Being in the midst of a budget crisis and facing the possibility of a serious workforce reduction and school closings has made the morale at my school pretty low lately so I decided to write my teachers some personalized notes of encouragement this week. Among school administrators, there is a long-standing set of opposing opinions about writing teachers notes. I have lots of friends who are school administrators and I know people who subscribe to each of these camps:
CAMP #1- Writing teachers personal notes of encouragement will make teachers feel appreciated and thus strenghthen the teacher/principal relationship. Furthermore, it will encourage the teacher to strive to continually improve his/her performance.
CAMP #2- Writing teachers personal notes opens you up for possible grievances. As all school leaders know, at any time a teacher's performance can change. If you work in a school district with a strong union, positive notes have the potential to come back and bite you in the butt.
What's your stance? I really want to know how other principals feel about this.
I definitely belong to the group of administrators who believe that writing personalized positive notes is worth the risk. I don't do it as often as I should, but I definitely do it when I can. I think it's really important for the notes to be hand-written and have comments specific to that teacher's performance. I recently heard that people are much more likely to read the full contents of a hand-written note than an email. Now, don't get me wrong, I do occasionally shoot teachers a quick email to tell them that I like their bulletin board or thanks for coming to PTA the night before. But....When I want to really recognize some serious work or a major contribution by a teacher, I always use a hand-written note.
I would really like for some principals to share their experiences about writing personalized notes.
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4 comments:
I agree with you. I do write notes occasionally but I am careful not to make my note an evaluation of their teaching. I am mostly looking to give positive feedback where I can on almost anything from a lesson to an assignment hanging in the hall. I walk into lessons often and will help in any way possible. My teachers are very comfortable with me coming in and I do not want that to change. I also do a weekly newsletter to my teachers. If I see something amazing I will write it in the newsletter and give the person credit for their fine work.
This is a nice blog. I will try to visit often.
I think teachers need feedback on their performance, especially after we've done any kind of observation of their teaching. To not write notes because of the potential that it could be used against you in a discipline issue at a future date seems like a poor reason not to acknowledge good work in the present. An argument could be made that the immediate feedback and encouragement could be a force for proactive reflection and continued improvement in that teacher in the first place. Keep up the good work and fine blogging.
great blog, i feel for those who are fearing the loss of their jobs in the teaching community. It should be on of the last things to go in this day in age. sadly it is revered as a expendable resource. Sad. Keep up the great work.
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Nate(EducationDynamics)
I really enjoy your blog... I write handwritten notes to my teachers and I find it really picks up morale. I like to let my teachers know how the little things they do are noticed and appreciated.
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