Chapter 3 - SAFETY

Safety is a word that consistently pops up when you read about good school leadership and now I see why. People need to feel safe physically, emotionally and psychologically in order to create or produce amazing things. Being a bully is something I must constantly monitor personally mostly because as an older sister to three siblings I did my fair share of bossing around. Now that I’m older I try to respect my younger siblings and their opinions but it can be a challenge to hold my tongue and not shoot down some of the things they come up with. I’ve learned that as we get older I can’t tell my brothers and sisters the decisions they need to make but instead I need to support their opinions and provide my support.

There is a list of bullying behaviors in this chapter that reminds me of my department head. In fact tomorrow I plan to show this list of behaviors to another department colleague and see what her opinion is. She is a big micromanager in our department especially when it comes to her subject, Biology. In fact I’d prefer to teach Biology to Earth Science but not until she retires because she makes teaching the subject really stressful. She also likes to take personal credit for ideas the department as a whole create and she has personally criticized teachers at department meetings on average once a year. I know she has a big heart but, I’m glad my science classroom is detached and downstairs away from the main set of science rooms. Is it bad when your department has a list of procedures on how to handle policies set by your department heat? (1) Do not argue. (2) Nod your head and then do your own thing (3) Remember she retires in 2 years.

Have a great night everybody and be thankful payday is Friday‼‼

~Pat~