As a high school science teacher I never assigned the standard “What did you do this summer?” essay. It made good conversation in the halls as I wandered around looking for the coffee mugs I misplaced the year before.

School-wise this past summer was one of my more relaxing ones. I was relaxed enough that I even dived into two books related to leadership and school management. In 14 years of teaching I’ve never wanted to see these kinds of things or even entertain thoughts of school during summer holidays. Perhaps its that I’ve become a principal and so I’m more interested and scared withe prospect of running my own school. It may also be that the change has invigorated me.

The first book I read was Shaping School Culture. I really enjoyed the book and I found it to be a refresher of things I understood and was glad to see written down. The first part had more information for me as it discussed the Elements of School Culture. The elements that resonanted with me was importance of Ritual, Ceremony and Stories. These aspects are things that I’ve learned to value from experience and utilize more as a coyote mentor. At our alternative school we use these three elements to provide an anchor that many students lost in their past schools. At-risk students seek out these elements perhaps because it does not exist at home and so they pick up new ones from friends and other influences. Rituals, ceremonies and stories also help to ground the staff as we work through the turmoil that can come into an alternative school.  We make sure our rituals and stories reinforce the themes of hope and resiliency that are the cornerstones of the school. The second part of the book was not as inspirational for me. It discusses several situations where the elements of culture have failed and worked. For whatever reason I find these discussions less helpful.

The second book was Primal Leadership. While it is not an educational book it discusses the power of emotions and how important they are to being a leader. Again, I found this a very reassuring book. Most of the ideas in it were things that I learned over the past few years. One example is the importance of maintaining my own emotions. Being “even keeled” has helped me through many conflicts with student, parents and coworkers. I’m glad to see that emotions are given their due in the workplace. To often, people are treated a robots that must must be managed properly. It wasn’t my favorite leadership book, but a good refresher for the summer.

I’m currently diving into a collection of Michael Fullan books that have been sitting on my self. I have read some of his stuff over the years and it is good to get back to it.

Unfortunately, summer it at a close and so is free time for reading dwindles to nearly zero.