Happy Principals Month!

October is National Principals Month.  I can proudly say that I am a principal and absolutely love my job.   

I love that I get to have breakfast every morning with a couple of students to talk about how their year is going.

I love that I get to work with the most AMAZING teachers in the world.

I love that students leave me their artwork to decorate my office walls.

I love that I can change a teacher’s whole day just by bringing them a cup of Starbucks coffee or a Bayne’s cider donut.

I love that I can sneak into a classroom unnoticed and spend 20 minutes reading silently with a class of 5th graders.

I love that I get to see my kids every single day in school.

I love that I can justify buying as many books as I want from our local bookstore because I know I am going to give them all away to students that will love them as much as I do.

I love that I have a network of principals that push me to be better each day.

I love that I can spend my lunch throwing 16 touchdown passes in one game of recess football.

I love that I have the power to discontinue Accelerated Reader and instead use the money to support classroom libraries.

I love that I get more compliments when I wear my Elephant and Piggie shirt than a suit and tie.

I love that I get to call my teachers parents and tell them how amazing their son/daughter is at teaching.

I love that I get to push teachers outside their comfort zone by nudging them to present with me at national conferences or write blog posts read by educators all over the world.

I love that I can turn around a crying student’s day by asking them to help draw a book raffle ticket.

I love that I can call a parent at the end of the day to tell them something amazing their child did at school.  I even love the part when they cry because it’s the first time anyone has ever called home with something positive to say about their child.

I love that students slip me little bucket filler notes in the hallway.

I love that we don’t have staff cliques and everyone connected to the school genuinely cares about each other.

I love that my first principal still comes back to visit and see if he can do anything to help.

I love that I can be sitting at my desk and I can hear my secretary tell a telemarketer, “I am sorry, Mr. Bailey is out of the building right now.”

I love that students come down to my office to read me their stories they write during writer’s workshop.

I love the screams I hear up and down the hallways when the March Book Madness winners are announced each week during the tournament.

I love that I can watch teachers try new things, even if they fail spectacularly.  

I love that students aren’t scared to go to the principal’s office.  Instead they rush in with smiling faces to borrow a book from my principal’s bookshelf.

I love that I get to be an elementary school principal.

Happy Principals Month to my fellow principals!