AWSP Blog

When you’re ready to jump into some professional reading, check out this list of books that Jack Arend and I created based on some of the books that we are reading or that we hear others mention. We also provide some tips for engaging your staff in a book study, if that is something that you are considering.

High school principals have a lot on their minds this month as they work to support teachers and students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning and sharing experiences with other principals is valuable while they navigate similar challenges, such as grading, attendance, and planning for graduation. The Chief Education Officer (CEO) Network – a partnership between the Association of Washington Principals (AWSP), Partnership for Learning, Washington Roundtable and Challenge Seattle – brings principals together this school year for monthly virtual workshops and offers access to online curriculum developed by AWSP.

One unforeseen consequence of a statewide closure has been the massive forced push for all of us to engage in the virtual meeting space. We might have dabbled before in Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams, but now we are all exceeding standard. AWSP is offering weekly Office Hours for members to engage with with the AWSP Executive Team and K-12 principals from all over the state. This is a wide open session of give and take, but more importantly, to hear our members (principals, assistant principals and other school leaders) share challenges, successes, and barriers they are facing as newly assigned digital leaders. It is so incredible to watch these natural and organic conversations take off each week that I find myself thinking, "Why didn't we do this sooner?"

We’ve all been there. We’ve all sat in professional learning settings where the audience is completely disengaged, clearing emails and/or surfing the web. In fact, we’ve all developed coping and exit strategies for painful adult learning settings. And, you can’t tell me you haven’t faked an important phone call and walked out of some sort of profession learning setting.