have to say
My door and Inbox is always open

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least”
                                                                                    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In the end, as an administrator nothing is more important than building effective relationships with my students, staff and parents. 

To all my students #YOUMATTER


This post was inspired by the Leadership 2.0 series – ACollaborative Learning Opportunity for School Leaders.  The Leadership 2.0 series was put together by George Couros and I would highly recommend current leaders, new leaders and aspiring leaders take advantage of this amazing open course.    Tonight (10/16/12) at 7pm log on to session three, Embodying Visionary Leadership and the speaker will be Chris Smeaton (@cdsmeaton).  Sessions one and two provided great insight and knowledge shared by George Couros (@gcourus) Jeff Delp (@azjd).  

 What are your core values as a school leader?  What ways do you build relationships with your students?  

Comments

  1. Dr. Lynda R. FabboOctober 16, 2012 at 8:54 AM

    Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.~John F. Kennedy

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 16, 2012 at 11:21 AM

    If it makes you feel any better, I feel like I ask you too many questions!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 16, 2012 at 12:40 PM

    This might make you feel better also - my daughter has always used my password to access Geneis, so other students are probably doing that as well :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. rima karroum tasciOctober 16, 2012 at 4:54 PM

    Mr Carroll thank you for caring about the students, Im proud that my son attend the Waldwick HS. Also my son John Uses my password to access Genesis, plus when I open it we look at it together and discuss what he needs to do to improve. :)))

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownOctober 21, 2012 at 8:40 PM

    You are the best. Thanks for all you do!

    ReplyDelete

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