Reflections on the Principalship in Alaska
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Ali Assodation for Information and Mum. Management 1100 Wayne Avenue. Slide 1100 Saver SPung, MarYland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm Hisul 5 Inches 1.8 1111:11-- 14- c Ki` , q\ `4+ MANUFACTURED TO qIIM STANDARDS cst 406 BY APPLIED I 1AGE. INC. 411S t4,bc1 DOCUMENT RESUME ED 325 287 RC 017 866 AUTHOR Hagstrom, David A., Ed. TITLE Viewpoints: Refleccions on the Principalship in Alaska. INSTITUTION Alaska Staff Development Network, Juneau. PUB DATE May 90 NOTE 138p. PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020) -- Reports - Descriptive (141) -- Viewpoints (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Administrator Attitudes; Administrator Role; Alaska Natives; Elementary Secondary Education; Perscnal Narratives; *Principals; *Rural Schools; *School Administration; School Community Relationship; *Small Schools; Teacher Administrator Relationship; *Work Experience IDENTIFIERS *Alaska ABSTRACT In this collection, 32 hlaskan principals, retired principals, assistant principals, and principals-to-be share their experiences as administrators and reflect on their feelings about the nature of the work and about schooling issues in Alaska. Nine of tne writings were selected from "Totem Tales," the newsletter of Alaska's Association of Secondary School Principals. These brief pieces discuss entry level difficulties; building good relationships with students, teachers, and the community; cross-cultural issues in Native Alaska villages; experiences in very small, rural schools; handling financial problems; the principal as jack-of-all-trades; high risk students; school improvement programs; innovations in reading and writing instruction and vocational education; substance abuse problems; student discipline; and experiences with very cold weather, exploding volcanos, and wild animals. Black and white drawings by student artists illustrate the collection. (SV) *******t************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from .ne original document. **********t***************************Y****************************t*** rim JLAS Reflectionsonthe Principalship in Alaska Edited by David A. Hagstrom , - '411 111111". '4 \ (;, - "%a, U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Othce rst Educahonst Research and Innx0ven,ent MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFURMATION CENTER (ERIC) Th,s doCument has been telvoduced as A labka 51-4 ce Ng_ recetned ham the Demo('or oroanuabon ongoalms 1 hhoof Changes have been made tO roDrove rebrOduthoo duahty Pomtsotoevr O oranlonsstatedm1Msdocu TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ment do hotnecessafilv represent utt,c.at ofonl,ch INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) OF RI posIfion VIEWPOINTS Reflectionsonthe Principalship in Alaska 3 VIEWPOINTS Reflections on the Principalship in Alaska Edited by David A. Hagstrom May 1990 4 CONTENTS Introduction vii A Note On Organization ix PART ONE I Still Think Of Myself As A Teacher / Sara Hornberger 1 Guidelines For Principals /Syd Wright 5 What's It Really Like? A Letter on Being a Rural Alaska Principal /Michael G. Walker 9 Contrasts Between Large and Small Schools I Fredi Buffinire 15 Bush Principal: Man of Many Hats I John A. Rusyniak 17 Think Small, Alaska! / Pat Evenson-Brady 23 Building Caring Relationships /Jim Carden. 29 Communication, Coffee, and Community Relations 1 Bruce Currie 33 Bringing About Change In Schools: An Onentation and An Attitude / David Hagstrom 41 Student Discipline in a Bush School (Empowering the Village) / Roy Rowe 47 Showing Writing in Native Alaska Yupik Eskimo Schools /John Kaufman 49 "I Know How You Love Challenges..." (Excerpts from the Journal of a First Year Bush Teacher) / Mhm Chapman. 51 Preservation of the Total Person /Stan Miller 57 Elementary Principals Must Be Advocates /Mark Shellinger 61 The Question of Being At Risk / Bernice Tetpon 65 Girdwood Elementary/Junior High: A Rural School in an Urban District / Bruce Lamm 69 "Restructuring Our Public Schools"Birch School: Transition to Integration / Chris Willia3 73 New Ways To Deliver Vocational Skills /Rocke McFarland 79 Community Involvement: A Common Challenge / Pam VanWechel 81 Writing and Reading Instruction 1 K. Timothy Cline 83 I ) The I 'int Bucket Battle, and WhatI Learned /Rod Pruitt 75 Only In Alaska! I Dennis Dempsey. 91 Teachers and Politics in Rural Villages /JosephI. Slats 97 PART TWO Larson States Alaska's Concern /PeterLarson. 101 Alaska's Cold Causes President Jean SomeProblems I Jean Kalish. 105 Rural Alaska Adjusts to New EducationalPrograms I Gene Docld 109 Reflections /Esther Cox 111 Assistant Principals Are Human /DickHultberg 113 Curt Loe Sneaks Out In Yakutat / CurtLoe 115 Delta Principal Shares Ideas For EasingBudget Cuts /Ron Beck 117 Chignik Lake Students Gain Self-Confidenceby Trying to Eliminate National Debt /David Smith. 121 Principals Are Special, Caring People / BobHahn 123 Acknowledgements 125 Artists' Credits 127 vi VIEWPOINTS 6 INTRODUCTION Principals don't write. We are told that principals are too busy to write. Well, this effort which we've made to compile a little anthology of the writings of Alaskan principals is proof that principals do write. Even amid the many pressures of the work, Alaskan principals take time to share their feelings and opinions about the nature of the wort and about schooling issues in Alaska. At the encouragement of the Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau campuses of the University of Alaska, the Principal Associations of Alaska, and the Alaska State Department of Education, a small group of principals, retired principals, and principals- to-be decided that they would sham, in writing, some of their thoughts about a principal's world of work. With fmancial assistance from a federally funded L.E.A.D. (Leadership in Educational Administration Development) grant, approximately 40 principals supported this publication effort. Fmm many entries, we selected the following articles because we thought that, collectively, they would provide the reader with some beginning insights into the cares, concems, and the issues that are important to principals. What the reader will find here are descriptions of schools and programs, historical accounts of triumphs and turmoil, stories about the aches arid agonies of entry level difficulties, and the written sharing of the joys that go with being a school principal in Alaska. We've thought that our audience would be our colleagues and principals-to-be. However, if our little anthology has fallen into your handsno matter what your work or what your interestswe hope that you fmd our writing to be inviting and compelling. We hope that as a result of our sharing, you will want to either join us in our next writing endea /or or that you'll want to find out more about a principal's work in Alaska. We. call our collection Viewpoints: Reflections on Sch3oling in Alaska. This particular issue contains reflections on the principalship in Alaska. Next year we're planning to write again and will be deciding early in the school year whether our focus should be more on the work that principals have undertaken on the issues of schooling in Alaska. You, our readers, could help us if you will. If you have suggestions about the future direction of Viewpoints, please write to me at the address listed below. We'd like to hear your responses and comments. Perhaps we'll in/71.4de a lettc, section in our next edition. 7 VIEWPOINTS vii Thank you for being a part of our pioneering effort.We i:ivite you to correspond with the individual writers and withme. An author writes to express, clar fy, and learn. The process can be extended when readers take the time to reflect, react, and respondto the writers. Your comments are invitedand would be welcomed. We sendyou our best wishes and our high hopes forever improving schooling for all of Alaska's children. Sincerely, David A. Hagstrom Viewpoints Editor College Station Box 8-3434 Fairbanks, Alaska 99708 viiiVIEWPOINTS A Note On Organization This anthology is divided into parts one and two. Part One incIrdes the current written work of 23 pi icipals, retired principals, and principals-to-be from acmss the state of Alaska. The writings selected for inclusion were chosen because they contributed to an overall composite portrait of the principalship in Alaska. Part Two inclvdes the writiags of r 3e past and present principals and assistant principals from across Alaska. These rine writings were chosen by the editor and Larry Graham, Executive Director of Alaska's Association of Secondary School Principals. These writings were selected from Totem Tales, the association's newsletter, and were chosen because of their power to, once again, add to the composite picture o f the principalship in Alaska. The location noted beneath the writer's name designates where the person lived at the time of the writing which, of course, is not necessarily where the person lives at this time. VIEWPOINTS ix 9 VIEWPOINTS PART ONE 10 I Still Think Of Myself As A Teacher Sara Hornberger Sometimes I feel like a fossil! With almost 27 years in education in Alaska behind me, I certainly nink as an old-timer. Educators who started long after I did are retired to golf courses in Arizona and beaches in Hawaii and here I am still teaching. Correction! I sm a principal and have been f,.:Jr several years, but I still teach se-- classes and tend to think of myself as a teacher. In the fifties when I was an undergraduate, it was rare to find a woman school administratorat least in my part