Teacher Leadership with Melissa Burns
Dr. Melissa Burns is the principal at Sara Collins Elementary School in Greenville, South Carolina. Melissa is a remarkable principal and leader who balances wisdom and practicality. One of Melissa’s many superpowers is developing other people’s leadership. In the first half of this episode, we discuss the importance of developing teacher-leaders and how to do it. In the second half of the episode, Melissa provides some practical advice for how busy assistant principals can hone their instructional leadership skills.
Show Notes, Episode X: Title
About this show:
Dr. Melissa Burns is the principal at Sara Collins Elementary School in Greenville, South Carolina. Melissa is a remarkable principal and leader who balances wisdom and practicality. One of Melissa’s many superpowers is developing other people’s leadership. In the first half of this episode, we discuss the importance of developing teacher-leaders and how to do it. In the second half of the episode, Melissa provides some practical advice for how busy assistant principals can hone their instructional leadership skills.
Notable Quotes
Dr. Melissa Burns
“Teachers really listen to other teachers”
“It is important to take the characteristics of particular teachers and help push them with their strengths”
“day to day, we are provided so many opportunities and challenges that we just don’t know of and we can’t anticipate, but being calm and focused in the moment is important”
3 ways to stay calm under pressure: “I try to take deep breathes and stay calm myself, I try to involve others around me… and lastly, just know what you know and then what you need to figure out and learn”
“Be in the classroom”
“There are some things, at times, that I have to do that only I can do, and [I need to] let other people grow their leadership around me”
“Put students first. That’s why we are here in schools. If you love your focus of the students being first and foremost for your priorities, then you might need to look at doing something else for your career or intentions”
Frederick
“Having Assistant Principals actually talk through with teachers what they’re thinking and their thinking process is so that they are making that leadership behavior and leadership decision making that more transparent to teachers and in turn help them understand leadership”
“we tend to think sometimes that leaders have to be able to do it all, but especially when we’re talking about teacher leadership, they don’t have to do it all. So that idea that somebody can be a niche leader and can be really good at one thing… that doesn’t mean they can’t lead in the area they’re good at.”
“teachers coming into classrooms now are coming into very different situations. The classrooms are more complex, they’re more diverse, but also there are social issues that they are being impacted with that we didn’t have to face when we were beginning teachers”
“Melissa, you’ve been talking about other people and how you rely on other people. And when there is a tough situation, you don’t try to handle it all yourself, one of your first responses is “Who else do I need to involve in this?” and that’s why you’re a great principal. Because you nurture people so that they can step in and support those situations.”
“Develop other people’s leadership and then when you are in a tough situation, make sure that one of your top strategies is getting help from other people. Its not designed so that you do it alone”
Links:
My email: frederick@frederickbuskey.com
The Assistant Principal Podcast website: https://www.frederickbuskey.com/appodcast.html
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