You're the Principal! Now What?: Strategies and Solutions for New School Leaders

by Jen Schwanke

A principal's job is astonishingly complex, and its competing demands can be overwhelming, especially in the first few years. In this book, Jen Schwanke, a principal herself, provides a mentor's guidance to steer new principals through the period of adjustment and set the foundation for a long and rewarding career. The topics you wish your graduate program had covered are covered here—directly, practically, and without the jargon. Drawing on her own experience, Schwanke provides strategies for tackling the most common yet most daunting challenges of the principalship, including The standalone chapters provide easy access to the solutions you need for the situations you face. Along with real-life scenarios and critical tips for success, you'll find helpful models of what to do, what to say, and how to say it. This book is a source for ideas any time you encounter a problem and think, " Now what?" It's the beginning of an ongoing conversation about the wonderful and rewarding work of being a principal.

Genres: Education

345 pages, Paperback

Published August 11, 2016

Reviews

[Gretchen Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even as an educator not on an administrative track, I found this book to be chock-full of leadership wisdom, and especially rich with examples of effective communication in tough situations. A great read for any educational leader!

[Rita Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much good information … and extra special that the author is a good friend!

[Nurlan Imangaliyev · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is definitely going to be helpful to beginning school administrators.

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful, practical tips and scenarios to guide new administrators

[Caston Binger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brings the practical insight into educational administration. Serving as an administrator is demanding and can cause friction with those who do not like change. We do the best we can for the students in a field that is constantly changing. These authors delve into how to lead and make the difficult decisions while guiding the students and school toward success. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion while giving peace of mind to new administrators. A book like this isn't typically one you curl up with and read in 2 days but that's exactly what I did because as I started reading, I felt like the authors were speaking to me and the challenges I face everyday as a principal in my second year. The book was easy to read and interesting because the authors use real life examples to illustrate the principles of strong leadership. I definitely feel like this is one of the "tools in my toolbox books" that I will reference time and time again. I highly recommend this book for all principals and everyone who has a desire to be a school principal. Being an effective principal requires commitment to bring out the best of an entire organization. One must have and maintain a personal WHY of going into this role -- deep, dark days will surface. If your WHY is not strong you may abandon your commitments and/or abandon your role. This book is great to pack into your principal toolkit and if used will enable you to be more proactive and improve issue resolving skills. This will result in principals having more success as a principal.