In the Beginning...

For my first post, allow me to introduce myself.

My name is David and I have been given a very special opportunity next year to be a vice principal at a small, yet sizable, private elementary and middle school. I have been teaching in the school for just 2 years, but after some reshuffling and structural changes, I was offered the promotion and I accepted. Thankfully I have a built a strong reputation as a teacher who genuinely cares for my students and is always looking for new and innovative ways to bring out the best in each and every one of them. I have built strong relationships with both my students as well as the general parent body, and I guess, when the spot became available, my name floated near the top of the list.

Am I excited? Absolutely. Especially at this early stage of my career to be offered such an opportunity is an incredible vote of confidence, not only for what I have managed to do so far, but for what my supervisors and board members expect that I can do in the future.

Am I scared? Absolutely. I originally planned to call this blog "youngprincipal@blogspot.com" because of my relatively young age (almost 30) but it was already taken (not to mention that my wife hated it and being that she is probably the only person who is going to be reading this...I'm going with her on this one). I'm relatively new at this school and am dabbing my first foot in the world of school administration. Challenges that were never my responsibility suddenly are. Challenges that I don't even know exist yet...well, I have a feeling I'm about to have a rude awakening. Navigating through complex human relations situations involving students, teachers, other administrators, parents, not to mention board members and other "higher ups" will be an experience that I have no doubt will be sometimes entertaining and, well sometimes terrifying. I hope to be able to unburden some of those challenges and open up to the greater community of educators and learners out there to share their wisdom and life experience with me.

I am calling this blog "thestudentprincipal" for several reasons. For one, I deeply believe that my only chance of success is to always remember that I am a student first and foremost. I am Jewish and at the core of my philosophy of education are 2 teachings-both from the Talmud actually- that have guided my approach from the very beginning.

(1) "Who is Wise? One who can learn from every person." I can expand on this concept in more detail in a later post. For now, I think the quote speaks for itself.

(2) " I learned much from my teachers, more than that from my colleagues, but most of all from my students."

I hope to remain a lifelong student throughout this exciting and dynamic process, learning from those around me including the online community who may come across this blog.

The second reason that I wanted to highlight the "student" aspect of my new title, is that I enjoy reading. A lot. I have a pretty long booklist that I hope to go through this summer, most focussing on learning, education and psychology (another passion of mine). I hope to post different citations and quotes from the books that I read and explain how I see those ideas connecting to my life as an educator, parent and citizen of the world. Hopefully others find some of these ideas interesting and choose to express their ideas and novel interpretations as well.

And finally (and I will end this soon) the third reason is that I haven't stopped thinking of ways to expand my educational and professional development. I currently have my Masters in Education, but on the side I am pursuing several options to advance my academic career-including advancing my study of psychology at the Masters (and hopefully) Doctoral level. I am also considering studying for a doctorate in Education. My wife pokes fun at me all the time, but I thoroughly enjoy being a student. There is so much wisdom out there-I feel a strong need to absorb as much as I can during the precious time I have in this world.

Anyways, that's a start for now. Over the next few months I hope to post about things that I'm reading and thinking about. It should all apply to the world of education but obviously will permeate family and parenting life as well. I will be posting about the challenges, anxieties, struggles and complexities that a new vice principal faces. And I will be writing about my life, some of my thoughts, dreams and aspirations for the future.

Let the journey begin.